Oh, right. I almost forgot. I hate high school. Now, how is that possible? How could I forget for one second that this is the bane of my existence? I must be slipping, this whole town must be getting to me. Did I drink the Kool-Aid? Let’s feel this out…yep, I actually want to go to school. Maybe my cousin is right, I am crazy.
Or, maybe it’s because I’m finally a senior. I’m almost done with this place, this town, and all these corn-fed locals. Hicks. Hicks that drive tractors to school and chew tobacco during class. Hicks that listen to Garth Brooks and wear cowboy boots to church. The only good about the hick boys is the tight jeans they wear. My god, I swear their kids are going to be born with a headache. Ew, why did I just think of that? I swear to god that this town is driving me batty.
It looks like Alcatraz, waiting to lock me in for another 180 days. Drug dealers get off with lighter sentences. South Elmwood Senior High School, founded 1894. That’s what the plaque says in the office. Not that I really pay that much attention to history. I only noticed it because the principal, Mr. Sams, pointed it out during my tour last fall. He was so proud that he almost peed himself. Why? It’s not like he personally founded the school. He had only been at the South for three years by the time I came along. I made this last year quite the time for him.
It’s not that I’m bad. Far from it. I’m just easily bored. Very easily. When I get bored things tend to, I don’t know, catch on fire or disappear out of windows or mysteriously show up in people’s lockers or you catch my drift. I tend to cause some undo havoc whenever my mind starts to wander. From the looks that I got when I came to school the first day of senior year, people were already wondering what I would do first. Know what? I was wondering the same damn thing. I just needed to find some inspiration.
Bingo. Kevin Timmons. Blonde hair, blue-eyed, sweet as an angel, and dumb as a brick. Perfect. I did my slow, I’m not really watching where I’m going, walk straight into Kevin’s back. As he turns around, I make sure to ‘trip’ and fall into his waiting arms. I do this on purpose, of course, because I love watching his reactions. He’s such a sucker for a pretty face.
“Oh. Sorry. Didn’t see you there Kev.” This is the part where I smile, it usually takes Kevin a few seconds to get over the fact that a girl is speaking to him. I wait patiently, even though he is holding me a few feet above the ground. I’ve been here before, I’m sure he won’t drop me.
“Um, hi, Summer. Did you have a nice summer? Um, I didn’t mean it like that, I mean, did you have a…” Stammering was so adorable on Kevin, I couldn’t bear to make him trip over his words any longer.
“It was great, I just couldn’t wait to get back to school and see everybody again. Did you miss me?” I was really coy on the last part, and leaned close to his face so that he could smell the Victoria’s Secret lotion that I put on that morning.
“Yes.” Wow, that was fast.
“Great. Cause I missed you to, ya big teddy bear.” I squirmed a bit in my new seat, and made sure that I could see into his eyes, “hey, Kev, could you put me down now, I’m getting light headed all the way up here.”
“Oh. Sure. Sorry, Summer.”
“No problem, hey, did you happen to see where Michael might be?” Michael was my fascination from last year, and we hooked up a bit over the summer. Nothing major, but I wanted to keep my options open in case nothing better came along. And in this town, nothing better EVER came along. I guess that was a bad thing to think, I mean, I came along last year. And I’m better than the local girls, even if I don’t know how to milk a cow or ride a horse. Like I’m ever going to need that in the real world.
“I think he’s in Biology first period. He was walking that way with…he went that way earlier.” Kevin was normally not that quick to remember something. It set my radar off. Michael was with someone. Someone that Kevin didn’t want me to know about.
“Thanks, Kev. You know I love ya.” I leaned up to give him a kiss and a quick hug, all the while trying to figure out two things. First, how the hell did Michael end up with first period Biology when he told me that he already tested out of the science courses, and second, who was he with? I didn’t know which bothered me worse. I concentrated on question one, why would he take Bio if he didn’t need it. Okay, let’s review options. Option one, he needed an additional science credit to graduate. Feasible. Option two, he really liked Biology. Not so feasible. Option three, he lied to me. Not believable, he had no reason to lie to me. In a school this small, everyone knew everything about everyone.
I was holding my breath and wishing that option four didn’t exist. Option four, he had a girlfriend that he was walking to class. Her class. First period Biology. This meant that she wasn’t a Senior. This also meant that I was being pushed to the side for a Junior, or worse, a Sophomore. If she was an underclassman I was going to deck him. I conveniently forgot that I was more than willing to push him aside for someone better, but I would not be dumped for some trampy farm girl. Not. Gonna. Happen.
