The Spectrum Force by Heather Ray (summer books .TXT) 📖

/> "I honestly never thought I'd see the day," Rachel whispered, gazing dreamily at nothing in particular.

"What day?" Keith asked curiously.

"The day I'd see you in love."

Keith gnawed on his lip for a moment, bringing his hand to his chin. "Me neither," he admitted softly.

"So, when do we get to meet this dream-come-true?" Craig asked, "You'd think you'd want her to meet the people you spend your time with."

"Well, I wouldn't want to scare her off," Keith quipped.

"Ha, ha," Craig groaned.

"Seriously!" Rachel contributed, "I want to meet her. Why don't you invite her to the basketball game on Tuesday? We're up against the Drexford Lions."

"The natural enemies of the U.C.L.A. Sharks," Craig affirmed.

"It's kind of short notice," Keith pointed out, "The U.C.L.A./Drexford games usually sell out months in advance! It's one of the longest running confrontations in college sports."

"Keith, I'm on the team," Craig reminded him, "I can get tickets easily!"

"So, it's settled," Rachel said, rising from her seat, "Craig has to be there early, so we should all go together at six. We can pick up Tamara, and chat while the teams practice. Then we'll get a bite after the game!"

"Sounds great!" Craig chimed in.

"Guys!" Keith protested, "I don't even know if Tammy likes basketball!"

"Keith, everybody

on this campus likes basketball. Especially the Drexford games."

Chapter Seven

Tuesday, November 14th

"Well, here we are," Keith said, pausing before room 115 in Henderson House dormitory.

Craig and Rachel stood side by side, glancing at the door. "Aren't you gonna knock?" Craig asked with a grin.

"Be nice," Keith warned.

"What do you think, we're going to eat her or something?" Rachel asked, rolling her eyes.

Keith sighed defeatedly, and knocked on the door. Moments later, the lock clicked open, and the door opened wide.

Tamara smiled widely at Keith, and then turned her attention to Craig and Rachel.

"Hi!" she said cheerily, casting her disarming smile to the two strangers. She enthusiastically held out her hand first to Craig. "I take it your Craig."

"That would be me," Craig responded, heartily shaking her hand, "but sometimes people do get me and Rachel confused."

Rachel was quick to jab him with her elbow before she shook Tamara's hand. "It's wonderful to finally meet you, Tamara."

"Call me Tammy," she insisted, "Everyone does."

"Are you ready?" Keith inquired.

"Just one second," Tamara said, hurrying back into her room, "Let me get my jacket."

Keith waited as the door slowly closed, and then turned to his friends. "Well?" he whispered.

"She's not on trial, here," Craig said.

"I know... but what do you think of her?"

"She seems really sweet," Rachel commented, "Very likeable."

Tamara then reappeared, closing the door behind her. "Shall we?"

Chapter Eight

The crowds of densely packed students released a unified cry of excitement as the three-point shot sank into the basket cleanly. Buried deep within the cheering crowd, Keith, Rachel, and Tamara rose from their seats, clapping loudly.

"GO CRAIG!" Rachel cried, waving as the power forward moved back to the other side of the court. He waved back before the opposite team in-bounded the ball.

"Craig must've been working on his three-pointers," Keith mentioned, as the trio took their seats once again, "I haven't seen him hit one all year."

"I'm actually surprised he took that shot," Rachel added, "He must've been pretty confident."

"So, are you and Craig dating?" Tamara inquired. Rachel turned to her in surprise.

"What makes you think so?"

"Well, you seem very close, and it looks like you'd make a good couple."

Rachel smiled. "Actually, no."

"Then, how did you all wind up friends?" Tamara asked, "Keith told me that you and he have been friends throughout your U.C.L.A. careers. That's absolutely amazing that you found such good friends so quickly!"

"Rachel and I lived on the same floor at Henderson Hall freshman year," Keith recounted, "Fifth floor. The designated party floor."

"As in, extremely loud music," Rachel clarified, "At all

hours."

Tamara giggled. "Well, I guess it still lives up to its reputation."

"Keith and I were both enrolled in the same Calculus class first semester," Rachel continued, "Ech, it was Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at eight in the morning!"

