Chapter 2 - Budding Emotions

Forty-five minutes later, Pam’s mom pulled up in front of Lake Walenpaupack. Both girls peered out the car window at the large crowd of kids gathered along the shore.

 Pam blew out her breath. How on earth was she going to do this? Michelle looked over at Pam and noticed the look on Pam’s face. She squeezed Pam’s hand reassuringly.  “Thanks for the ride Mrs. Beesley!” Michelle said, jumping out of the car with Pam’s hand still held securely in hers.

  “You’re welcome.”

   Pam leaned in and wordlessly gave her mom a kiss goodbye.

  “Bye honey, have fun. I’ll be back to pick you up at four,” Mrs. Beesley said, and she watched the girls walk away and get swallowed up by the large crowd.

  Just past the parking lot was the entrance to the picnic area. Dozens of brown picnic tables, now teeming with people were set up in rows. At the end of each row was a small barbecue grill. Charcoal-smelling smoke wafted through the crowd, mixing with the smell of hot dogs, suntan oil, and cigarettes.

  A large yellow banner was tacked up in the trees over the cluster of tables, reading “Goodbye Seniors! Hello, Freshmen!” Directly below the sign, leaning against the tree  was a large boom box radio blaring DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince song, “Summertime”. Everyone seemed to be talking or laughing.

  Directly behind the picnic area was what looked like a small carnival. Vendors were selling t-shirts and food. There was a dunk tank, a booth selling snow cones, and a ring toss game.

  Various clubs from Scranton High School also had booths set up. Shading her eyes with her hand, Pam could see banners for S.A.D.D, the Scranton HS marching band, and the local Kiwanis club.

  To the right was the lake. Grainy white sand surrounded the edge of the water and stretched for about 100 feet before being covered by pine needles. Today it seemed as if every square inch of that sand was covered in towels or blankets, and those towels and blankets were equally covered by rowdy teenagers.

  Pam fought her natural urge to retreat from the chaos. She stayed glued to Michelle’s side as they weaved through the crowds. Michelle all but danced through the throngs of people, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

  Looking over the crowd, Pam scanned the scenery, blue water, white sand, green trees, and blue sky. It looked like an artist’s palette, she thought. Lost in her train of thought, Pam bumped smack into to a tall boy holding a soda, causing the soda to spill onto the blanket in front of them.

 “Oh. I’m so sorry!” she said clasping her hand over her mouth in embarrassment.

  “What the fuck?!” yelled a boy sitting on the blanket as he jumped up to brush the liquid off his lap.

  “Hey man, chill.” The tall boy said in a smooth voice, as he looked at Pam “It was an accident.”

  Pam looked at the tall boy standing in front of her. He was smiling at her. Her heart beat faster, whether from embarrassment or not, she didn’t know. Thoroughly flustered, she tore her eyes away from his. Instead she looked down and shifted her focus to the boy with the wet lap.

  “I’m really sorry.”

  Michelle jumped in, more to check out the cute boys than out of concern for Pam. “Yes, Lauren, how clumsy of you!” she said, her eyes widening at Pam. Michelle shifted her gaze from the tall boy to the wet boy and then back to Pam again.

Pam knew that look. That look said Michelle was interested in talking to these guys. Game on.

  Michelle turned on the charm as she indicated to Pam. “This very clumsy friend of mine is Lauren.”

  With flashing brown eyes, she turned her amorous focus to the wet-lap-boy and delicately extended her hand. “My name is Niki. What’s yours?” she almost purred it.

  “Ryan Howard,” the wet-lap-boy said as he wolfishly raked his eyes over both girls, his gaze seeming to settle on Pam’s chest. Uncomfortable with his leering stare, Pam looked away.

  Without skipping a beat, Ryan shifted his full attention to Michelle. She, in turn, returned his gaze with a full smile. There was no doubt that they were both interested.

  Turning back to the tall boy, Pam took a deep breath and shyly extended her hand. “I’m Lauren,” she said. The name sat awkwardly in her mouth.

  “I’m Jim,” he said taking her hand in his. His hand felt big, warm and smooth as it covered hers.

  “Do you go to Scranton High School?” Jim asked.

  “Not yet.” Pam said. “I’ll be a freshman in September. How about you? Do you go to Scranton High?”

  “No. I’m here with some friends from my baseball team. I go to Lancaster High School”

  “Oh,” Pam said quietly. She felt unsure, tongue-tied around this boy with his kind eyes and big smile. “Do you like your school?”

  “Um, yeah sure. It’s ok, I guess. You know, school’s school, right?” Jim said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his dark blue bathing suit shorts. He seemed nervous too, which somehow made Pam feel better about the butterflies that were fluttering in her stomach.

  “Yeah,” Pam agreed, giving him a wide smile.

  Jim smiled back. She felt her heart beat a little faster, and it made her giggle. This feeling of attraction was so new to her; she didn’t quite know how to react to it.

