I was somewhat surprised to see Camille in the lunchroom. Camille was a lovely cheerleader in twelfth grade and was one of Patty’s closest friends. I knew that she didn’t have fourth period lunch. Camille saw me and started heading right for me.
“Jim!” Camille said.
“Cammy, what are you doing here?”
“I’ve got a substitute teacher in physics class,” Camille explained. “My National Honor Society card allows me to go to the library. I wanted to talk with Patty at lunch, but when I saw her, she was with Kristen. She told me that I should talk with you.”
I hadn’t known that Camille was in the honor society. After all, I knew her predilection for skipping class. She was also a cheerleader to boot. National Honor Society material? I was a bit amazed. “Talk about what?” I asked her.
“Patty said something about a girl named Sherry. In addition, I noticed that Kristen looked furious at the mention of her name. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
I sighed. “Do you know Sherry Jordan?”
“She’s a small girl, the brunette with the permanent perm?” Camille asked.
Camille’s description brought a quick smile to my lips. “Yeah, that’s her.”
“Isn’t her cousin Dale Hardy?” Camille asked, her eyes getting wide. “Uh, oh… I think I’m beginning to get the picture.”
Camille led me to a set of tables that were empty so we could sit and talk in relative privacy.
I brought Camille up to date. “Sherry’s been in love with me since seventh grade, she told me. Dale offered her money for her to get me into a compromising situation with her and have Kristen find out. She even told Sherry to try to blackmail me into dumping Kristen for Sherry.”
Camille whistled. “Shit. Dale doesn’t take prisoners. Dale and Kristen used to be close, though. What’s going on with them?”
“Kristen’s dad got Dale thrown out of school,” I explained. “I think he arranged for her to attend St. Jude’s Catholic school on a ‘scholarship’ in order to get her out of here. I thought she was no longer an issue.”
“Dale doesn’t forget, Jim,” Camille pointed out. “Dale was a friend of my sister’s, you know.”
Actually, I hadn’t known that. Ages before, when I was quite younger, Camille’s sister Debbie used to baby sit me, although I couldn’t really remember much about that. “I’ll take your word for that. Anyway, Sherry’s in the middle. She really has feelings for me. Moreover, she hates Kristen because of what she did to Dale, and because Kris and I are going together. On top of all that, she thinks that I’m only in love with Kristen for her money.”
Camille was silent for a minute.
“How do you know how she feels? Did she tell you? Could it be she was just telling you in order to get you to go along with her?”
I shook my head. “Camille, you know that I can be very persuasive when I want to know something. What she said is the truth, without a doubt.”
Camille looked at me solemnly and after a few moments, she nodded her head. I didn’t think she knew about the tickets, although she had once been under their influence. I figured that she simply considered me a very persuasive person, a thought that I didn’t try to discourage. Camille continued to think silently, and I waited patiently.
The expression on Camille’s face showed that she just had an idea. “What do you know about Sherry? Did she do any sports in junior high? I think I remember her doing something like gymnastics.”
“Yeah,” I said. “She was pretty good on the gym team. The school came in third in the regional tournament—almost good enough to qualify for the All State tournament. I think she did floor exercises.”
Camille’s face turned into a grin. “I think I can handle Sherry for you, but we’ll need to talk with Patty.”
“What’s your idea?” I asked.
“It’s just the germ of an idea now, Jim. Let me think on this a bit.”
“I guess,” I said, a bit disappointed that Camille didn’t want to confide in me.
“Oh, you!” Camille said, playfully rubbing the hair on my head. “OK. Let’s say Sherry has two problems: her unrequited love for you, and her hatred of Kristen.”
“All right.”
“You have a problem with Sherry. You seem to think you’re responsible for her feelings.” Camille looked up at me, sharply. “Um, Jim… you aren’t, are you?”
I shook my head. “No, Camille,” I said, wondering why she would ask that.
Camille looked into my eyes and then nodded. “All right. Kristen has her own problems with Dale. Patty is probably working on that problem with Kristen right now. That leaves just you and Sherry. Maybe the two of us can fix that problem.”
“How?”
“Well, you’re not about to leave Kristen anytime soon, right?”
“Not a chance,” I said emphatically. “I love Kristen.”
Camille smiled. “I know you do. Therefore, if Sherry wants to get closer to you, she’s going to have to change her mind about Kristen. You’ll need to do that.”
I found myself nodding at Camille’s advice.
“You can’t force Sherry to like Kristen, Jim,” Camille warned me. There was a look in her eyes that showed concern. “You cannot mess with her feelings.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, wondering what Camille knew about me.
“I mean, you need to show Sherry reasons why she should like Kristen. You love Kristen, so that should be easy for you.”
I looked at Camille, but I didn’t see anything that suggested that Camille knew about my tickets. “What about you?”
Camille grinned. “Sherry’s other problem is that she’s too fixated on you. I will help her find another focus for her life.”
“Another boyfriend?” I asked, shaking my head. “I don’t think that will work.”
“Perhaps we could find her another boyfriend, but maybe I can help her find some better ways of spending her time.”
“Like how?” I asked, intrigued.
Camille furrowed her brow. “Well, you could break the ice by mentioning her gymnastics if the three of us ever get together.”
“You, me, and Sherry?” I asked, smiling. “That’s not likely to happen anytime soon.”
Camille shot me a mischievous grin. “You can never tell.” The class bell rang, and the two of us found ourselves having to end our conversation.
“Gym class, Jim,” Camille said, giggling. “Say ‘hi’ to Coach Dillard for me.”
I gave Camille a look while shaking my head. I still remembered the time that Camille barged into the boys’ locker room looking for me—as we were dressing—much to the chagrin of the coach, not to mention the boys that were dressing!
I thought about Camille’s suggestion. She was right in that I needed to do something to change Sherry’s mind about Kristen.
Of course, the first method that sprang to my mind was the lucky tickets. Although they had never failed to make people change their minds, I was a bit reluctant to use them in that way. Using them as a “truth serum” was usually pretty safe, but I found that occasionally, something unexpected would happen when a wish would go further than I actually expected.
An example of wishes having unintended consequences involved Kristen, who was now the love of my life. A few weeks before I really knew Kristen, I had been of the opinion that she was a self-centered bitch and that she had been responsible for my losing a friend many years before. I had been wrong in that characterization of Kristen at the time, but in a fit of revenge, I used the tickets in anger to attack Kristen sexually.