Hita - Anita Claire Page 0,68
her beauty and charm to get ahead. In high school she ran with the “beautiful people” crowd, a clique of arrogant, fast moving, hard partying, good looking kids—that group always made me feel awkward, innocent, and nerdy when I was around them.
Somehow, Cassie and I managed to maintain our friendship. We always had a good time when it was the two of us. While she was dating and partying with the handsome and popular boys, I was on the math team, the debate team, the fencing team, and the soccer team. I was a geeky jock. Our lives diverged when I went off to college to study electrical engineering and computer science, and she went to LA to be discovered.
In high school, I was a late bloomer having plenty of boys that were friends, but never a boyfriend. Cassie was always going on about one guy or another. About half way through our sophomore year, Cassie kept on pushing me to tell her who I thought was cute. Finally, getting up the courage, I confessed to having a crush on this senior, Beau Bradley. His locker was across from mine. He had a look I really liked—dark eyes, dark shaggy hair, chiseled features, a tall lean body. He didn’t strut down the hall like the jocks; his attitude was more brooding and hipster. We had a large high school, about 450 kids per grade, which was merged from two middle schools and two junior highs. Cassie had no idea who he was because he didn’t run with her beautiful people crowd. Confiding in Cassie, I told her Beau Bradley always stopped at his locker after third period, and I had arranged my schedule around his so that I would be at my locker then too. At that point, I hadn’t yet gotten up the guts to even say hi. He was a senior, which intimidated me.
The next day after third period, Cassie made a point of going back to my locker with me. Like clockwork, Beau strolled to his locker to pick up his books. Cassie struck a pose and “coyly” stared at him until he looked her dead in the eyes. She then flashed him one of her award winning smiles and giggled. By the end of the day, he had asked her out. They dated for about a month. Cassie was never one for keeping a guy long-term. She didn’t see that flirting with—and then dating—someone I had a crush on was hurtful. At the time, I was too shocked to say anything. When I finally got my thoughts together to tell her how wrong that was, she justified it by saying, “He had no idea you existed.” Then flicked her eyebrows in annoyance, “you weren’t going to do anything about it anyway.”
Cassie had been competitive. After her summer transformation, she stopped competing with me on athletics and academics. Still, I think Cassie wanted to prove that she could always beat me in one arena--with guys. That incident has always been painful, it was the first time Cassie had ever broken my trust. Since then my feelings towards her have been torn. She was such an essential part of my childhood, but that betrayal has undermined my trust.
All these thoughts flutter through my mind as I pull a long set in the pool. Resolving to stop ruminating on high school and focus on today, I decide to find out more about Abs Guy. My mind spins with questions. At the end of the workout, I do another kick set so I have the opportunity to watch Abs Guy walk across the pool deck. Oh man, swimming has to be the best sport. His beautiful body is seared in my brain.
It’s interesting to listen to the women talk in the locker room as they shower and dress. I’m probably the youngest person here. There are a lot of women in their thirties, forties, and fifties. They all walk around comfortably naked while I stand in a corner covered up with my towel listening to them talk about kids, husbands, schedules, food. Some coordinate getting together for a run or bike ride. This would be the only group who knows Abs Guy…. but, I sense it’s probably not the right place to ask any of them about him. I’m on my own with that. Well, at least I know if I swim at six in the morning there’s a chance I’ll see him again.
Chapter 2 – The New Job
I work