Chapter 19: Sarah
It was an eventful week for
Sarah. Later that week, when the family was at the library, Sarah was
approached by a young man. He introduced himself as Leo and said he knew
Beth-Ann and wanted to meet the girl who was her friend but was never in
school. He said she fit Beth-Ann’s description so he figured she must be Sarah.
Sarah was flustered, she didn’t know what to think! Most teenage boys were not
so forward. She flushed bright pink and said, “Nice to meet you,” and then stood
there awkwardly because she didn’t know what to say.
After a pause, he said, “So
how do you manage that? I thought everyone HAD to go to school?”
Sarah replied, “Well, it’s
not like I don’t learn anything at all. I just do school at home.”
“What? You don’t just not
like us people at school and try to stay away from us?” He was trying to be
funny, she could tell. He wasn’t succeeding, but she smiled anyway.
Sarah said, “No. It’s not
like that…,” and she was going to say more, but then he changed the topic and
asked her what happened to her ankle.
“Dog bite,” she replied and then her mom waved from across
the room that they had to go. She said, ‘Well, it’s nice to meet you… Leo… bye.”
She rushed, limping, out after her family, with her arms wrapped tightly around
the books she had in her hands and her head down. Why had he made her so
flustered? She wasn’t usually like that. He was kinda cute, though in a rangy
teen kinda way.
Sarah wondered how she could
find out more about him. It was the first time any of the kids in the town,
besides Beth-Ann, had made any attempt to get to know her. The family had
stopped going to 4H when it became too difficult for Sarah’s mom to corral the
younger kids for the whole time. Also, her mom had felt a little guilty about
not being able to pitch in and teach as all the moms were supposed to do. She
just couldn’t do it with so many kids to take care of, and she didn’t really
want to, since she did enough of that at home. Sarah had gotten a lot less time
with kids her age after that, however, and she privately wished they were back
in Raleigh. She missed her friends there.
She called Beth-Ann that
night. “Beth-Ann, there was a boy who came up to me today in the library and he
said he knew you. I was wondering if you could tell me who he is?”
Beth-Ann was intrigued,
”What boy?”
Sarah said, “Well, he was
kinda tall with blond hair and really blue eyes… He said his name was Leo.”
“Oh, Leo!” Beth-Ann said,
“Well, what do you want to know? Our parents are good friends, but I don’t see
him much these days. He’s all ‘Mr. Popular’ and I’m just the weird brainy
girl.”
“Um, well, I don’t know,”
Sarah said, “I just was surprised he cared who I was.”
“Ooooo,” said Beth-Ann. “I
wonder if he likes you?”
“That’s silly,” Sarah
replied. “He doesn’t even know me. How could he like me?”
Beth Ann was thoughtful,
“Maybe your just too mysterious? I bet he is curious and wants to know about
that beautiful mysterious girl I keep talking about.”
“Now I know you're loopy,”
said Sarah. “How’s the practicing going?”
“Oh, you know, the usual.
It’s so tedious, but I need to be ready for the next concert. They have an
invitational concert to play with the North Carolina Symphony this week. I want
to be ready. That means I’ll be gone again this week. I should probably
homeschool like you. I miss so much school, I’m doing make-up work all of the
time. Mom won’t even consider it though...Anyway, I should go now. They are
calling me down to dinner. See ya girlie!”
“Bye,” said Sarah and hung
up.
Her mom noticed that she was
very preoccupied that night. Sarah barely said two words at dinner, and when
Karen asked her what books she had gotten at the library she didn’t even answer
at first. Even worse, when she did answer she said with a startled air, “I
don’t know if I even checked them out mom!”
Karen said, “Really Sarah,
how could you forget to check them out?”
Sarah was thinking, “Well I guess that’s what happens when a
good-looking guy startles you in the library,” but she said, “I don’t know
Mom. I was distracted I guess.” She didn’t know why she didn’t want to tell her
mom. Somehow, it just seemed like something she wanted to keep to herself for
the moment.
That night she found she
just could not get the encounter out of her mind. It was very disturbing
because she couldn’t sleep and couldn’t concentrate to read. She kept seeing
Leo’s face smiling at her and it gave her a peculiar butterfly feeling inside.
She wondered if she’d see him again. She really had no reason to. Maybe he
would be at the library next week.
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