Melinda’s Story
As we returned to campus, Bethany and Will said their goodbyes and veered down a path that would take them to the MAC. Pat and I didn’t really have a destination, although we were heading toward our dorms when his phone sang the opening bars to the NeoGenesis theme song.
After checking his brother’s text, he turned to me with a smile. “Weddas?”
“I’m game.” I loved playing the vocabulary game Walter had taught me in the fall.
Pat didn’t bother replying. We went straight up the large front steps to the second-story entrance to the third-form boys’ dorm. As soon as we entered the common room, we found Larry moving two tables together while Sarah and Erica looked on.
I turned to the girls. “Where’s Walter?”
Erica wrinkled her nose in confusion. “He went to get some game?”
Before I could respond, Walter returned with a green velvet bag about the size of my purse. As we all found seats around the table, I turned to my roommate. “You’re going to play?”
Sarah shrugged. “Why not? It was more fun than I thought.”
Walter withdrew six tile holders from the bag, doing his best to explain the game to Erica before passing the bag around the table. We each removed a single letter tile. Since Walter grabbed an A, he went first.
He drew seven tiles from the bag and placed them on his tray, again passing the bag to Erica beside him. While the rest of us withdrew our letters, Walter continuously rearranged his tiles. By the time I received the bag, he had figured out his word. He placed six letters on the table to spell out the word orange.
During the first few turns, the conversation around the table focused on the game. But once Erica got the hang of it, Walter changed the subject.
“Super Bowl tomorrow. Who’s watching with me?”
Sarah shrugged. “I’m not really big on the football part, but I like the halftime show.”
I looked at her. “Who’s playing?”
“CAVEmen,” Erica replied. She was studying her tiles so intensely, she didn’t see the five pairs of eyes exchanging glances around the table.
Walter turned to his brother. “Did you know?”
“N—Yes.” Pat began to shake his head, but quickly turned it into a nod. “I was talking to Meghan the other night. Told her I’d probably watch it in the VAPAC or something and she told me Dad was playing.” Pat turned to me with a smirk. “Then I went and found you and forgot all about that conversation.”
Larry raised his eyebrows at Pat. “Seriously, bro? He mentioned it when he brought us back to campus. Said he was flying to Florida.”
Walter looked confused. “I thought he was visiting Grandma and Grandpa.”
Erica looked up from her tiles. “Oh! I just got it. I completely forgot that the M in CAVEmen stood for McGregor!”
Walter waved a dismissive hand. “Yeah. Uncle Colin. The E stands for Dad. If we’re not watching it at the VAPAC, where should we go?”
Pat looked at his brother. “I’m going to Smith’s. Like half my class will be there.”
Walter smiled. “Oh yeah. He invited my class, too. I’m there. Erica?”
She shrugged. “Sure. None of my friends are going to watch it. Except Keri, but she’s hanging out with her boyfriend and they’re going to stream it in his room.”
“What time’s the game?” Larry asked.
Pat sat back in his chair, putting his arm on the back of mine. “Kickoff’s at 6:30. Smith said we could show up around six. And bring a bag of chips or something.”
“He told us to bring soda.” Walter looked to Larry, who nodded in the affirmative.
Erica pouted slightly. “So, does that mean we can’t go?”
Pat shook his head. “Nah. We can go to the gas station on the edge of campus—”
I frowned at him. “What gas station?”
Pat pointed in the general direction of the language building. “Behind the upper campus dorms. There’s a shortcut near the water tower.”
“What water tower?” I had never seen one near campus.
Pat just shook his head as he played with my hair. “Or we can walk even further to the drugstore in town.”
“What drugstore?”
Pat stared at me incredulously a few moments before answering slowly. “The one, like, two blocks past the church?”
“There’s a drugstore? I’ve been going to the one in the mall when I need stuff.”
Pat just shook his head and took his turn.
