Newsworthy (Chapter 1)

“Bathroom Booty calls?”

There was extra emphasis on Booty that heavily emanated through her cell phone.

Before Julissa could explain herself to her sister, there was a roar of laughter from the end of the line. Up to this point Tess had listened earnestly to Julissa’s news story pitches. Now she was basically insulting her by implying her story was too over-the-top.
“You’re sensationalizing what’s probably teenagers making out in the bathroom?” Her sister’s disbelieving tone was full of sarcasm. Suddenly regretting the decision to tell her sister, Julissa breathed out a sigh. Tess didn’t understand. Writing for the school newspaper was a big opportunity for her, and her first story had to be fairly titillating. So far her school - County East High School - had won journalism prizes three years in a row. As a new recruit, Julissa was feeling the pressure to write something that attracted attention.

“Who’s to say they’re not doing something more?” Julissa retorted, shifting on the hot pink down comforter of her twin sized bed.
“Julissa, who’s to say they are?“ Her sister let out another giggle and Julissa grumbled in response. As she pensively chewed on the string of her hot pink hoodie, all she could think was this was  the reason why she didn’t tell her sister about her goals and aspirations. She had briefly expressed her interest in majoring in Journalism to Tess once before. Of course Tess, being in her third year of college and ultra-practical, had warned her about how any major besides business or science usually didn’t spell a career. Julissa just didn’t believe that was true. She knew with dedication she could do well as a journalist.
“Well sis, I have to go work on a biology assignment,” Tess told her.
Typically this was the reason they didn’t usually talk. Tess was Pre-med and always working on something in a lab. “Okay,” Julissa answered, grateful that they’d spoken to each other more than an hour. That rarely happened within a two-week span.
“Tell mom I hope everything goes well with her wine and cheese party.”
Oh that, Julissa thought. How could she forget the shindig occurring at her house that evening that her mom had been gushing about all week? After they said their goodbyes, Julissa’s mother was calling her downstairs. She needed help with prepping the house.

“This is going to be great,” Her mother, Chanel, gushed. Looking the part of a dainty hostess, she was dressed in a high-waisted gray skirt and white blouse that accentuated her golden brown skin. A string of black pearls was around her neck and her thick raven black hair was pulled back tightly in a ponytail. She sat down a dish of various assortments of cheese and came up to Julissa giving her shoulders a squeeze.
“Maybe you should change,” her mother told her. Her honey brown eyes, identical to Julissa’s, scanned her white t-shirt and ripped jeans disapprovingly.
“Could you just put on a nice pair of pants?” Her mother gave her a pleading expression, and Julissa exhaled and begrudgingly gave in. She had wanted to make a good impression on her new co-workers, so Julissa was going to go along with it. She found a pair of khakis-her only pair-and wiggled her generously curvy hips into them.
“Good now?” She asked her mom when she got to the bottom of the stairs.
Her mother glared at her and furrowed a brow, “A little tight, but I guess they’ll do.” With a roll of her eyes, Julissa sauntered over to the island in the kitchen to observe the cheeses on the tray. It was quite a spread. She couldn’t help but go for the Monterrey Jack.

“Hey!” Her mother had spun around from the fridge to catch her in the act.
“I just want you to smile and be polite tonight.” she told Julissa, “And I want you to try and get to know Calvin. You need more friends.”
Julissa had to admit she was basically a loner at school, even though she was a Senior. But it was just because she had only been there since her Senior year, and hadn’t wanted to get too attached before college. So, with the exception of conversing with a small faction of the newspaper staff, she generally stuck to herself. Chances were Calvin Alston wasn’t changing that. They had never spoken to each other. She was sure they’d had a few classes together, but it hadn’t facilitated any conversation between them, so meeting him was bound to be awkward. It was her mother who was determined to make them friends just because she’d recently found out he was the son of one of her co-workers. Suddenly she was suppose to be buddies with someone who had never spoken to her. That wasn't happening.

Calvin was everything she wasn’t. He was the quintessential popular kid. He played football and was the star player, was loved by students and teachers, and seemed to be on the lips and in the hearts of what seemed like every girl she encountered.  He had more fan girls than a Jonas brother. They came in all shapes and sizes, and all different colors. Really you’d think he was some Greek god. But Julissa didn’t particularly see the draw. Then again, she hadn’t really concerned herself with any individuals of the male gender since she’d begun school at East County. Even though there was plenty to choose from with close to 1,000 students.

“Vacuum,” Chanel demanded, as she carefully sat wine flutes atop the island. Julissa didn’t fuss, but reluctantly went to do as she was told, grabbing the lightweight dirt vac from near the pantry. Their carpet was essentially immaculate, but Julissa knew her mother could be anal about the house looking clean for guests. She didn’t have many friends herself at her new job, and this party meant a lot to her.

