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Instead of the shorts and T-shirt she’d been wearing the day before, she had on our school uniform. That plaid skirt was doing things to her hips that weren’t fair to guys like me.
Her eyes widened and then narrowed on me, all that spice from the day before back in full force. I couldn’t help but smirk at the memory of her middle finger in the air, and I found myself thinking something that never helped a situation with an angry female.
She looked cute when she was mad.
April quickly looked away from me and introduced herself like she’d practiced the speech a million times before. “I’m April Adams, just moved here from Kansas.”
A guy sitting in the back row mooed, and the rest of the class laughed. At the way her face fell, I clenched my fists under the desk. What was wrong with people? I glanced toward the back, seeing a guy from the football team named Tate grinning as one of his friends high-fived him.
“California has cows too, you know,” Mrs. Morgan said, more exasperated than angry.Why wasn’t she angry?“Thank you, April. Why don’t you take that seat?”
She pointed to an empty desk at the front of the room, and April sat, slinging her backpack over the back of her chair. Her brown hair fell to her shoulders in waves, flatter than it had been that day at the beach. And instead of flipping me off, she had her hands in her lap, resting on her thighs.
Mrs. Morgan had Faye, the girl sitting next to April, pass out the syllabus for the semester. I took the sheet, setting it on the desk in front of me, and tried not to stare at April while Mrs. Morgan went over the rules for the year.
April’s family had come here from Kansas? Why? What else had she planned to say about herself before Tate made fun of her?
And, more selfishly, was she really that mad at me?
Would she come to class every day hating my guts? I had been kind of a jerk back on the beach, even if I had been scared crapless. I resolved to apologize to her after class. Hopefully we could start over.
As soon as the bell rang, I grabbed my backpack and followed her to the crowded hallway. She had squeezed herself against the opposite wall to avoid people passing by, but I followed her and tapped her shoulder so she’d wait up.
When she looked over her shoulder and saw it was me, her eyes narrowed. “Yes?”
“Hey.” I gave her a nervous smile. I always smiled when I was nervous—it seemed to make people ease up. But not her. Her eyebrows just drew closer together.
I cleared my throat. “I wanted to talk to you about yesterday,” I said at the same time a pair of arms flung around my shoulders.
A flurry of blond hair flew in my face. “Hey, you!” Kenzie said.
“Hey,” I replied with a grin, hugging her back.
Kenzie looked between April and me. “Sorry, I was just so excited to see you! I haven’t seen you all summer!”
April shook her head and turned to walk away.
“Wait up,” I said, about to tell Kenzie I’d catch up with her at lunch.
“Looks like you’re occupied,” April replied and continued down the hall.
Kenz looked after her, frowning. “Who’s that?”
“New girl,” I said simply, not wanting to think about my failed attempt at an apology. “Tell me about Greece. Did you fall in love like that girl from the Traveling Pants?” (My sisters had made me watch that movie at least a hundred times.)
She shoved my shoulder. “You first. You spent your summer hanging out with a rock star! I need the tea on Jude and Des. Are they really in love or was it all publicity?”
“Oh, it’s real, all right.” I shuddered at the visual of them making out on the beach. “But he’s a good guy. He’s good to her.”
“That’s amazing!” Kenz said. “Please tell me you’ll let me meet him soon. I need to get everything autographed—my poster, my phone, my face.”
I rolled my eyes at her, and she laughed.
The bell rang, interrupting us, and she said, “I’ll catch you at lunch. I have an idea for a halftime stunt that could be really fun, but I need some of your muscle.”
I flexed under my jacket. “I have some of those.”
She laughed and flounced away, and I went to health class with Mrs. Hutton, dreading yet another round of syllabus day.
