My Life With the Walter Boys (4 page)

“If that doesn’t work, we can always strap Alex to the roof. Nobody will care,” Cole offered as he started up the car.

“If anyone is going to be strapped to the roof,” Alex shot back, “it should be you, Cole. You take up the most room.”

“Nobody asked your opinion,” Cole said, glaring at his younger brother in the rearview mirror. “Now come on, let’s go.”

Lee grunted in annoyance but scooted closer to Cole. He didn’t look too happy about sharing the front with me, but I opened the passenger door and slid in anyway once Nathan made some room.

During the twenty-minute drive to school, I received a crash course in Boys 101 and decided that maybe the male species wasn’t so different from females after all. To sum it up, the Walters gossiped worse than the girls at my old boarding school. At first the car was silent, which was probably due to my presence, but soon the boys relaxed and carried on as if I wasn’t there. They talked about who was going to make track team this spring and who wasn’t. They discussed what they should wear to a party on Friday night and who was going to be there. But most of all they talked about girls: who was cute, which girl wore the perfect perfume, and who had the prettiest hair.

When they started talking about a girl named Kate who, to use Isaac’s words, had “the perkiest pair of tits in the world,” I felt uncomfortable. Trying to tune the conversation out, I shrunk back into my seat and stared out the window.
Please
let
us
be
there
soon. Please be there soon!

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 thought 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.