Less Than Three

Chapter 44: The Regular Rhythmic Contraction of the Heart

Monday, August 10, 4:21 PM Term of the Day: Systole - The regular rhythmic contraction of the heart

Hello again, my zoolio friends. It took a while, but I think I've finally got my systole back.

School orientation day arrived and, believe it or not, I was actually looking forward to it. I felt like a different girl than the one who walked those halls just a few months before. The New Different Me was ready to get on with doing New Different Things.

Except for glimpses, I hadn't seen Brady since we broke up for good. I was standing in the schedules line when I heard him laugh somewhere behind me. The sound of it made me smile. I turned and stood on my tiptoes to see over Craig, who caught me looking and put a hand on my shoulder.

"You know he's seeing Kiersten, right?" he said.

And I said, "Yeah, Jacob told me. It's okay." And it was, really. Here's the truth:

I wish them well.

Speaking of Jacob, he saw us first and waved. I glanced at Madison. She didn't wave back, so I shrugged in Jacob's direction, but I didn't wave either. 

Brady looked up then. "Hey" I mouthed to him. He left his place in line and came to where Craig, Madison and I stood.

"You cut your hair," he said.

"The new me. You like it?"

"I didn't think I could forget how pretty you are."

Someone called his name then and when we turned around, Kiersten was skipping up. She stopped as soon as she saw me standing there. We were all kind of in limbo for a minute until Brady said, "This is kind of awkward, isn't it?"

I looked at him. He looked at me. He smiled, and his whole face changed – just like that moment so long ago when I fell in Love for the first time. I reached up to kiss him on the cheek, then winked at Kiersten. "You've got a good one here. Make sure you treat him right," I said. Then I watched as they walked away. And I saw it when he reached for her hand.

Everybody started breathing again after that.

We got our schedules and Craig, Madison and I checked out our classes. I had French with Craig and Journalism with Mad. After that, we split up to try our locker combinations. 

I spotted Madison once more while I was on the hunt for the elusive locker #341. She was in full flirt mode, batting her eyelashes up at Martin the Magnificent. It occurred to me then: Madison's systole was going to be just fine too.

As for Craig, like my dad says: He is still the best friend a girl could ask for. 

One day, a week before school started, we devoted the entire afternoon to mayhem making. We were lying on the grass afterward, looking up at the sky, when an early star popped out. We both said, "Hey, remember ..." then, "Pinch, poke, you owe me a Coke."

We laughed and rolled onto our sides to face each other. He touched a finger to my chin and tilted my face toward his. I knew he was going to kiss me ... and I let him. I wished then, with all my <3, that when I opened my eyes he would look different to me. I would love to Love Craig like that.

But I still didn't.

He sighed and rolled onto his back. "Oh well," he said.

I turned his face back to me and planted a kiss on his nose. "Maybe some day," I said, then we skated to the coffee shop for Americanos and vanilla chai.

I'd finally found my locker and I was trying to make it open sesame when I heard someone say, "That can't be Summer Day in a brown dress. I heard she hates that color."

My stomach did a fluttery thing and I looked at my wrist, where the New Different Me now wears a watch. I noted the time ... 2:22 ... the wishing hour. "I hear it's quite the fashion statement this year," I said, before looking up.

One wish granted.

Dave Brown's eyes were still amazing, but I wondered ... I reached a finger under my Girl Scout beret. "Is it still ...?"

"Blue?" he asked. "It's faded some but, yeah." He pulled off the cap and a riot of brown, bleached blonde and turquoise hair dropped onto his brow.

"Sheesh," I said. "What were you thinking?"

"You should have seen the looks I got at my grandma's funeral," he said.

"I'm so sorry," I told him. "For that and ..." I pushed a few blue-ish strands out of his eyes.

He glanced away for a moment but when he looked back, his lips were doing that crawl thing and those Technicolor eyes had crinkles at the corners. "How about I let you make it up to me?" he said. "Pepperoni pizza? Tomorrow night?"

Summer is over, my dear zooligans, and so is this blog. It's always sad to say good-bye but what that really means is: We were once lucky enough to have had a chance to say hello.

No regrets.

Not a one.

And hey, maybe we DID do something meaningful this year.

<3

THE END.

Author Note: I started publishing this story on Wattpad as an experiment in marketing the other books I've written. That experiment was a success. I don't know exactly how many copies of the The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading and Dating on the Dork Side my adventure here helped to sell, but I know it sold some.

 The rewards I received were far more than a few extra dollars in royalties though. You guys, the readers, have made me smile every single day since I posted the first chapter of Less Than Three. Your support and encouragement, the very kind things you've had to say, your passion for these characters and their story ... these are the reasons that I, and writers everywhere, do what we do.

THANK YOU ... and I hope to see you again soon!