Girls, Gifted Read online

  Kristin gave an objective appraisal of their home. The house needed a new roof, but it was small and neat. The lawn was plain but well kept. There was shade from the pine trees, and a cool breeze blew. The air was clean and quiet, and mountains were visible to the north and west.

  “It sure isn’t Sarasota,” Kristin said.

  “Hi, Mom!” Izzy shouted enthusiastically when she saw Rebecca. She ran over and threw her arms around her in a large embrace.

  “Hi Izzy, nice to see you,” Rebecca said, her body language rigid and uncomfortable.

  “I brought you something.” Izzy pulled out a flat package and handed it to Rebecca.

  Rebecca pulled the wrapping off and unveiled a framed photo of Siesta Key Beach at sunset.

  “Thank you, it’s beautiful.” Rebecca forced a smile and held the picture at eye level. “We’ll hang it after we paint the walls.”

  The girls spent the evening laughing and getting caught up, and went to bed in the early hours of the morning.

  * * *

  “What do you want to do?” asked Kristin after breakfast. “We can go to the town beach, or go rafting down the river. We can go hiking, whatever you want.”

  “Rafting sounds fun,” said Izzy.

  “That water is in the 60s,” warned Kristin. “It’s not the bath warm gulf water you’re used to.”

  “Oh. What about the beach?” asked Izzy.

  “It’s pretty nice,” Kristin said. “There’s a swim area with diving boards, a slide, a trampoline, and people anchor their boats out in the cove. They rent kayaks and paddleboards, and there are restaurants in walking distance. There is a tennis court, tetherball, a horseshoe pit, and a volleyball court.” Izzy raised her eyebrows.

  “Let’s go,” said Izzy.

  They packed a beach bag and two chairs. Rob came home for lunch so he could drop them off on the way back in to work. When they got there, the parking lot was full, and people were driving around searching for spots. Rob let them out amidst the crowd and told them he’d text them when he was ready to get them.

  Kristin and Izzy found a spot to spread out their towels on the crowded sand. There were people everywhere, mainly tourists with families. There were a lot of kids that Kristin suspected went to Stowe High. Izzy took her shirt and shorts off, revealing her tall, toned body in a bikini. Kristin kept her large t-shirt on, embarrassed to reveal her body.

  “Why aren’t you taking your shirt off?”

  “Because I’m fat,” said Kristin.

  Izzy shielded her eyes from the sun and looked at Kristin. “You have put on some weight,” she said. “How come?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t really care anymore.”

  “Are you getting any exercise?”

  “Not really. I’ve been reading.”

  “What are you eating?”

  “I eat meals with the family, but my mom’s idea of cooking is heating up premade crap in the microwave.”

  “All those years of having a full-time housekeeper and she didn’t learn any recipes?”

  “Nope. It’s like she does the bare minimum to spite us.”

  “What’s up with your mom? She seemed like she wasn’t thrilled that I came.”

  Kristin sighed. “She wasn’t. She’s just, not herself anymore. Right around the time we had to sell the other car and it looked like we might have to move, she’d be up all night and I’d hear her talking to herself. She’s just gotten really short–tempered and angry.”

  Izzy lay back down on her towel and closed her eyes. “Have you met anyone from your new school?”

  “No. I’ve hung out with my cousin a few times, but she isn’t much company.”

  “Didn’t something bad happened to her as a kid?”

  “Yeah, she fell through the ice on a pond when she was six. She was under water for a few minutes and almost died.”

  “I remember your mom saying something about that to my mom.”

  “She’s a sweet girl, and I love her, but she’s fifteen and it’s like hanging out with a 5th grader. She’s just slow, you know? She’s always going to be behind everyone her age.”

  “Couldn’t she at least introduce you to people?”

  “I don’t know if she even has any friends. She’s in one of those special classes that has, like, five other kids in the class. She doesn’t get out much.”

  “Huh.” Izzy raised her sunglasses to the top of her head so she could look Kristin in the eye. “You know what I think?”

