"Pike, Christopher - Weekend" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

Along with Angie and Robin, Kerry was a song leader. In honour of the homecoming festivities, they had developed a new routine to perform at the pep rally to be held at lunchtime in the gym, the day before the big game. It involved the usual bouncing through the air and spread-eagled stretching. Lena was well aware of the specifics of the routine. Though not a member of any cheering squad Ч she had passed such adolescent displays, so she said - she contributed, through her sister, extra twists. One of Lena's exotic suggestions was the straw that broke the camel's back, the twist that tore the panties.

Because the song leaders' uniforms were warm, and Santa Barbara was sunk in a rare heat wave, the girls wore regular clothes to the morning classes, leaving their uniforms in their gym lockers. While on her way to the locker room at the start of lunch, Kerry was stopped by Lena, who wanted to chat. Under normal circumstances, Kerry would not have had the slightest inclination to "chat" with Lena, and now that she was in a hurry to change, she was less anxious. Nevertheless, Lena succeeded in delaying her to the point where Kerry was cutting it close. To top it off, as they parted company, Lena accidentally spilt her Coke on Kerry's shorts, the soft drink soaking through to her underwear. No big problem, though Kerry was mad. She was going to change into her uniform in a minute anyway. The only difference now was that she probably wouldn't be able to wear her underwear. When Kerry reached the locker room, she rushed into her song clothes, not having a chance to take note of any irregularities.

The pep rally started like so many other boring pep rallies. The punchy football coach strutted to the microphone and mumbled a couple of slow lines about how smart - football-wise - their team was this year, and introduced a few key players that everyone already knew. Shani was sitting in the front row of the audience with Park. They cheered loudly for good-natured "Big Bert" Ч an unusual member of their unusual gang Ч but otherwise they were hardly listening. It was only when the song leaders came on that she sat up and took notice. Of course, three of her friends were in the group, but perhaps she also had a premonition of danger, for her stomach had begun to ache like it did when she was worrying deeply. Park also stirred to life. His girl friend, Robin Ч whom he supposedly loved very much Ч was the leader of the group. He had his camera primed and was clicking away the second they launched into their routine. Even then, Shani had felt that he had taken an unusually high number of pictures of Angie.

In the middle of the skit, Kerry flew spreadeagled over Robin's shoulders and Shani thought she heard a rip. But at first she decided that she must have been mistaken, for no one else appeared to have heard anything. Then a low murmur began to spread through the audience, a sound that quickly built to loud whistles and hoots. This was an example of how fast gossip could spread, for, although she was sitting in the front, and although the song leaders' dresses were short, Shani could see nothing unusual as far as Kerry was concerned. Neither could Park Ч Shani asked him twice what was going on. But a few people, probably only a handful in the entire crowd, had thought they had caught a flash of Kerry's bare bottom. Afterwards, of course, there were dozens of guys who swore they were one of the chosen few. The fact that they were all liars made no difference. Ironically, Kerry was probably the last one in the gym to know there was a problem. The record they performed to continued on, though it was practically drowned out in the commotion, and Kerry continued to swirl and twist and bend, not noticing any draught. Shani finally got the word through the grapevine of what was supposedly happening, and then it seemed ages to her before Kerry found out. In reality, from the moment of the rip to the instant of her bewildered halting, possibly twenty seconds had elapsed. It was Angie who finally stopped her and whispered something in her ear, probably just a line to get Kerry to leave the gym as quickly as possible. Angie even escorted her to the door. As they crossed the basketball court floor, the audience granted them a brief respite. But the second they were out of view, they flew back into ecstasy.

Shani left her place in the stands and hurried to the girls' showers. There she found Kerry slumped on the bench that ran in front of the lockers, Angie standing nearby. The place was otherwise deserted. Kerry was more confused than upset. She did not understand what the big deal was. Her dance pants had ripped and she had flashed her underwear. So what? Shani agreed with her that there was nothing to worry about. She was lying. She didn't tell Kerry that those flesh-coloured panties she'd been wearing could be mistaken for bare flesh, at a distance. That they had been mistaken for Kerry's backside, by more than one person.

As Kerry began to change into her street clothes, muttering about how she hoped the confusion would get cleared up quickly, the three of them made an interesting discovery. Someone had replaced Kerry's nylon dance pants with blue cotton paper pants of the same size. No wonder they had ripped. Normally, Kerry would have immediately spotted the switch. But she had been in a hurry before the pep rally, and hadn't detected the difference in the fabrics.

When Kerry remembered how Lena had soaked her underwear, forcing her to be late, Shani immediately put two and two together. The connection was obvious. Lena must have figured Kerry would discard the wet panties. Lena must have also been the someone who had switched the dance pants. She had undoubtedly been hoping that Kerry would be caught flashing her bottom. This fortunately hadn't happened, but it easily could have. Lena later denied the accusations, but she did so with a sly smile, and her deepest admiration for whoever had thought up the plan.

In the following days, Angie and Shani told anyone who would listen that Kerry had been wearing underwear beneath her dance pants. Few believed the truth; they apparently preferred not to. Kerry had to endure ceaseless catcalls. She also lost Sol to Lena. Shani had been disgusted with him for deserting Kerry in her hour of need, but he swore that the pep rally incident had absolutely nothing to do with their break up. He explained that Lena had simply made him an offer that he couldn't refuse.





Shani checked on Kerry in the front seat before opening the annual to page fifty-eight. As a further example of how unreal Kerry's "flash" had been, there had been at least a dozen people taking pictures at that pep rally and not one of them had caught anything even remotely x-rated. Nevertheless, tucked in one corner there was a small black and white picture that had captured all but the "highlight" of the afternoon. It had been taken from the rear of the audience, and showed the crowd on its feet laughing and pointing at an innocent smiling Kerry, whose life was about to come to an end. There was nothing for the guys to gloat over, but it clearly brought back the day. Park had been on the yearbook staff. Shani would have to speak to him about who had allowed the picture in the annual.

Was it a coincidence, Shani often asked herself, that Robin's accident had happened less than a month after Kerry's humiliation?

"Hey girls," Angie said. "Looks like we're no longer alone. Sol's van is just up ahead."

Shani tossed the annual aside and peered between Angie and Kerry. The glare of the blazing sun made seeing difficult, but it was clearly Sol's faded black Dodge. Farther down the road, perhaps a half mile, was a solitary brown clay building, probably the Margarita Ville Canteen. That meant they were almost there. But who cared? Huddling near the rear of the van, beside Sol and Park, was a guy with the smoothest walk this side of England.

"Flynn!" Shani cried.

"God, Shani, not in my ear," Angie said.

Shani grabbed her Rolaids and downed the whole roll as if it were candy. The furnace in her stomach roared on unchecked. She had been dying to see Flynn again, yet, all of a sudden, she wished that she was invisible.





TWO
"This tyre isn't getting less flat with us looking at it," Park said.

"Why didn't you go to the cantina down the road with Bert and Flynn?" Sol asked.

"I still can. Why don't you come with me?"

"I have to guard my van. No way I trust the Cholos down here."

"You're a Cholo."