Over the next week or so, I started to hang out more and more with Patrick and the crew. I was starting to feel like part of the crew. Cassie, Emily and I were getting closer. We’d sit together during basketball practice and talk. I was still closest to Patrick, of all of them. He always made sure I was doing okay. We’d walk to some classes together, when Becca’s class was in a different direction. On days when I was down, even if her class was in the same area, I’d sometimes walk with both of them. I was the third wheel. Patrick wouldn’t let me be by myself, if he could help it. Becca remained cool to me, which was the way she treated all the crew, so I didn’t take it personally. In fact, it made me feel like I belonged in the crew. Like Bobby said, it was like I was initiated as one of them.
We presented our “Physics in the Real World” project and our lab video to the class. School life was good. I was feeling normal—at least what I envisioned normal high school life to be like for me. Mr. D announced our next big project for his class—a science fair project. We had the choice to work with a partner or by ourselves. Patrick and I had a similar overall topic, but there were different specifics we were interested in. Mr. D suggested that we work together doing our background research and initial experimentation and see where it led us. That way, we had the benefit of bouncing ideas off each other and learning more than working solo. It sounded good to us.
Life with my family was about the same. My mom still bugged me about stupid stuff—blowing things out of proportion. She seemed a little glad that I, at least, had friends. But she didn’t like it when I went out with them. Make up your mind already! Geez. She was driving me crazy with her hypocrisy.