As Julissa was finishing up the living room, a doorbell rang. She could hear her mother panicking in the kitchen. “Relax, mom,” She hollered over the vacuum. “Do you want me to go get it?”
“Yes,” her mother replied, right as she was turning off the vacuum, “Just have them wait on the couches, and I’ll greet them in a second.”
Julissa unlocked the door and swung it open with her best plastered on smile. She gave an open arm gesture and the hoard of middle-aged women greeted her with smiles, and gathered in the living room. Calvin’s mom, or who Julissa assumed to be Calvin’s mom, was the last in. She stalled in the doorway and called out behind her towards the end of the path leading to their house.
“Calvin.” Her voice was stern yet soft as she called out to her son who from Julissa’s vantage point looked just a begrudging as her. He wasn’t illuminated from the darkness surrounding their house until he was standing right behind his mother at the porch. “You must be Julissa,” His mother said. Julissa nodded, but didn’t look her in the eye. She was too preoccupied by Calvin. It amazed her how much taller he seemed now standing over his mom.
“This is Calvin. I don’t know if you two have formally met already," his mother said.

“No, no,” He mumbled.
He didn’t once look Julissa in the eye as he reached out and shook her hand while introducing himself. It was a brief moment of contact that seemed to end before it even began. After, he hesitated a beat before falling in step behind his mother who was walking towards Chanel’s outstretched arms. Julissa closed the door and watched him walk deeper into the living room, noticing he seemed somewhat out of his element. Every few seconds he would run his long fingers through his short brown hair and look around nervously while the muscle in his jaw clenched and unclenched tensely. Julissa guessed that it was probably due to the fact that he was being smothered by estrogen at the moment. He was the tall sore thumb in the room, standing at what seemed around 6-foot-2 in his dark denim jeans and fitted white t-shirt. If Julissa hadn’t dressed in khakis they would’ve looked identical.
“Julissa, would you please get Calvin some apple juice and tell him to help himself to some cheese in the kitchen,” her mother had whispered it in her ear, as if the cheese in the kitchen was top secret.
Julissa raked a hand through the mass of curls on her head, and just decided to bear with it.
"Would you like some apple juice?" she asked Calvin, who was standing with his hands in his jeans in the corner. Clearly her mother didn’t intend for them to drink wine, so they were doing the teenage thing by drinking apple juice instead.
"Apple Juice," he repeated under his breath with a laugh.
“I’ll just take water,” he answered quietly. His voice was a nonchalant baritone, and he seemed different from the loud boisterous jock she often saw laughing in the hallways at school.

Julissa gestured towards the kitchen and she followed him there.
“Would you like some cheese?”  Julissa asked, pointing to the tray and putting on her mother’s delicate hostess voice; it didn’t sound at all right coming from her.
She watched Calvin laugh and finally look up at her. His eyes stayed on her for one unnerving moment. "No," he said,  sitting down at the island. He seemed like a kid stuck in a play pen. Julissa had known this would happen. She knew this wasn’t going to be good for either of them. There was laughter coming from the other room, making the complete silence in the kitchen even more apparent. Julissa walked to the fridge and saw the jug of spring water as well as sealed bottles of the same brand.
“Bottle or Glass?” She asked, holding the of water and pointing to the dish rack full of glasses.
"Bottle," he answered. And she brought it over to the island where he was and sat it down. He twisted off the cap and drank from it as Julissa went over to counter and leaned against it. As she stood there, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Not because she was, like, attracted to him or anything; she just was fascinated by the novelty of it all. Here was Calvin Alston, with his larger-than-life persona, in her house being really bashful and quiet - which didn’t seem like the Calvin Alston she thought she knew at all. 

When she finished marveling at this fact, she realized that he had sat there and chugged the entire bottle of spring water. All that was left was it’s empty container. Now he was simply sitting with elbows on the island and his chin in his palms. Julissa was trying not to get distracted by the ropey muscles that had tightened in his forearms, but somehow found herself gawking anyhow. Okay, well the East County girls did have a point about his body, but a hot body wasn’t enough to turn Julissa into a fangirl.

Minutes literally passed between them as the quiet grew. Calvin tapping his bottle and the laughter and wine glasses clinking in the other room, seemed to echo in the small space in the kitchen. Julissa wanted to just go upstairs and go to sleep, but she knew her mother would chide her later if word got back that she didn’t say anything to Calvin. So, she dared to be the sociable one.
“So how is the team doing?” She asked. She had never involved herself much in the sports at school, so she had no idea. Their school had a lot of team spirit, especially come playoffs-time, but Julissa never got caught up in the pandemonium of it all.
It took a moment for Calvin to answer. He tapped his bottle against the island again.
“We’re 3-0 right now.” His response was unenthusiastic and he continued tapping his bottle.
Hesitantly Julissa came closer, taking a seat across from him at  the island. She grabbed some Monterrey cheese to nibble on, at least hoping that kept her busy if they had to deal with dead air again.
“This season’s been tough,” Calvin added, letting out what sounded like an exasperated sigh. He seemed genuinely tired. It occurred to her then that maybe his whole demeanor was due to the fact that it had been a long day. They probably practiced a lot. Now she felt bad about their parents dragging him to their cheese and wine party.
“You practice everyday?” Julissa asked curiously, nibbling a little more on her cheese. There was a beat of silence before he answered, “Well not everyday,” he began, “But when I’m not practicing I have to do conditioning, which can be tough, It’s -” He lifted his head as if he was shocked by the realization that they were holding a conversation. Julissa was too. Now he was looking her in the eye. Gradually his unwavering gaze turn into one of wonderment, with his mouth gaped open a little.