As I stalked my way down to the Science hallway I could hear some gossip already starting to fly. My name was involved, and normally I wouldn’t care, but today was different. Today I was the topic of the bad kind of gossip. The kind that people said under their breath while looking away from you. The kind that made people feel sorry for you. The kind that said ‘She just got dumped.’ Did Michael tell everyone that we hooked up over the summer break? Shit. I only told…nobody. Damn. That meant that I couldn’t even go to Carly with this. I didn’t tell her that’s why I ditched her at the mall in South Port. I made up something about needing to get home to watch American Idol reruns. Which is just stupid, I don’t even like American Idol.
I ducked into the girls restroom at the end of the main hall, just before I could turn the corner and find Michael cozied up with some farm slut. I needed to get myself under control. I could not make him look like a jerk if I looked like a maniac. To do this right I had to look perfectly normal. I fixed my hair, which had come a little undone from the sex-kitten twist I’d put it in that morning, appraised myself in the mirror, bared my teeth and went to find the jerk.
It didn’t take me long to walk the 30 feet from the restroom to the Biology classroom. We only had one Biology I room, not a whole lot of options where he could hide. On the way there I could feel eyes boring into the back of my skull, and I had a good idea who they belonged to. Rebecca Smithson. She had hated me from the moment I arrived at South Elmwood. I have no clue why, but it might have had something to do with the fact that I had breasts and knew what to do with them. Becca was still mostly flat-chested, even though she was nearing 18. I kinda felt sorry for her, but not enough that I would do anything about it. I’m not that nice.
Rebecca probably had good cause to dislike me, I wasn’t exactly South Elmwood material. I made no secret that I hadn’t wanted to come to this school, that it had been forced on me when my family moved to this stupid town. My dad was an engineer, and he got offered a cushy job at a nearby research facility, so we moved. We still lived 30 miles from his job, but he and mom wanted me to be close to the bustling metropolis of town. Yeah, all 3 stop lights and a Dairy Queen. Woo-hoo. I honestly would rather eat dirt. They also wanted me to be close to town so that I couldn’t use distance as an excuse when they made me get a job. Which they did. Not that I’m complaining too much. I get to work in a record store. That’s not the best part. I’m actually the Manager. I get to order people around. It is just too much fun.
Back to the situation at hand. My lying, cheating, possibly soon to be dead, summer fling. I looked into the classroom to see if I had a clean shot at the loser. There he was.
Oh my god.
I’m being dumped for a fat girl? Something is so not right with this situation. I am not going to be dumped for a fat farm girl. This is not possible. My reputation will not survive this.
That’s when he turned around.
Smile. Do it. Make it look like you don’t care what he does.
“Summer. Hey girl, I was just telling Melissa about you.”
Yeah. Right. You are so dead. “Really? That’s so sweet.” I realized then that I didn’t recognize this Melissa person. And I knew everyone in the school. Wait. Fresh meat, new student. I made my way over to where they were sitting at a lab table, “Hi, I’m Summer. Are you new?”
She seemed a bit put out that Michael was paying attention to me now, but I could tell that she was the kind of girl that didn’t get much attention anyway. That made me feel bad for her, surprisingly.
“Yes. Um, this is my first day.”
“That’s great. Where did you transfer from?” Please say somewhere that I’ve heard of, I’m sick of hearing about farm towns.
“Minneapolis.” She actually seemed embarrassed by that. Why would someone not want to say they were from a big city?
“Wow. I’ve only been there a few times, but I loved it. It was too cold for me, though.” I tried to smile at her, thinking that she was somehow afraid of me.
“Oh. I didn’t really notice the cold. I didn’t go outside much.” Poor girl. Obviously socially retarded.
“Hey, I’ll check on you later, k? Have fun. Michael, can I talk to you?” I glared at him over Melissa’s head. He knew that he was in for it.
“Sure. I’ll be out in just a minute.”
I waltzed out the door, just waiting for my opportunity to pounce. I didn’t have to wait long. He was out the door less than a minute after I was. And he looked like he knew he was dead meat.
“What the hell are you doing with her? Is this what I get for keeping us a secret? You dump me for some new girl?” I spoke in a whisper because I new that Rebecca would be listening to everything I said. I didn’t want to give her any ammunition so early in the school year.
“No, Summer, it’s not like that. Melissa’s just new, and Mr. Sams asked me to show her around. No harm, no foul. I didn’t even touch her. I swear.”
I could tell that he wasn’t lying, he really was just being a nice guy. “Seriously, if you want anything to happen between us,” I pointed to me and then to him and back, “keep your hands where I can see them.” I leaned in close to his face, just so he could tell I was serious. “I don’t like to share.” Then, just to be cruel, I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and sauntered away. I could hear Rebecca choking behind her locker door, it made me smile.
I had no idea that I was getting ready to walk into the most dangerous situation of my life.
