Going the Measure Read online

  Lisa Crawmer

  Going the Measure

  Aly

  Last May, I graduated high school. I am going to Florida State University. You could call me a school nerd. Well, I do sports, but I’m not like some dumb jock. I play softball, track, and volleyball. Track is my favorite sport. Every day I at least run six to ten miles. I live in Sebastian, Florida. I’m on honors list. It’s a pretty big deal to my parents since my brother totally flunked out of high school.

  Most of the time, I would be at the beach, but my schedule is so booked with things that have to do with college. Brent and I are supposed to hang out tonight. Brent is my boyfriend. I’m getting kind of suspicious though. He doesn’t call as much and is mysteriously always busy. He’s a few years younger, and since I’m going to college, I don’t even know if it would work well.

  I’m sitting at my desk, planning on what things I’m going to put in my room when Brent calls.

  “Hey Brent! I was about to call you,” I say.

  “Uh, yeah hi Aly. I just needed to tell you something. You know how your going to college? I just don’t think that would be good, you know, a long distance relationship, You feel me? I mean, I’m sixteen and your going to be nineteen in two months. A big age difference.”

  “Are you breaking up with me?” I question back.

  “I guess you could say that.”

  “Bye Brent.”

  I hang up on him. I am angry and happy. I didn’t want a long distance relationship either. I also didn’t want to be the one to break up with him. I’m not a heart-breaker. We did have a big age jump. I tried to get back to my room plans, but I couldn’t stay on task. At least I could date some college boys!

  Dad calls me down for his usual family meetings. I yell back and tell him that now is not a good time. Ever since my brother moved out and became a slum, my parents make sure that school is my main priority. So they made this family meeting so that they know what I’m doing in school and make plans to study better if I do bad on a test.

  * * *

  At my house, I get ready to go to the beach for the first time. Melissa, Paige, and Alex invited me for an all girls day. I put on my swimsuit on and my jean shorts over them. I bring my lucky towel; it’s blue and neon green. I remember when I used to bring a boogie board and toys to the beach. Now I’m a novice surfer. I’m okay, but I’ll never be a Bethany Hamilton. When I get there, my friends attack me with their signature break up hug. After I pull them off, We grab our surfboards and head out to catch the waves. I hate when you get all the way out there and there are no good waves that come your way.

  Paige is like the queen of surfing. She has blonde hair like me. Alex usually stays on the beach and flirts around. She’s the redhead, more like hothead. She always attracts the boys. Melissa either reads or joins in the water. She’s a brunette. I’m a beach girl, but I still have glam and style. I try not to flirt with boys because most of them are trouble. I’m not one of those girls that go around hanging with random boys and have a boyfriend at the same time. That’s more of an Alex thing.

  At around 3:30, we pile up in Paige’s crap car. The only reason she has it is so she can haul the boards around. It doesn’t even have a radio! I have to run my last three miles to finish my daily run. Paige drops me off first, knowing what I have to do. Mom stops me when she hears the screen door open.

  “Where have you been? No one told me you were leaving! And you and Brent broke up? Why don’t I know anything!” she says

  I usually run around my neighborhood and around the school. It’s about two to three miles. Brent’s house is on the route, but I decided to avoid it. It would make him feel awkward. While I’m running, I think about what college will be like. First of all, I have to make my running route. I can’t wait for college.

  Carson

  Wow, I’m going to college, I think. Summer has went by so fast. My friends and I usually go boating and prowling for girls, but school has cramped my schedule that I’ve barely even seen my buddies. It’s July, and I haven’t stepped foot out out of my house. I’m going to Florida State University. I play football, baseball, and basketball. I HATE running. There’s this guy in town that runs like twenty miles a day.

  Today is the day when you can go to the college and put some things in your dorm. I made sure I didn’t have a girlfriend a year ago so that I don’t have have to worry about crazy exes. My roommate is supposed to be here too. As the campus nears my vision, most kids are doing the same as me.

  I walk up to my room and unlock it. When the doors creeks open, there is a tall, skinny, redheaded kid. He’s wearing glasses and has severe acne. A hint of an over bite pokes out of his mouth.

  “Hey roomy! I’m Josh. Just to make it clear, this is my side, this is yours. This is my dresser, that is yours. And so on. If you follow my rules, we’ll get along. Later,” he said while walking out talking about math to himself.

  He didn’t care to let me talk. I decide to go down and chill a little by the school’s pool.It’s too bad my friends aren’t here to attract the ladies with me. I’m not really a mean guy. My dad taught me to treat girls right, so I’m taking his word for it. There’s a huge crowd of people there. I play it cool and slowly take my shirt off. Might I say that I have a six pack? Well I do, and that’s my main pick up. I don’t usually know what to say, so I try to use body language.I swim for a while until the girls lose interest and leave. Everyone cleared out pretty fast, around 4:00, so I left to. I put on some dry clothes and get in my car. The drive back home is silent.

