CHAPTER-5 APRIL 1974

In the two weeks following the homecoming dance, my life pretty much returned to normal. My father was back from his business trip, which made things a lot more fun around my house, primarily because I could sneak out the window again and head to graveyard for my late night potato chips party. I don't know what it was about the graveyard that attracted us, maybe the tombstones themselves, because as far as tombstones went they are fairly comfortable to sit on.

We usually sat in a small plot where the great family of Hemingson was buried some eighty or hundred years ago. There were six tombstones there, all arranged in a circle, making it easy to pass the chips back and forth between us. One day, me and my friends went to library to find something about Hemingson family. I mean, if you are going to sit on someone's tombstone, you might know something about them, right? It turns out that there wasn't much about the family in historical records, though we find one interesting information. Charles Hemingson, the eldest son, was one-armed and still went in wars, believe it or not. Now the vision of him is pretty vivid right off bat, so we talked about him alot. We wondered what else he could do with only one arm, and we'd spend long hours discussing how far he could throw a shot put ball or how fast he can pitch a baseball or weather he was able to swim or not. Our conversation weren't exactly highbrow, but I enjoyed them, in every way. 

Well, me and Eric were out there one Saturday night with couple of other friends eating boiled peanuts with chips, chips was must no matter what. Eric asked me what we did after dropping her home.

"we chatted and went home" I said shrugging, trying my best to play it cool.

Eric playfully elbowed me in ribs, and I grunted. He outweighed me atleast thirty pounds.

"did you kiss her goodnight?"

"what? no!"

he took some more peanuts from the side of his bag, as I answered. He gave me a sidelong glance.

"you didn't even try?"

"no"

"why not?"

"she isn't that type of girl, plus I wasn't her date" I looked away, and we all knew it was true, it still sounded like I was defending her.

Eric latched onto like a leech.

"I think you fancy her," he said

"you are full of crap!" I answered, and he slapped my back, hard enough to force the breath right out of me. Hanging out with Eric usually meant that I'd have few bruises the following day.

"yeah, I might be full of crap," he said while winking at me,"but she choosed only you for cleaning and you agreed, plus she gave you a ride back home too!!"

I knew we were treading on dangerous ground. 

"I was just using her to impress Diana,"I said."and with all the love notes she'd been sending me lately, I reckon it must have worked."

Eric laughed aloud, slapping on my back again.

"you and Diana- now, that's funny..."

I knew I'd just dodged a major bullet, and j breathed a sigh of relief as the conversation took a new direction. I joined in now and then, but I wasn't listening to what they were saying. Instead I kept hearing this little sound that made me wonder what Eric said.

The thing was, Amelia's parents are good friends of my parents so I just need to get along with her even if I want to or not, as for the ride back, it was the best I could get at that time. We talked quite nicely dosen't mean I liked her. I hadn't talked to her since the dance, except when I saw her in drama class, and even then it was some words here and there. If I liked her at all,I told my self, i would have wanted to talk to her. If I liked her, I would have wanted to walk her home. If I liked her, I would have wanted to take her for a dinner in a nice and fancy place. But I didn't want to do any of those things. I really didn't. In my mind, I have already served my penance.

The next day, Sunday, I was in my room, working on my maths. It's probably my worst subject, especially when it comes to algebra questions of two trains leaving an hour apart, traveling in so-so speed,etc. It wasn't that I was bad in math- I usually pulled atleaat C- but it didn't come naturally to me, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I was working on my math when the phone rang. The only phone we had was located in the kitchen, and I had to run downstairs to grab the receiver. I was breathing so loudly that I couldn't make the voice too well, though it sounded like Emma. I immediately smiled to myself.