Erica wrinkled her nose. “I hate that gas station. I went there once for some snacks and they charged me three dollars for a bottle of soda. A regular one, not like a two liter.”
I placed my tiles and turned to Pat. “You and Walter can go to the grocery store.”
As Walter took his turn, Pat shook his head. “I’m not doing DMH this weekend.”
“But you’re allowed to drive Walter around.”
Pat frowned. “I can’t believe you’re even suggesting it. I’m only supposed to use my car for DMH. And Mass.”
Walter pointed at him. “You wouldn’t have to go all the way to Westdale if you hadn’t skipped all those classes and gotten Sunday D for life.”
“Really? You had to bring that up?”
I sat a little straighter in my chair, sending the boys pointed looks. “If you two don’t stop, I’ll—” I couldn’t think of a good threat.
Pat seemed to realize this. He sent me a sly smile. “You’ll what?”
“I’ll—I’ll—I’ll take your Weddas game hostage.”
Walter and Pat looked as if I had just threatened to take away their phones for life.
Pat sent me a hesitant look. “You wouldn’t.”
I didn’t answer him, instead rolling my eyes at the girls across the table. The boys could be so exasperating sometimes.
Pat’s expression turned to fear. He hated eye rolls. He glanced at all three of us. “What did you just say about me?”
I giggled as Walter brought the conversation back to the game. “It’s supposed to be nasty wet snow tomorrow. I don’t want to go out more than I have to.”
Pat sighed. “Fine. Everyone fork over five bucks. I’ll drive somewhere.”
After the game, Larry and Sarah declared they wanted to watch a movie and disappeared to his room.
Walter glanced around the table. “Who’s up for another round?”
Erica shrugged. “I’ll play again. This was fun.”
Walter smiled brightly. I knew he would play this game all day every day if he could. But I couldn’t.
As Walter returned the tiles to the bag, I shook my head. “I’m out. I can only play one game.”
“Do you have a deck of cards?” Erica asked. “We could play poker or something.”
Pat sent me a quizzical look. “Have I learned that yet?”
I knew many card games and had recently taught Pat how to play some of them. But I couldn’t remember poker being part of that list. I pursed my lips. “I don’t think so.”
Walter frowned. “I don’t have cards.”
“I’ve got some in my car, but it’s down at the TRAC.” Pat’s grimace clearly indicated he was not hiking across campus to retrieve them.
I stood with a sigh. “I’ll go get some. Erica. Come with?”
With a shrug, she stood. “Sure.”
Walter smirked. “This is like that going to the bathroom thing girls do, isn’t it?”
Erica frowned. “Why’d you say that? Now I’ve got to pee.”
Pat wiggled his eyebrows. “Are you afraid you’re going to get lost on your way to your own room?”
I kissed the top of his head. “Be nice or I won’t let you win.”
Erica giggled as we headed into the cold. “So, there’s something I’ve been dying to ask you all night. Walter and Patrick McGregor. I can’t figure out the dynamic between them. Are they like best friends or frenemies?”
I shrugged. “Both? I guess that’s the way it is when your brother is one of your best friends.”
“Whose brother?”
I raised my eyebrows as we entered Woodward. “Pat and Walter are brothers.”
We crossed the common room in silence before Erica responded. “Okay. Wow! That just clarified nearly every conversation I overheard tonight.”
I paused at the bottom of the staircase. “You’re okay with this, right?”
Erica nodded. “Yeah. I think so. It may not hit me until tomorrow, but . . . yeah. It’ll be fine.” She gestured down the hall. “I gotta pee. I’ll meet you back over in Stanton.”
Erica headed into the bathroom. With a shrug, I headed up the stairs. After grabbing a deck of playing cards from my desk drawer, I returned downstairs, peeking into the first-floor bathroom. All the stalls were empty. Figuring Erica had left without me, I headed back to Walter’s common room.
The boys were still the only two people in the common room. Pat rubbed his hands together eagerly as I placed the deck on the table. “Okay. Deal me in.”
