Past
My dad left as Hayley was arriving. She high-fived him on her way in. “Kill it, Mr. McCoy.” She grabbed a Pop-Tart from the cabinet and threw it in the toaster oven. “Nothing beats the high of the first day of school. I’ve been up since four. How do I look?” She twirled in her black combat boots, ripped jeans, and a cute band shirt we’d gotten at Hot Topic last weekend.
I put my forefinger up to my lip as though studying her intently. “The perfect embodiment of an angsty teenager who hates authority. I love it.” I looked down at my athletic shorts and T-shirt and sneakers. “What do you think about mine?”
She threw the hot Pop-Tart on a plate and pointed upstairs. “Totally unacceptable. I mean, you’re the school quarterback. It’s junior year. You need to try harder.” I followed her up the stairs. She pulled out nice jeans and a popover sleeveless shirt. “This is adorable and will make you look less like the quarterback and more like a kickass junior. Also, lose the ponytail. You won’t take the field until after school,” she said.
I bought the shirt at the start of summer because it was on sale, but forgot it was in my closet. “Okay. You’re right. It’s the first day. I should try harder.” Everyone knew I was the assistant principal’s daughter and the quarterback. It was time to live up to my reputation.
“And even though you’re tan and shit, put on some makeup. Let’s show the world your baby blues.” She pinched my cheek and motioned for me to follow her into the bathroom. “And don’t wear a sports bra.”
“Do you know how much crap the guys will give me when they see me like this?”
Hayley jerked my chin to keep me looking at her instead of my reflection. She waved a mascara wand in front of me. “Hold still. Just a bit will make the biggest difference.”
I huffed as though it was an inconvenience, but secretly I loved it. I missed things like this with my mom. Mom wanted to show me how to apply makeup so it looked natural before she passed away, but I was too stubborn and didn’t want to think about my mom not being around so I ignored her attempts. I thought she would survive and that we had time. I was wrong. “Thanks for doing this.”
“That’s what family does and you’re basically my sister.” She hugged me.
I ended the hug early because I didn’t want to start crying. The first day of school was always emotional. My dad was clueless, but I struggled not having my mom here for support. The first day was a day of new beginnings. My mom used to leave notes in my lunch like “Be strong, be fierce, be you.” Then she would drive me to school playing loud eighties hairband music. I pretended to hate it, but I knew all the words and sang along under my breath.
“We’d better get going if we want to get a good parking spot,” Hayley said.
“How do I look?”
Hayley fluffed my hair. “You’ll do.” She ate the rest of the Pop-Tart and checked her teeth for food. “I hope Mr. Cork lets us get away with murder.” Our AP English teacher made learning fun. And it helped that it was the last class of the day. We also had French together right before lunch. Our lockers were in different hallways, but I was sure she would move her things into mine by the end of the week.
“I love him. It’s too bad Madame Bleek is such a bitch though,” Hayley said. She and Madame Bleek butted heads daily. Ms. Bleek wanted us to learn how to conjugate verbs and learn all the parts of a sentence in French, and Hayley wanted to curse and have conversations about food. It was funny to watch, but also stressful.
“Maybe if you let her teach instead of always trying to mess with her, we both could enjoy the class more,” I said.
She nodded, then shook her head. “I know I’m an ass, but so is she. Come on. Let’s go.”
* * *
“Where are you going, QB? Whoa. Look at you.” Max looked me up and down and gave me a low whistle.
Heat spiked my cheeks. I bumped his shoulder. “Hayley wouldn’t let me wear workout shorts and a T-shirt on day one.”
“Good call. You clean up well.”
“Go to class. I’ll see you later.” I had first period with Max, but I needed to drop off my dad’s phone. He left it on the kitchen island in his haste to leave.
I turned the corner and walked into a very busy front office. A thin veil of panic covered the room. I scanned the place, hoping to see my dad so I could get in and out quickly. Ms. Clarissa was busy with two students, the office aide was trying to make copies of something but the copier wasn’t cooperating. One of the admin assistants was on the phone making very big hand gestures while the other one was rapidly flipping through folders in a filing cabinet. I smiled at the familiarity of it all. First day was a rush even in the front office.
What I wasn’t expecting was a very cute blonde sitting on a chair outside my dad’s office. I was awestruck. I knew everybody and didn’t have a problem talking to people. But there was something about her that made me want to simultaneously run away and also get to know her. I was confused. I smiled at her and walked into my dad’s office.
