Falling For Amelia Manning

With a backpack almost heavier than she is, Phoebe prepared herself for the start of the school year. Running earlier than usual, she waited by the front door with her lacrosse stick in one hand and two bagels in the other. Humming a tune to herself, she peered around the cover of the porch to see if her mom had headed out for work yet. Not seeing the car, she assumed she guessed correctly. She didn't have to turn back around to know the sound of James' car pulling up. Whipping back to the start of the stairs, she jogged to the car by the curb.

"Ready for the first – last – day of our high school careers?!" James nearly shouted at her when the door opened to reveal her in a pink cardigan over a deep burgundy top paired with a pair of jeans that made Phoebe instantly jealous. She would never be able to pull off the cut James wore, she was too short.

"I'm more ready for try-outs, but the last first day is good too." Smiling as she jumped into the car and threw her stick into the back seat, James didn't wait for Phoebe's door to close to pull away from the curb. Flying down the road, James steered them to the back roads to avoid as much traffic as possible. Meanwhile, Phoebe looked at her healing lip in the vanity mirror, wishing the cut from last week would go away.

"How did you get that again?" James swerved nearly missing the curb on the last turn.

"Don't laugh," Phoebe requested. "No promises," James breathed out as she readied herself to laugh.

"I was cleaning my lacrosse stick and there was something stuck on there. I pulled and pulled, and it broke off making the stick slap me right in the mouth." She could hear James holding back a laugh but a few seconds later, she became unsuccessful. "It's fine to laugh, my mom did when she was helping clean up," Phoebe told her, and with the snap of the vanity closing, she looked at the street around them. "I don't mean to hurt you, but that was so funny. You could have lied and told me something else, you know, that right?" James suggested. "You know I'm bad at lying," Phoebe reminded her.

The moment the high school came into view, Phoebe's eyes were searching for the field. She wanted to get a good spot for try-outs later in the afternoon. Spotting a good area, she made a mental note to head there right after the last bell. Seeing one of the Jackson high cheerleaders, she made a face that only her reflection could see.

"You still planning on trying out for the squad?" Phoebe asked, offhandedly.

"Are you still trying out for varsity lacrosse?"

Phoebe nearly twisted around to meet her face and ask her why she'd ask such a dumb question, but she stopped herself remembering the fight they had only a couple of days ago and that James was pushing her buttons just as much as she pushed hers.

"I am going to make it this year. My class load isn't as intense since I got what I needed to get done last year for college, I can focus more on lacrosse." Ignoring the sigh falling from James' lips, she turned back to the window as she pulled into the student parking lot.

"I wonder if I'll have that grumpy teacher for science. You know, the one you like so much?" James asked her, and Phoebe had to think about it for a moment, she had a lot of teachers she liked. "Oh, Ms. Jenkins? Yeah, she's a good science teacher. I have her for AP biology. She's only grumpy if you aren't paying attention." Phoebe accused James as she grabbed her back from the back seat and Phoebe struggled to get her Crosse stick out. "I pay attention in class, I just don't like biology, it's boring. I would rather be working with clay or cleaning the class brushes then studying the inside of a frog." James told her, a matter of factly, before slamming her car door and starting for the school.

Hearing the shouts and screams of the teenagers seeing each other for the first time since school let out the summer before, Phoebe tried to keep herself from forcibly pressing her fingers into her ear canal.

"It's like they've never seen each other before," James spoke up just as they came into view of the back doors for the school.

"Swear to me that we will never be like that," Phoebe asked her as she pointed in the direction of a couple of girls jumping up and down, screaming as if they were being murdered. "I can't make any promises, we don't spend a lot of time apart, I don't know what it's like to not see you for months on end. Plus, our families don't have the money to take whole summers off and gallivant around the world for a vacation." Phoebe could hear the snide tone in her voice but when she looked up at her face she saw the longing hiding underneath the tone. It's something they always fantasied about; making enough money to travel around the world until they knew more about other places than their home town.

"Once we are big-time millionaires, I promise to take you to whatever country you want to go to, hell we can live there together for all I care." Breaking into a smile, James grabbed Phoebe's arm and placed it on her own as they marched up the steps to the high school.

"How are we going to get all those millions? Will I sculpt or will you be a famous scientist or writer or something that brings in a lot of money?" James trailed off as they picked up the forms at the back of the school where they entered. Looking over their schedules, they compared to see if any of them matched up. "Who says I have to make all the money? We'll just play the lotto and hope for the best!" Phoebe told her while looking to see what time the try-outs would be for both of them.

