Peter laughed. There was no sound, but she had felt his laugh.
He took out his notebook and wrote in it. “I signed, ‘Was it me?’’’ she read.
“Yes, it was about you.” She learned a while back that she couldn’t lie to him. He always seemed to know when she wasn’t telling him the truth. “But I don’t care. I love—” She caught herself. She hadn’t meant to say that. Or had she? She had wanted to say it so many times, but hadn’t. She paused for a long moment before continuing, “Oh, to heck with it . . . I love you, Peter. There, I’ve said it, and I don’t care what anybody has to say about it.”
A broad grin spread across Peter’s face. He placed his index fingers side by side in front of him, touching each other with palms down and then to his left.
“I have no idea what you are saying.”
Peter grinned, scribbled in his note pad, “I said I love you too.”
The words were a little hard to make out, but she knew what they were. She folded the note and put it in her jeans pocket.
Peter had been practicing in front of a mirror, but this was the first time he had actually tried to talk by using sign language. It was so much easier than he had first thought.
Christie put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Hesitantly at first, he put his arms around her waist. The softness of her breasts pressed against him. Her body radiated heat.
She backed off a little and looked at him for a moment, studying his face.
“Did I do something wrong?” He asked with his hands. She leaned forward and kissed him. Delicious feelings flooded through his body causing his groin to ache in some strange and wonderful way. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and returned her kiss. When they parted, they were both breathless.
“You do learn everything fast, don’t you?” she laughed.
He quickly wrote in his book and showed it to her, “I have a very good teacher.”
Christie lay down on the blanket and put her hands behind her head.
Peter leaned over and traced her lips with his finger. He stroked her chin and throat before kissing her again. Her lips were soft against his, warm and moist. Kissing her was just as he had imagined. No, it was better. He ran his fingers through her hair and breathed in the wonderful scent of lilacs.
7
Christie
“Prosthodontics,” Christie repeated the word.
She and Ellen Bates were the last two students standing at the front of the English class. “P-R-O-S. . . T-H-O. . . D-O-N. . . T-I-C-S. Prosthodontics.” She repeated the word and smiled beaming at Ellen.
Now, it was between Christie and Ellen. One of them would win the contest and be chosen to represent Walnut Ridge High School in the State Academic Fair Spelling Bee.
Ruth Baker, their English teacher, looked in the spelling guide that would be used in the contest. “Ellen, the next word is Streptococcus.”
“Streptococcus.” Ellen repeated and thought for a moment before beginning. “S-T-R-E-P. . . T-O. . . C-O. . . C-U-S.” She smiled at Christie and repeated the word. “Streptococcus.”
