“Where are they?” Kota asked, cutting through our silence.
Nathan fished out his cell phone and typed something in. He sat it on the table and we all hovered, waiting for the response.
Silas: “Traffic was backed up on the interstate. Should get there soon.”
I chewed my cheek, checking the clock on the wall. “They’re cutting it really close.”
My eyes focused on a table across the cafeteria and I recognized Danielle and my sister. A couple other girls sat around them, giggling.
Nathan followed my gaze out into the crowd of students. “That’s your sister, isn’t it?”
I nodded and everyone else at the table turned to look. I was leaning to see around Kota’s head and I ended up almost cheek to cheek with Victor. I pulled away but he didn’t flinch.
“It looks like they’re getting along,” Victor said.
“This might be good for us,” Kota said. “If she gets friendly with Danielle, it’ll save us some trouble.” He turned to me. “You should get your sister to invite Danielle over. Can you go talk to her?”
“My sister warned me this morning that she wanted to pretend we weren’t related.”
“What?” Gabriel said, pulling his head back around to look at me.
I shrugged. “I’m not cool enough.”
They all laughed loud enough to draw attention from others at another table.
My cheeks warmed. “Is that funny?”
“No,” said Nathan. “It’s just ironic.”
The bell rang before I could ask what he meant. Silas, North and Luke were going to be late. I lifted a finger to my lower lip, worried that they might get into trouble.
Nathan checked his phone. “No update,” he said. “Come on.” Nathan took my hand from my face and pulling at it to get me to stand. “I’ll walk you to class.”
I looked back at the others but they had home rooms on the opposite side of the building. I waved to them. They waved back, disappearing into the crowd.
Nathan held on to my hand while we were walking through the hallway. His fingers enveloped mine, a little too tight but I didn’t want to say anything. It was hard enough to not want to pull away from his grip from nervousness. I glanced at other students around us but everyone was in such a hurry that no one appeared to be interested in what we did. My heart fluttered in my chest from the excitement in going to my first day at a new school and from his palm pressed to mine.
The hallway narrowed and the crowds closed in as they crawled forward, making it impossible to stand side by side. I slipped behind Nathan, letting go of his hand and pressed my palm at his back so he knew I was right behind him.
The crowd halted and he stopped short. I bumped into him. I stood on my tiptoes to look over his shoulder.
He looked back at me and his cheek almost met with my lips, bumping my nose. I blushed and rocked back on my heels.
“If this is what the rest of the day is like, it’ll be a miracle if anyone can get into their classes on time,” he said.
When it thinned out on the other side, we were almost to my home room. He walked me to the door and stood by it, looking inside, noting the people.
“I thought maybe North and Luke might have made it,” he said.
“They’re going to be late,” I said. “But you are, too, if you don’t get going.”
He nodded. “If they don’t make it, just head straight for your next class. Don’t stop in the hallway.”
I was waving goodbye to him when a voice cut through behind me in the classroom.
“Hey Sing Sang Song.”
I spun around, recognizing the voice but not remembering the face. Leaning up against the frame of the door to the homeroom class was Greg, his goatee chin tilted in my direction. I took a half step back in surprise. What was he doing here? I recalled when I first met him at the mall and how he’d gotten into a fight with Kota and Silas. My heart leapt into my throat, and my hand fluttered up to the base of my neck.
“Who’s that?” Nathan asked, his blue eyes darkening.
“Long story,” I said. I swallowed back the desire to ask him to stay near me. “Get to class.” There was no point in trying to stall him. Besides, Greg couldn’t do anything to me now. We were in school.
I hoped I was right about that.
Nathan shot Greg a look and turned, walking off. I raced into the classroom, ignoring Greg and sat at a seat close to the door. There were two empty chairs, one in front of me and one behind me and I tucked my book bag in the one in front of me to hopefully save it for one of the guys if they showed up.
“So where’s your other boyfriends?” Greg asked as he sat behind me. He leaned over the top of his desk. Menthol cigarette smoke wafted toward my nose.
I faced the front, folding my arms and focusing on the chalkboard. My heart was thudding loud in my ears. Would ignoring him work?
“You know, I never got that kiss,” Greg said. He started making kissy noises behind me.
My nose crinkled at his smell but I pressed my lips together, trying my best not to say anything.
“Hey Greg!” Someone across the classroom called to him.
“I’ll catch you in a minute,” Greg told me and he got up. He tugged at a lock of my hair and walked away to sit near his
friend who was waving to him. I trembled, grateful he had a distraction. This was terrible. It was the last person I wanted to see and he was right there in my homeroom. What were the chances?
The bell rang and the class stilled. From a side office, the teacher walked in. He was short, pudgy with graying dark hair and wore a maroon shirt and black slacks. “Welcome to homeroom,” he said. “I’m Mr. Ferguson. Check your schedules. It should say room 135. If not, you’re in the wrong class.”
The door opened, shifting the air in the room. North and Luke walked in. I removed my book bag from the seat in front. Luke took that one and North collapsed into the seat behind me.
Mr. Ferguson looked expectantly at them. “Did you get lost?”
“The parking lot is backed up,” Luke said, rubbing a palm over his forehead. “All these parents are trying to drop their kids off.”
“Next time get here early and it won’t be a problem,” he said. He started calling roll.
“We were worried,” I whispered to them.
“Don’t be,” North said.
Luke grinned. “The bell was early. We were right on time.”
I side glanced at Greg. He was immersed in a conversation with another guy.
“Something wrong?” North asked, checking out where I was looking.
I shook my head and smiled. “No.” I caught Greg taking glances my way and whispering to his friend but I turned away from them. I didn’t want to worry North or Luke.
North wore a black collared, short sleeve dress shirt, unbuttoned all the way with a black tank shirt underneath. It accented the muscles in his chest. Luke’s collared shirt was white and the top three buttons were undone with nothing underneath so I got a good look at part of his chest and the angle of his collarbone. Luke messed with his blond hair, trying to push it back behind his ears but it kept falling away into his eyes. The girls across the room were whispering and watching.
“Do you have a hair tie?” Luke turned in his chair to face me.
“Gabriel stole my clip this morning.”
Luke laughed. “We’ll have to bring extras. He doesn’t understand hair in the face. He just started growing his out.” He let go of his hair, letting it fall. The tips traced along his neck.