Disclaimer: TC Williams High School and its environs belong to the City of Alexandria. The original Titans belong to themselves, as do the Doors, Dick Dale and Yoko Ono, while the fictitious characters from the film Remember the Titans belong to Disney. The title of this chapter comes from the Ramsey Lewis song on my Good Morning Saigon CD. The Corvette, Dodge Charger and Volkwagen Beetle belong to their respective automotive companies, Coke belongs to the Coca Cola Company, and Siddhartha belongs to Hermann Hesse. I only own Tamsin and Diana Lee, Jonathan Graham, the Snack n' Cue, assorted TC Williams students and personnel, and Ma Rose's.
Technical Notes: I am from the Philippines and am not familiar with the usual schedule of events in American high schools. I understand it varies across schools and therefore, to preserve my plot, have moved Homecoming to November. I have also changed Spirit Week into another sort of activity, again held a bit later in the year, and argue that this is possible because my mother's high school held Together Week instead of Spirit Week in October of 1972, the same era in which my story is set. (Frankly, there seemed to be no difference in the activities, but I needed to move it to again preserve my plot.) My apologies to those who find this objectionable.
Further, I do not know if the real Gerry Bertier remained involved with the Titans after his accident, but in this story he serves as a special assistant coach because he's hurt, not dead (hee) and I'm sure the Titans could very well use Gerry's football instincts. I also have no idea if the Hill really exists, what the name of the first TC Williams High School principal was, and the exact kind of car driven by Colonel Bass in the movie. I just picked the 1970 Dodge Charger after looking through a few classic car websites on a PC with very bad resolution. (I can't believe the amount of research I'm doing for this story!) Finally, I am not putting a mall in Alexandria, although I know they started coming up in the late 1960s. With all that said, you may now proceed to the story. Thank you for your patience.
Chapter Two — The "In" Crowd
Tamsin made a face at herself in the third floor girls' room mirror. Her hair was fine. There was nothing in her teeth and on her dark purple sweater. There was nothing wrong with her lipstick, either, because she wasn't wearing any. All in all, she didn't look any different from the last time she had looked in the mirror, less than ten minutes ago.
On either side of her, Emma and her friends were using up the remainder of the lunch period to primp for that afternoon's classes. Dressed in schoolgirl pastels, they looked like a bouquet of flowers — a bouquet of flowers with an eggplant stuck in the middle by mistake.
"Relax, Tamsin," Emma teased. "Your face hasn't changed from the last time you looked."
"She's not worried about that," Robin said as the other girls laughed. "She just wants to look absolutely perfect when she gets out of here. Who are you fixing up for, Tamsin?"
Tamsin arched an eyebrow as they all looked at her with interest. "No one. What?" she asked as Jeannie and Lisa hummed skeptically. "Can't a girl look good for herself anymore?"
"Come on, Tammy, spill it," Sally Jane coaxed. The cutesy nickname set Tamsin's teeth on edge. "We won't tell."
Fat chance. Their hot topic during the past hour had been the dating lives of people whom Tamsin had never heard of. "I already told you, no one," she said. Although she had probably looked at herself at least a million times during the past forty-five minutes, she had decided to have another go at the mirror for lack of anything better to do. The others were finally fixing up, which meant that they would be leaving the girls' room soon.
"Hmm, I wonder who it could be?" Lisa asked, as if Tamsin had said nothing.
"I just said no one. Didn't you hear me?"
"Oh, come on, Tammy," Jeannie said. "When people say 'no one,' they really mean 'someone.'"
"Well, unlike those people, I said 'no one,' and I mean 'no one.'"
"All right," the other girl muttered. "There's no need to bite my head off."
Shortly after that, Miranda fluffed out one final curl and said that they had better go. Tamsin breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed her books. She was the first one out the door.
Robin caught up with her out in the hall. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable in there," she murmured. "I didn't mean to get the others started on you."
Even though she was still irritable, Tamsin managed a smile. "Forget about it. It wasn't your fault they wouldn't drop the subject, anyway. And I'm sorry I was kind of mean in there," she added. "I wasn't feeling too good, with the smell and all…" Besides the strong odor of disinfectant, a dozen different kinds of cologne had mingled with the smoke from Miranda and Jeannie's illicit cigarettes in the warm air inside the girls' room. It really had made Tamsin feel rather ill.
