But as the truck sped into the school parking lot, Cole laughing like a little boy when the wheels screeched, I instantly regretted my silent prayer. Valley View High was three times the size of my old school. Instead of the green lawns and bricks covered in crawling ivy that I was accustomed to, it was an ugly, cement block building that looked like it was straight out of the ’70s. A banner hanging over the front entrance read: Home of the Tigers!
Staring at my new school, I decided that the sheer number of kids was making me nervous. A stream of students made their way toward the front steps, backpacks slung over their shoulders. Other people lingered in the parking lot; there was a group of guys tossing around a football, couples making out against cars, and friends talking in big groups.
“Out,” Lee demanded, even though Cole was just swinging the truck into an empty spot. As soon as Nathan and I slid out, Lee dropped to the pavement and tore off into the crowd. I tried to follow him with my eyes, but he disappeared in a matter of seconds. How was I ever going to find my way around this place?
The back doors slammed shut, and the guys grabbed their bags from the bed of the truck. I hung back, hoping someone would offer to show me around.
“Let’s get out of here before the fan club arrives,” I heard Alex whispering to Danny as they brushed by me.
Isaac shrugged on his leather jacket and pulled a lighter out of his pocket. “Enjoy your first day as the new girl,” he called over his shoulder, a smoke already pressed between his lips.
My stomach did a flip. His words made me feel even more nervous. I didn’t want to be the new girl—I didn’t know how! I had been attending Hawks since sixth grade, where I’d shared the same dorm room every year with my best friend, Sammy, and hung out with the same group of girls that I’d known since preschool. My eyes welled up as I thought about home.
“You okay?” Nathan asked. He must have noticed the worried look on my face.
“Fine,” I muttered, blinking away the tears.
“You sure?”
“I’m fine, I swear.”
“Okay. Well, how about I show you where the office is?” he asked as he strapped his guitar onto his back.
“You’d do that?” My voice jumped up in hope.
“Sure thing,” he said and smiled. “Can’t have you getting lost on your first day.”
The breath I’d been holding in hissed out through my lips. “I’d really appreciate it, Nathan. Just let me grab my stuff.’’
At the back of the truck, Cole was sitting on the tailgate as if he was waiting for something. “So, New York,” he said and handed me my bag. “Whad’ya think?”
“About your school?” I asked. “It’s, um—big.”
Cole laughed. “You’ve been sheltered in a boarding school since junior high, and all you have to say about your first impression of the real world is that it’s big?”
I hate it, I thought. But that answer wouldn’t do. “It’s very different from my old school,” I said slowly. “For example, I don’t have to wear a uniform.”
“You wore uniforms?”
“Yes,” I replied. “It was a private school, so they were a requirement.” Thinking of my old, lumpy-looking sweater, tie, and matching plaid skirt, I heaved a sigh. Yes, my uniform was ugly, but there was always something comforting about pulling it on in the morning. Today, I’d had no clue what to wear. After Cole made fun of my outfit yesterday, I realized I didn’t know how kids at public schools dressed.
“And you went to an all-girls’ school? Man, that must have been a sight. Schoolgirl outfits are hot.”
“Sorry?”
“You know, like Britney Spears?”
I gave Cole a pointed look. “Our skirts came down to our knees.”
“Shame,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “But, I bet you made it look cute.”
His compliment caught me off guard. “I—um,” I stammered.
“Coley!” someone squealed, saving me from my embarrassment. A small girl with chestnut hair and poison-green eyes flung her arms around Cole’s neck and slammed her lips into his. I looked away when I saw a flicker of tongue.
“Olivia,” Cole said, finally breaking away from their kiss, “what did I tell you about calling me that? It’s not manly.” He peeled Olivia’s arms off his neck, but stood next to her and slung an arm over her shoulder.
“Sorry,” she responded without an ounce of humiliation, “but you know how happy I get when I see you. Sometimes I can’t contain my excitement.”
“Yeah, I know, babe,” he said and guided her toward the front entrance. He was halfway across the parking lot when he swung back around. “Good luck today, New York!” he called.
“Typical Cole,” Nathan said as he shook his head.
“Is she his girlfriend?” I asked as I stared after them, unable to take my eyes off Olivia. It didn’t surprise me that Cole had a girl who looked like a supermodel. Together they were a picture-perfect couple.
Nathan snorted. “She wishes.”
“Huh?”
“Cole doesn’t date,” he explained as we started walking in. “He has lots of girls that he hooks up with, but never anything more.”
“The girls? They’re okay with that?”
“I guess,” Nathan said with a shrug.
I frowned as we climbed the steps to the school. “That’s disgusting.”
“The thing you need to know about Cole,” Nathan said, holding the door open for me when we reached the top, “is that he runs this school. All the girls want him, and all the guys want to be him.”
“But if all the girls want him, why doesn’t he just pick one?”
He shrugged. “Why pick one if he can get away with sampling every flavor?”
“Sampling every flavor?” I gasped. “I can’t believe you just said that!”
“Look, Jackie,” Nathan said, laughing. “I’m not saying I agree with how Cole behaves. I’m just trying to explain the way he thinks.”
