The Education of Hailey Kendrick - Eileen Cook [37]
It seemed strange not to talk, but the polisher was so loud and the gym so big that it made conversation practically impossible. It wasn’t that I wanted to be insulted by Drew, the jolly janitor, but I had realized how nice it was to talk to someone about anything other than what had happened. Drew was right about one thing. As the hour went on, I felt less stiff and sore. My muscles limbered up, and when I turned the machine off, I looked back over the floor and felt a huge sense of satisfaction. I had accomplished something. It might not have been much, but it was something.
Drew was at the far end of the gym gathering all of the trash into three giant black bags. We’d finished sooner than I’d expected, and I wondered if that meant we got to knock off early or if we were expected to tackle some other chore. I had just started to make a dent in the extra credit history homework. I could use the extra time. I began to wind up the cord.
The doors to the outside burst open, and a group of guys spilled into the gym. It must have been snowing outside, because they were covered with a mix of slush and mud. One of them, a junior, gave a whoop when he saw the waxed floor. He took off at a run, dropping to his knees and sliding six or seven feet. He left a long dark smear of mud in the center of my floor.
“What the hell are you doing!” I screeched. I ran out into the middle of the floor waving my hands as if I wanted to scare off a group of wayward geese that were pooping all over my lawn. The guys stopped in place. I looked around. They were all wearing their outdoor shoes, some with cleats and hard soles. They’d tracked in mud, granite-colored slush, and a few random twigs. The floor was ruined.
“Easy, Kendrick. Who made you Miss Clean?” The junior tossed a filthy football into the net box at the end of the gym. “We had to bring the equipment back. What’s the big deal?”
“The entire floor has to be done again,” I said, pointing out the obvious.
“Isn’t that what you have your townie for?” The junior motioned to Drew, who was still standing to the side. “You keep them around for more than just looking at, don’t you? Or do you just use them for kissing?” The other guys laughed. Drew crossed over to us in several short strides, and the Evesham guys suddenly bunched together.
“Is there a problem?” Drew asked. He may have been only a few years older than the guys, but looking at them together, it was clear it was the difference between a bunch of boys and a man. Drew was broad through the shoulders, and his face had clean lines, with no baby fat sticking to his cheeks. I could tell the guys were scared that Drew would start something with them, and I liked that. They outnumbered him eight to one, but they were still afraid. I stood behind Drew with my arms crossed. I hoped he would make them wipe up the slush off the floor with their tongues.
“There’s no problem, man.” The junior rocked back and forth. I think he was trying to look tough, but it looked like he was trying out for a chorus role with a production of West Side Story.
“All right, then.” Drew stood his ground. The Evesham kids headed out of the gym, darting looks over their shoulders to make sure Drew wasn’t following them. I pressed my lips together. I wanted to scream.
“Make sure there aren’t any sloppy seconds left behind,” the junior yelled, and then they all laughed, slamming the door.
I whirled on Drew. “Why didn’t you make them clean that up? How can you let them get away with that?”
“You don’t do a lot of meditation, do you?” Drew pulled the mop from the cart and started to wipe up the mess on the floor.
I stared at him, wondering if he’d lost his mind. “What are you talking about?”
Drew motioned to the mess on the floor. “This is just dirt. Save your wrath for something bigger than mud.”
“He was rude.”
“No, he was an asshole. Me telling him that isn’t going to change anything. He isn’t suddenly going to fall on his knees and see the light. You know what’s going to happen? He’s going to run to the dean and say that he was returning the ball