  “What?” Jim asked with smiling eyes, giggling a little himself, although he had no clue what they were laughing at.
  “Nothing,” Pam said as her giggles died out. Looking at Jim, she could feel the heat of his stare. She recognized the look as attraction and part of her welcomed it. The other part was terrified. Her happy smile faded, and she unconsciously bit her lip as their eyes remained locked in an intense gaze. 

  Jim too seemed unsure, but she was the first to look away.

  “Hey, I was just going to go check out all the tables and booths set up over there”, Jim said, clearing his throat as he motioned towards the carnival area.

  Pam looked down, but Jim continued on.

  “Cause I heard that the Scranton High School marching band makes a to-die-for cherry snow cone. Come with me?” he asked his face hopeful.

  “I don’t know,” Pam replied, shifting her gaze over to Michelle who was laughing loudly at something that Ryan had said.

  “I know, I know. You’re thinking I could be an axe murderer or something, right?” Jim said smiling at Pam.

  Then he tapped his chin pretending to brainstorm an idea. “I got it!” he said, as he leaned over to whisper in Pam’s ear.

  “Let’s ask your friend Niki over there, and her new friend Ryan, to come with us. That way, if I do decide to murder you with an axe or something, there will be witnesses.”

  Pam felt his warm breath as it whispered across her ear. It sent shivers down her spine, and made her skin tingle. She held her breath and let it course through her. All thoughts cleared from her head as she focused her energy on this new feeling.

  If I turn my head just a little, she thought, I could feel his lips on my skin.

  Jim pulled back, grinning madly at his own joke. But his expression faded as he saw the budding passion in her eyes. Without thinking, he shifted his body closer to her and put his hand on her arm. Pam could feel herself leaning towards him.

  “Hey you two,” Ryan interrupted, grasping each of them on the shoulder with his hands. “Niki and I are going over to the booths. Want to come?”

  “Um, yeah sure,” Jim said, looking over at Ryan. “Sounds good.”

  “Yeah, that sounds good,” Pam echoed quietly, shaken by her reaction to Jim.

“Well, let’s go then!” Michelle said laughing, and she tried to sprint ahead of the group. In three steps, Ryan caught her around the waist and pulled her back towards him. The two of them were laughing and touching as they moved towards the booths. No one would guess that they had met only ten minutes ago.

  As if he read her thoughts, Jim said, “Those two really seem to be hitting it off, huh?”

  “Yeah, Niki can be very friendly. How about your friend Ryan?” Pam asked him. “He seems nice.”

  “Oh, he’s not my friend,” Jim answered. “I only just met him myself. He knows a couple of the guys on my baseball team. I think he said he goes to Lake Harmony High School.”

  “Oh,” Pam said. “I thought you two were buddies.”

  “No. He’s kind of obnoxious don’t you think?”

  Pam laughed. “Yeah I do. But Niki seems to like him.”

  Up ahead, Ryan and Michelle were holding hands, and walking almost hip to hip. Every few steps, he would try to pull her toward him and kiss her on the cheek or the lips. She was pretending to resist, but not doing such a good job at it, from what Pam could tell.

  “Sure seems that way,” Jim said just as they stepped in front of the marching band’s snow cone booth.

  A big guy, wearing a Police concert shirt, stepped up to wait on them. He was tall, and heavy, his sandy blond hair was already thinning on top. There is no way this guy is in high school, Pam thought as she looked him over.

  Jim reached into his pocket and pulled out some wadded up bills. “Hey man, how’s it going?”

  “Good,” the big man said slowly. “How about you?”

  “Great, great,” Jim replied absently. “Two cherry snow cones please.”

  “You want extra cherry flavoring on that for fifty cents more? The money we raise goes towards new band uniforms.”

  Jim looked at Pam. She smiled and shrugged, trying to imagine this giant of a man in a geeky high school band uniform.

  “You in the band, man?” Jim asked him, eerily picking up Pam’s thread of thought.

  “No, no. I’m a Scranton High School band alumni. I just help out the band director, and he lets me use some of the equipment for my own band.”

  “Oh,” Pam said in mock awe. “You’re in a band?” Then she smiled sweetly at Jim, who raised his eyebrows and shook his head at her in amazement.

  It was rare that someone picked up so quickly on Jim’s sense of humor so quickly. Most of the girls he knew just stared blankly at him when he was joking around. Some even looked at him in disgust, when he made his snide little comments. Lauren just seemed to get it. “Yes,” the big guy replied, oblivious to Pam’s mocking tone. “We’re called Scrantonicity.”

  Jim pointed to the big guy’s t-shirt. “Oh! Scrantonicity,” he said slowly, and shot a knowing look to Pam. “Like the Police, Syncronicity?”

  Pam bit her lip to keep from laughing.

  “Yeah,” the big guy continued in his monotone voice. “We’re getting really good. You two should come by and see us. We practice in the music room at the high school every Sunday, if there’s not a band tournament scheduled for that day.”

  “Yeah man, we’ll do that. Thanks,” Jim said, as he leaned in to reach for the snow cones. “What did you say your name was man?”

  “Kevin,” the big guy replied with a slow smile, as he handed Jim his change.

  “Alright Kevin. Hey, maybe we’ll see you in the music room some Sunday.”

  “Cool.”