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Show 79. even more so after Red Butte made the winning basket. A human interest angle never hurt a sport story, Chic told himself. And his fans at school, who said his column was the only thing they ever read in The Renegade, would be expecting some color on this game. They hung around outside for awhile afterwards, but it was awful cold. Other than the exchange of a few choice obscenities, nothing happened. Chic was almost morbid with disappointment. He felt like tripping somebody! "C'mon, man," JD was dancing on one foot and then another. "We gotta get lined up behind that bus. It's cold as a witch's tit out here." "Okay, okay," Chic moved reluctantly toward his car, leaving his dream of interschool slaughter lying like a corpse at the door of the gym. Until they got well out of town, neither of the boys had much to say. When the car heater finally caught up with their body temperature, Chic asked JD what he was thinking about. "You got Gayle on your mind? You're not sorry you came without her, are you?" "I wasn't thinking about Gayle." "That's a giant step." Chic couldn't resist it. As far as he was concerned, Gayle Evans could take a hang glider right off the top of Devil's Tower. He could tolerate losing his best friend to a girl, but losing JD to Gayle in particular was a total rip-off. Gayle made Chic feel ugly. And low class. And inept and graceless and stupid. She could tie his tongue and his wit with one scornful curl of her lip. Mostly, he avoided her, and that meant not seeing JD as well. "Actually, Chic," JD broke in, "I can't get that UFO out of my head. During the game, with everything that was going on, I was still thinking about that night on the mountain. What's the matter with me?" "You obsessed or somethin'?" "God, I don't know. Maybe I'm going bananas." "What's bugging you? What do you keep thinking about?" Chic |