“Julissa!” Chanel was calling her from the other room. “Would you bring down my craft albums?” Julissa didn’t hesitate to take this time to run upstairs and get away from Calvin and his piercing green eyes. "Quit thinking like one of his fans", she internally chided. After collecting the ruffle decorated photo albums from her mother’s bedside, she hurried back downstairs, lingering among the women as they asked a flurry of questions. She was hoping to prolong the time until she returned to the kitchen and to Calvin. Alas, after she had been questioned on everything including: "Who are you taking to the prom? Do you know what you're going to wear? What are you going to do with your journalism degree?", her mother was flagging her off, making sure she didn’t encroach on her time with the four women encircling her. So, it was back to the kitchen.


When she got there, Calvin was now resting his elbows flat against the island and his face against his arms. His eyes followed her as she returned, and he lifted up his head.
“I think we have Physics together,” he said.
Julissa was pretty sure they had Physics together, but she just acted surprised, "Oh yeah, we do."  The silence came again.
"So when's the next game?" Julissa asked, now that finished off the Monterrey.
“Friday,” he quickly answered, sounding like an eager beaver. Well at least he was enthusiastic about something now. Julissa sat back down at the island before asking, “You ever get a chance to read the school paper?” She smirked a little, excited to hear his thoughts on their achievements. Next to the football team - they had the most accolades.

“It‘s gotten really trashy,” he responded with a bit of irritation in his voice. Perhaps he was referring to the new gossip section one of the staff members wrote about certain students - usually athletes. Calvin’s name had been in some of the juice columns once or twice. “I remember it use to be really prestigious.”
“Well,” Julissa said quietly, hands on her hips. “It still is. They won a journalism award just last year.”
Calvin chuckled, and his eyes briefly met Julissa’s. “It was one story about global warming. It’s not like the entire paper won it that time.”  There was still an edge in his voice.
“Well, I just joined the paper,” Julissa revealed. “I’m working on some news stories now.”
“Oh,” Calvin said, rubbing his hair forward and causing it to be unkempt. He seemed a little embarrassed. “Well I hope your stories is one of the good ones,” he finished quietly.
She briefly caught his eye again and smirked, letting him know it was okay, “I’m new. Hopefully they’ll let me get the front page story.”
“You’re that good huh?”
Julissa had to admit, after he asked this, her heart literally skipped three beats at the sight of his lips curling into a toothy white grin. His quiet charm was totally working. She had to keep it cool.
“They recruited me,” She answered proudly yet timidly, taking her hands from her lap and placing them on the island in front of her.
“Cool, so you were scouted.” He spoke. He was still smiling, still making her feel like she didn’t want to feel. She was sure heat had risen beneath her light brown skin and turned her ears red.
“I guess, you could say that.” Julissa murmured, looking down at her hands and fidgeting with the heart-shaped ring on her index finger. “They found out I had won an essay contest and asked me to join. So I just went for it. I needed something to put down on my college applications, and our school has a good reputation in journalism.”

Calvin was listening intently. The living room was somehow quiet. 
“So,” Julissa began surprised about how nervous she was now feeling at just speaking. “You must be pretty good yourself at football and all.”
“All-State for Defense,” She heard him say, sounding as proud as Julissa about his achievement.
It was quiet a second before she heard him speak again. “I guess we’re both good at what we do.” Julissa raised her head with a smile on her face that matched his. She was sure she was blushing. She recognized that he was flirting with her, and in her mind she was rationalizing that this must have been the way he normally acted around girls. First he played the shy role, then he turned on the charm full blast. She just needed to be nonchalant, even if her body was giving her away.

“Julissa.” Her mother was calling her. She was thankful for it this time. She was asking her to get Calvin’s mom’s coat. That must have meant they were leaving a little early. Apparently she had realized she had something important to tend to at home.
When Julissa returned with the coat, Calvin was standing in the living room next to his mother. He eyed Julissa, and she in turn directed her attention at her mother who was standing next to her now.
“Well, it was wonderful being here. Even if we have to leave early. My youngest one is apparently sick,” Calvin’s mother said.
“That’s fine, Paula,” Chanel replied, giving the petite brunette a hug. “I hope he’s alright. Give him plenty of fluids.”
“Will do,” his mother answered, glancing at Julissa. “It was nice meeting you,” she said to her.
Julissa responded that it was nice meeting her too, and meeting Calvin.

“Well, I hope you two got to know each other a little,” Chanel said. Julissa glanced at Calvin and gave a little smile. His was only slightly bigger than hers. Neither of them responded. Chanel‘s voice broke the silence. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Julissa blushed again as their mothers said their goodbyes. And then like that, Calvin Alston was gone.  Julissa quietly retreated to her room until the party was finished, put on her Beauty and the Beast DVD, and amicably helped her mother clean when she was asked. Afterward she went upstairs to go sleep. As she laid herself down on her hot pink comforter that night, she smiled at the thought that maybe she could be Calvin’s friend.





CHAPTER 2 Coming soon