Chapter Two
Amy
The big bad Luke Prescott. Stories had flown around school for the last week when people learned he was coming back. I know not all of them could be true. Nobody could be that scary.
He was not what I expected, I thought as he walked away. Tall, handsome in that rugged way. Not a pretty boy. Short black hair, and gray eyes that held a hint of danger. Who was I kidding? Much more than a hint.
I could only shake my head as I watched him weave his way through the crowd. Those wide shoulders blocked out half the hall.
Yet, something about him put a nervous, fluttery feeling deep in my stomach. A feeling that surprised me. This was the bad Luke Prescott, I reminded myself. The boy that had hurt Jenny and her mom by getting himself locked up. The kind of bad boy I thought of as trouble and overly admired by silly girls.
But then, I thought of that small scar just below his left eye. Had he gotten that in the accident when his dad died? Or had he gotten it in that place? And the way he looked at me. As if he could see the real me.
I sighed internally as a thousand questions popped into my mind.
Jenny frowned at me, making me pause until I remembered Luke was her brother. Oh, my god. Swallowing hard I smiled at her and slipped my arm into hers and pulled her towards the cafeteria.
“I’m hungry. Let’s hurry,” I said.
She looked at me strangely for a second then smiled and nodded. After we got our trays and settled into our normal seats, I studied her from beneath my brow.
She’s worried, I realized. Worried about her brother. That was the only thing that ever bothered her.
I smiled to myself. It had been a miracle the day we found each other. Two lonely lost girls. Her father had been killed in a car wreck a few years earlier. Her big brother had just been sent to juvenile detention and her friends had abandoned her.
Dad and I had just moved to town. Mom had left to live in a commune in northern California and moving had been Dad’s way of dealing with it. A new school. A new town. To say I had felt lost and abandoned was putting it mildly.
We were so different. Except for our mutual love of horses, we had very little in common. Jenny, the blond, blue-eyed farm girl. Me, the dark-haired shy girl whose father was a surgeon at the local hospital. Two different worlds.
Yet, we clicked right away. Would it all change now that her brother was back?
“Don’t worry,” I told her as she continued to frown. “He seems to be adjusting.”
She smiled back weakly and shrugged. The two of us sat there in silence for a moment, rare for us. Until Jenny looked up and blanched. I turned to follow her gaze. Luke had stepped into the cafeteria with his tray.
His eyes forward. Tall. All alone. My heart went out to him just a tiny bit. What must it be like for him? The outsider in his own hometown.
Every eye in the place followed him as he made his way through the tables. I noticed the guys were wary. Marking his passage as if keeping a wild animal in sight in case he chose to attack. The girls’ stares were totally different. Some of them held a sharp interest. As if he were a valuable prize they hoped to win.
Jenny’s frown deepened into a scowl when Luke ignored us and sat with Charles Huntington.
“Why doesn’t he sit with us?” she asked. Obviously hurt.
I shrugged. “Maybe it’s a big brother thing. You know, it’s uncool to sit with your little sister or something.”
“And it’s cool to sit with Charles Huntington?” she snapped as she continued to frown at her brother, then slammed her fork onto her tray and stood up.
“I lose him for two years and now he ignores me,” she said through gritted teeth as she grabbed her tray and marched over to plop down next to him.
I guess I didn’t factor into the equation. All I could do was roll my eyes and take my stuff and follow. It was a best friend thing. Besides, no way was I sitting all alone in the cafeteria. People would talk.
Setting my tray down next to Charles, I shot him a quick smile. His brow knitted in confusion as he gave me a quizzical look. Then, he glanced at Jenny next to Luke and the furrows softened.
Interesting, I thought. I was chopped liver. But Jenny was perfectly welcome.
“You guys know Chip,” Luke said with a smirk.
Jenny frowned, “I thought you preferred Charles?”
The poor boy could only shrug. Somehow his entire world had been tipped on its side.