Walter looked around as I shrugged off my coat. “Where’s Erica?”
“Thought she came back here. But, um.” Sighing, I bit my lip and turned to my best friend. “I told her you guys were brothers. She didn’t know.”
Walter shrugged. “It’s fine. Not like it’s a secret anymore.”
Pat took the cards and attempted to shuffle them. I bit back a giggle as the cards scattered across the table. After helping to collect them, I shuffled them properly.
“Here. Why don’t I teach you guys a new game? It’s super easy.”
My grandfather had taught me to play cards at a young age, but my younger brother was the one who had taught me garbage when he was in kindergarten. I had no trouble teaching Walter and Pat the basics of the game.
As we played, I could see Pat surreptitiously checking his watch every few minutes. I knew what he was thinking. Erica had been freaked out by the fact that Walter was his brother. I was definitely concerned. How long would we play this baby game before Walter realized she wasn’t coming back?
About halfway through the third round, Erica returned. She quickly shed her coat and sat across from me. “I’m so sorry. I ran into someone from my math class and we got to talking. You probably thought I ditched you, huh?”
“Not in the slightest,” Walter declared honestly, not looking up from his cards. “Nine and five. I win. Okay. Erica, your turn. Teach us poker.”
Erica smiled as she began shuffling the deck.
About a half an hour before curfew, Erica put on her coat. Walter put down the cards he was trying to shuffle. “May I walk you back to your dorm?”
She smiled. “Yeah. Sure.”
“Wanna go for a walk?” Pat suggested as he helped me to my feet.
“Of course. Night, Erica.”
The four of us exited the building together, Walter and Erica turning left to follow the paths to Erica’s upper campus dorm while Pat and I turned right to head to the Rotunda of the humanities building.
Pat put his arm around me, pulling me close. “That’s the lab partner?”
“Yup.” “I like her. Let’s hope he doesn’t screw this one up.”
“So, thank you for introducing me to Erica.” Walter bumped his shoulder against mine as we walked to church on Sunday morning. “We had a lot of fun last night.”
“Yeah. I didn’t get to ask you about dinner. How was it?”
“Well, not as exciting as yours.”
I pushed Walter off the sidewalk into a snowbank.
When he regained his balance, he continued his story. “We ate at the MAC and talked a lot. She’s really into sports. We talked about her basketball game. Wrestling.”
“You two together?”
Walter shook his head. “Not yet. We’re going to meet up after church. I kinda want to talk to her about my exes, especially Zayne.”
“Make sure you guys are on the same page this time around?”
“Exactly.” Walter shrugged. “So, do you have CCD?”
When I joined the basketball team, I could no longer attend my confirmation classes on Wednesday afternoons and had begun private instruction with my teacher after Mass on Sundays. My last teacher only wanted to meet once a month, but my current teacher insisted on weekly meetings.
I let out a sigh. “I’m meeting with Deacon John, yes.”
“And did you do your homework?”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you even have to ask?”
Walter held up his hands in defense. “I’m your mentor. Of course I have to ask.”
By the time I was ready to return to campus, the nasty weather had started. I walked as quickly as I dared along the icy paths as I headed back to campus. The dining hall had already opened for lunch, but I was too cold and miserable to want food. Instead, I went to my dorm to thaw in a warm shower.
For lunch, I was content to eat one of the protein bars I had stashed in a box of snacks under my bed. I was just about to change into my leotard when my phone signaled an incoming text. Brody’s car wouldn’t start, and he was going to have to cancel.
I glanced at the clock. The dining hall was still serving lunch. But I wasn’t all that hungry and didn’t feel like braving the elements if I didn’t have to. I definitely wasn’t about to trek across campus to dance. As I thought about what I wanted to do, Sarah returned to our room, with Larry right behind her.
She paused in the doorway. “Oh. We were going to watch a movie, but we can go somewhere else.”