  “What?”

  “I think you’re depressed.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. I think you have been depressed for a while now. At least since you and Billy broke up.”

  Kristin stiffened at the mention of Billy’s name.

  “Maybe.”

  “You never did tell me what happened between you two.”

  “Not much to tell. We broke up, and the next week he was dating someone else.” Kristin hoped her explanation sounded natural and Izzy would let it go.

  “I don’t know, you aren’t the same as you used to be. You never would’ve spoken to your dad like that.”

  “Things aren’t the same anymore, Iz. I lost everything, moving up here. All those years studying six hours a night so I could get into Harvard or Yale are wasted. You know what it was like to go to Sarasota Academy. It was hard, but if you put in the time, you could get into any school you wanted. It was all for nothing.”

  Izzy said, “You’re the smartest person I know. You can still get into any college you want. You can’t give up now.”

  “I have to get scholarships now. There’s no way I can go to a school that costs $60,000 a year. And I’ve been trying to register for classes since we got here. School starts after next week, and I bet all the classes I need are full.”

  “You don’t know that.” Izzy said.

  Kristin saw that something had caught Izzy’s attention. She followed the direction Izzy was looking and saw what captivated her—a small group of people had gathered around the volleyball court and were playing.

  “Let’s go watch,” said Izzy.

  They walked over and watched the game in progress. Two girls wearing matching red tops were playing against two guys. The girls were handing the boys a beat down, and they high-fived each other after each point.

  “They think they’re pretty good,” said Izzy. “Want to play them?”

  “No! No way. Absolutely not.” Kristin thought of her out-of-shape body trying to play volleyball.

  “Why not? It’s two on two; we used to play that at Siesta Key all the time.”

  “I haven’t played volleyball in years!” Kristin said.

  “So? You’ll pick it up, come on.”

  That game ended with the girls winning 25-3. They shook hands with their opponents and chest bumped each other in a mock macho tribute to the boys. They were laughing and strutting around the court. A boy and a girl came out to challenge them, and fell behind right away.

  “Look at how cocky they are. They aren’t even that good,” said Izzy.

  “Oh, yeah!” yelled one of the girls after spiking the ball shallow down the sideline. They gave each other high fives again.

  “Come on, Kristin,” begged Izzy. “Just one game.”

  Kristin watched the two girls play. They really were arrogant. “I doubt my fat ass will be much help.”

  “Oh, stop it! I’ll play in the back and receive the serve. Just set it up nice and high, and I’ll do the rest. They don’t even play any defense.”

  Kristin thought of all the fun they used to have playing in Sarasota. “All right.”

  “Really? Great!” Izzy started to stretch her arms

  The game being played was over in no time. The girls in red crowed, “Five in a row, baby! Five in a row! Who is next?” They turned and faced the crowd with their arms outstretched and gave a ‘come on’ with their fingers to the spectators.

  Izzy stepped forward and said, “We’ll play you.” People
moved back to let Izzy and Kristin take the court.

  Izzy had been one of the better players on their middle school volleyball team, but Kristin hadn’t seen her play since last fall. Izzy was taller, quicker, and stronger than Kristin remembered. She wasted no time in taking charge of the court from the first point.

  The red team had a tall blonde who served first. The player by the net had short brown hair. The blonde served the ball overhand, Izzy got to it and passed it to Kristin, who set the ball up nice and high to Izzy, who took two strides forward, leapt up, and slammed the ball over the net in between the red team.

  “Nice set, Kristin,” said Izzy as she fist-bumped her. “Next time get it a little closer to the net.”

  The crowd cheered for them. The red team looked at each other, astonished. Izzy stood ten feet behind the service line with the ball, got a running start, tossed the ball up, jumped, and nailed the ball over the net in a textbook perfect jump serve. The red team didn’t even get a hand on it.

  “Nice serve!” someone from the crowd called out. Izzy executed 18 jump serves in a row, 13 of which were aces. The cheers got louder and louder after each serve until she finally served one out of bounds. The red team was back on their heels and had lost their swagger.

