Leap of Faith

Day Six

There’s a song called I Don’t Like Mondays, but I will maintain until the day I die that someone should write a follow up song called I Hate Tuesdays because I will totally buy that. There’s nothing redeeming about Tuesdays; Monday is an ok day because it’s the start of a new week, and Wednesday is midweek, and Thursdays and Fridays are practically the weekend. Which leaves sucky Tuesday.

Did I not mention that Tuesday is my gym day?

“You look miserable,” TJ mutters from where he sits on the window ledge next to my locker. He’s busy checking his Facebook newsfeed and only looks up at me when I don’t answer him. “Why are you depressed?”

“It’s Tuesday,” I reply.

“It’s gonna be Tuesday all day,” he laughs, and then suddenly becomes serious. “Are you gonna be in a funk all day?”

I shrug. “Just until lunch time.”

“That’s a very specific time frame, Cate,” he leans his head to one side and surveys me. “Why until lunch time?”

“Because I have gym class fourth period,” I sigh. I take out the large History text book that’s been weighing down my satchel and throw it haphazardly into my locker. I hated History and just my luck it fell on the same day as gym. In fact, it came right before gym class. “I hate sports.”

That’s an understatement, by the way. I don’t just hate sport, I loathe it. I didn’t mind watching other people play, because at least they could actually play. Me, I was like Bambi on ice when it came to anything physical and it was a constant embarrassment how inept I was. In the three and a half years I’ve been at Capshaw, I’ve been in about ten sporting incidents. Either I’ve ended up in the nurse’s office, or I’ve put someone in there in my place. I cannot be trusted when it comes to gym.

I had arrived at school earlier than usual. I have a license and I have my own car, but I wasn’t much of a driver and preferred when other people drove instead. Today, Libby and Mom were headed up to San Francisco to scour the bridal stores up there and meet with Anna, so they dropped me off at school on the way.

My middle sister was a jewelry designer and David had commissioned Anna to design and make his and Libby’s wedding bands. Libby was very specific when it came to what she wanted as her ring and had been fussing all night over drawings of designs she liked. Eventually, she opted for a simple, slim platinum ring to match her engagement ring with three small colored stones on the band. There would be an emerald stone to represent David’s birthstone, an sapphire for Libby’s birthstone and a ruby to represent the month that their child was due to make his or her arrival. It was sentimental, and totally Libby.

The trip up to the city also gave Libby a chance to force Anna into trying on more bridesmaid dresses and for once I thanked God that I was in school, even if it was Tuesday. In the grand scheme of things, I think I preferred being in gym class than in a bridal fitting room wearing even more pink chiffon or taffeta.

“What are you pulling that face for?” TJ smiled bemusedly at me.