The pretty, dark-haired girl wrinkled her nose and nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I know. I hate it, too. See you at lunch tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure."
* * *
"'Bye, Uncle Jon!" Tamsin called over the noise coming from the study. She hoped he could hear her over the Doors and the clickety-clack of the typewriter. "We're going!" Outside, a car horn honked.
The study door opened and Uncle Jon stuck his head in the hallway. "What?"
"I said we're going," she repeated. "I'm going with Emma and her friends to the Snack n' Cue."
"The Snack n' Cue? That sounds like a pool hall."
"I guess they've got a few pool tables," Tamsin said hastily as the car horn blew again, "but it's for teenagers, so there is no beer; and if there are any drugs I'll stay away from them; and if anyone gets too fresh, I'll kick him where it hurts."
"Good girl. What time will you be home?" He chuckled when she looked stumped. "OK, never mind. Just try to be back before sunrise. You remember where the key is."
She grinned at him. "Yes, Father. 'Bye!" she called as the car horn honked a third time.
Tamsin grabbed her jacket and bounded out the door. "Sorry I'm late," she said breathlessly as she jumped into Robin's red-and-white Corvette. "I hope you weren't waiting long."
Emma smiled at her from the front seat. "Don't worry. We went through the same thing at each of our houses. Shall we go? Miranda and the others are probably there already."
The Snack n' Cue was a recently integrated teen hangout on the outskirts of town. The large front room boasted a jukebox near the entrance, snack bar in the back, and couches and café-style tables on which to sit. The pool tables and pinball machines clustered in the back room.
Miranda, Jeannie and Lisa were already seated on one of the couches when they arrived. "Hi!" Jeannie squealed as Tamsin, Emma and Robin sat down. "Thank goodness you're here! We thought you wouldn't be able to make it — Sally's folks wouldn't let her go."
"Who's here?" Robin asked.
"Oh, you know, the usual people," Miranda said, waving regally to a group of girls. "And some of the more unusual ones."
Tamsin ignored the redheaded girl's remark and waved at one of the black students who had just entered. "That's Sharon Williams," she explained. "We're partners in Physics lab."
Emma nodded and waved to the girl, too. "I know. She and Julius have doubled with Gerry and me a few times. She's really nice."
"Ooh, look, the Titans are here," Lisa said then as Gerry Bertier wheeled into the room, followed by most of the team, fresh from practice.
"And so's Corey," Robin noted happily as her boyfriend, Corey Hunter, entered the Snack n' Cue with his twin brother, Ryan. She excused herself and went to greet Corey just as Gerry rolled up to where the girls were sitting. "Hey, Emma," he said, smiling at his girlfriend. "Ladies," he added, nodding politely to her friends.
"Hi, Gerry," Emma replied, smiling back, then gestured to Tamsin, sitting beside her. "Have you met Tamsin Lee? She's new in town."
"Yeah, I know her. We have English together. Hi, Tamsin; I'm Gerry." He held out a friendly hand. Are we cool? his earnest expression seemed to ask.
Tamsin smiled and decided to bury the "Yoko Ono" hatchet. "Pleased to meet you, Gerry."
"Same here. Are we still on for tomorrow night?" Gerry then asked Emma.
"Sure," she said happily. Figuring that was her cue to leave the lovebirds alone, Tamsin got to her feet. "Oh, you don't have to go," the blonde girl protested. "Stay here with us. This won't take a minute."
"No, you go on ahead," Tamsin told them, smiling to show that she understood. "I'm going to have a look at the jukebox."
That was how Dick Dale's "Misirlou" came on just as Ronnie entered the Snack n' Cue. The pulse-pounding surf guitar hit the quarterback in the face as he walked in, and for the briefest instant he thought he was back in California. He smiled and walked over to Tamsin, standing by the jukebox. "Pretending that it's still summer?"
She smiled politely. "No. Just enjoying a good song."
Ronnie leaned over to inspect the music selection. "There's a lot of good stuff in there."
"I know; and if I'm lucky, I just might play it all tonight."
"You can't just stand here all night."
"Sure I can," she replied with a flippant little smile.
"No, you can't. Why don't you play pool with us?" he suggested impulsively.
