It hadn't worked. How had it not worked? I was so sure that he would come
back, that he would actually kiss me. Maybe Gus was right. Maybe I had been
involved in the high school world too long and was actually beginning to
develop some of the gullibility and innocence that seems to seep out of the
hallways and lockers of South Glen South. Of course he hadn't come. I had
lied to him, deceived him, and then I had expected him to come crawling
back to me? What was the matter with me?
Even as those thoughts rushed through my head as I waited to board the plane to Paris I knew what the answer was. What was the matter with me? I had been in love. You do crazy things when you're in love. And you just expect people to do the same crazy things in return. And when they don't- you get heartbroken, just like I was now. It had been almost a week since those life long five minutes on the pitchers mound. I was still reeling. The Ram's had won the championship, Robb was extremly happy in his new assistant coaching job, and Nina and Gus were engaged. Everyone in the world was happy, except for me. But I had to stop wallowing in self pity. I had too.
I was on my way to Paris. On my way to the city of love. Rickford had given me the assignment shortly after my first article was published. Well, at least I had gotten one thing I had always wanted: I was now a certifiable journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times. And now I had an even bigger story to write. Again, I was going under as a highschool student. I don't know what it is about me, but I always seem to be playing the teen role. Anyway- this time I was going undercover as an American student in a French school. I was supposed to tell everybody back home exactly what it was like to be a foreign exchange student, and all about the life in Paris. I was lucky, I was willing to admit that sooner than later. A full year in Paris- something everyone wanted but no one got. And the one thing I wanted I knew I would never get.
Even as those thoughts rushed through my head as I waited to board the plane to Paris I knew what the answer was. What was the matter with me? I had been in love. You do crazy things when you're in love. And you just expect people to do the same crazy things in return. And when they don't- you get heartbroken, just like I was now. It had been almost a week since those life long five minutes on the pitchers mound. I was still reeling. The Ram's had won the championship, Robb was extremly happy in his new assistant coaching job, and Nina and Gus were engaged. Everyone in the world was happy, except for me. But I had to stop wallowing in self pity. I had too.
I was on my way to Paris. On my way to the city of love. Rickford had given me the assignment shortly after my first article was published. Well, at least I had gotten one thing I had always wanted: I was now a certifiable journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times. And now I had an even bigger story to write. Again, I was going under as a highschool student. I don't know what it is about me, but I always seem to be playing the teen role. Anyway- this time I was going undercover as an American student in a French school. I was supposed to tell everybody back home exactly what it was like to be a foreign exchange student, and all about the life in Paris. I was lucky, I was willing to admit that sooner than later. A full year in Paris- something everyone wanted but no one got. And the one thing I wanted I knew I would never get.