2014 Katey Lehman Creative Writing Award
Tony and Rebecca
by Katherine O’Neill
Tony
Tony sat on his desk in homeroom cracking his knuckles repeatedly against the desk. There was a football game tonight, which Tony was
looking forward to watching, but the thought of waiting around all day
for the game was making Tony feel restless. He needed something to draw
with, a pencil or maybe some colored pencils, but that would’ve given
him away. So he fidgeted. Click. Click. Each knuckle popped briefly out
of place, as he tried listening to his friends talk about nothing.
Almost as if by accident, Tony glanced at the clock, and his gaze
fell on the girl beneath it. Rebecca sat at her desk, legs crossed, reading
a book. Most people, if they even noticed Rebecca, admired her long
brown hair that hung straight down her back, curled at the tips like a
rose. Her mom had died last year. Tony remembered signing the class
card.
What struck Tony was her intensity… but that wasn’t the right
word to describe it. Rebecca sat in her desk in a trance, calm. Tony envied
her calmness and grew increasingly impressed that she remained glued to
her book as the noise level in homeroom increased.
He wanted to call out her name, see if he could break the trance.
But even if he could, which he doubted, he didn’t want to embarrass her.
Being caught up in anything was a gift, fragile. Something high schoolers
weren’t supposed to be able to do. He was jealous.
Heather Brightbell snapped him out of it. “Are you going to the
game tonight, Tony?”
He whipped his head back around, hoping his face did not to
turn red.
“Yeah,” his voice cracked. Coughing, he regained his composure.
“Yeah, of course.”
Heather leaned over the desk next to the one he sat on. The V of
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