  “One serving 19,” called out the girl with short brown hair before she served. Izzy was waiting for the ball, and bumped it over to Kristin, who saw that their opponents had both come in to the net to block Izzy. Kristin got in to position to set, but instead of setting it sideways to Izzy, she set it backwards over the net into the wide open court where it fell to the sand, taking everyone by surprise. The onlookers cheered the loudest for that point. The red team looked like they wished the game was over.

  “Nice play, Kristin. Way to keep them honest.”

  It was Kristin’s turn to serve, and she knew this was the one opportunity that the other team would have to start an attack. She said, “Twenty serving one,” and struck the ball with her palm over the net. Just as she thought, the red team was able to easily dig the serve up, and the brown-haired player set it up for the tall blonde who swung her arm back and hit the ball over the net, right into Izzy’s waiting hands. The ball fell to the sand on the red team’s side.

  The blonde looked through the net at Izzy, shook her head and said, “Nice block.”

  Kristin didn’t notice how many people had gravitated towards the court to watch. She just knew that the cheering had gotten loud. The red team lost its will to win after Izzy’s block. She and Izzy won the last four points easily.

  Izzy and Kristin shook hands with the red team. “You are really good,” the brown-haired girl said to Izzy.

  “We’re a good team,” agreed Izzy, and put her arm companionably around Kristin’s shoulder, pulling her in closely. Kristin grinned at her friend. She was so glad Izzy had come to visit her.

  “It’s your court,” said someone.

  “What do you think, Kristin? Want to play some more?”

  “Izzy, I don’t think anyone wants to play us.” No one was stepping up to play.

  “Why don’t we play some six on six?” Izzy proceeded to organize teams and introduce herself and Kristin to everyone.

  “Are you going to Stowe this year?” one of the players asked Izzy.

  “No, but Kristin is. She’s a junior,” Izzy replied.

  “Are you trying out for volleyball?” she asked Kristin.

  “Oh, no, I don’t really play anymore.” Kristin said.

  “Would she make the team?” asked Izzy.

  “JV definitely, Varsity maybe.”

  Izzy turned to Kristin and raised her eyebrows. Kristin just shook her head.

  They played a few more games, and then said their goodbyes to the people they had met. “See you next week at school, Kristin,” called a few people. She waved and smiled.

  Izzy shook Kristin’s shoulders as they went back to their seats. “See?” Izzy teased her. “That wasn’t that hard was it?”

  “Thanks, Iz…the last time I was the new kid was second grade.”

  “Why don’t you try out for volleyball?” asked Izzy.

  “I don’t know. I just want to get adjusted to a new school.” Kristin said.

  “What better way to make friends and become instantly cool? Being on a school team is like automatic acceptance,” Izzy pushed.

  “Izzy, we’re broke. We lost everything in Sarasota. We have one car. My dad works with his brother as a grocery clerk. He’s not making much but at least we have food. You’ve seen where we live—it’s falling apart, but it’s free. We can’t afford anything else. Playing volleyball means new volleyball shoes, a donation to the team, extra trips to school for practice and games when we only have one car…it just isn’t in the cards for me this year. Not to do something that my heart isn’t set on.”

  “I get it,” said Izzy. “I hope things turn around for you.”

  They lay on their towels talking. A shadow appeared over them and they lifted their sunglasses off their eyes to see what was blocking their sun.

  Two guys wearing t-shirts with Stowe Football emblazoned across the chest in bold letters were standing over them.

  “Hi,” said the biggest one of the two. He was huge. His arms were as big as Kristin’s thighs. The neck of his shirt had been cut with scissors to allow for the girth of his neck to fit in it.

  “Hi,” said Izzy, sitting up and leaning on her elbows.

  “My name is Hank, and this here is Farley,” he said pointing to the smaller boy standing next to him, who gave a slight wave of acknowledgement.

  “Izzy, and this is Kristin.”

