Chapter Seven
Wind Lake High School sat at the end of Sixth Street on the south side of town, only four blocks from the lake. The drive from Ronnie’s house took about ten minutes, giving them twenty minutes to find their homerooms.
“Upperclassmen, baby!” Andi hollered as she pulled into the back parking lot designated for juniors and seniors. All the windows were rolled down on Andi’s Corolla, letting in the cool lake breeze as well as letting out Andi’s yell. Ronnie grinned and beat her fists against the dash, biting back a shout of her own. This was it; her chance to be noticed.
As soon as the three of them climbed out of the car, Shawn noticed a few guys from the football team and joined them on the front steps on the school. Andi and Ronnie waved to him as they walked into the three-story, red brick building.
“I’m going to let you fly solo for a few. I’ll catch up to you outside homeroom,” Andi told Ronnie, who grinned and nodded as she slipped her jacket off her shoulders, folding it over her arm.
Wind Lake High was segregated by class. Freshmen hung out in the hallway closest to the front doors, sophomores were to the right, juniors took over the second floor, and seniors were on the top level. Feeling daring, Ronnie headed for the stairs and climbed up to the third floor.
“Hey, girl,” a familiar voice spoke up as Ronnie started down the senior hallway. She looked around and grinned when she spotted Raina Thompson coming towards her. Raina was a cheerleader, probably captain this year, and had dated Brian for a couple months at the beginning of last year. As far as her brother’s girlfriends went, Ronnie liked Raina the best.
“Hi, Raina. How does it feel being top dog now?” Ronnie asked. Raina grinned, her short coppery hair bouncing around her cheeks.
“We are queens!” she shouted, a fist in the air. A few people cheered around her, some clapped, an even a few laughed. Ronnie joined the laughter. Her laughter stopped when knuckles brushed against her back and a male voice said,
“Love that tat; did you get that done on Oak Street?”
Ronnie turned around and smiled as she nodded. Derrick Redding, star wide receiver of the Wind Lake Timberwolves, grinned at her, his hand still lifted with his fingers outstretched towards her bare back. His grey eyes and spiky blond hair made him one of the most sought after bachelors in school. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she turned to fully face him.
“Yeah,” she told him and he smiled.
“It’s nice. I’ll have to show you mine sometime,” he added and leaned towards her, lowering his voice when he said, “I’d show it off here but it’s not in a place that’s appropriate, if you know what I mean.” He wiggled his eyebrows. Ronnie giggled and shoved him away, pushing on his shoulder. He stumbled to the side as another girl stepped up to them.
“Derrick, you’re not seriously using that line again,” the girl said. Ronnie recognized her as Elise White, Derrick’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. She smiled at Ronnie as she wound her arm through Derrick’s and pulled him away.
“You’ll have to forgive him; he sees some skin and loses his mind,” Elise told Ronnie and pulled Derrick down the hall away from her. Ronnie laughed as Derrick smiled and waved. She turned to go find Andi again and found herself face to face with a short, stout black woman who was glaring up at her.
“You need to wear that jacket, Miss Lambert; this is a school, not a street corner,” the woman declared. Ronnie’s cheeks burned as she mumbled an apology and slipped on her coat again.
“Make sure you keep it on,” the woman added and waddled down the hall to find more troublemakers. Ronnie glared after her; compared to what some of the other girls were wearing, her outfit really wasn’t that bad. Yeah, she was showing some skin, but it wasn’t any different than all the girls in tank tops. She felt a pout coming on as she realized she wouldn’t get to show off her tattoo anymore today.
“Uh oh, what happened?” Andi asked as she materialized next to Ronnie.
“Where did you go?” Ronnie demanded. Andi raised her hands, palms out in the universal sign for calm down. Ronnie took a deep breath, knowing she shouldn’t be upset with her friend since it was her idea to show off her tattoo alone. She could have asked Andi to stay with her while she roamed through the senior hallway.
“I had to use the bathroom. Why; what did I miss?”
“Do you want the part about Derrick Redding hitting on me or Miss Uppity telling me I look like I belong on a street corner?” Ronnie blinked away tears. This wasn’t happening the way she thought it would. Getting her tattoo was supposed to make her powerful, invincible to petty criticism. Instead, her self esteem was back in the toilet. She wondered if getting the tattoo was a bad idea.
“First of all, you don’t look like a hooker. You don’t look any worse than half the girls in this school. You should see some of the freshmen.” She shuddered and continued. “Secondly, you need to turn that frown upside down because Derrick isn’t the only one who likes what he sees; there are plenty of guys here who have already gotten a good look at you and are curious. And lastly, we’re finally upperclassmen. Don’t let some older woman who obviously doesn’t remember what it’s like to be a teenager make you feel crappy. Enjoy it while you’re here,” Andi explained. A smile tugged at Ronnie’s lips. Andi was right; she shouldn’t let one old lady’s comments ruin her day. There would be plenty of time to show off her tattoo and assert her newfound confidence, maybe even hang out with some of the guys that were talking about her already.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Ronnie agreed and grinned as the five-minute warning bell rang. The girls looked at each other and giggled as they ran down the hall, getting jostled by everyone else also trying to get to their homeroom classes. Ronnie swore when one of the chopsticks fell out of her hair, clattering to the linoleum as her hair tumbled down her back. She swept up the chopstick, pulled the second one from her hair, and managed to shove them both into her bag as she reached her classroom. Andi’s homeroom was three doors down on the other side of the hallway.