“Looking for this?” I held up his phone.
“Thanks, honey.” Even though I was holding it in my hand, he patted down his jacket pockets as though he would never do something as irresponsible as leave his phone behind.
“Are you even ready for today?” I thumbed behind me. “It’s chaos out there. You should probably hide in here.”
He raised his thin eyebrows at me. “It’s already been a day and school starts in five minutes.” He pointed at me. “Don’t be late.”
“I won’t.” I paused and turned back toward him. “Who’s that girl sitting out front? I don’t think I’ve seen her before.” I tried to be as nonchalant as possible.
“She’s a new student from Buffalo, New York. Just got into town last week.” He didn’t elaborate, but I wanted to know more about her.
“Oh. What grade is she in?” She looked to be around my age. When I smiled at her, she gave me a soft smile back. She had long blond hair and the prettiest eyes. She screamed money but didn’t seem to be snotty like the other kids whose parents were wealthy at our school.
My dad pointed at me as an idea struck. His eyes widened. “Hey, why don’t you take her around for a quick tour and then sneak her into assembly? I called for Gabby to come down and show her around since they are in homeroom together, but she’s taking forever.”
All my senses jumped to attention. “Okay. She can show me her schedule. No problem.” For the second time today, my dad asked me how he looked. “You look great, Dad. Now go encourage those young, impressionable minds and make a difference.” I followed him out, completely freaked about meeting the new girl, but also extremely excited about it.
“Well, it looks like Gabby came through after all.” He pointed to Gabby and the new girl walking out of the office together. The excitement quickly vanished and was immediately replaced by regret. Had I just stopped and introduced myself, I could be getting to know her, one-on-one. “Maybe she’ll be in one of your classes. She’s a junior, too. Get to homeroom. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” The first bell rang which told us we had two minutes to get to homeroom. I made my way to class and said hi to several people along the way. I still didn’t know the new girl’s name. I only knew she had homeroom with Gabby. Would she be in any of my classes? Where did she live? Oak Grove had two high schools and if she was going to Oak Grove, then she had to live within five miles of me. I walked into homeroom to applause and stopped at the front of the room.
“Oh, yeah. Looking good, boss,” Wyatt yelled.
When I realized they were clapping for me, I flipped them off. Mr. Sanders couldn’t see my hands, but my team could. I was embarrassed, but I loved the respect they gave me. Being a part of the team was more than just having a group to hang out with. I had brothers and dudes who looked out for me.
I slipped into a seat and said hi to Trish Calloway, who helped do morning announcements on days we didn’t start with an assembly.
“How was your summer, Sutton?” she asked.
“It was good. Lots of running and working out. How was yours?”
“Worked. Saving money for college, you know,” she said. She worked at Dairy Queen, but I had seen her at a few parties.
I nodded. “Are you working after school, too?” I felt bad because most people I knew had to get a job when they turned sixteen. My dad wanted me to do things that would look better on my résumé so I volunteered with Coach Larson during the summers at peewee football games.
“A few days and on weekends. Hey, when can we get together to talk about the upcoming season?”
The bell rang and I turned to face front. “Hit me up after class.”
“Welcome back, students.” Mr. Sanders slipped his glasses over his nose and started roll. The energy of the first day of school was only rivaled by the last day. “The sooner everyone settles down, the sooner we can head to the auditorium.” That got us to quiet down. We filed out of the classroom and made our way to the first day assembly.
I found Hayley in the crowd and sat with her. “New student alert,” I said.
“Boy or girl?” Hayley asked.
“Girl and she’s gorgeous.” I scanned the crowd for the new girl. We had three new transfers and lost four students. I saw her sitting next to Gabby in the bleachers to my left and discreetly pointed her out. “There. Blond. Second row.”
“She’s really cute, but she looks bitchy or bored. I can’t tell,” Hayley said.
I smacked Hayley’s knee. “She’s new and doesn’t know anyone. Give her a break.” It was hard to look away. There was something about her that made me pause. Sitting there with her messenger bag on her lap, she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.
“Hello. Earth to Sutton.” Hayley leaned into my direct view of the new girl.
“What?”
“Stop staring. You’re starting to drool.”
I frowned at Hayley’s interruption. When the juniors jumped up to shout, I lost her in the crowd.
“Come on. Yell! We need to show the seniors we mean business!” Hayley jerked me to my feet and screamed at the seniors across the gym. I wanted to yell with the team and my classmates, but my heart was with the new girl who took my attention and my breath away.