Welcome To Hickville High (Hickville High Series Book 1) (4 page)

“Rat. Not poisonous.” He pointed to where Ryan stood shovel in hand, staring at the headless serpent as if she dared it to move.

Dad inspected the snake while Mom looked at Austin’s thumb. “Poisonous or not, that’s a nasty cut and I think you’re going to need a couple of stitches. Let’s get you to the hospital.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Quinn, but I think I just need to wash it up and maybe a Band-Aid.”

Kelsey looked at Austin. “Seriously, so does cowboy equal tough and stupid? There’s no way a Band Aid is going to fix that.”

Dad helped Austin to his feet. “She’s right. I think you need to call your parents.”

“I’m fine.” Austin took a step and then fell to his knees. “I’m just a little woozy.”

“That’s it.” Mom knelt next to him. “No arguments, you’re going to the emergency room.” She looked at Kelsey. “Go get the car.”

Kelsey ran for the gate and as she opened it, Austin puked.

“Grab a kitchen towel. And hurry,” Mom yelled.

By the time Kelsey pulled up to the gate, Dad and Travis held Austin up between them. They shoved him in the back seat. Dad slid in the front passenger seat while Mom sat next to Austin.

Kelsey gripped the steering wheel and tore down the dirt road toward the highway. “I don’t know where I’m going!”

“Turn left. I’ll tell you where to go. Just be careful,” Dad answered.

Kelsey pulled onto the highway and resisted the urge to floor it to town. Her heart pounded in her chest. She peeked in the rear view at Austin. He rested his head on the back of the seat with his eyes closed. His thumb bled through the towel wrapped around it, and he looked a little pale.

One day in Texas and she’d witnessed a snakebite. What kind of hellhole had her dad brought them to? If he hadn’t screwed up and gotten fired, if Ryan hadn’t screwed the boss’s son and gotten caught, she’d be hanging out with her friends instead of racing a snake-bitten cowboy to the E.R.

She pulled up to the patient drop off. Her parents helped Austin out of the SUV. The Cowgirl-up waitress from the trailer trash restaurant ran toward him. “Austin, baby. What happened?”

“Hey, Mom. I’m okay… rat snake got me. How’d you know?”

“Travis called.” She looked at the bloodstained wrap. “A rat snake did all that?”

Austin nodded. “Grabbed hold and wouldn’t let go.”

“Let’s get you inside.” She led him through the double doors followed by Kelsey’s parents.

Kelsey pulled through the drive to park the car. Travis and Ryan stepped out of a pickup truck as Kelsey pulled into a parking lot. And for once, her sister wasn’t flirting.

Ryan and Travis waited for Kelsey and the three of them walked to the emergency waiting room together.

By the time they joined their parents, Austin and his mom had been escorted to triage. Kelsey shuddered. “I hate snakes. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to gather eggs.”

Ryan folded her arms across her stomach. “That was so scary.”

“You were amazing with that shovel,” Kelsey said. “And a little freaky.”

“I just wanted that snake dead.”

Kelsey sat back. “Yeah. I gathered that when you yelled, ‘die bastard’ as you were making paste out of it.”

Mom snapped. “Ryan Katherine. Language.”

Ryan shrugged. “Sorry.”

Travis leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. “The thing is, rat snakes aren’t poisonous. They want to run from us as bad as we want to run from them. If you accidentally grab one, just let it go.”

Dad rubbed the back of his neck. “Looks like we need a more extensive farm life orientation.”

But we shouldn’t have to learn about farm life at all. Kelsey glared at her dad. “No wonder you left Hillside. I hate this place.”

“There is a lot of beauty here, too. You just have to open your eyes.”

“The only thing I’ll consider beautiful is the view of this place through my rearview mirror. Come May, I’m so out of here.” Kelsey stood and crossed the room to stare out of the window.

Ryan followed and stood next to her. “God, Kelsey, what’s your problem?”

“You are my problem. Dad is my problem. The fact that my whole freaking life has been turned upside down because of you and Dad is my problem.” Kelsey took a deep breath and tried to let go of some of the anger that lived within her. “Go ahead, embrace this redneck life. Be happy with substandard everything. Me? I’m just hanging on until college.”

Ryan gave an exasperated groan. “College? Really? For someone so smart, you just don’t get it. How long do you think it’ll be before they tap into our college funds?”

“They wouldn’t do that.”

Ryan leaned her shoulder against the window. “Get a grip. They sold your car. We are living in a broken down farmhouse in the middle of Fumbuck, Texas. Do you seriously think there is any money left? You blame me for the move, but think about it. Would Dad really move us here if he had any choice? We’re here because there’s nowhere else to go.”