She looked and gave a little wave before turning to walk into her room only to find her way blocked by yet another guy. She wrinkled her nose when she realized she didn’t recognize him. He stood only a few inches taller than her, kind of short for a guy, with straight black hair and dark, slightly slanted eyes. He wore black cargo pants, a black t-shirt that did nothing to hide his six-pack abs, and black combat boots. He looked her up and down and arched an eyebrow as he stepped aside.
“After you, Princess,” he said, making a sweeping gesture with his arm as he slightly bowed. Ronnie didn’t know whether to be appalled or to laugh at him and didn’t have time to make up her mind as their homeroom teacher asked if they would be joining them today. Cheeks warm, Ronnie walked into the room and sat in the first available seat. The guy in the doorway sat at the desk behind her and gave a small smirk that she pretended to ignore. Who the hell did this guy think he was? She looked across the room and smiled when she spotted Shawn sitting in the back corner. He smiled and nodded when he saw her, making her heart flutter.
“Boyfriend or someone you wish was?” the boy behind her whispered. Ronnie rolled her eyes. Her shoulders tightened as she tried to ignore him but he wasn’t going to be dissuaded so easily.
“Huh, well, if you’re not going to answer, then I’m going to guess,” he continued. “My guess would be that he’s not your boyfriend but you want him to be. Since you didn’t walk in with him, it makes me wonder if he’s even interested in you. What is he, an oblivious friend? Or does he not even know you exist? Is that what this outfit is for; so he will finally see you?”
Ronnie’s ears reddened and it took the last of her willpower to keep from turning around and telling him to shut up. She clenched her hands together on top of her desk, praying the teacher would call on either one of them just so he would stop talking. A million comebacks flashed through her mind, but she ground her teeth, knowing she would never say any of them. Despite her p
romise to herself to become her own person, she really didn’t know how to go about doing that. She thought it would be easy once she got the tattoo, but she knew she was failing. Even showing it off this morning, the little bit that she was able to, had taken more courage than she normally possessed—and Shawn didn’t even see it.
Thinking about Shawn took her mind off the jerk behind her and she managed to tune into what the teacher was saying. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that interesting—all the normal fist-day stuff about locker assignments and hall passing times—so she tuned out again, her mind wandering back to Shawn. She snuck another peek at him and was thrilled to find him watching her—or at least that’s what it looked like at first. He was actually looking at something behind her. She moved her head to get a better look and felt a tug on her hair.
“Stop moving; I’m almost done,” the guy behind her muttered. Ronnie spun around.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she shrieked, unable to pretend ignorance anymore. She ran a hand over her hair and found a thin lock he had apparently been braiding. Her eyes narrowed as the rest of the class waited for his reaction. Even the teacher stopped talking.
“I was bored,” he muttered. “And your hair is really pretty.”
His fingertips traced old graffiti on his desk and his dark eyes met Ronnie’s as the rest of the class erupted in laughter. Anger colored her cheeks as she tried to look away from his steady gaze. She wished he wouldn’t look at her that way, like she was the only one in the room with him. How could he think that when she was mad at him?
“Keep your hands out of my hair,” she growled at him and turned around. The teacher finally got the class under control and started handing out locker assignments. Ronnie prayed hers wasn’t next to his as she walked into the hall to find her locker. Shawn met her at the door.
“What’s going on with the new guy?” Shawn asked. Ronnie reveled in the possessiveness of his tone. She rolled her eyes to keep from grinning.
“He was braiding my hair. He’s such a jerk,” she replied angrily and continued down the hall. She read the numbers on the metal locker and groaned aloud when her nightmare came true; the only consolation was that Shawn’s locker was on the other side of his. She glared at the back of the new guy’s head, his black hair glistening in the fluorescent lights, and wished he would go back to wherever he came from. She didn’t even know his name and already she hated him. Shawn patted her shoulder as she turned towards her locker. She tried the combination three times but nothing happened. The locker wouldn’t open. Another two minutes passed and almost everyone else was back in homeroom while she continued to fight with her locker. The only one left standing with her was the boy she hated.
“Come on, you stupid thing, just open,” she begged the locker as she spun the dial one last time.
“Here, let me try,” he offered. She ignored him as she lifted the latch but it refused to open. She wanted to scream. At her wits end, she handed him the paper with her combination and stepped aside. He spun the dial, stopped at the combination and had as much luck as she’d had the last five minutes. He pounded the middle of the locker and tried again. This time the stupid thing opened.
“Sometimes you just have to have a firm hand with these kinds of things,” he told her as he handed back her combination. “It might take you a few tries to get used to it.”
“Thanks,” she grudgingly replied as she slammed the locker shut and followed him back to homeroom. By the time they walked in, everyone else had their schedules in hand and was preparing to head off to first hour. She retrieved her bag and purse and went to the teacher’s desk to get her schedule. The boy was already there getting his. He turned from the desk and held out a square piece of paper towards her.
“Veronica,” he said as he handed the paper to her. She raised an eyebrow and he smirked again. “Well, since I know my own name, it only stands to reason that this is yours,” he added. She rolled her eyes.
“So, do I get to know your name since you know mine?” she asked. The smirk stayed in place.
“Don’t worry, Princess, you’ll know it soon enough,” he replied and sauntered out of the room. Ronnie stared after him with her mouth partially open, again wondering just who he thought he was. She swore as the bell rang and she realized she was late for her first class. This day was not turning into her best.