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When it was time, I put on a simple short green skirt and a light pink blouse. I buttoned the blouse up to the top, thinking of Dr. Green and his opinion on fashion. I brushed and twisted my hair and clipped it, the end strands traced my neck. I strapped some sandals on and picked up my book bag, which had a couple of notebooks and a few pens and pencils. I wasn’t sure if we would pick up books today but I wanted to be ready.
I also found some very old makeup compacts in a box underneath the sink of the bathroom. Marie often picked up odd and end leftovers from her friends at school like that. I used the closest color on my knees, hoping to mask the bruising. When I was done, the area looked dark but it managed to hide the purple splotches. I tucked the compact into my book bag just in case I needed to redo it later.
I couldn’t make myself eat breakfast. I was thinking of how I would be spending the entire day with the guys. Plus with it being a new school year, I didn’t want to have a nervous stomach after eating something.
I walked outside into the already sticky morning air. Marie stood at the end of our driveway. She was wearing jeans and a dark blue t-shirt that looked too big for her, even on her tall frame.
“Why are you bringing that?” she asked, pointing a long finger at my book bag. “You don’t show up for the first day of school looking like a complete nerd. And why are you wearing a skirt?”
“Everyone at our last school wore skirts. I wanted to look nice.”
“Your shirt’s buttoned up all the way. You look stupid.”
I pursed my lips. This wasn’t the type of fight I wanted to deal with this morning.
“Just stand away from me. I don’t want to look like we’re related.”
“We are related.”
“We can pretend we’re not,” she said, flustered and taking a few steps away from me until she was on the other side of the wide driveway.
I blew out a sigh, wrapping my fingers around the straps of my book bag. I scanned the street. Kota stood alone in his driveway. I couldn’t see Nathan out in front of his house. I hoped he wouldn’t miss it and be late.
The bus appeared from around the bend and stopped in front of our house. Marie got on first. The brown seats were ripped in places and patched with duct tape in others. Five other kids clustered together in seats toward the front. Marie went for the very back seat. I picked something in the middle.
Kota got on next. I slid further into the seat to give him room.
“Morning,” he said, smiling and sitting next to me.
A happy warmth swept through me. He wasn’t ashamed to sit next to me on the bus like my sister. He wore a Ralph Lauren collared shirt with thin blue stripes, with a blue tie at his neck and tan slacks. “I like the shirt you’re wearing,” I said, forcing myself to say something nice despite being unsure and shy.
His cheeks tinged. “You’re looking pretty good, too.”
I blushed but I caught sight of his green messenger bag. “Are you using that to carry books around?”
He picked it up and put it in his lap to look it over. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Aren’t you in really smart classes?”
He laughed. “Yeah.”
“Then won’t their books be really heavy?”
“Ah,” he said. He opened the flap and looked inside. “It’s pretty sturdy.”
“I was worried it might hurt your shoulder. You know, putting so much weight on it all the time.”
The smile on his lips softened. I wasn’t sure if I said something stupid. “Well if it does, I’ll switch shoulders.”
Nathan ran out from his house an instant before the bus got close. The bus driver motioned to him and Nathan bent over to hear what he had to say before nodding and heading to the seat near us on the other side of the isle. He wore a red dress shirt, making the red in his hair diminish to the brown.
“The bus driver said we should probably collect at one house,” he said. “He says we’re close enough that he shouldn’t have to stop three times like that.”
Kota looked at me. “Will your mom let you do that?”
I shrugged. “If the bus driver says we have to.” It made me nervous to figure out how to mention it. I’d have to consult with Marie, which didn’t seem like a good thing to do right now. I thought I would just make sure to let her know after school and we would have to both agree not to tell our mother about it.
The bus turned the bend in our neighborhood and stopped at a house in the middle of the other side. Derrick was standing at the end of the drive and he turned to face the bus. I remembered him as the boy who had once tried to play basketball with Marie at my house until my mom dismissed him. He was standing with a girl who looked just like him.
“Is that Danielle?”
“Yeah,” Nathan said.
Danielle was as tall as her brother, with brown hair cut in an even bob around her chin. She had high cheekbones and a wide forehead. Her big brown eyes glared critically at the bus. She turned to her brother, snapping something at him. He frowned but got on the bus.
They both headed for the back seats. After a few moments, I heard my sister talking and Danielle responding.
“She didn’t look too mean, I guess,” I said. I wasn’t really sure about that but didn’t want to sound rude. “We could be friends.”
Nathan shook his head, smirking at me. “Just wait.”