Ryan pushed away from the glass and walked back to her family.

No money for college? But she’d planned to apply to Notre Dame—her parent’s alma mater and Boston College. Mom had said as soon as they settled in the new house they’d fill out the applications together. Ryan was right. If there had been any other way, they wouldn’t have moved. But did that mean there was no college money? The months of Dad being unemployed had taken a toll on the family. She’d have never thought they’d be a one-car family eating sandwiches for dinner, either. But they had. Tears spilled down her face as the reality of her situation settled in her chest. She took a deep breath and brushed her cheeks dry.

She heard Dad telling a story about the time Uncle Jack put a snake in her dad’s bed when they were kids. The group was huddled around him, laughing, and Kelsey felt like a complete stranger to her family. She would never, could never, embrace this lifestyle. In a few weeks she’d return to Chicago for the gala, back to her life. And then, she would find a way out of Hillside. She’d get a job, apply for scholarships—whatever it took. She would never be a Texas girl.

In Texas, it is illegal to put graffiti on someone else’s cow.

Austin followed his mom through the double doors to the waiting room. His blood soaked shirt stuck to his skin, mixed with sweat, dirt, and probably a little chicken shit. The numbing medicine was starting to wear off and he felt like hell.

Mrs. Quinn raced to his side. “Austin, are you okay?”

God, the high-pitched nasal tone of her voice made his head throb. “Yeah. It’s just a few stitches.” He held out his bandaged thumb for her to inspect.

The Quinn clan gathered around him all smiles and apologies– except Kelsey. She leaned against the windows on the opposite side of the room with her arms folded across her chest and her jaw clenched in a don’t-freaking-talk-to-me kind of way. What the hell. He didn’t care.

Travis grabbed his injured arm and studied the bandage wrapped around his thumb down to his wrist. “Dude, that’s gonna screw with your game. Coach is gonna freak.”

“Yeah, unless I can throw left-handed.”

His mom patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t you worry about football. Those stitches will come out next week. You’ll be fine by your first game.”

Kelsey pushed off the window and joined the others. She looked at him with a coolness he figured was an integral part of her personality. “So you’re not going to die.”

“Nah. There’s a small amount of venom in the snake’s saliva. I had a reaction to that. I got four stitches and antibiotics. I’m okay.”

Did he see relief ripple through her? Nah—had to have imagined it. She probably didn’t give a rat’s ass what happened to him.

His mom rubbed his back like he was a little kid. “I can get your prescriptions filled before I have to go back to the cafe. Don’t you have work today?”

He stepped away from his mom’s hand. “Jack wanted me to help with the farm.”

“I’ve been away for a long time,” Mr. Quinn said. “But, I think if you give me a list, I can handle what needs to be done.”

Austin’s hand throbbed and all he wanted to do was pop a pain pill and crash. But, he couldn’t leave the defenseless animals in the hands of these people. He’d have to suck it up and take care of business. “It’s just my hand. What I can’t do I’ll show you how to do.” He turned to his mom. “I can get the prescriptions filled. I need to change clothes anyway.”

“I don’t want you driving.” His mom looked at Travis. “Can you drive him?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll take care of him.” He winked at Austin’s mom.

“Uh huh. I just bet you will. You boys stay out trouble.” Her warning sounded stern but Austin knew she trusted them. After all, they would never do anything to screw up their senior year on the football team.

“Okay, so Travis, you and Austin are going to get the prescription filled and meet us at the house. We’ll start on the chores.” Mr. Quinn clapped his hands together like he was breaking the huddle.

Austin couldn’t believe this guy thought he was going to be able to just take over the farm. He’d bet Mr. Quinn was the kind of guy who paid somebody else to change the oil in his luxury car. And from the spindly arms sticking out from the short sleeves of his expensive looking shirt, Austin figured Mr. Quinn probably couldn’t lift a feed sack to save his life.

“It’s okay, Mr. Quinn. It’s only nine. I’ll be there in plenty of time to finish up.”

“Can we ple-e-e-ase get something to eat before we face the beasts?” Kelsey made a puppy dog face at her dad. She was working her dad and he’d bet Mr. Quinn caved every time.

“Sure, honey.” Mr. Quinn wrapped his arm around Kelsey and flashed a shit-eating grin. “As soon as we gather those eggs.”

Okay, so maybe Mr. Quinn wasn’t so bad after all.

*

Kelsey walked ahead of her parents toward the parking lot and watched Travis and Austin amble to their truck. Pick-up trucks, un-tucked shirts, jeans and cowboy boots—she guessed that was standard for Texas boys.