Tamsin looked surprised at the invitation. "With you?"
"Sure. The guys probably have a table by now. You'll know some of them from class. How about it?"
"There you are, Sunshine!" Petey's loud voice said behind him. "Ry and I were lookin' all over for you outside, man! Come on, let's go!"
"But—" Ronnie looked over his shoulder at Tamsin as Petey and Ryan led him away. She smiled, shook her head and waved him on. He sighed and turned back to his friends, who were looking at him curiously. "Whassamatter, Sunshine?" Petey asked. "Forgot something?"
"No," he replied. "Come on, let's go shoot some pool."
* * *
Ronnie saw her again the very next day. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and he had driven his mother downtown, then wandered into a bookstore while Mrs. Bass did her shopping in the supermarket across the street.
He found Tamsin examining the display on a shelf near the back of the cool, dim and rather dusty shop. "Hi," he said.
"Hi." She smiled briefly at him before picking out a book, skimming through the summary on the back, and returning it to the shelf.
"Haven't found anything good?" Ronnie asked, noting that her hands were empty.
"I'm trying to control myself. I think I'm addicted," Tamsin confided mock-seriously.
He chuckled. "There are worse things to be addicted to."
"Have you finished Siddhartha yet?" she asked.
"No," Ronnie replied, pleased that she remembered what he was reading. "He's still sitting by the river thinking about his life."
"That's the best part."
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," he agreed. "Anyway, I'm just looking around, waiting for my mom to finish shopping. It could take a while," he added. "You want to grab a Coke or something?" It would be great to have someone to talk to while he was stuck waiting for his mother.
Tamsin's eyes widened and she checked her watch. "Uh-oh, I can't. I have to meet someone in about five minutes."
Ronnie arched an eyebrow. "Someone sure works fast," he teased.
"What? Oh." She made a face at him as she caught on to his meaning. "Very funny. I'm afraid I really have to go, though," she said apologetically. "I lost track of time while I was in here. I told you I was addicted."
"Maybe some other time, then. See you in school."
Tamsin smiled and nodded. "Yeah. See you in school."
Ronnie watched her walk briskly toward the door. On her way out, however, she passed by the bargain table. Tamsin glanced through the books stacked there, picked out one, and made a pit stop at the cashier.
* * *
"How's school going, sweetie?" asked Diana Lee's husky voice on the other end of the line. There was a muffled cough.
"Fine, Mom." Tamsin tucked the receiver under her ear and grinned at Uncle Jon, who was tossing that night's chicken Caesar salad nearby. "I've got this great English teacher; and my Visual Arts teacher is finally showing up tomorrow, so I'm pretty excited about that."
"Made any new friends?"
"Yeah, I've met a few people." Even as she said this, Tamsin rolled her eyes. She was glad Emma and her friends were trying to include her in their group, but it was painfully obvious that she didn't have much in common with them. On the other hand, Robin's friends had been pretty nice. "Someone's encouraging me to join the literary magazine and I'm thinking of giving it a shot."
"Met any cute boys?"
"Mo-om."
"Well, have you?" her mother persisted. "After spending most of your life in an all-girls school, I would have thought that the first thing you'd do is look for boys."
"I'm still getting settled in. I haven't had the chance to look at any boys."
"Ah, you work so slowly, my dear. When I was your age, I had already had—"
"—ten boyfriends, I know," Tamsin finished flatly. "Thanks a lot, Mom."
"Isn't there even one who's caught your eye?" her mother asked plaintively.
"No."
"Well, if you refuse to tell me, I'm sure I can get it out of Jonathan. And he can look up that boy's file for me, too."
"Uncle Jon doesn't know anything."
"Well, then, he can help me guess."
"Mom, I'm not going to be here all that long. I may even be back there by the next semester. There's no use in my having a boyfriend while I'm here."
"Every girl needs at least one fling in her life, sweetie!" Great, her mother was in her empowered-woman-enjoying-life mode. "One great tragic romance that she can remember fondly when she's old and gray and married to a fat slob in an undershirt."
"I can't believe my mother is telling me to have a fling." Tamsin giggled as Uncle Jon looked at her incredulously. "Hey, Mom, Uncle Jon is giving me strange looks now, so we'd better talk about something else. How are you? Are you eating properly?"