I smiled at them. “Nah. It’s okay. What’cha watching?”
Larry went to sit on Sarah’s bed. “The B Team.”
“Never heard of it.”
Sarah grabbed her computer from her desk. “There’s a reason.”
As Sarah set up the movie, Larry explained. “It’s your classic underdog movie. A hockey team that was never supposed to make it to the Olympics and ended up winning gold.”
“You’re welcome to join us.” Sarah gestured to the computer at the end of the bed as she and Larry settled against the wall.
“I think I’ll pass.”
Although I loved my friends, the movie didn’t sound remotely appealing. I grabbed the novel we were reading in English class and the journal Pat had made me for Christmas and headed downstairs to the common room. On my way, I sent Pat a message that I wasn’t dancing after all and was wondering what he was up to. Maybe we could get together and do something, although I had no idea what. While I waited for him to respond, I curled up in a chair to write in my journal.
Pat’s Story
When we reached the edge of campus, Bethany and Will headed to the MAC while Melinda and I made our way toward our dorms. We were just passing the humanities building when my phone played the theme song to NeoGenesis. Recognizing my brother’s ringtone, I glanced at the screen before turning to my girlfriend.
“Weddas?” It was a vocabulary game our parents had invented that my brother and I had taught Melinda.
She smiled at me. “I’m game.”
We went straight to his common room, where Larry was moving two tables together. I was a little surprised. I expected him to be holed up in his room with his girlfriend.
She was standing with Melinda’s lab partner. As we took our seats, Walter returned with the little bag that held all the game pieces. He distributed the tile racks and explained the game to the new girl.
We all drew tiles and my brother got to go first. After a few rounds, the conversation turned to tomorrow’s Super Bowl. After we all agreed to watch it at Smith’s place, Larry asked what time the game started.
I relaxed into my chair, resting my arm on Melinda’s. “Kickoff’s at 6:30. Smith said we could show up around six. And bring a bag of chips or something.”
Apparently, he told the third formers to bring soda. The dilemma was figuring out where to get snacks.
I attempted to point out our choices. “We can go to like the gas station on the edge of campus—”
Melinda interrupted me. “What gas station?”
I pointed to where I thought it was. “Behind the upper campus dorms. There’s a shortcut near the water tower.”
“What water tower?”
My poor naïve girlfriend. If we were alone, I would have kissed her for being so adorable. But there were too many people at the table.
I settled for playing with her hair. “Or we can walk even further to the drugstore in town.”
“What drug store?”
I just looked at her. Was she being this obstinate on purpose? The look in her eyes told me she really was clueless. “The one like, two blocks past the church?”
“There’s a drugstore there? I’ve been going to the one in the mall when I need stuff.”
How I wanted to kiss her at that moment. Instead, I took my turn while the new girl told us how much she hated the gas station. I couldn’t blame her. They completely gouged their prices because the students couldn’t really go anywhere else.
Melinda took her turn before turning to me. “You and Walter can go to the grocery store.”
“I’m not doing DMH this weekend.”
“But you’re allowed to drive Walter around.”
Technically not. “I can’t believe you’re even suggesting it. I’m only supposed to use my car for DMH. And Mass.”
Walter turned to me. “You wouldn’t have to go all the way to Westdale if you hadn’t skipped all those classes and gotten Sunday D for life.”
“Really? You had to bring that up?”
Melinda moved away from me, glaring at us. “If you two don’t stop, I’ll—”
It was an empty threat. I called her bluff. “You’ll what?”
“I’ll—I’ll—I’ll take your Weddas game hostage.”
I wasn’t sure what surprised me more: the tone in her voice that sounded a lot like my mother’s or the fact that she was threatening to take away our favorite game. I had a feeling she might actually follow through on that threat, but I had to be sure. “You wouldn’t.”
Melinda rolled her eyes at the girls across the table. That wasn’t fair. She knew I couldn’t understand eye rolls. “What did you just say about me?”