Jenny turned away to address her brother. She gave him her best frown and asked, “Why didn’t you sit with us?”
Luke shrugged.
I wanted to reach over and hit his shoulder. How dare he dismiss his sister like that. The girl had suffered every day he was gone. She had stuck up for him. Had lost friendships and opportunities because she was the sister of a criminal.
The boy didn’t have any idea what she’d been through.
I took a deep breath, preparing to unload on him when he reached over and gave his sister a quick hug and kissed the top of her head.
“Sorry,” he said. “Old habits.”
Jenny sank into his embrace and smiled the smile of true happiness. I quickly looked around to see who was watching. Of course, half the place was fixated on us. Would it always be like this? I wondered. The center of everyone’s attention.
“Besides,” he continued as he looked over her head at me, “I thought Chip here could help with my lack of moral character.”
My gut clenched. I’d hit a sore point earlier.
The four of us continued to eat as a cone of tension settled over us. Luke was obviously uptight about being back. Jenny was tense because her big brother was tense. Charles was tense because Jenny was sitting across from him.
And I was tense because Luke kept giving me strange looks. Like he was trying to figure out what planet I came from.
“So,” Jenny said to her brother, breaking the bubble of tightness, “Do you like your classes?”
Luke shrugged as he continued to eat. I noticed that he ate hunched over, his free arm in front of his tray as if he was worried someone might try to take it.
What had that place been like? I wondered.
“I like mine,” Charles said, then blushed when he realized he hadn’t been asked.
Jenny shot him a frown, then returned to eating and once more the awkward feeling surrounded us.
It was like that for the rest of the lunch break. Four people eating in silence. I desperately tried to think of something to say but nothing came. What if I said the wrong thing. We were all thinking it. How was he adjusting to being back? But we couldn’t ask.
At least I know I couldn’t.
The bell rang and Luke shook his head. “Well, this was fun.”
I laughed, our eyes met and we shared a moment of mutual amusement at the stupidness of the situation.
“Come on, Chip,” Luke said as he stood up and gathered his empty tray. “You can show me where the cool kids hang out and we can make fun of them.”
Charles, or Chip, which was it now, laughed as he joined him and said, “You mean we aren’t the cool kids. I wish someone would have told me.”
He gave Jenny a quick look but she was staring off into space, obviously worried. Charles sighed a little and followed Luke to the trash cans.
Jenny frowned and shook her head.
“He’s doing fine,” I reassured her.
She glanced up and tried to smile.
“I think mom’s making a mistake leaving him alone this weekend.”
I frowned until I remembered that Jenny and her mom were going to be out of town for the weekend helping her grandmother move to their farm. I wondered if this was so her Mom could have an extra set of eyes on her son.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I said. No need for her to hear my doubts.
Jenny continued to frown for a long second then said, “Can you exercise Bailey for me on Saturday? Mom and I are leaving Thursday night and won’t be back until Sunday night. You know Bailey, she gets upset if she goes too long without a good run.”
My face broke into a wide smile. “You want me to spend my Saturday afternoon riding your horse through the back trails behind your house? Are you crazy? I’d pay for the chance. Of course.”
Jenny smiled, obviously relieved. “Your dad will be okay with it?” she asked.
“No problem,” I told her, rather pleased to realize that it was actually true. My Dad trusted me.
“And maybe you could check on Luke for me. You know, make sure he’s okay.”
My stomach suddenly dropped. “Why isn’t he going with you guys. I would have thought all those muscles would come in handy with a move?”
Jenny swallowed as she looked down. “He needs to stay to take care of the animals.” She said with a deep frown, but I could tell there was something else. “Besides,” she continued, “He can’t leave the state. Not unless Mom fills out a ton of paperwork.”
My gut clenched at the realization of just how serious this was. Luke wasn’t some kid with a troubled past. He was a full-fledged participant in the criminal justice system.
But he was more, I realized. There was something about him that told me he could be so much more.