Ryan bumped her shoulder. “They look pretty hot, don’t they?”

“No. Don’t any guys here dress normal?”

“Normal as in Drew? Are you kidding me? These guys are real, Kelsey. Open your eyes.”

“My eyes are open and I don’t like what I see.” But she kept watching. He was so laid back. She watched him climb into the passenger seat of the truck without banging the dirt off of his boots. She straightened her back and decided that was another thing she didn’t like about him. Drew was impeccable and never allowed dirty shoes in his car. Of course, he never had dirty shoes either. When he cleaned up after playing lacrosse, he sealed his dirty clothes in a bag before he got in his car.

“Kelsey, this way.”

Crap. She walked past their car. She ducked her head and turned around.

“Don’t like what you see, huh?”

“Shut up, Ryan.” Kelsey climbed into the car behind Dad.

She dreaded facing the chickens. Kelsey tried to utilize her debate savvy persuasiveness to develop a logical argument against egg gathering. But she knew once her dad had a task in mind, it was set. She wished she had Mackenzie’s knack for fading into the background. Mackenzie!

“Mom, did anybody tell Kenzie where we were going?”

“Oh my God, we forgot her again. Does anybody have their cell?” Mom craned her neck to look at the girls in the back seat.

Kelsey and Ryan shook their heads. Kelsey spoke up. “We didn’t have time to get them.”

“We’ll be home in a few minutes,” Dad said.

When they pulled up to the house, Mackenzie was sitting on the top step of the porch with the snake-blood tipped shovel in one hand and her cell in the other.

When they got out of the car, she stood up. “What happened? I got out of the shower and nobody was around. I went to the chicken coop and all I found was blood and a dead snake.”

Mom placed an arm around Mackenzie. “I’m sorry. We left in such a rush we didn’t think to tell you.” She recounted the story of the snakebite. When her mom finished, Mackenzie nodded, handed the shovel to her, and without a word went in the house.

Poor Mackenzie. She was so easy to overlook. Unlike Kelsey and Ryan, Mackenzie seldom complained. She didn’t have friends outside the gym, never went to parties, didn’t talk about guys, or school, or much of anything for that matter. Her life was gymnastics—and now that was gone.

The protective side of Kelsey kicked in and she followed her sister. She found her sitting at the kitchen table and took the seat across from her. “You okay?”

“I was so scared. I didn’t know what happened. I called everybody’s cell and couldn’t get anybody.” She leaned back in her chair and a tear slipped down her cheek. “What is it about me?”

“What do you mean?” Kelsey knew exactly what she meant and had no idea how to answer her question.

“Why don’t I matter?”

“God Kenzie, don’t think that. You’re amazing. None of us could ever do the stuff you do.”

“Is that why nine times out of ten I had to call to see if anybody was picking me up from the gym?”

“That was just scheduling mix ups. You know how busy our lives were in Chicago.” Guilt niggled at the back of Kelsey’s mind. When she was with Drew or her friends, it was just so easy to let time get away and forget Kenzie. But it had really only happened a few times, hadn’t it?

Mackenzie brushed tears from her face. “I guess we don’t have to worry about that any more. We’re stuck in Farmville.”

Kelsey’s parents joined them at the table. Dad spoke first. “I don’t blame you for being upset, but these things happen.”

“I’m not upset, Dad. I understand. I was just a little freaked out, okay?”

He gave a curt nod. “Good girl.”

Yeah, good girl. Don’t make waves. Let’s just pretend we’re all hunky dory and get on with life. Kelsey wanted to shake her sister. She should be furious with them for scaring her. If it happened to Ryan or her, they’d have rattled the walls with their anger. Not Kenzie. Retreat from conflict was her MO.

“About those eggs.” God, Dad wouldn’t let it drop.

“You’re kidding. I don’t even want eggs, and I’m way past hunger.” Kelsey got up and grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper from the refrigerator.

“I know I’ve been a city boy for more years than I was on the farm, but I do remember a few things. We’re going do this together.”

Too tired to argue, Kelsey popped the top on the can and gave a shrug. “Whatever.”

Dad looked at Mom. “That means, ‘Sure, Dad, I’d love to face the chickens with you,’ right?”

“Something like that.” Mom nodded.

“In the interest of cooperation, I’ll give you time to finish your soda.” He glanced at his watch. “Meet me in front in ten minutes.”

Before Kelsey could argue that she’d intended to take more than ten minutes to drink her Dr. Pepper, Dad passed through the mudroom and out the back door. Kelsey looked at her mom. “If I grab another snake, I’m running away from home.”

Mom gave a weary smile. “Just don’t take Ryan with you. I need a snake killer.”