Melinda just giggled as Walter whined that the forecast was calling for snow and he didn’t want to walk to the store in it.
I caved. “Fine. Everyone fork over five bucks. I’ll drive somewhere.”
My brother could be very competitive and had a tendency to become very whiny when he loses a game. Since I knew he was trying to impress this girl, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let him win one game, although Melinda was getting so good at it she almost beat him.
But he was in good spirits when the game ended. Larry whispered something in Sarah’s ear, and the two of them disappeared upstairs. One of them may have mentioned they were going to watch a movie, but I was pretty sure that was a euphemism.
Walter looked around the table. “Who’s up for another game?”
The new girl smiled. “I’ll play again. This was fun.”
Walter was beaming. He had found someone who would play endless rounds of Weddas. I was a little jealous. Although my girlfriend liked the game, she had a limit of one game per day.
Since Melinda wouldn’t play again, the new girl suggested we play poker. Melinda had taught me several games, but I didn’t remember the rules for poker.
I turned to her. “Have I learned that one yet?”
Melinda shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
Walter didn’t have any cards and my only deck was in my car all the way down at the TRAC, so Melinda offered to get some from her room.
She turned to the new girl as she put on her coat. “Erica. Come with?”
The new girl shrugged. “Sure.”
Walter smirked. “This is like that going to the bathroom thing girls do, isn’t it?”
Erica frowned. “Why’d you say that? Now I’ve got to pee.”
I smiled at my girlfriend. “Are you afraid you’re going to get lost on your way to your own room?”
She kissed the top of my head. “Be nice or I won’t let you win.”
The new girl’s giggles echoed as they headed out. Walter returned the Weddas game to his room, and I found myself alone in the common room. There weren’t that many people milling about. It was still early, and many people were at the chapel theater for movie night. They were airing Zombie High. Since my sister had the starring role, I had seen it at the LA premiere. I had no desire to see it again.
Melinda returned moments after Walter. She was all bundled, with her hood pulled tightly over her head. She was so adorable, I had to smile.
I clapped my hands together and rubbed them eagerly. “Okay. Deal me in.”
She placed the cards on the table and took off her coat.
Walter looked around. “Where’s Erica?”
Melinda shrugged. “Thought she came back here. But, um.” Melinda glanced at me with a sigh. She looked uncomfortable as she continued. “I told her you guys were brothers. She didn’t know.”
Walter shrugged. “It’s fine. Not like it’s a secret anymore.”
Since he had spent most of the last semester pretending I didn’t exist, this change in his attitude was a relief. However, I couldn’t tell if he meant it. But I would wait until we were alone to confront him about it.
I grabbed the deck of cards and tried to shuffle them. I grew up in a board game family. We hardly ever played cards. Unlike my card shark girlfriend, I was not very adept at to shuffling. The cards exploded all over the table.
I could see she was trying not to laugh at me. She helped gather them all before taking the deck from me. After shuffling them at the corners, she dealt us each ten cards.
This wasn’t poker. It was another game I had never learned. She showed us how to set up our playing areas, then took her turn to show us what to do.
The game was quick. Walter and I had each won a game when the new girl finally returned.
She hurriedly sat across from Melinda and took off her coat. “I’m so sorry. I ran into someone from my math class and we got to talking. You probably thought I ditched you, huh?”
Walter never even looked up from his cards as he continued his turn. “Not in the slightest. Nine and five. I win! Okay. Erica, your turn. Teach us poker.”
The new girl smiled shyly as she shuffled the cards. As she dealt five cards to each of us, she slowly explained what we had to do. We played several hands.
After my brother and I figured out what we were doing, then the girls taught us some variations. I even won a few hands before we called it a night.
Attention Hammerheads
Melinda is always trying to build her vocabulary. What were some words in this episode that were new to you? She will add them to her vocabulary journal.
Hartfield Chronicles 