  “So, we hear you are going to Stowe next year,” Hank said to Kristin.

  “I am.”

  “Sweet,” he said. “Where did you move from?”

  “Florida.”

  “Cool.” He stared at Izzy sunning herself and said, “Are you moving here too?”

  “No, just visiting.”

  “That’s too bad.” His eyes lingered on her bikini-clad body. “Anyway, there’s going to be a party at the river tonight, and we were wondering if you wanted to go.”

  “Sure,” said Izzy.

  “No.” Kristin grasped for a reason to get out of going. “Izzy, I don’t know if we can get a ride.”

  “We’ll come get you,” offered Hank.

  “Great,” said Izzy. She smiled triumphantly at Kristin.

  Kristin frowned at Izzy. They hadn’t even had a chance to ask permission. She gave Hank her phone number, and he told them he’d call after seven to get Kristin’s address. They said they’d see them later and walked back to the volleyball court.

  “Izzy, my parents aren’t going to be okay with us going out with these guys,” said Kristin. “They don’t let me get rides from anyone who isn’t eighteen.”

  “You don’t think they’d let you go meet some kids from school before it starts?” Izzy asked. “I bet your dad would take us.”

  “He might, but who wants to show up at a party getting dropped off by your dad?”

  “I have my license,” said Izzy. “You think he’d let me drive?”

  “I doubt it. That’s our only car, and we don’t even know how to get there.”

  Izzy scowled. “Kristin, this is a great way for you to meet people. You don’t have to buddy up to those two boneheads, just go. Make friends.”

  “I know my dad won’t let us get picked up by two boys he doesn’t know.”

  They sat and thought about it. Kristin’s phone got a text. “It’s my dad. He’s five minutes away and wants us to meet him in the parking lot so he doesn’t have to find parking.” They packed their things, walked toward the parking lot, and waved to the group at the volleyball court.

  “See you later,” said Hank, smiling.

  “See you,” said Izzy.

  Kristin saw her dad pull in just as he saw her. They loaded their beach bags and chairs and got in.

  “So, how was it?” he asked.

&
nbsp; “Great,” Izzy said before Kristin could say anything. “We played volleyball with these kids from Kristin’s new school.”

  “Really?” Rob seemed pleased. “That’s good. Were they nice kids?”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Izzy. “Really nice. They invited us to a party at the river tonight.”

  “Yeah? What did you say?” Rob asked.

  “Well, we said we wanted to go but didn’t have a ride, and they said they’d come get us,” Izzy said.

  “That’s not going to happen. You know our rules,” Rob said giving Kristin a stern look.

  “See?” Kristin broke her silence. “I told you. I’m just going to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and no one to do it with for the next two years.”

  “Where exactly is this party?” Rob asked.

  “I don’t know. The river.”

  “The river runs for over a hundred miles through the state. Can you be more specific?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It’s probably somewhere around your uncle’s house,” he said. “That’s where we used to go when we were kids. We’d build fires and…” Rob stopped himself, as if he didn’t want to go into details about what he did at the river when he was their age.

  “Oh, so you used to go to parties at the river when you were in high school?” asked Izzy.

  “We did.”

  “I bet it was a lot of fun,” she persisted.

  “It was.” He sighed. “Okay, you made your point. I need to see your Uncle Mike anyway, I’ll tell him we’re coming over and I’ll take you to the party.”

  Izzy pumped her fist in the air. “I have my license, you know. I could drive us if it was easier.”

  Rob laughed. “Sure thing, Izzy. Would you like my credit cards, too?”

  “No, just your car,” she answered.

  “What, you don’t want to be seen getting dropped off by me?”

  “No. we’re trying to make a good first impression.”

  Rob fixed his eyes on Izzy in the rearview mirror. “Don’t push your luck.”

  Chapter Three

  Rob called Mike and they decided they would all go over there for dinner. Kristin put on the only pair of jeans that fit her, while Izzy wore shorts and a sleeveless top.