Ten minutes later, Dad met her on the porch holding a bucket and a pair of leather work gloves. He handed Kelsey the gloves and said, “I was never one for snakes either. Let me give you a couple of pointers.” They stepped off the porch and headed for the chicken coop. “First, if the chicken is nesting, move her out of the way. She’ll squawk but at least you can see what you’re taking. If you see a snake, don’t mess with it.”

God, how stupid does he think I am?
“That’s a no brainer, Dad.”

“You can usually get the egg without the snake getting riled up. The snakes are almost always rat snakes. And they’re called rat snakes because they like rats. They’re good to have around.”

“I’m thinking not so much.” Kelsey slid through the gate of the chicken yard followed by Dad.

“I know this hasn’t been easy, Kel. You’ve had a tough start, but give it a chance.”

“Okay, I’ll get the stupid eggs.”

“I wasn’t talking about gathering eggs.”

Kelsey looked at him. “I know.”

She pulled the gloves on and carefully reached under a hen. At the bottom of the nest lay a small light blue egg—only slightly covered in chicken shit. She picked it up and handed it to Dad. “These don’t look at all like what we see in the store.”

“No, these aren’t your average hens. They’re called Araucanas.”

“Whatever they are, the eggs are beautiful.” She worked down the line carefully taking the eggs and handing them to him. In less than ten minutes they walked back toward the gate with eight eggs resting in the pail.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“No.” She shrugged. It was kind of cool the way the hens stood and let her get the eggs. “I guess I’m the official egg gatherer.”

“I guess you are.”

She stopped halfway to the house and handed him the bucket. “Wait, I almost forgot…” She took an egg from the pail and ran to the fence that corralled the pig. “Winifred! Here piggy!”

The pig lumbered up to the fence and tipped her snout toward Kelsey.

Kelsey tossed the egg at her and she snatched it out of the air. The egg crunched and oozed down the swine’s chin. Kelsey’s stomach gave a slight lurch. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to the pig and egg scenario.

Dad regarded her with raised brows.

“Don’t get excited. It’s just something Austin showed me. I am not embracing farm life.”

“Understood.”

“Good. Can I go text Zoe?”

“Until Austin gets here. There’s a lot to be done and we’re all going to the feed store this afternoon.”

So this was to be her life in Hickville. Heat, chores, and family outings to the feed store. Life just didn’t get much suckier.

God, she’d been up since six and her day wasn’t half over. As she settled against the headboard of her bed, she thought about how good it would feel to snuggle into the covers and take a nap. But the PB and J sandwich she’d slapped together was calling her name.

She took a bite and texted Zoe. Wow, while Kelsey was learning about snakes and chickens, Zoe was sleeping in after an impromptu party at Reed Barton’s parents’ lake house. Reed’s parents were always there and there was never alcohol, but it was okay, they were cool. Everybody sat around the fire pit on the patio and listened to Reed and a couple of other guys play guitars. Yep, that was the life Kelsey had to give up.

She was almost relieved when Zoe had to go. It was torture reading about the life she’d lost. She tossed her cell on the bed, curled up with a pillow, and let her mind drift to Drew. God, how she missed him. She’d had a crush on him since they were freshmen. Last year, they had English together. She couldn’t believe it when he chose to sit next to her. At first, when he’d talk to her, she’d get all nervous and heart racy. But she managed to hold a conversation, which led to flirting. Their first date was prom. It was a perfect night. From the moment he’d picked her up in his dad’s Mercedes 550 he’d treated her like a princess.

Sadness weighed her down making her heart feel heavy in her chest. Her eyes welled. She was so tired of crying, but didn’t have the energy to try to stop the tears, so they ran down her face and soaked her pillow. It wasn’t until her nose was too full of snot to breathe that she gathered the energy to sit up.

She blew her nose and looked at the dirty white paint on the bare walls and thought of the sage green walls of her old room. The color combined with the plush champagne colored carpet created a clean crisp feel. Never one for tacky posters hanging from her walls, framed photos she’d taken around Chicago were perfectly placed to enhance her décor.

Her life was so perfect there. She had Drew, Zoe, a great room, a great house. And now? Chickens squawked in the distance. She cringed at the noise and her sadness turned to anger. She hated her dad. She hated Ryan. She hated her life.

Mom stood in the doorway and knocked on the frame.

“Go away.” She slumped back onto her pillow.

Mom sat on the bed. “Want to talk?”

Kelsey sniffed trying to calm her sobs. “What’s there to say? Dad screwed up and we’re here.”

“It’s not that simple…”

“It is that simple, Mom. I hate him!” She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face against her pillow, as another round of sobs broke loose.