LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 51

If they weren't sitting in front of the TV, movie or Super Nintendo game on screen, Ralph Langley and Jack Merridew could be found at the playground of Ralph's old elementary school; the one he attended before he transferred to the academy. The equipment on this particular playground was a little run down compared to how Ralph remembered it from his early childhood days. The wooden structures had little frey strands pealing off here and there. The large slide at the top of the tallest structure had several dents and scratches in the metal. The red and grey paint was peeling off on monkey bars, poles, and railings.

Of course, none of that mattered to the boys. It was in short walking distance from Ralph's house. The summer heat kept them from spending long periods of time outside during the day. They'd often wait to walk over to the park until the sun started to lower in the sky and the air became a little cooler and much more bearable. The boys hung out on the overused playground structure; talking, exercising, fooling around with each other. Sometimes, they'd hop on the rusty swing set and compete to see who could get going highest, and maintain that height and effort the longest.

One night in mid July, just after 2045 hours (or 8:45 PM), Ralph was laying at the top of the tallest play structure beside the dented slide. He was mindlessly tossing a decent sized bouncy ball up in the air and catching it. He found the toy in the pocket of his shorts earlier. Jack sat propped up against the metal railing across from him, embracing the relief the cool breeze was providing.

"Do you remember that one night at the academy; we sat around that fire, long after lights out, and we were talking about girls and all that shit?" Jack asked suddenly, a light gust of wind pushing his blond hair back.

"You're gonna have to be more specific" Ralph responded, holding his gaze on the ball rising and falling just above him, catching it in his hand each and every time. "There were lots of nights like that."

"No, I mean the one we talked about what we were into; the kind of girls we'd want to go out with. Don't you remember that?" Jack questioned assuredly.

"I dunno, maybe" Ralph shrugged, his t-shirt rubbing against the wooden structure beneath him.

The truth was, Ralph knew exactly what night Jack was talking about. It was a crisp one at the end of May, nearing the end of Ralph's first year at the academy. He and Jack were good friends by that point and hung out often. Although they were usually alone when they did, simply because their friends didn't mesh well. Simon and the twins had no interest in spending time with Jack or Roger outside of the duress of training and academia. Ralph only turned eleven a few months earlier, and this conversation with Jack was the first real one he ever had about girls. It was one of the few times Ralph had really thought about them at all. He had friends back in his old elementary school who talked about which girls in their class were the cutest, but Ralph was maturing a little on the slower side and had little to no interest at the time.

That late May night around the fire with Jack, Ralph felt obligated to say something, anything that would convince Jack that he was as ready and mature about girls and crushes as Jack was. He was still desperate to fit in with Jack, to prevent the twelve-year-old from figuring out that they would've been on different social pedestals back at his old school.

"I think I'm sick" sixth grade Jack had spoken suddenly into the quiet, his voice drowning out the crackling of the fire.

"What? Are you gonna throw up?" young Ralph had panicked, his little brown eyes wide with worry.

"No, not that kind of sick" Jack waved a dismissive hand at him. "More like love sick."

"Love sick? I've never heard of that" Ralph admitted, realizing too late how dumb he must've sounded.