  Aly

  Today is my first day of college. When I pull in, I go straight for the office area to get my parking pass and all the good free stuff. It’s so packed tight with other kids that t claustrophobic thoughts come in to mind. I walk up to my dorm and wait for my roommate. Five minutes later, she walks in. She is a light brunette, very tall and muscular. She is already intimidating me. She runs towards me and gives me a hug while I’m still on the bed.

  “O-M-G! I finally get to meet you! I’m Ashley. We are going to have so much fun, roomy!” she said quite excitingly.

  “I’m Aly,” I reply in a more annoyed tone. “Actually, right now I have to do a couple things. I have to make a running route.”

  “Oh! That’s right! Maybe I could go too!”

  “I’m more of a single runner than... a mingle runner.”

  “Nice play on words girlfriend! Well, if you ever need one, call me up!” She smiled and got out her phone to call someone.

  This is a good chance to slip out. It’s going to be a long four years. I take my run and figure out my route. Not many people run here, so I take this chance to finally have quiet time. After this, I go over to the smoothie place and grab a textbook from a shelf. After I finish my smoothie, I walk around until I end up at the fountain in front. Oops, the textbook is still in my hands. Oh well. I throw a penny in the fountain and begin to read.

  After about an hour, I go to the pool and chill by the poolside. It isn’t busy at this time, so it’s added to my schedule. So far, my schedule is almost booked. I have class at three until six. I have six to eight open. I’ll leave it blank for now. I go back to my room, watch some T.V. and go to bed early. Thank the lord Ashley isn’t there.

  The next day, the library is open and I slip in to catch up on some new books that have come out. Most of the people that like to read are here. Who would expect to see a jock in this “prison”, as some boys at my school called it. They are total Neanderthals. The rest of the day is taken up by reading a book at the fountain and working on a nice tan.

  Carson

  Ah, morning, the best time. I walk straight to the smoothie place and buy a mango banana swirl. I’m sitting there texting and drinking, when
a girl that I haven’t seen before walks in and orders the same thing. She looks over at me and I get embarrassed and look back at my phone. She sits down for about a half hour reading a book, then leaves. I throw my smoothie cup away and follow her. It was an instinct to follow girls for some reason.

  I’m spying on some girl that I don’t know. Wow, you stalker, I think. She throws a penny in the fountain and sits there for another half hour. Then she gets up and goes to the pool for a swim. I always have my trunks, so I decide to make a scene and take off my shirt off slowly again. She looks over, and I swear she rolls her eyes. Looks like she’s not that easy. I’m embarrassed again, so I just jump in the pool. At three, she leaves, and so do I because I have classes.

  It ends up that we have four classes together. Technical Science, Old English Literature, Geography, and Calculus. I’m in there immediately to see if she will be there. Five minutes pass and she still isn’t here. The teacher, Mr. Gilbert, starts to talk about Shakespeare when she comes in, quite late for class.

  “Sorry, um, teacher, I didn’t know what class I had first,” she says breathlessly.

  “And what is your name?” he sighs.

  “Uh, Aly Smith.”

  So that’s what her name is...

  “Ok, Aly. Your six minutes late for class, so I will put your name down. Next time I won’t be this easy. You disrupted the class young lady.”

  “I know Mr., Gilbert. It won’t happen again.”

  “I know it won’t happen again. Now go sit down next to Carson.”

  She looks around and sees that Carson is me. My face forces a slight nervous smile when she sits down. Mr. Gilbert gives a forty-five minute lecture about Hamlet and what inspired Shakespeare to write it. We didn’t make eye contact the whole time. I felt really stupid. Now we have to work with the people next to us, so that’s her and I. She doesn’t look so enthused.

  “I’m Carson,” I finally pipe up.

  “Aly,” she says with a sarcastic smile. “You know, I know you followed me today. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? I know boys like you that pretend to like a girl and dump them for someone else. Lay off, will you?”

  “Uh, ok, sorry. I didn’t mean to follow you, I don’t know why I did. I won’t do it again. Sorry.” I look down at my paper and start to scribble nonsense answers.

  “I should be the one saying sorry. Really, I just got out of a long relationship, so I’m a little off key lately.”

  “It’s fine. I, don’t.. really know... how to talk to girls...”

  “Really? Well at least your not arrogant. I like shy boys.”

  “Cool! I mean, that’s tight.”

  Just then, the class is dismissed. As she walks out she says one more thing.

  “By the way, nice abs.” She smiled and walked out.

  Aly

  As I walk back to my room, I really try to organize his features. Carson, I like that. He was really nice. Maybe I should’ve slowed down when he started to become nervous. Brown hair, blue eyes, very white teeth. Something about him gave me a weird feeling every time he talked. He really did have wicked abs.

  My room is unlocked and no one is in there. Gosh! Can Ashley not go out of her way and unlock one little door? She is really messy. She left all her clothes out and I swear she doesn’t know how to clean up after herself. She keeps taking my pop from my fridge. I throw everything on her bed and lay down. My mind is so clustered with different things. School. Carson. Track. Carson. Shakespeare. Carson. I didn’t even know if falling asleep was an option tonight. Finally, my mind drifts into a very light sleep.

