Senior Year Box Set

I lunged for Tami, and Lexi took off in the other direction. We were all giggling as I captured Tami and began to tickle her.

“David, stop! I’m going to pee,” Tami squealed.

I swear that ninety percent of the times when a girl says that, she’s bullshitting. The problem was the other ten percent. That was probably why guys are conditioned to stop when girls uttered that phrase. Tami used my hesitation to escape.

I started to make chase when I was hit by what seemed like hundreds of balloons all at once. Cassidy strode up, and I dropped to my knees in defeat. She let Gina stomp over and bust one on top of my head. The crowd cheered my demise.

◊◊◊

After I dried off, I wandered off in search of my Wesleyan buddies. I found Megan and Sarah hanging out with Harper Mass and Janet Hill. Tami joined us at a picnic table overlooking the lake.

“Ladies. What have you been up to?” I asked.

“He actually remembers us,” Harper teased.

Harper had always been the funny one, or so she thought.

“That’s the best you got?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Do I need to go through the list?” Harper queried. “You win state in football and a bunch of hardware to go along with it. Next there was that little thing … what was it called? Oh, yeah, an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Then we all watched College First on streaming video.”

“Don’t forget all the women he’s been with. Everything from a genuine princess to movie stars to models to … I’m sure there’s more,” Janet said to jump in.

“The David we knew was just this cute guy who somehow ended up dating Jennie Wesleyan,” Sarah said.

“Speaking of which, what is Jennie up to?” I asked.

They all looked at Tami as though we talked about the goings-on at Wesleyan on a daily basis. I had a little twinge of guilt because if things between us had stayed on track, she would have been sharing exactly that sort of thing with me.

“Didn’t you give him the big news?” Harper asked.

“David couldn’t care less about Jennie Wesleyan,” Tami said to defend herself.

“She’s engaged,” Sarah said.

“Do I know him?” I asked.

“Alistair Winston,” Tami said.

“Why does that name sound familiar?” I asked.

“He’s the guy who was going to take her to her cousin’s engagement party, but you took her instead,” Tami said.

Oh, yeah, it all came flooding back. That happened around the time I basically called Jennie’s uncle, Teddy, a rich snob for doing a background check on me. Her mom had gotten it into her head that Jennie had to hurry up and get married, and it had to be someone of their station.

“Did she go off to college somewhere?” I asked.

Jennie was a year older than us.

“She went to Kentucky,” Janet supplied.

“How did she ever connect with Alistair, then? I can’t imagine him going anywhere other than an Ivy League school,” I said.

“You’re right; he’s at Yale. Their families were together over Christmas, and she claims she fell in love,” Tami said.

“Good for her,” I said to dismiss our talk about Jennie. “What about Missy and Lisa? Tell me what happened to them.”

“The twins both got into Harvard,” Tami shared. “Megan got in there as well. She plans to do some traveling this summer before she goes to school.”

“Isn’t the whole ‘summer trip and then going to Harvard’ a little cliché?” I asked.

“I’ll have you know that the stereotype that Harvard’s student population is all ‘preppy, pretentious rich kids’ isn’t true,” Megan shot back. “Granted, there are many affluent students. But there’s an even greater number of students who are hard-working future leaders and creative thinkers, regardless of financial status.”

I think she proved my point. A heartbeat later, she figured out I was just messing with her.

“The reason I’m going is they wouldn’t let the likes of you in.”

“Before you start something that you can’t finish,” Tami weighed in, “there are a few minor details you should be aware of. David scored much higher on his SATs than you did; he’ll graduate as valedictorian with straight ‘A’s; and he has extracurriculars out the wazoo. He could get into Harvard without a problem. In fact, they’d be frothing at the mouth to have him.”

Megan stuck her tongue out at me in response to my friend’s defense.

“Don’t stick that out unless you’re prepared to use it,” I said with a smirk.

“I’d forgotten what a flirt he is,” Harper all but moaned.

“As soon as finals are done, I’ll move to New York to model,” Sarah said to change the subject.

“I got into Northwestern and plan to study business,” Harper said.

“I’m going to go to Georgetown,” Janet added.

“What are you studying?” I asked.

“English, but that’s only a stepping stone. I plan to use that major to become a lawyer someday.”

“When do you head off to Stanford?” I asked Tami.

“You got in?” Harper asked, surprised.

“Sorry. They asked me to keep it under wraps until they make the scholarship announcements at our formal,” Tami explained and then smiled. “I got a full ride through medical school if I keep my grades up.”

“Oh, my God! That’s great news,” Harper said as she gave Tami a hug.