Kim Pritekel: Outcome

"Well, I do my best." I grinned, so did she.

"Who are you here with?"

"My pal Tracy."

"Huh?" Tracy looked at me, then back at Haley, then back at me with huge eyes.

"Oh. Hello." Haley smiled at my friend. Shyly Tracy waved at her.

"Haley, they’re making two lines. Come on." One of Haley’s friends grabbed her by the sleeve, tugging her away. "Girl, what are you doing?" I heard hissed at her. I didn’t listen for Haley’s response.

"You talk to her?" I turned to see Tracy looking at me expectantly. "Better yet, she talks to you?"

"Gee, thanks. Yes."

"Wow. Call me shocked." The line moved up a bit, and we were finally inside the building. I looked around, trying to not make it obvious, seeing where Haley had gone. She stood with a group of about four or five, all huddled together talking and laughing. She ran her hands through her ponytail, fixing it a bit. I had never seen her with her hair down. It hadn’t occurred to me until just now.

The entire time I’d gone to school, I had been in awe of Haley Corregan. Not only was she popular and beautiful, but she was known for being sweet and kind to everyone. I was finding that to be true. My opinion of her crowd could certainly be higher, but she had gained my respect for the most part. She seemed separate from them, somehow, like even they were out of her league. It was so unfair for one girl to be so talented, a star soccer player, intelligent and unbelievably beautiful. Why was it that just certain people were blessed by the gods with every single attribute? With everything going their way? And why on earth would someone like her hang around with those circus clowns?

"Hello, earth to Andi." Shaken out of my reverie, I looked around to see we were at the front of the line. I reached into my pocket for my money, handing the girl the right amount, and taking my ticket. "Where did you go?" Tracy asked as we headed to the concession stand.

"Oh, nowhere. Just kind of lost in my own thoughts for a second there."

"Yeah, I’ll say. What do you want?"

We ordered our junk food, feeling justified after the workout we’d had in class, and headed into the huge theater, packed with anxious movie-goers. We found two seats as close to the middle as we could. I felt the movie experience wasn’t nearly as good unless I sat as close to the middle as I could. Hey, we all have our things.

The movie ended, we stood to leave.

"Oh, I loved it," Tracy gushed, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"You are such a sap." I grinned, easing my way into the main aisle as people herded out.

"Yeah, so? Oh, it was just so sweet!" she exclaimed, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

"You’re a nut. Wait for me, will you? I need to go to the bathroom."

"Okay." She sniffled as she headed toward the lobby. I hurried to the ladies room, the large coke I’d had going through me like a funnel. The bathroom, too, was packed as several movies got out at the same time, so I leaned against the tiled wall, waiting for my turn.

"Well, I just can’t get away from you today, can I?" I turned to see Haley lean against the wall next to me. I grinned.

"Sorry about that." She looked confused.

"Why?" Because your friends are assholes?

"Oh, nothing. Just kidding."

"Oh. So did you enjoy your show?" She heaved the strap of the bag she carried, further up her shoulder.

"Not as much as Tracy did." I grinned. "She’s blowing her nose as we speak." Haley chuckled, then indicated that I should move up in line. I slid across the wall.

"Oh, one of those kinds of movies, huh?" She smiled. I nodded.

"Apparently. I liked it, but didn’t really feel the need to cry. What about yours?"

"Well, let’s put it this way, I wish I had gone into yours. I can watch Sandra Bullock any day. But J. Lo? Well, I’m not such a fan. But Ralph Finnes is pretty cute. Pretty green eyes. You don’t see those very often." She narrowed her eyes, and leaned toward me. I stared at her like she was nuts. "You have green eyes." She stood up again, arms cross over her chest. "Huh. I never noticed that. They’re pretty." I, for the first time in my life, blushed, looking away. I hated to be affected by what other people said.

"Um, thanks. Oh, it’s my turn. See you later." I smiled, and hurried to the deserted bathroom stall.

I tapped the eraser of my No. 2 on my notebook as I examined my doodle. Art certainly wasn’t in my future, well, if it was I’d put the old adage "starving artist" to all new heights.

Deciding my lopsided housed needed a shrub near the front door, I turned the pencil in my fingers and began to sketch.

THUD!

Nearly squealing in surprise, my head shot up to see a very exasperated Haley looking down at me. I looked to see her one hundred pound backpack sitting on the table where it had been tossed.

"So, were you trying to break the table in half? I’m sure if you do that again, you’ll succeed."

"I’m sorry. I think I scared you." She grinned at me. I looked down at my picture at the long line that was apparently an elongated shrub. I nodded.

"And you’d be right. What’s up?" With a heavy sigh, Haley flopped down in the chair next to me.

"I need help. Are you free? It’s Thursday, your tutoring day, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah, some guy named Kevin Rogers was supposed to show up, and," I glanced at my watch, "he’s really late. So, lucky you." I smiled. "What the problem?"

"Physics lab. I don’t understand this, Andi. I’ve never seen myself as stupid at all. So why am I suddenly now? I swear, something happened over the summer, and suddenly I’m just … stupid." I smiled.

"Let me see." Haley tugged her bag to her, and unzipped it, grabbing the lab book.

"I understand it, well I thought I did, but none of my labs come out right. I don’t get it, Andi."

"Hey, it’s okay." I could see the distress on her face and hear it in her voice. "We’ll work on this, okay?" She nodded, but I still don’t think she fully believed me. "Magnetism, huh?" She nodded again. "It’s not a real easy concept to grasp, so don’t worry."

"You get it."

"I’m a science geek, of course I get it." She smiled. "Okay, what have you done so far with the lab? Did you bring the magnets with you?" She reached into her backpack and drew out the magnets. "Alright. Now, show me what you’ve done so far."

"No, you’ll laugh." I grinned, shaking my head.

"Not at all. I need to see what you’ve done, Haley, and where you’re going wrong." She studied me for a moment, then with a sigh grabbed the magnets.

"You promise you won’t laugh?"

"Of course." She grabbed the textbook from me, reading the instruction, and began to perform the simple experiment. I watched her, amazed that she’d come to me again. Why not Rodman?

"I talked to Mr. Rodman yesterday, and he went over this with me, but unfortunately I guess it didn’t stick."

Oh. I guess she did.

"So I was your last hope, huh?" I grinned. She gave me a mock glare.

"So, are you watching?"

"Yep."

"Okay, so I get this far, they begin to pull, then suddenly they stop. I don’t get it."

"Do it again." I leaned forward, watching carefully. With a nod of my head, I reached into my bag, grabbing the paper I’d just gotten back today in English. I took the paperclip off, and reached over to the magnets that had, once again, stopped in the middle of the experiment. I held the metal clip directly between them, and within two seconds, both raced forward to slam together.

Haley sat back, surprised.

"How did you do that?" she asked, her eyes still on the magnets, tightly snuggled together.

"Well, unfortunately those instructions suck in that book. With these kind of magnets you need a metal component." I pulled the magnets apart, holding the paperclip up to show her. "There isn’t much metal here, but it’s enough." Haley grabbed the clip out of my fingers, looking at it, shaking her head. She looked at me with a grin.