"I practically have a charge account at that health-food place down the street," her mother assured her, laughing. "And I have some auditions lined up, but my usual reading partner is missing, so I have to prepare for them all by myself."
Tamsin felt a sudden pang as she imagined her mother pacing in front of the sofa, trailing one of her Isadora Duncan scarves, and practicing lines all by herself. She'd been helping her mother practice ever since she learned to read. "I told you sending me away was a mistake," she said, trying to keep her tone light.
A deep sigh came over the wire. "No, sweetie, it wasn't. Trust me. Put Jonathan on the line, will you?"
"OK. I'll talk to you again soon, Mom. I love you." Tamsin extended the receiver to Uncle Jon. "She wants to talk to you."
He smiled and took the receiver. "Thanks, Tam. Go set the table for dinner, won't you?"
* * *
"Open the window a bit wider, Jeannie."
Tamsin watched Jeannie do as she was told. Suppressing a yawn, she dug around in her bag for her Physics textbook. She was desperate to stay awake. She was sick of looking at drab blue tile. And Mrs. Gardner had hinted at a surprise quiz last Friday.
It had not been a very good day thus far. Last night's phone conversation with her mother left Tamsin feeling a bit mixed up. On one hand, she was happy to have spoken to her; but on the other, her mother's behavior toward the end of their conversation made her feel just the slightest bit unwanted. "Of course you're not unwanted, sweetie," Uncle Jon had told her at dinner, after he'd hung up. "She's just going through a rough patch right now and doesn't want you to worry about her."
"If she's going through a 'rough patch,' then I'm going to worry about her, wherever I may be," Tamsin muttered rebelliously.
"What was that?" Miranda asked her.
"Nothing," she replied, pasting a smile on her face. Determined to change the subject, she turned to Emma. "So, did you and Gerry go out last night?"
The blonde girl smiled. "Yeah, we did."
"How did you know Emma was going out with Gerry, Tammy?" Jeannie wanted to know.
"Oh, we were only planning it right in front of her at the Snack n' Cue," Emma laughed. "I'm really sorry about that, Tamsin."
"Forget about it. I had a pretty good time even though you practically abandoned me," Tamsin joked.
"Yeah, we adopted her," Robin said. "She hung out in the parking lot with me and Corey and Liz. It was a lot of fun."
"Liz Lindros is weird," Miranda said in distaste, puffing on her cigarette, "even if she is Eddie's younger sister." Dark-haired, good-looking and popular, Eddie Lindros played offensive lineman for the Titans. His sister, on the other hand, had her own group of friends.
"I thought she was really nice," Tamsin replied. In fact, it was Liz who was trying to get her to join the literary magazine.
The redheaded girl coolly met her gaze in the girls' room mirror. "Of course you would, Tammy," she said. "You're so nice, you can't find anything bad to say about anyone."
* * *
TC Williams High School held its pep rally on the afternoon of September15th. Instead of rushing off to enjoy their weekends, the student body assembled in the TC Williams quadrangle to watch the cheerleaders show off their new routines. "We used to have pep rallies at my old school, too," Tamsin said as she stood in the enthusiastic mass of students with Emma, Lisa and Sally Jane, "but they were nothing like this."
"I guess it's rowdier because there are boys in the crowd," Emma said as Miranda somersaulted off the top of the human pyramid to loud male catcalls.
"The Titans are coming!" Lisa squealed as the cheerleaders made their exit with one final flourish of their pompoms. The crowd went wild as the principal, Mr. Hilliard, introduced the TC Williams Titans and the 1971 Virginia State Champions danced into the quadrangle.
Everywhere we go
People want to know
Who we are
So we tell them
We are the Titans
The high and mighty Titans…
Tamsin watched incredulously as the phalanx of bulky-shouldered boys in red-and-white uniforms slid to the side in perfect unison. "What are they doing?"
"That's their warm-up!" Lisa explained, watching raptly. "They do it at the beginning of every game. Aren't they cute? Isn't Alan great?"
"Good grief." For some reason, it reminded her of the last time she had seen her mother's female impersonator friends perform the can-can.
When the dance number was finally over, Mr. Hilliard introduced the Titans' coaching staff, led by Coaches Boone and Yoast. Gerry was introduced as a special assistant coach. He beamed and waved at them as Emma and her friends cheered themselves hoarse.
