Page 17 of Pick Me This Time

8

DAPHNE

Keeping my promise to my mom, I dutifully showed up at the school for the planning committee meeting in the morning. When I arrived, a few of the teachers were still gathered in the staff room meeting about homecoming, and I listened in, not wanting to interrupt but curious about whether there was something I could do to help with that as well.

One moment, I was leaning against the wall outside the teachers’ lounge, listening to the plans for the parade, and the next, my entire body started tingling with awareness. Before I even saw him, I knew that the tingles meant Sterling had arrived. It was his presence making me feel like I’d stepped on an invisible live wire.

I couldn’t explain it. It was just this sudden sense that he was here. I stiffened, risking a quick look over my shoulder to see that I had been right.

The electricity flowing through my veins was, in fact, as a result of the presence of Sterling North. He was striding down the hall toward me, dressed as impeccably as he had been before in tailored slacks and a fitted blue button-down shirt.

To my surprise, he’d paired the outfit with a pair of sneakers today instead of his fancy, shiny shoes, so he looked a little more casual than before, but it was still clear that he no longer lived around here. There was a newfound—to me—sense of sophistication about him, especially now that his black hair was neatly styled instead of slightly tousled after a flight.

Those deep brown eyes scanned the halls like he was searching for a threat of sorts and his footsteps were even and sure. With those strong, regal features set in yet another stony expression, I waited until he saw me in the hopes of finally catching a glimpse of that smile again, but nope.

The only thing I caught a glimpse of when those eyes finally fell upon mine was a tiny frown, but then he gave his head a shake and strode right past me without even saying hi. I blinked rapidly a few times, wondering what I’d ever done to him. A few other people who still lived in town and who had been in the student government in their year arrived, and I shook it off.

Filing into the lounge after them, I smiled at some of the teachers I knew and took a seat at the far end of the long table. I was here to help if I could, but this was their party. If they could pull themselves together to handle it alone, that would be great too.

Sterling said hello to some of our old teachers, much more polite to them than he had been to me. He shook hands with his old classmates and seamlessly eased back into his former role as class president.

“Welcome, everyone,” he said, his voice ringing with an authority I’d never heard from him before. “This meeting of the reunion planning committee for Allisburg High will now begin.”

Jeez. So formal.People responded to it, though. Even the teachers around the table sat up a little straighter.

Sterling cleared his throat, his gaze never fully meeting mine even though he was making eye contact with every person around the table.

“I’m sorry this is the first meeting I’m attending in person, but let’s get right to it,” he said. “Eric has been keeping me up to speed and I’d like to commend everyone on their efforts so far. I’ve seen a lot of familiar faces around town and I know it’s because of your hard work getting them here.”

A few people nodded and smiled at him, but their faces fell when he pushed on. “I’m a little concerned that it seems we don’t have a plan for what we want to do for the actual event yet. Am I understanding that correctly?”

Darla Haynes put up her hand. She and I had been in the math club together for a while and I knew how intimidated she’d always been by the golden boys of her year, so I was proud of her for speaking up. Sterling seemed confused by her raising her hand, but he nodded at her anyway.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Well, I, uh, we were talking about, uh,” she stammered. “Before, I mean, we thought it might be nice to have a field day so people can bring their families as well.”

Judging by the way he dismissed her from his gaze without saying anything and simply shrugging at the idea, I could tell he didn’t really care. Darla’s shoulders caved and her eyes hit the table, and exasperation ripped through me.

Still, this wasn’t my reunion, so I sat back, happy when one of the others finally spoke up. “What do you think we should do, then? A lot of our people have kids now, Sterling. We need to consider them as well.”

“What will they do with the kids when the family part is over?” another guy piped up. “Were you thinking we should arrange babysitters?”

“What about the food?” a teacher asked. “The caterers in town are getting booked up fast with events surrounding homecoming, and the fall festival also coming up. Just something to keep in mind.”

While they peppered him with questions, I saw the agitation starting to creep up on him. I’d watched this guy do his homework under my mom’s watchful eye at our dining-room table for years.

Not in a creepy, stalker kind of way, of course.

She’d sat me down to do my homework with them, but I’d never had much trouble at school, so I’d often found myself staring at him while I killed a bit of time. So sue me. I had a crush on the guy. Any girl would’ve stared.

Either way, I saw the slight, defensive hunch of his shoulders. The straightening of his spine. The furrow of his brow and the lightning racing behind his eyes.

Finally, when I saw him starting to grind his teeth, I decided to jump in. “Hey, guys. For those of you who don’t remember me, I’m Mrs. LaSalle’s daughter and Eric’s sister. I offered to help out this year because I know how busy you all are.”

One by one, everyone’s heads turned to me and I smiled, fibbing, but for a good cause. “So Eric, Jake, and Sterling have been talking about this online, and their plan is actually to incorporate a lot of your ideas. What they’re thinking is that we’ll start with a field day, then a barbecue lunch, and then the next evening will be the official reunion celebration here, at the high school.”

Sterling stared at me while I hammered out my impromptu plan and I caught his eye. He didn’t smile at me, but I could’ve sworn I saw gratitude in his gaze as it held my own. Butterflies erupted in my stomach, but I only gave him a curt nod before I kept going.