Free Spring Perfection by Leslie DuBois Page A

never seen anyone wear so many bracelets on one arm at one time in
my life.
    At the wise old age of 12, the girls and boys of Charleston
Preparatory School were convinced of only two things.
    1. Boys were gross.
    2. Girls were as boring as watching paint dry on grass.
    I was pretty sure both of those facts were engraved on bathroom
doors somewhere. It was almost sacrilege for the two groups to mix at that age.
    As Reyna made her way through the classroom, stuck-up blond girl
after stuck-up blond girl refused to let her sit down. Not because she was
black. But because she was new. She hadn't yet proven
what social group she belonged. No one wanted to take a chance by including her
and later figuring out she didn't belong. Most people thought it was best to
adopt a wait-and-see attitude.
    Reyna lifted her head unfazed and continued walking toward the
back of the class where all the stinky...literally stinky...boys were found.
    "You can sit here," I said, offering the empty seat next
to me. I heard my voice before I even thought the words.
    Reyna looked at me and smiled. Suddenly my mouth went dry and my
legs turned to putty. Thank goodness I was sitting down.
    She sat down next to me and asked what I was reading. At least, I
think that's what she said. The rest of class was a blur. All I remember was
sitting next to her during lunch that day.
    "Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked as we sat
in the cafeteria.
    I shrugged. I really didn't know why. I had never sat with a girl
at lunch. Ever. Something about Reyna just felt right
though.
    She smiled again and I felt that funny feeling. If she kept
smiling at me like that I might not be able to walk again. "That's okay.
You don't have to explain. I don't think I've ever eaten a meal with a white
person before. I just feel comfortable with you, though."
    "You mean , you don't know any white
people?"
    "I've spent most of my life in Puerto Rico."
    "You're Spanish? You're black and Spanish just like Roberto
Clemente."
    She started babbling rapidly in Spanish. When she noticed my
confused look, she stopped short and covered her mouth.
    "Oh, I'm sorry. I was just really excited you knew about
Roberto Clemente. I love baseball."
    A girl who loved baseball? This was going to be an amazing
friendship.
    Just then my cell phone buzzed. Cell phones weren't exactly
allowed at Charleston Prep for most people. But I was Scott Kincaid. I wasn't
most people. A lot of exceptions were made for me.
    I dismissed the call and stuffed the phone into my pocket. I
couldn't deal with my mother right now. She was probably just calling to yell
at me for not finishing my workout that morning or calling to remind me to run
extra laps after school.
    "You don't want to answer that?" my new friend asked.
    I rolled my eyes. "It's just my mother. She'll have plenty of
time to yell at me later. Right now I'm trying to eat."
    Reyna looked concerned. It was like she could somehow feel the
pain in the relationship between my mother and me.
    "In my village in Puerto Rico, there was an old woman
nicknamed La Cienega who once told me that someone can only make you unhappy if
you let them."
    I thought about this for a second. No one had ever put it that way
before. And three different therapists had tried.
    "Is that why you were able to smile even though those girls
in class rejected you?"
    "That wasn't my smile. That was La Cienega's smile."
    I looked at her confused.
    "I'll tell you about her later. Not today. You're not ready.
You'll just think I'm weird."
    She was right about that. I did think she was weird. And different. And exciting. And unique. She was the most fascinating person I had ever
met in my life.

 
 

Top
of the Sixth

 
    We fail to score in the bottom of the fifth. Now it is my time to
go out and keep my perfect game going. As I walk out to the mound, I feel that
maybe I am still that superficial kid from the sixth grade. I like to think
that I have changed a lot, that my friendship with Reyna