History of the Trap: June Dreams Part 5

SYNOPSIS:  After being visited in prison by Morgan LaDona Tigh, Lance Martin has agreed to Dr. Duncan's request to detail what happened in the time that Lance is calling "the Trap."  Lance begins his journal by describing the morning before the trap fell, where we learn his father was the Principal of Loren High, that Lance is a Junior, and has a sister named Diane who is a sophomore.  After a couple hours at school that morning, where we see how different his relationship with Morgan is.  We meet Lance's best friend, Artie Pentler, and their gang. Just as Lance is ready to ask Ginny Estill out, the Trap falls, and they witness the horrible death of two P. E.students as they are caught in some kind of electrical storm.  The students soon realize, as April marches on, that the so-called storm is something more, and that they may be trapped at the school and it's grounds for a very long time. May involves grizzly murders of staff that remain unsolved, as Lance's father and staff struggle to come to grips with events.  They decide to schedule more activities for the students to become involved with, including sports,  a TV variety show, and the beginnings of the tunnel project. Lance realizes that Ginny has chosen Artie, and finds himself moving closer to the studious, pretty Lisa Carlton.  Lance and Lisa stumble on to a drug ring being led by David Izzner and the band teacher, Mr. Black.  Later, the Guidance Counselor, Mr. Joe Oliver, is found dead, his office ransacked for cigarettes and other contraband.

5

My growing recognition of contraband and addiction were not the only memorable parts of June.  I was growing closer to Lisa as the month progressed.  There was some physical stuff, but it was the growing interpersonal connection between the two of us that had me most dreaming through June.  We could talk for hours and never tire of each other. She was bright and beautiful. She was a bit more serious and stern than Ginny was.  But then again, so was I.  Artie had a much sharper sense of humor than I did, and maybe that's one of the things that attracted Ginny.  I really didn't know, but as June wore on, it became less and less relevant.

At first, we saw each other mostly outside the group, and when we were with the group, behave close to the same.  But after the first week or two, we gravitated towards each other everywhere, and it became quite clear to everyone that we were an item.  Even then, we were not overtly affectionate in public.  It wouldn't be until later in July that we would hold hands where we could be seen.

On her part, I don't think she had completely closed the door to her Huron University boyfriend.  She didn't want her friends, like Sue Boschman, who knew about the relationship, to think that it was fully over.  It was a little unnerving that this girl whom I was falling so deeply for might ditch me as soon as the Trap ended.  It was odd that I know had this little scratch of a thing that almost made me wish the Trap would go on.  Almost.

On my part, there was a reluctance to communicate to Ginny that I was no longer available, that I had moved on from my unrequited crush.  But she was so out of tune with me that I doubt that she would have noticed no matter what I did.  And as June moved forward, it mattered less and less to me what Ginny thought.

Ours was not the only relationship in our group.  Summer was bringing out the romance all through the gang.  Artie and Ginny were spinning around each other, each denying they were in a relationship, each so clearly in one.  There was a lot of sarcastic back and forth to each other, and you could see that it would just intensify their feeling for each other.  I'm not sure I could have done that.  I'm too serious and would not be up to the give and take.  I loved that Lisa's talking to me was always straightforward.

I doubt that Sue was paying any attention to the fact that Lisa might be moving away from her Huron boyfriend.  She was way too busy getting closer to our resident super mechanic, Tom Bodell.  Although still paranoid, conspiratorial, and rabid right wing, her rhetoric had toned down as other interests took their place.  They had grown to be the most openly affectionate of our group.  Tom was working very hard on the tunnel plans, and was a playing a key role as actual construction gotten underway.  Maybe it was the intensity and hard work, or maybe he was just crazy in love, but it was clear when he saw her he would light up.  They would hold hands, then kiss and hug, and soon we would be calling out, "Get a room!"  They would blush a little and then get up and go....somewhere.

Our newest romance was between sturdy football player Jim Kurrash, and Ginny's pretty blond freshman sister, Mary.  I think she was attracted to his quiet strength.  I'm not even sure how it started.  She just came over and sat by him more and more.  I thought at first she was just moving away from her sister as Ginny became increasingly focused on Artie.  Then I saw that she really was interested in Jim, and he in her.

Still single was Robert Bond and Jerry Mack.  Jerry seemed too fragile to get that involved with anyone, being sickly quite a bit of the time.  And Robert may have just been not quite as mature.  Even tough he was junior, he still seemed happiest with our group as an all-male enclave, as if we were frozen in our junior high state.  As time would tell, Robert's reasons were a little bit more complicated than that, but we didn't know that then.

Outside of our group, other couples were aligning.  And unfortunately, other cliques and groups were solidifying as well.  It wasn't quite divided rival gangs in bitter conflict yet, not yet like the Jets and Sharks in West Side Story, but if the trap continued much longer, who knows?

No one knew then how long this would go on, and how many bitter, deadly divisions would arise.  Our early summer of love would not last.

TO BE CONTINUED!