The rest of the bus ride took thirty minutes. We sat in silence together as we watched students get on and off. When the bus arrived at the school, we followed the crowd into the building.
“I told the others to meet us in the cafeteria,” Kota said. “We’ll pick out a table.”
At first the school seemed to echo with our footsteps. The smaller hallways were empty. As we drew closer to the main hallway though, students clustered together along the walls, making it difficult to navigate. Nathan switch from being on Kota’s other side to walking along beside me. They closed in around me until our arms were touching as we headed toward the cafeteria. Nathan stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked uncomfortable.
“Don’t be nervous,” I whispered to him. I knew the school’s reputation was a bad one. It was why Academy students were there in the first place, right? Still, I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to pick a fight with Nathan. His collared shirt only slightly masked his muscles. He wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.
His eyes shifted from the groups of kids. “I don’t know why they have to stand around like that.”
“It’s the first day,” Kota said. “They’re not going to be interested in trouble right now.” As he said this, his eyes started to glance from different groups as well.
I pressed my fingertips into my palms. I focused on the path ahead of us. I didn’t want to catch someone’s eyes and draw attention to myself. Invisible was something I could handle. The guys, however, were making me nervous.
In the cafeteria, we found an empty table close to the large windows looking over the courtyard. There was no sign of North or Victor or the other guys. Nathan sat next to me and Kota took a spot on the other side of the table to help preserve some room. We dropped our bags onto the table so we could spread out and claim the space.
“Should I text them?” Nathan asked, glancing around at some of the students at the other tables.
Kota turned in his seat, looking down some of the connecting hallways. “They should be here soon,” he said.
“Is this seat taken?” A familiar smooth baritone spoke next to my ear. My hand fluttered to the base of my throat, my breath caught as I turned around. Victor pulled back. His wavy hair was brushed back away from his angular face and he was wearing a white button up shirt and black slacks. He kept a couple of buttons undone at his neck. The sunlight through the window caught in his silver medallion resting against his collarbone. He took the seat next to me, his fire eyes subdued.
Gabriel had followed him. He hovered over me and snuck a hand toward my head. Confused, I twisted my head away but he was q
uick. I felt the clip loosening and my hair falling around my shoulders.
Gabriel smirked. “I’m keeping this,” he said, holding my hair clip between his long fingers. His two locks of blond hair blended with the rest of his brown hair behind his ears. He wore a thin red tie and his collared white shirt was untucked from his tan slacks. He wore ruby studs in his earlobes today. The three rings along the crest of his right ear were the usual black.
“I should keep it for gym,” I said. I half stood up, reaching for it, but he easily grabbed my wrist to hold it back and held the clip out of my reach. I pouted a little, trying to get some sympathy. I didn’t want to have to sit around with hair in my face all day. I was so used to having it all pulled back out of my face that it felt strange to have it down.
“You aren’t going to be running today,” he said. “You can have it back at lunch. Maybe.” He moved around to Kota’s side of the table, tucking my clip into his pocket. “And don’t pout that sweet lip. That shit never works on me.”
“It really does look better down,” Victor said. His fingers stretched toward my face and I forced myself to remain still. He slipped one of the locks of my hair behind my ear. The edge of his fingernail traced delicately across my cheek. My breath caught, subdued in the moment as the fire in his eyes fixed on me.
The school day hadn’t officially started yet, and I was already overwhelmed with their attention.
More students filtered into the cafeteria. Familiar friends collected and huddled together in groups. Some stood alone along the edges, waiting to be invited or noticed. Most of the kids wore loose jeans and t-shirts. Compared to everyone else, the boys and I stood out quite a bit. I sighed about this. This wasn’t like my old school. Blending in would require a different strategy. If I had been alone, I would have worried more. With Kota and the others, it felt like they were my shield against being too different.
The boys seemed intent on checking out what was going on, too. We sat quietly and kept an eye out for the others. Sometimes a large group of students filed in from off a bus. The cafeteria filled up quickly and there were people hanging around the edges against the wall. There simply wasn’t enough space for all the students.
I reached into the pocket of my bag for the schedule and checked it over once more. I was feeling a little uncomfortable. Students were checking us out, too. I was paranoid about what I was wearing and how I looked. What are the other students thinking of a girl sitting with a group of guys like this? The guys were better looking, in my opinion, than a lot of the kids around us. In the past, I was that forgettable girl in the corner, reading and lost in my own head. What did they think of this mismatched, plain girl with these incredibly attractive guys?
