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"Now isn't this better than a talk show?" David asked Heather.
"No, it's stupid and boring," his girlfriend replied. "Everyone else
in the class is gonna have a better video than ours."
"How do you know?"
"Well . . . it's not hard to come up with a better idea than what
you're having us do out there," she answered. Then her face brightened
and she said with a sneer, "Kim told me that her group is gonna dress up
in Indian costumes and give their report in the form of a skit all on
video of course."
Alex, already biting into his second cookie, was skeptical. "Where
are they gonna get their costumes?"
"I don't know. Maybe they'll make them."
David laughed, "I can't wait to see that video! Kim and her
friends never once worked on their project during class."
Heather agreed, "I know! I talked to her at Homecoming and she
said her group hadn't even gone to the library to do research."
The mention of Homecoming seemed to alter the other
teenagers' moods. Everyone turned silent and serious for a moment.
Leah, although listening with interest to their conversation, didn't
understand what was happening. She was still ignorant about the
mysterious events that had surrounded the Homecoming Dance and the
fight between David and Heather that it had sparked. But then, suddenly,
everything was revealed.
"When did you see Kim?" David asked. "I don't remember seeing
her at all last Saturday."
"Oh, I saw her later in the evening," Heather said as her eyes
avoided David's stare. Alex and Melanie each took a step away from
David and Heather, as if they sensed something was about to happen.
Leah, still unaware of what was going on, stood where she was.
"Was this before or after you danced with Dylan?" David asked.
150 | Leah
Heather shot him an angry look and said, "I only danced with
Dylan because you were dancing with Brittany Kaufman!"
"Are we back to that again?" David asked, all the friendliness and
warmth had vanished from his face and his voice. Leah looked at him
and barely recognized the boy she secretly had a crush on. "I danced with
her once only once just to be nice, and when I came back for you,
you were gone."
"What did you expect me to do? Just stand there and wait for you
like some doormat? You didn't even say when or if you'd be back! You
just took off with her without saying anything to me!"
"You knew I'd only be gone for one song," David argued.
"It didn't look that way to me," Heather said, as she set her empty
glass down on the kitchen counter. She stared at it and said scornfully,
"You never give me any clue about what you're gonna do. Am I
supposed to just guess?"
"I didn't think you'd get all upset over one dance," David said. "It
wasn't a big deal."
"It was to me! You were supposed to be my date!" Heather said,
raising her voice. Her back had been turned to Leah, Alex, and Melanie,
and she seemed to have completely forgotten they were still in the room,
listening. But David was facing them, and his eyes glanced uncomfortably
from Heather, to his partners, and then back to Heather. He seemed to
be delivering his side of the argument to suit not only Heather, but his
silent and stunned audience as well.
"I was embarrassed!" Heather continued, without lowering her
voice. "I wasn't gonna just stand next to the punch bowl all night while
my date was dancing with someone else!"
"So you decided to go dance with every other guy there?"
Heather threw a fist at David and struck him in the chest. "I hate
you!" she shouted. She whirled around and saw three pairs of eyes staring
at her, but when her eyes focused on them, they turned away and
pretended not to have seen or heard anything. Leah, wearing an
expression of patience on her face, looked down at her half-full glass of
soda. She wondered if they had yelled at each other like this last week, or
J.M. Reep | 151
if this was something new.
Heather, in a rage, stormed out of the kitchen. "I'm leaving!" she
declared. "You've got my report on video; I don't need to stay here any
longer!"
David went after her, "Wait," he said in a more conciliatory tone,
"where are you going?"
"Home! I can't stand to be around you any more!" Leah heard the
front door open and then slam shut. A second later, the door opened
again as David followed her outside. He shut the door almost as hard as
Heather, and then there was silence.
Leah and her two companions in the kitchen were left stunned.
The anger and emotion expressed a moment ago remained in the room
as something palpable even though David and Heather were gone.
Instead of speaking, the three teenagers simply stared at each other. Alex
and Melanie even looked at Leah to see what her reaction was. For the
first time, Leah felt like they were actually including her in something.
Alex wore a bewildered smile, and Melanie started giggling again. Leah,
though, was shocked; she couldn't ever remember seeing a fight as
intense as that. Her parents fought sometimes, but they never screamed
at each other or stormed out of the house. She tried to force a smile, in
order to fit in with her two classmates, but she didn't understand what
was so funny.
"Man, she really blew up!" Alex exclaimed.
"I've never seen Heather get that angry before!" Melanie added.
"Never."
"I don't even know where that came from," Alex said. "I mean,
one minute we're having a snack and talking normally, and the next thing
you know they're arguing about Homecoming again."
Melanie shook her head in disbelief and suggested, "I don't know,
maybe David should have let her do her talk show!"
Alex and Melanie started laughing again. Leah laughed a little too,
although she was laughing at what Alex and Melanie said, not David and
Heather's situation.
"C'mon," Melanie urged, heading towards the front door, "let's
152 | Leah
go see if they're still fighting out there." The comment was directed to
Leah as well as to Alex. Melanie led them out of the kitchen and towards
a window which allowed them to see the front yard and driveway of the
house. They saw David and Heather sitting next to each other on the
curb beside the Parks' mailbox. Their backs were turned towards the
house so it was difficult to see their faces. They didn't appear to be
fighting.
"I wish I could hear what they're saying," Melanie said; it was
Leah's wish, too.
"Looks like Heather's not going home after all," Alex observed.
"Nah, Heather lives, like, a mile away it's too far for her to
walk."
The three of them continued to watch David and Heather sit on
the curb and talk. Leah wondered what might happen if David and
Heather didn't forgive each other. Might David then start to notice Leah?
That was the shy girl's hope. She had waited for so long and put up with
so many contradictory emotions during the last few weeks. But when she
saw David and Heather stand up from the curb and hug each other so
the whole world could see how they felt, Leah's heart fell. If those two
could fight and argue and then be able to forgive each other, and draw
strength from their forgiveness, then what chance did Leah have? She
watched David kiss Heather on the cheek, and she knew David would
never be hers.
David and Heather started back towards the house and the three
who were watching from the window quickly scattered and hurried into
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