"Who's that with the coaches?" Tamsin asked, pointing to a young girl of about ten or so with a wild mass of curly blonde hair.
"That's Sheryl, Coach Yoast's girl," Emma told her. "She helps out with the team, too."
"Oh." She laughed as Sheryl Yoast whooped and cheered along with everyone else. "Cute kid."
"Tough, too; but then you have to be, to boss the Titans around."
* * *
Alan was still singing, long after the pep rally was over and the Titans had changed out of their uniforms. "We are the Titans, the high and mighty Titans…"
Ronnie laughed as he and his friends left the locker room. "Quit it, Alan, or I'll never get that song out of my head."
"Sorry," the other boy replied with a grin on his boyish face. "I'm still high from the pep rally."
"Imagine if we'd tried to do our warm-up number last year," Blue said.
"We didn't even have a pep rally last year." At the beginning of the previous school year, it had been well nigh impossible to get black and white together peacefully.
"So where are we going now, y'all?" Petey asked.
"Can we wait until Emma joins us before we decide?" Gerry suggested. "She may have some ideas."
"Well, sure, Mr. Special Assistant Coach, sir; so long as she doesn't suggest goin' to Hal's," the black boy replied, arching an eyebrow at Ronnie. "You ain't never gonna get me in there!"
"I keep telling you, man, I didn't know." Ronnie rolled his eyes as his friends laughed. He was pretty sure Petey was never going to let him forget his slip-up from last year; but given the shabby way they had been treated, he didn't blame his friend one bit.
As they exited the gym, he saw Tamsin standing in the hallway with some of the other Titans' friends and girlfriends. Standing next to her was Emma Hoyt, smiling expectantly instead of looking suspicious and disapproving like she had for most of last year.
"Hey, Emma," Gerry greeted his girlfriend as the Titans joined her group and the couples paired off.
"Hi, Gerry," she replied, then smiled at the other boys. "Hi, guys. Great show at the pep rally this afternoon." Now that he knew her better, Ronnie actually found Emma kind of nice. He was hoping her getting back together with Gerry would make him go easier on the Titans at practice.
A guy can dream, can't he?
"So, Emma," her boyfriend said, "we can't decide where to hang out tonight. You girls got any ideas?"
"Well, Sharon here was just telling us about Ma Rose's, this new integrated place downtown," Emma said, gesturing toward Sharon Williams, Big Julius' tall, pretty girlfriend. "We can go there if y'all don't want to go to the Hill." The Hill was a favorite hangout and make-out spot among Alexandria's white teens. Ronnie had gone there a few times over the summer with Miranda.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Petey declared.
"I've heard that Ma Rose's has good food," Ronnie told Tamsin.
"Yeah, I've heard that, too." She smiled politely. "I'm sure you'll have a great time."
"Why? Aren't you coming with us?"
"Aw, why not?" Sharon asked when Tamsin shook her head.
"I can't," she said, looking slightly embarrassed. "I've already got a ride home."
"Can't you get another?"
"I can take you home," Ronnie volunteered.
But there was no convincing her. "I can't. I'm really sorry."
"Maybe another time, then?" Emma asked.
"Yeah. That would be great," Tamsin said, smiling again. She checked her watch and looked apologetically at everybody. "I'd better get going. I still need to get my stuff out of my locker."
"If your ride leaves without you, we'll be in the parking lot," Petey told her.
She laughed ruefully. "I'll keep that in mind. 'Bye, everybody. Have a nice weekend."
Ronnie watched her jog away amid a chorus of goodbyes before following his friends to the school parking lot. Once outside, they split up into smaller groups and Ronnie led Alan, Petey and Petey's girlfriend of the moment (he couldn't remember her name) over to his father's red Dodge Charger. "Hey, look, it's Mr. Graham," Alan said, waving at their English teacher, who was standing beside a Day-Glo green Volkswagen Beetle. The teacher waved back at them, but made no move to get inside his car.
"Why isn't he leaving yet?" Petey wondered.
They found out a moment later. Apparently, Mr. Graham had been waiting for someone — they saw her come out of the school and walk over to him. They saw him give her a hug, seat her in the car before getting in himself, and drive away.
It was Tamsin.