We stepped inside, and I realized how very different attending a public school was going to be. Just thinking about it made my head spin. Did guys actually think like that? Maybe Boys 101 hadn’t been as informational as I thought.
“Fine,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief. “But I don’t understand how any girl would be okay with a guy treating her like that.”
“Trust me,” Nathan said as a bell overhead rang, “I ask myself that same question all the time. That was the first bell. Let’s head down to the office so you aren’t late.”
After helping me find the office so I could pick up my schedule, Nathan walked me to my first-period class, which happened to be anatomy.
“Here you go—Room 207,” he said, escorting me into the room. “Hey! Looks like you have a class with Alex.” Nathan pointed out his brother, who was hiding in the back corner of the room with his nose buried in a book. “Let’s go see if you can sit with him.”
“Wait, no,” I started to say, but Nathan was already strolling into the classroom. Sighing, I followed him.
“Hi, Alex,” Nathan said when he reached the back of the room.
“What’s up, Nate?” Alex asked without looking up from his page.
“I was just walking Jackie to class, and she happens to have anatomy with you. Mind if she shares your table?”
Alex looked up sharply when he heard my name. “Um…” he started to say. He trailed off as something caught his attention over my shoulder.
A high-pitched giggle filled the room, and I turned to see a beautiful girl with curly blond ringlets. She had a perfect button nose that crinkled up in delight as she laughed, and her blue eyes sparkled. Her arm was locked with another girl’s as they walked into class, joking.
I turned back to Alex and noticed his eyes were locked on the girl. He pressed his lips together, and for a moment I thoug
ht he was going to tell Nathan no, but then he cleared off the space next to him.
“Awesome! Thanks, Al,” Nathan said.
“No problem,” Alex said and returned to his reading.
“Well, I better get to class. Have a good first day, Jackie.”
“Bye, Nathan. I really appreciate all your help this morning.”
“It was my pleasure,” he said. “See you both later.”
When Nathan was gone, I hovered at the edge of the table. “I can move if you want to sit by one of your friends,” I told Alex quietly, and by friends I meant the girl. “I’ll be fine by myself.”
“Huh?” He looked up from his book again. “Oh no. It’s totally fine. Sit down,” he said, pulling out the chair for me.
Relief washed over me. “Okay, thanks.”
Alex’s eyes darted back to what he was reading, but then he pulled out a marker, jammed it between the pages, and shut the book.
“Don’t stop on my account,” I said, unzipping my schoolbag and pulling out a notebook.
“No, I was being rude before,” Alex said and offered me a smile. “You just caught me at my favorite part.”
“Oh, so you’ve read it before?” I asked, tilting my head to read the title. “What’s it called?”
“The Fellowship of the Ring.”
I stared at Alex blankly.
“Tolkien?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re joking, right? You’ve never heard of The Lord of the Rings?”
“Oh, like the movie?”
Alex groaned and banged his head on the table in frustration. “Why don’t girls ever read good fantasy?”
“What are you talking about? I thoroughly enjoy fantasy. What about A Midsummer Night’s Dream?”
“Is that some girly crap like Twilight? That doesn’t count as fantasy.”
“Shakespeare doesn’t write about sparkly vampires,” I scoffed.
“Oh, I know now! Isn’t he that super-old dude who wrote plays? I’ve read his stuff in English class.”
I knew he was only joking, but I scoffed and said, “You don’t know who Shakespeare is but laugh at me for not knowing Tonkin or whatever his name was?”
“Tolkien,” Alex corrected me, “and he wrote the greatest fantasy series of all time.”
“Yes, but Shakespeare could be considered the greatest literary figure of all time.”
Before Alex could respond, a young man appeared in the front of the room.
“Good morning, class,” he began. “Today we have a new student. Jackie, is it?”
When I heard my name, I instantly froze up. The entire class turned to look at me.
“Um, yes?”
“All right, then,” the teacher continued enthusiastically. “Welcome to Valley View. I’m Mr. Piper, and I teach most of the science classes here. Why don’t you stand up and tell us something about yourself?”
He wanted me to stand up, like in front of everyone? I could feel my face burn.
“Jackie?” Mr. Piper prompted me.
I heard my chair scrape back and then I was standing. My hands shook and I quickly tucked them behind my back. “Um, okay. Hi, I’m Jackie Howard and I recently moved here from New York.” I announced my short greeting in a rush and sat back down. If I had to do this in every class, today was going to be a nightmare.
“Thank you, Jackie,” Mr. Piper said, rubbing his hands together. “Moving on. Please take out your books. Today we’re going to start working on our skeletal unit.”
“Not much of public speaker, huh?” Alex whispered. A lazy grin covered his face, and for a moment I was taken aback at how similar he looked to Cole. They had the same strong jawline, the same sun-kissed skin, and the same blue eyes surrounded by thick lashes that any girl would kill for. But as I studied his face, subtle differences started to emerge: a nearly invisible sprinkle of freckles dotted his nose, and his eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue with flecks of gold that I noticed only because we were sitting so close.
When I realized that I was staring, I shook my head and looked away. “No, not at all.”
