| General Fiction posted June 18, 2024 | Chapters: |
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Smitten
A chapter in the book DUEL with the DEVIL
DUEL with the DEVIL - Chapter 5
by Jim Wile
| Background A brilliant young chemist creates a new opioid with unknown benefits and pitfalls. |
Recap of Chapter 4: Brian goes to Sandi’s house that night for their first tutoring session. It goes well, and they both enjoy it.
Afterwards, Sandi draws a caricature of Brian that is very flattering. Back at home, he tells Fran about his evening, and she warns him that Sandi may only be interested in dating older guys.
Chapter 5
By the following week, Sandi had gotten her math test back. She’d scored a 79 on it, and she was ecstatic. I’d come over again for the third time to help her out with the next topic they were studying—quadratic functions and graphing.
“Brian, you helped me so much to pass this test. One more point and I would have had a B on it.”
“That’s great, Sandi. Nice going! Why don’t we start by looking at the ones you got wrong and see if we can get the right answers? Since you’re still working with quadratic equations, it will help you in this next section.”
“Okay.”
We looked over the test, and most of the mistakes she made were just miscalculations. She had the main idea right, though. At one point, she said, “Ugh! I’m so stupid!”
“Ah, you’re not that stupid.”
She looked at me and cracked up. “Gee, thanks. Only a little bit stupid, huh?”
I laughed too. This set the tone of the evening, and we laughed quite a lot together. We did manage to get some work done, though. She also showed me some of her artwork. She was quite talented with a pencil and had made some beautiful drawings. There were several pictures of scenes in Old Salem, which is located just south of downtown Winston-Salem, not too far from here. Some of the houses there date back to the 1700s. She had a flair for light and shadow, and she captured the old architecture perfectly.
I was captivated by this girl. We continued our tutoring sessions for another few weeks. The summer makeup classes lasted only six weeks, and I was sorry they would end soon. I decided I would ask her out when they were over because if she rejected me, I didn’t want it to put a crimp in our study sessions. I’m sure that would have made them awkward. So, for the next four weeks, I continued going over there twice a week in the evenings.
The night before the final test, I helped her study for it. We went over all the review questions that Mr. Brainard had provided and brushed up mostly on stuff from the beginning of the class that wasn’t so fresh in her mind.
She had pulled her class average up to 80, so even if she flagged the final, she would still pass the course. She wasn’t particularly worried about passing, but she still wanted to do well and try to get a B in the class.
This would be our last tutoring session, so it was now or never. I’d practiced what I would say to her at home, but I was still nervous about asking her out. When she closed up her notebook and gathered up all the scratch paper she’d been using, I said, “Hey, Sandi. I’ve really enjoyed these tutoring sessions and getting to know you a lot better. Do you think we could maybe continue to see each other and maybe go out sometime?”
She looked at me for a few seconds before she said, “Ah, Brian. That’s so sweet. I’ve really liked working with you too. You’re such a good teacher, but I don’t think we should go out together. I’m kind of already seeing another guy right now, plus I usually date older guys. But I’m really flattered you asked me.”
I was crushed, but Fran, as well as my friends, had warned me. I tried to put a good face on it and said, “Okay, I understand. Well, good luck on the test tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll do well because you’re not that stupid after all, right?”
We laughed about that again and said goodbye after she paid me for the session. As I walked down her walk, I turned around. She was still standing at the open door. I gave her a little wave, and she waved back, and that was that. But I was dying inside.
I told Fran about it when I got home. “Guess you were right about Sandi. I tried asking her out, but she blew me off, saying she only dates older guys. Why does that matter so much to good-looking girls?”
“I guess it’s because they can afford to be selective, and dating older guys seems more exciting and mature. Plus, they tend to have cars. When you get older, it doesn’t matter much at all, and other things matter a lot more, like being on the same wavelength about stuff and enjoying each other’s sense of humor.”
“Yeah, I get it, I guess. Thing is, we had a lot of fun together, and we laughed a lot. I guess I just wasn’t good enough for her to overcome the age thing.”
“Well, if you’re still interested in her in a few years, try again. She’ll be more mature then, and maybe she’ll reconsider.”
“Yeah, maybe. Well, thanks for not rubbing it in, Fran.”
“Hey, kid, I know what it’s like to be rejected. I’m kind of on the large side and not all that attractive. I think I intimidate a lot of guys, being a deputy too. Don’t worry about it too much. It’s part of growing up.”
“Hey, speaking of growing up, I’m going to be taking driver’s ed at school in the fall now that I’m 14½. Will you drive with me if I get a learner’s permit when I turn 15?
“Holy shit, you’re going to be old enough to drive soon! Man, where does the time go? Yeah, of course I’ll drive with you. I can’t believe it’s time for you to start driving yet.”
“Hey, I drive Derek’s tractor when we mow lawns some times. It’s not that hard.”
“Yeah, but there isn’t any traffic to share the lawn with. That’s the hard part—dealing with traffic—but I’m sure you’ll do alright and won’t try anything stupid.”
“Course not.”
“No, of course not.”
I went to bed that night feeling very deflated. Try again in a few years? I didn’t want to wait that long. We had such a good time together all those nights. Couldn’t she see how charming and mature I was for my age? So what if I’m a year younger? I knew she was impressed with my body from her reaction that first day she spotted me while sunbathing in her backyard and from the caricature she drew of me. I’m not half-bad looking either. I might even say I was fairly handsome. We seemed to get a kick out of the same things, and we laughed together all the time. So why wouldn’t she go out with me?
God, she was so beautiful. She even started wearing sexier clothes after a while. I’m sure she knew the effect she was having on me, and it was probably a trip for her to titillate me like that, even though she had no intention of taking it any further than what we were doing.
Well, I wasn’t planning to give up so easily. I would win her over. I just had to show her I was as good as those guys who were older than me.
First thing I had to do was find out who her boyfriend was. Then maybe I could show her how much better I was for her than whoever it was. I didn’t have the courage to ask her straight out who she was seeing, and I didn’t really know any of her friends to ask them. The only way I could think of to do it was to go over there in the evenings and camp out near her house—out of sight, of course—until he came over to take her out. Maybe I’d recognize him, but I could always look through the high school yearbook from last year for his picture. I was sure Derek’s older brother, who graduated last year, had one of those.
I went to sleep with that rudimentary plan in mind.
Looking back on this time in my life, I realize how creepy this whole scheme was, but I lusted after this girl, and there was almost nothing I wouldn’t do to get her to go out with me. Bear with me as I fumble my way to maturity.
 Recognized |
CHARACTERS
Brian Kendrick: The narrator of the story. At the beginning of the story, he is 12 years old and in 6th grade in Kernersville, North Carolina.
Francine (Fran) Kendrick: Brian's older sister. She is 18 at the beginning of the story and goes to junior college, where she studies law enforcement.
Chloe: Brian and Fran's cat.
Sandi MacReady: She is a pretty blond and Brian's crush in high school.
Derek Shafer: Brian's best friend and lawn mowing partner.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Brian Kendrick: The narrator of the story. At the beginning of the story, he is 12 years old and in 6th grade in Kernersville, North Carolina.
Francine (Fran) Kendrick: Brian's older sister. She is 18 at the beginning of the story and goes to junior college, where she studies law enforcement.
Chloe: Brian and Fran's cat.
Sandi MacReady: She is a pretty blond and Brian's crush in high school.
Derek Shafer: Brian's best friend and lawn mowing partner.
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