Part 1 (2/2)
She hasn't exactly been fun to live with. No one even put up a fight when she said she wanted to ride with Dad in the truck because that meant none of us would have to deal with her for nine blissful hours.
Fed, dressed, and feeling at least a little more in control, we pile back into the car without complaint. I still don't want to go through whatever is waiting for us, but I suspect I won't have to do too much. Reece and Reilly have never had trouble dealing with the spotlight. All I'll have to do is stand there and be a part of the set.
They see us as we pull into the driveway. Two men-one holding a bulky camera-and a woman wave frantically, like maybe we didn't see them lying in wait. This is probably the entire staff of the small, local newspaper.
For a moment, I let myself forget them. We're here. A house three times bigger than the one we used to live in is sitting right in front of me, complete with dusty, blue paneling and a wraparound porch. It looks slightly crooked, but in a way, that makes it special instead of creepy. It's even prettier than the pictures we've seen. For the first time, I can really imagine us living here. Once we get rid of our uninvited guests, that is.
”Ten minutes, a few smiles, and they'll get out of our hair,” Mom says, bringing me back to the current predicament.
It's only once I'm out of the car that I realize there's the fourth member of our welcoming committee. Sitting cross-legged on our lawn, hunched over a composition book, is a guy. Okay, I'm definitely glad we stopped to get changed before showing up here.
There's a guy on my lawn!
He's completely absorbed in whatever he's scribbling down into his notebook, letting me stare for a moment too long. He looks tall with long, deeply tanned legs sticking out from a pair of old board shorts. Brown hair sits almost straight up with a few streaks of lime green visible from the back. It's hard not to wonder what he looks like from the front.
Look up. Look up. Look up, my mind chants at him as my eyes continue to bore into the top of his head. He doesn't look up; I'm not sure he even noticed when we pulled in.
Reilly tugs at my wrist, pulling me away from the guy and toward the three waiting adults who have noticed us. ”Reagan, come on.” She tilts her head sympathetically like she thinks I'm lagging behind because I don't want to make small talk and get my picture taken.
Mom waves us over from the front porch where she's standing with a perfectly coiffed blond woman in a dark-green suit.
We stop beside Reece on the stone walkway that leads up to the house. ”And this is Reilly and Reagan. Girls, this is Mindy Harris with the Fairview Gazette.”
”It's so nice to meet you both,” Mindy says, her eyes only meeting mine for a second before they dart past us and back to the car. It's easy to see exactly what-who-she's looking for. ”We seem to be one short.” Mindy scrunches her lips together as she takes us in.
One, two, three. Not the four she was hoping for. I'd like to point out that we're actually two short, since my dad isn't here either, but like always, I keep my mouth shut.
”Rhiannon made the drive up in our moving truck with the girls' father,” Mom says like she's apologizing. She has nothing to apologize for, especially not to this woman who gave us no warning she'd be here. ”We didn't quite expect this today.”
”Of course, of course! No trouble at all, Elaine.” Mindy smiles, showing off a row of perfectly white teeth. ”Will they be arriving soon?”
”Unfortunately, no. They're at least two hours behind us. We'd be happy to sit down with you tomorrow though, once the girls have had a little time to settle in.”
I almost laugh at the comment. We moved out of the city, to an entirely new state, and it's only going to take us one afternoon to get settled in? Yeah, okay.
”I guess that will be fine,” Mindy says. ”If there's really no way to get Rhiannon here. Everyone is so looking forward to seeing the girls together in Fairview again. And we did want to do this before the new school year starts.”
”When's that?” Reece asks.
”September second.” Less than two weeks. ”I a.s.sume the girls will be going to Fairview High?” She can't be bothered to speak to us directly. Apparently we're just supposed to stand here and smile for the cameras. Which isn't so bad, now that I think about it.
”Yes, just like I did. They'll be soph.o.m.ores this year.”
”My son Kent is starting his soph.o.m.ore year, too.” Mindy claps her hands together. ”He keeps a busy schedule, but I'm sure he'd be happy to show you around!” She beams at the three of us like we should be weeping with grat.i.tude that her darling boy is willing to play tour guide.
It's tempting to roll my eyes-until someone shoulders his way past Mindy and sticks his hand out in front of me. It's him. The guy with the green hair. This is Kent?
I blink slowly, looking back at him. From the front, he's even better than I imagined. His eyes are the same warm brown as his skin, and they crinkle up a little as he smiles at me.
”Hi,” he says, looking down at his hand expectantly. I'm still fixated on the near golden brown of his eyes, and the way they stand out, unnaturally bright against the even tan of his skin. ”I'm Kent. Welcome to Fairview.”
Right! Hand-shaking. Frantically, I grab on to his hand and bounce it up and down a few times before he moves to Reece and then Reilly.
”Nice to meet you,” I mumble.
I don't think he hears me, but a second later his eyes lock on mine. For an instant, he just looks at me and I will myself to do something, anything. His eyes almost seem to be teasing me. I can't help it. I smile before we both glance away. ”Welcome to Fairview,” I hear him mumble. He's already shaking Reece's hand, but something about the way his head still tilts in this direction suggests that maybe she doesn't have his full attention.
After he introduces himself to Reilly, the four of us all hang back as Mindy and my mom keep chatting about everything from the drive to the move to the weather. No matter how short Mom's answers are, the questions seem to keep coming like Mindy is hoping that if she holds us here long enough she'll be able to wait out Rhiannon.
The boy-Kent, I remind myself-smiles back at me before getting dragged back in to a conversation with his mother. But I'm not listening anymore. All I can think about are brown eyes, and just how much I'm going to like living here.
Chapter 2.
I didn't think I'd get even a wink of sleep the night before school starts, but all of my obsessing must have taken more out of me than I'd realized. I wake up to the screeching noise Rhiannon has set as her alarm-it's supposed to be some sort of post-alternative-something-or-other music. It's awful.
Everything is awful.
I don't want to be awake.
Ugh.
I open my eyes to see my sister already flitting around the room. She offers me a half-apologetic shrug when I sit up, well aware of how I feel about her need to wake up this early. Every. Single. Day.
Once she turns off the shrieking, my brain gradually begins to function again. I glance down at my phone. I could sleep for another half hour and still wake up with more than enough time to eat and get ready. But this is our first day at Fairview High, and now that I'm up, I am wide-awake.
Rhiannon already has a cup of black tea sitting on her dresser, the biggest kick of caffeine Mom will let her drink. I keep trying to tell her that sleeping in past six thirty is another way to gain some extra energy, but she never listens. No, she has too much to do and too little time to do it. Or something.
Me? I'm a night person through and through. If my parents would let me, I could stay up until four every night playing City of Ages, reading, and talking to my friends online. Except then I'd sleep until noon every day. It's a trade I'm more than willing to make.
”Get up, get up, get up!” Enthusiastic fists bang against our door from the bathroom that connects our room with the one Reece and Reilly share.
In response, I groan and throw my pillow at the door. How is everyone functioning this early?
”We're up, we're up!” I answer when the banging refuses to stop.
Rhiannon walks over and opens the door, sending Reilly flying into our room.
”You're awake!” she announces as though this is somehow news. ”I've thought of something.” She's already poking her head around in Rhiannon's closest. ”What are you wearing today?”
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