  It’s Wednesday morning. Two days and I’ve already met a boy and caught some gazing at me from a distance. Four more years is all I can tell myself. This isn’t vacation people! It’s school, where you go so you don’t have to work at fast food restaurants!

  When the alarm clock goes off, Ashley wakes up too. She is about to say something when I fling my pointer finger up to shush her. After about five minutes, my body flies into action, putting on running clothes for the usual morning run. Usually I’m already ready to go when my alarm goes off. Boys make it hard to snooze. I run down to the smoothie shop and slurping down with many brain freezes. I skipped the textbooks today because I am running twenty minutes behind. Okay, boys mess with your schedule all around.

  Of course, when my run is over, I head to the pool to work on my tan. And also, Carson has now decided to go wherever I am, lingering in the distance. This has never happened to me. Here is the only place he makes a conversation with me.

  “Hey Aly, want to swim?” he asks.

  “No offense, but why do you think I’m here? Sure, I’ll swim,” I tease.

  We splash right in, just to make a statement that we’re here. when I come up for air, Carson wicks me in the face with a wave of water. He laughs and I splash him right back, in the face. He get out and tromps over to the diving board, screaming cannonball like a little kid, then jumping in. It was rancid. Water went everywhere, hitting everyone.

  “Jeez Carson! You are NOT good at making friends,” I laugh and splash him.

  “Now it’s so on,” he says slyly.

  We were at the pool for two hours, almost missing class, my hair still damp. Laughing, we stumbled in. Mrs. Artsworth gave us a dirty look. I sat down, Carson following, still chuckling with the adorable wheeze he makes with it. The teacher is telling us about how we have to go over simple stuff first, just to refresh our memories because apparently no one knows how to multiply fractions. Most of these teachers need to be in the elementary levels. But they are sometimes too aggressive and impatient for child care. That’s why none of them have kids.

  As she rattles on about how much math is important, Carson throws a note at me from across the room. He smiles at me. I open it .

  Hey Aly. Do you want to hang out tonight?

  Maybe we could go get something to eat, or get some smoothies.

  You know we get the same kind? Uh, yeah, well... throw one back. :)

  I look over and give him the thumbs up. He smiles and looks away. Under his desk, he makes a victory fist pump. He’s so silly.

  Carson

  Josh helps me pick some clothes to wear tonight on my date. Well, it’s kind of a date. More like a friend supper. Aly and I are going to the Crab Shack. I thought she would go with something less messy, but she insisted. I finally got her number. Sometime yesterday, she slipped it in my shorts pocket. We talked for an hour before we even started planning on where to go.

  I get in my clunker of a car and roughly drive to the downtown food center. Aly didn’t want me to pick her up. I didn’t argue. Another thing in Dad’s rulebook. DON’T ARGUE WITH WOMEN. Apparently, guys always lose. I wouldn’t doubt it.

  The Beast (my car) drives in and parks, almost hitting a Mercedes Benz that’s probably more than my college is costing. A waiter sees me and sits me down at a table for two. No one is here tonight. After fifteen minutes of fidgeting in my seat, Aly finally walks in. She tells the waiter that she’s with me and takes a seat across from me. I get a little tinge that goes through my whole body.

  I look at what she wore. I feel stupid getting so dressed up, when she only wore a nice shirt and jean shorts. I picked out khakis and a sweater vest! We kind of sit there awkwardly, not saying nothing. I finally speak up.

  “So how has your day been?” I say.

  She replies, “Carson. I was with you.” She looks at me with a smile that surely means she’s messing with me. That’s what is good about her. She knows how to joke and have fun while still maintaining confidence. This is a skill that I will never master.

  “I knew that. Um, what’s your favorite sport?” I ask.

  “Track comes in an absolute first. This feeling always goes through me, you know, that you have to keep going? And I always get an adrenaline rush! What’s yours?” she says excited. Certainly not running, I think.

  “I like baseball. Football comes in a close second. I’m really not much of
a runner. I did discus my senior year though. Does that count?” Right then, the waiter came with our food. We didn’t even order, though she knew what we wanted, crab legs. What else are you going to get at a crab shack? We talked nonstop until our plates were spotless, butter and small pieces of crab meat all over our hands. After we said our goodbyes,I gave her my number and we got in our cars. She left immediately, while I stayed parked. for a half and hour I sat in my car listening to the quite loud idle, not caring about how much gas I was wasting.

  Aly

  When I get home, I see that my phone must have been ringing off the hook, all from my mom. Six calls. Five text messages. It had to be important for her to even bother trying to text. Her generation isn’t good at phone usage. I typed in her number, the ringer going only twice.

  “Mom?” All I heard when I answered was her sobbing. I could tell it was a hard cry because she started making the hiccuping sounds. Bad sign.