Читать книгу Angela 3 - David A. Bedford - Страница 9

“Hey, Fournier, a quick word to your advantage,” Kitty opened, with Kat on one side and Casey on the other and Ashley and McKinsey taking the flanks of the phalanx formation.

Angela said nothing and Fiona and Benjie followed her example.

“Well, do you want to hear it or not?” insisted Kitty.

“Kitty, just get it over with or get out of the way, please,” Angela requested.

“We noticed Miles came to visit you yesterday,” Kitty taunted. Angela waited. “We came to warn you and protect you,” she went on.

Finally Fiona couldn’t take it any longer. “Kitty, we deeply appreciate your concern but I’m afraid we’re taking up too much of your time.” Angela smiled and wondered how Fiona could always come up with such ironic lines.

“Oh, nothing is too good for our friends! You see, Miles has been dating a girl seriously at college and we would hate to see you hurt.”

Angela felt stung. Could it be possible? He certainly had the right, but then, what did all the attention he gave Angela mean? She was caught up in conflicting suppositions when she noticed Kitty was talking:

“… college guys usually forget their high school sweethearts when they see what’s available.”

“Well, what does that make you, then?” Benjie objected reasonably, but stepping forward with aggressive intent. As usual, Fiona grabbed his shirt and held him back.

“All right. Thank you for your information. We’re going to home room now. Come on, guys!”

The KittyKats parted to let them through, having achieved their purpose of poisoning Angela’s proceedings for the day.

“Don’t pay any attention to them,” suggested Fiona.

“I’m ok,” said Angela, hoping to convince herself.

In home room, Angela waited mechanically to respond “here” to Furry-near and then heard nothing of the announcements or other matters. What if Miles is dating somebody in Corpus? He never made promises to me. What does it mean that I’m so upset? Does he matter that much to me? That would be something she really needed to think through. It was both an exciting and terrifying prospect. One moment she felt an intense affection for Miles and the next she was angry with him. Wait a minute! What can Kitty actually know about Miles’ life? Can I trust what she says? No! Can I trust Miles? Yes! Can I be sure he’s not dating someone else? No. But I can be sure he will tell me or stop coming to see me at least. He has character and Kitty doesn’t. Angela felt better: more stable and ready to face the day. She would just have to wait to see how things played out. She felt herself eager to hear from Miles, but dreading it at the same time.

As she went to pre-calculus, she was quiet, worrying over a new thought. And if Miles and I at some time get together, marry, or whatever, how can I know he won’t pull something like Dad did? She felt the familiar pain and wanted to cry, but school wasn’t the place for that. It would have to wait. Then she thought: A lot of people have good marriages and stay together. It can be done. I really need to think all this through.

She used her classes to distract her from her worries. At least the former were as important as the latter. As a result, she actually learned well and enjoyed Spanish, which always seemed to open a whole new world and was presided over by a benevolent and understanding teacher. At lunch she participated enough in the conversation so that Fiona and Benjie would feel reassured about her. She asked the new students about their families and wondered, but did not ask, whether they were stabler than hers.

In dance they talked about fund raising for the overnight field trip coming up soon. Ms. Amberg still had not told them where they were going or what it was about. The dancers liked the mystery and did not complain.

***

When she got home, her mother had an announcement. They would be taking the first of several college visit days on Monday and going to TCU in Fort Worth. Angela was excited. She plied Susan with questions:

“How did you decide what college to go to? Was it hard to make up your mind? Did your parents put pressure on you to go to a specific school? Was it hard to adjust to being in college?…”

“Whoa,” said Susan, laughing, “one thing at a time. It was different when I went to college. Mom and Dad were supportive, but they had not gone to college. You didn’t apply to a hundred places like now. I sent off applications to three schools I was interested in and I went to UT-Austin because it was cheap but commands a lot of respect. I’ll go with you to visit TCU but you will have to make up your own mind and live with the decision. Plus, we have to be able to get the financing … scholarships, work, and some loans … that we can afford. The better your grades are now, the easier it will be.”

“Ok, Mom, but did you have trouble adjusting?”

“Oh, some, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I decided on some procedures to take control. I went to all my classes and I made sure I slept seven or eight hours every night. After classes I would rewrite notes, read ahead, prepare for classes later that day or the next day. If I had a project, I would start on it the day it was assigned and work on it a little every day. When I had done all that, then I would look up friends, go out, and have fun. That worked really well, because I always stayed current, so no stress there, and when I partied or just chilled, I did not have any studying left to do when I got back to my room.”

“You partied?” Angela exclaimed, wide eyed.

“Hey, kid. There are parties and there are parties. It’s a matter of choosing with discernment.”

Angela felt relaxed about the college search for the time being. After studying that night she was genuinely tired enough to nod off immediately and sleep undisturbed until the morning. The rest of the week passed quickly and soon she was packing up to fly to DFW, the busy airport between Dallas and Fort Worth. Susan set up an overnight stay Sunday for Amy, who along with her friend was delighted about it. After church Sunday, Amy bounced up and down in the car as they drove her to her friend’s house.

“Now you have to do as you’re told,” Susan instructed.

“Yes, Mom,” Amy replied.

“You must go to sleep and not talk late. It’s a school night and I don’t want to hear that you were tired and sleepy in class the next morning.”

“Oh kaaay,” said Amy, as though it was the most unreasonable request she could have been given.