"Looks like I'm on right after the last bell, what time is yours?"

"Cheer try-outs are..." She looked at the bottom of the sheet for the athletics sections. "The same time as yours. Damn it, I won't be able to watch yours and you can't see how good I'll be today." James told her, with a pouty lip that usually swayed her father but never worked on Phoebe. "You could always skip your try-outs..." She led her on. "If you are still going to lacrosse then I'm still going to be a cheerleader!" James kept her foot down and Phoebe saw it in her eyes that she wouldn't budge. "Fine, if you're done early could you still come by? I'll do the same for you if I get out of lacrosse early." Sticking their hands out to each other, they shook on the deal.

It wasn't long before they had to split into their separate classes for the start of the morning. They made a pact to grab lockers next to each other and meet just before lunch every day. It wasn't until the end of her AP science class that Phoebe got some harrowing news that could very well spoil her dreams of making the varsity team.

Ms. Jenkins had given homework on the very first day of school and aside from the groans rippling throughout the other students it had been a good start to the new school year. However, when Ms. Jenkins requested Phoebe to stay behind, she bit her tongue and tried not to stare at the clock, she was going to be late for James and hers meet up before lunch. They would get a crappy table and all the tater tots would be gone. But she stayed behind because this was her favorite class and her favorite teacher giving her a request. James would understand, she told herself.

"Miss Edan, I've looked back over your grades from the previous years with me and the other science teachers, as well as the projected growth for this year." She listened to the teacher and tried not to glance over at the clock ticking away time on the wall next to her. "I was wondering if you would like to pick up a few credits for college by helping a lower level student this year?" Phoebe's head snapped to attention when she heard the words 'college credit' and soon the clock was just a memory.

"What sort of help?" She asked her.

"This student is falling behind, if they don't get their grades up this year they risk not graduating. I would hope my best student could lend a hand." Ms. Jenkins looked up from the grade book and put the pencil down she had been using, to look Phoebe in the eye. It took a few seconds longer than she wanted, but Phoebe finally opened her mouth to give her an answer.

"If it doesn't intervene in my practice, I would love to do it. What is the schedule?" She asked her and watched as Ms. Jenkins looked back down at the open scheduler on her desk. "The other student also is in a sport so that shouldn't be an issue. They want to keep the grade up just to stay on the team, at this point." Ms. Jenkins rambled on while Phoebe thought about who the student could be. "Looks like it would be during each of your free periods...Fourth, to be exact. Will that work?" She asked her while keeping her eyes on the open book.

"Sounds perfect, can I ask questions about the credits later? I'm late for lunch." Phoebe tried to move things along, she forgot how much Ms. Jenkins didn't care about time around her if it didn't have to specifically do with her. "Yes, of course, run along to lunch. I'll tell the student when I have them later. The tutoring will start at the beginning of next week." Nodding that she understood, she wasted no more time and dashed out of the classroom.

Keeping an eye on the clocks as she sped through the empty halls, she noted the fifteen minutes she was running behind. She wasn't surprised when she caught up with James that her face was fixed with a scowl.

"A little late, aren't we?" She asked with impatience laced in her voice. "Sorry, it was Ms. Jenkins, she wanted to talk to me about tutoring someone. Let's head in there before all the good stuff is taken." Phoebe mimicked what James did that morning and pulled her arm through her own, so they could walk together.

"Tutoring? That's a little much for such a light year, Pheebs." James pointed out the obvious, but she didn't want to think about it. If it's worth college credit, she would take it. "Who's the one needing help?" James asked. "She didn't tell me, but they're in our grade and some type of sport like me since we'll be using our free fourth period to do this." Phoebe spotted the short end of the line before James did. Pulling them toward it, she picked up a tray for the two of them.

"You know what would be hil – I mean, totally horrible?" She asked as she took the tray from Phoebe's outstretched hand. "What? That I would get someone completely unteachable?" Phoebe tried to guess making James laugh while grabbing a boxed salad from the line.

"No, what if you got the worst person you could think of? Like someone that stinks or someone –" she trailed off making Phoebe think about the worst person she could get in a situation like this: Amelia Manning.

"I don't want to think about the worst possibility right now," Phoebe told her while she grabbed something that resembled chicken nuggets and a drink on her tray. "Oh, you were thinking about Amelia, huh?" James guessed right enough that Phoebe didn't have to say anything. "She's always got decent grades, she's been in sports her whole life, they have to have good grades to stay on there." James reminded her, and Phoebe realized she was right.

Maybe life wouldn't throw her a curveball bearing the name: Amelia Manning.