Tamara's eyes widened. "I didn't even know classes started

that early."

"This was an exception," Keith uttered, rolling his eyes, "Our professor was absolutely nuts! He taught classes at Drexford in the afternoons, so he taught all his U.C.L.A. classes as early as possible."

"In any event, Keith managed to miss the entire first week of classes," Rachel reminisced, laughing slightly, "He just couldn't get out of bed."

"I finally managed to show up the second week. I didn't know it was such a small class... there were only twenty kids there! So the professor takes one look at me and says, 'So, you are Mister Maloy? I'm glad you finally decided to join us. Perhaps you weren't aware of it, but attendance counts heavily in this class. As I told everyone last week, students are allowed three free absences. After that, your final grade is deducted by 1/3 a grade.' Obviously, I wasn't too happy about that."

"So, Keith asked me to make sure he got to class every morning," Rachel picked up, "And every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, I called his room at 7:30 to make sure he was awake."

"Did you have a roommate?" Tamara asked.

"Yeah, but Darren slept like the dead. He slept through five fire drills... and two of them were in the afternoon!"

"Wow," Tamara whispered incredulously.

"So that's how Keith and I became good friends," Rachel finished, "We dragged each other through Calculus."

"And how did Craig come into the picture?"

"Craig's a year behind us," Keith revealed, "And we met him last year. Rachel was dating another guy on the basketball team at the time, and he basically became a sort of big brother for Craig."

"Craig found out about halfway through October that he was in deep trouble in his Spanish class," Rachel interjected, "He needed to pass a proficiency exam at the end of the term to complete the Language Requirement for the school, and Spanish was always tough for him. He was taking Spanish 140, which is supposed to prepare students for the proficiency exam, but he failed the first practice test they took. Aaron asked me if I would tutor Craig, since I'm fluent in Spanish. I agreed, and the rest is history."

"Yeah. Craig passed Spanish, and we all became good friends."

Tamara smiled broadly. "So Rachel, you've managed to single-handedly keep both Keith and Craig from flunking out of school?"

"In a manner of speaking," Rachel chuckled.

"You can give us some credit," Keith argued, "You got us through first semester Freshman year, but we managed to survive without too much help for the rest of it!"

"Good point," Rachel agreed. She then leapt to her feet and began cheering wildly as the Sharks stole the ball from the Lions, and managed to score an easy dunk. "So Tammy," Rachel said, sitting back down, "Keith mentioned you were in The Pirates of Penzance

?"

"Yes, I am," she answered.

"We saw that performed in my high school," Rachel recounted, "It was a class trip for my drama class sophomore year. It's such fabulous production!"

"It'll be fantastic," Tamara stated enthusiastically, "College dramas are so much more involved than the high school plays I got so used to. I'm really excited about the show. You will come see it, won't you?"

"We'll be there with bells on," Keith assured her.

Rachel grimaced. "Well, he'll

be there with bells on. Craig and I will deny any acquaintance with him if anyone asks."

"You all have

to come to the show," Tamara persisted, "I'd love to see you there! It's playing next Friday and Saturday at Zellberg Auditorium."

Rachel smiled, and nodded her head. "We won't miss it."

Chapter Nine

Saturday, November 25th

"Poor wandering one!
Though thou hast surely strayed,
Take heart of grace,
Thy steps retrace..."

He sat in the audience, leaning back into the plush velvet seat at the Zellberg Auditorium. On his right was a plentiful bouquet of colorful flowers, woven with pink and yellow ribbon. Sitting on his left were Rachel and Craig, his dearest and most trusted friends. They, just like he, were completely enthralled in the play.

The plot was indeed fun and entertaining. The audience watched the misadventures of the loveable pirates, how Frederic tried to leave piracy behind, and how he had fallen in love with Mabel, one of the daughters of General Stanley of the British army. Obviously, a pairing between a pirate and the General's youngest daughter wouldn't be an ideal one, but the action of the play served them well. Frederic had a chance to save Mabel and her family from the pirates, and the General welcomed him to the family. And now, in true comedic tradition, everyone had to have a happy ending. The entire gang of pirates had decided to reform, and each asked the General if he could marry one of his daughters.

The