Babe Killaire was hot. The hottest, sexiest, most desirable guy in school. 

Obviously. 

Plus, he was clearly way hotter than any of the dudes in bigger, nearby towns too. Or so my sister told me. She is in that awkward, ugly phase that hits most girls around the tenth grade. However, Stephanie’s phase has been going on for several years now.

She clearly had a crush on this Babe Killaire, and I’m pretty certain he would have no idea who she was. Even in a school of less than 200 kids, she is a homely flower on life’s wall. It isn’t all her fault though. At home, she never shuts up. That girl talks a mile a minute. But put her in front of others outside of our house, and the talking nearly stops. And when she tries to join in the conversation, what comes out of her yap is completely inappropriate for one reason or another. She’s socially awkward, you know the type.

Also not helping her social situation: we are poor. Not like, “Dirt floor and tarpaper house poor”…more like…“Powdered milk instead of milk-milk”, or “Sorry your teeth are fucked and you’ll never get braces” -kind of poor. Working poor and always struggling. Our clothes are nice and somewhat trendy, but homemade. Our haircuts are done on the porch by my mother, who really does try her best on our genetically cursed locs. And we don’t start the school year every year with new shoes. 

I am well-aware of the others who are far worse-off than us. 

Stephanie went on to explain how that day, in school, between second and third period, she passed Babe Killaire in the hallway, and he smiled at her and said “Hi.”

She said she smiled back, and turning her head as she squeezed swiftly through the hall, walked full-speed into David Lipski’s open locker door.

The collision had caused the locker door to slam sharply on poor David Lipski, who’d been bent over, head in the door, fetching an Algebra book from the bottom of his locker. He’d collapsed and was unconscious, and a few people screamed and called for help. Babe rushed to my sister and grabbed her arm, causing the stack of textbooks she was holding to fall to the floor. She was shocked how cute he was close up. Like, his skin was perfect. You couldn’t even see pores on his nose. And his eyes were this steely blue unlike anyone else. He was destined to become famous because of those eyes.

But back to what really matters, he helped her pick up her books and asked if she was okay. I mean, he was a Senior and she was only a Sophomore, but it could totally happen. 

I’m telling you this as I heard it from her, right? So all this stupid stuff about Babe, that’s like the shit she was actually saying and thinking about in that head of hers. Meanwhile, an ambulance was called and eventually got there and raced poor David to the nearest hospital about 30 miles away. By the end of the day, the principal announced to their class that David was mostly fine. He suffered a minor concussion, so he’d need time to rest, but was expected to make a full recovery. Stephanie felt like the principal had looked directly at her many times throughout his announcement. Afterwards, she went into a bathroom and cried a little but no one saw her. Yes, she’s sure.

So then as my sister was leaving school, one of the Jumpup sisters said something to her about it being intentional, but I really believe it wasn’t. She was probably staring at Babe and not paying attention and daydreaming about life on his arm when it happened. It was a horrible accident.

The doctors in Duluth just didn’t know that David’s brain was bleeding, at least not at first. One of them said something about it just being goose egg and that was it. 

But he’s dead now and I probably wouldn’t be telling you all these stupid details if I didn’t think it mattered. Our family might not have money, but we don’t hold ill will over families that do, like the Lipskis. My sister has never hurt anyone in her life. Well, until then.

And the incident with the paramedics, well, she was so enamored with Babe, and they got to talking and waiting for the ambulance like everyone else. The teachers were trying desperately to clear out the hallway, but you know people; they gawk. Seeing David Lipski all splayed out and unresponsive scared everyone. Even the teachers were visibly shaken.

Someone said he twitched a little, but I didn’t see it. I was on the opposite side of the school coming from Health class in the basement, so I only know what I heard from my sister and my friends. 

But Stephanie swears Babe said something about wanting to leave school. Right then and there, can you imagine? He was ready to just go take off in his convertible and drive to the lake and swim. So she turned to start heading to her own locker to grab her things and that’s when she stepped on that paramedic’s hand and broke all those fingers on his left hand.

He was a guitar player in that local band The Funk-Keys. I heard he’ll never play again, is that true? Stephanie needs to apologize for that too. But Babe. He was so distracting with those eyes.

So she never did leave with Babe, he took off with that older, prettier Jumpup sister, Robin? She left school for the day with Babe. I don’t know how the car veered off the road. I don’t know how they came to be dead now, but I assure you, my sister had zero to do with it.

It was a really bad day for Stephanie.