“Me neither,” Alex told me. “Just thinking about it makes me itch.” He pushed his textbook into the middle of the table. “You don’t have a book yet, right? We can share.” I smiled to myself. It seemed that I made another friend in the Walter house.
Mr. Piper dove into his lecture, and I focused my attention up front. It was then that I noticed the blonde from before. She was sitting across the room, glaring daggers in my direction.
***
Once anatomy was over, I had art. I got lost finding the room, and when I showed up late, the class had already started working on their project. Mrs. Hanks, the art teacher, was a short lady with red glasses and copper hair that curled in every direction. She told me the class was finishing up a project and would be starting something new tomorrow, so I could take a free period.
Glancing around the room, I failed to spot the bright blond of any of the Walter boys, so I found an empty table near the back. As I sat down, a girl with red hair smiled at me before returning to her project. Maybe the people here won’t be so bad, I thought to myself and pulled out The Lord of the Rings. Alex had lent it to me when our class finished, and I told him I would read it on the condition that he brush up on his Shakespeare. The thick book was daunting, but after only a few pages I was so absorbed that I jumped in my seat when the bell rang signaling the end of class.
The rest of the morning flew by until I only had one period left before lunch. When I walked into the math room, I noticed that many of the students looked older than me. My private school education put me ahead of most of the public school kids, so I was enrolled in advanced calculus, which was a senior class.
About ten minutes into class, Cole came strolling in with a grin on his face.
“Hey, teach, sorry I’m late,” he said like it was no big problem. Then he spotted me. “Hey, Jackie! I didn’t know you were in any of my classes!”
Everyone turned to look at me. Glancing down, I kept my eyes on my notes and hid behind a curtain of hair.
“Mr. Walter! Will you please take a seat and stop interrupting my class?” the teacher asked.
Cole saluted him before taking the only seat left, right in the front row.
When we were finally dismissed, I began packing up my stuff. I was shoving my new textbook into my bag when Cole came up and sat right on top of my desk.
“’Sup, Jackie?” he asked, grabbing one of my notebooks and flipping through it. “Whoa, you actually use this thing?” he asked when he spotted the notes I took.
“Um, yes, that’s what it’s for,” I responded with a duh tone.
“Who takes notes these days?” he questioned. I took my notebook from him, tucked it away, and zipped up my satchel.
“Me.” I threw my bag over my shoulder and headed toward the door.
“Yeah,” he pestered, following me out of the room, “losers like you.”
“I am not a loser,” I opposed, stopping to frown up at him.
“Are too,” he teased.
“Am not,” I argued, starting to get angry. “There’s a big difference between being a loser and a good student.” I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t stand his teasing. Maybe it was because I was still upset about what Nathan had said about him this morning.
“Relax, Jackie. I’m just joking,” Cole told me.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, still frowning.
“You get really red when you’re angry,” he said and poked my cheek.
“Where’s the lunchroom?” I snapped and brushed his hand away. I was fed up with Cole.
He laughed and pulled me to his side. “Chill out, Jackie.” I inhaled sharply as his hand touched my bare arm. Cole continued to talk as if he didn’t notice. “I’ll walk you down there and ev
en show you the best table to sit at.”
Since I didn’t know where I was going, my only choice was to let him lead me toward the cafeteria. I planned on ditching Cole when we arrived, but as we stepped into the loud room, I felt my stomach drop. There were so many people, and I knew nobody. The thought of sitting by myself was terrifying, so I followed him without complaining. He pulled me through the crowds toward the front of the lunch line, and as we went, I could feel the stares of curious students. Instead of looking back, I kept my gaze glued to the back of Cole’s head.
After grabbing a tray, he scooped up two bags of pretzels.
“You like turkey?” he asked. I nodded, and he dropped two sandwiches on the tray. “An apple to keep the doctor away,” he muttered to himself as he picked up two pieces of fruit. “And milk for strong bones. There you go, a Cole Walter certified lunch. Hold the tray while I pay for this.”
“I have money,” I told him as he dumped the tray into my hands.
Ignoring me, Cole dug out his wallet and handed the lunch lady a bill. He pocketed the change and put his hand on the small of my back. “This way,” he said and guided me toward the middle of the lunchroom.
The table we arrived at was mostly full—guys wearing letter jackets and girls in cheerleading uniforms—and I immediately felt out of place. Cole sat down next to a tall girl with long auburn hair. Her lips were rosy pink, and they parted into a smile when she saw him.
“Where have you been all day, Walter?” she asked, running her manicured nails through Cole’s hair. “Not off with that floozy Olivia, were you?”
“Nice to see you too, Erin,” Cole said. “For your information, I was getting lunch with Jackie.”
“Jackie? Who’s she?”
“My friend,” Cole said and gestured to me, “so scoot over and give her some room.”
“It’s a little cramped at the table for an extra person, don’t you think?” Erin asked as she looked me over.
“Then leave,” Cole suggested.
Erin mouth’s dropped open in shocked surprise. “Are you serious?” she demanded. Cole stared back at her with cold eyes, so she pressed her lips together in a tight line and moved over without another complaint.