When they pulled up to the house, Angela watched as Susan took Amy to the door, had a brief, animated, but friendly conversation with the other mom, hugged Amy, who took off running inside, and came back to the car.

“She certainly looks happy,” Angela commented.

“Yeah, I think she’ll have fun.”

“What are we doing with our car?”

“Leave it at the airport. We’ll pay for overnight parking since it’s just one night.”

“Oh!”

The flight to the DFW airport was quick and uneventful. Susan rented a tiny car and they drove into Fort Worth, with Angela working the GPS on her phone. They planned their route so they could drive south to north through the campus on University Drive and admire all the trees and elegant buildings. On the right they saw a statue of two men walking side by side and then passed a building labeled Library. Then there was a chapel with a tall spire and after that an angular mid-twentieth century structure, all glass and concrete, with a sign proclaiming “College of Fine Arts and College of Communication.” Then they went by a large church on the left and were past the campus.

“It’s pleasant,” Susan commented.

“I like it!” Angela agreed.

“Let’s check in then come back and do a drive-around, what do you say?”

“Yeah!”

The hotel was located on a pleasant bend in the Trinity River, with large weeping willows overhanging the banks. They found their room, put some clothes for the next day to hang in the closet, set out what they would be needing in the bathroom, and headed back to the little car to drive around the edge of the university.

The next morning they got up early and headed to campus. They found the parking lot assigned to the visitors and went into the large Admission building for registration and breakfast. After a friendly welcome by one of the Admission staff, Susan and Angela were assigned to one of several groups led by a student for a tour of the campus. As they headed across the parking lot, Angela marveled at how the student could walk backwards to talk to the group and not run into anything. Apparently they had the route well memorized. The campus was much larger than it appeared when they drove through the middle the previous day. They saw the University Union, the coliseum, the football stadium, many, many residence halls, and various classroom buildings. Angela was especially impressed with one building at the top of a rise, which sat at the other end of a large mall from the union, and housed the Honors College on the bottom floor. There was a small courtyard connecting that building to another, which faced University Drive on the other side. The two comprised the College of Liberal Arts. They crossed University Drive and visited the library and then a collection of buildings that did not match the rest of the campus and housed business, science, math, and engineering.

On the way back across, they came to what Angela was especially wanting to see: the newly remodeled dance building. She loved the elegant wood trimmings and the new dance floor. She smiled happily and then noticed people were looking at her. She turned red and looked down.

Two hours before lunch time there were interest sessions. Angela went straight to dance to find out what she could about the program and what she would learn if she majored in it. Then she had time to do a second session with history. During that time the parents had separate sessions to deal with their issues, primarily how they were going to pay if their kid wanted to attend TCU.

At lunch they were kept busy eating, socializing with other people at their table, and then listening to a student speaker. Angela was impressed with how well she, the speaker, talked: the vocabulary, the humor, and the poise. She wished she could do something like that someday. In the afternoon they had a little free time and in the recreation center Angela found some computers which she could use as guest. She went on her email and had a message from Miles:

Hi, Angela:

I hope you are having a good visit. I’d like to hear all about it when you come back. Thinking about you,

Miles

He included his cell phone number after his name at the bottom. Angela entered it into her phone. She texted back: That’s sweet. We’ll talk when I get home.

Then it was time to continue the program. They toured the residence halls, visited academic department offices, and went to the closing reception. Angela and Susan then had time to take it easy going back to the airport, so they decided to go through downtown on surface streets and pick up the airport freeway there. The path took them north on University Drive toward Seventh Street, where they would turn right and go straight downtown, but before they got there, they saw the signs to the museum district. Checking her watch, Susan turned left instead onto Lancaster, where to their right they saw the magnificent Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, then the Kimball Museum, one of the country’s best mid-sized museums of art, and finally the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. They pulled into the lot just to look in briefly. When they came out, they were struck by the panoramic vista of downtown directly ahead. Then they got back in the little car, made their way downtown and to the airport freeway, and were headed home.

On the plane at first they talked about the visit. Angela wanted to know what her mom had found out about paying for college and Susan wanted to know what Angela thought of the university. Angela said that she would really like to go to TCU and Susan said that in that case, it would really help to get the very highest grades she could and hope for a big scholarship. Then they fell silent and Angela began musing about Miles’ message. That was really thoughtful and the act of a true friend. Then she thought of Kitty Johnson and what she had said. Who should I believe? Well, that’s easy, really. Since when has Kitty ever done anything other than to cause trouble? Of course she’s not reliable. And why would Miles display such an interest and never ask for anything in return? As the plane began its descent toward the Corpus Christi airport, Angela felt more confident than she had in days, though the thought of her parents’ divorce also weighed more on her than it had in some time.

They picked up Amy on the way to the house. She was bubbling over with talk about every detail that happened, the movie they watched, how school was that day, what they did after school waiting for Susan and Angela to pick her up, and anything else she could think of.

“But I missed you,” she added.

“I’m glad you did,” said Angela, “it means you love us.”

“Yeah!”

Angela entered the house happily, feeling affection for her family and friends. Thelonius, the black cat, came up to her, meowing hungrily.

“Come on, Thelonius,” Angela ordered. “Let’s see what I can get you for your dinner.”

When they said their good-nights, Angela told her mom, “Tomorrow after school I want to talk.”