Drew

One of the guys from the football team slid in next to me at the cafeteria table. “Dude, have you seen the new girl?”

He was making a scene, leaning back so far he looked like he might fall over as he tried to seek out the hot new girl who everyone had been talking about since first period.

Briarwood was a small school, way smaller than the public school I went to for about half a second in California, and even a little smaller than Atwater, my old public school on the other side of town.

I hadn’t seen the new girl yet, but I’d heard all about her. Hot, seemed to be the consensus among the guys. Friendly and sweet, was what I’d heard from Melody, the school’s biggest gossip and self-proclaimed, one-woman welcome wagon. She’d been the one to greet me my first day, most likely to get the scoop on me firsthand, and I had no doubt she’d done the same to this new girl.

I had to admit I was curious.

Brian hit my arm and it stung. I was no wuss, but sometimes Brian forgot his own strength. The guy was a brick wall, which was a great asset on the football field. In the cafeteria? Not so much.

“She’s over there at Melody’s table. Check her out. She’s totally your type.”

I resisted the urge to look over. I didn’t have a type. Not anymore. And especially not now when the playoffs were coming up. I couldn’t afford to lose focus now when we were two games away from being state champions.

I held out as long as I could, but then Alex and Ted sat across from me. My buddies from the school’s summer league baseball team were talking about… you guessed it. The new girl.

“Man, I’m going to talk to her by the end of the day,” Alex said. “I need to get in there before anyone else does. She’s totally my type.”

“I thought your girlfriend was your type,” I said, digging into the fries on my plate. I’d had an early morning pitching practice that made me miss breakfast. I was starving. Besides, focusing on the fries helped me resist the urge to follow everyone else’s stares. I’d see the new girl soon enough but right now I didn’t want any distractions, and I also didn’t want to be one of the many who were leering at the poor girl. I’d been the new kid twice in the past year and trust me, it sucks. First days were the worst. The stares, the whispers. I wouldn’t be hypocritical and say I wasn’t curious about the girl everyone was talking about, but I sure as hell didn’t want to add to her first day miseries.

Alex reached over and stole one of my fries. “Naw, Tina and I broke up.”

Again. That part went unsaid. It was a struggle not to roll my eyes. No one had more girl problems in his life than Alex—he and Tina seemed to break up every other day. I couldn’t imagine why he was seeking out more drama, but then, what did I know?

I hooked up with girls now and again but I’d learned my lesson on high school relationships—they were doomed to fail. And high school girls? Forget it. They were hardwired to play games and mess with your head.

I had no desire to have my head messed with again, and if I wanted games, I’d play them on my Xbox.

There were plenty of girls who were happy to just hookup at parties, maybe hang out and have some fun. That was all I was looking for, and right now, even that sounded like too much work. I had to stay focused on my game, so girls—all girls—were off limits until summer league playoffs ended.

I made it all through lunch without sneaking a peek, even though the conversation never strayed far from this Veronica chick. It was a freakin’ gossip session as the guys spilled what they’d learned from their various sources.

It wasn’t much. No one seemed to know where she’d transferred from or what she was doing at Briarwood. So far the most salacious tidbit was that she’d gotten into some AP classes. Whoa, stop the presses! I kept my mouth shut, but seriously? How boring were their lives if these guys were gossiping like a bunch of old grandmas about some new girl’s course load?

I was relieved to head out of there when the bell rang. By last period that day, I’d successfully avoided seeing the new girl, though her name was still being bandied about by just about everyone in the school.

I felt sorry for her, to be honest. If there was some way I could help her to feel welcome, I’d have done it, but I didn’t want to be yet another guy trying to get her attention. From the sounds of it, she’d been hit on by every guy in school by now.

By all accounts, she was sweet about it. Nice and polite, all smiles and pleasant chit-chat with everyone, even the biggest dorks and the largest outcasts. From all the talk, she was starting to sound too good to be true.

Then I found out for myself that the rumors were false. Sweet and friendly? Hardly.

Or, maybe it was just me.

I ran into her. Literally. Books fell, and I nearly bit my tongue off as my jaw clamped shut at the collision. The next thing I knew, a soft, warm body was in my arms as I caught my balance… and her.

I stared down into big brown eyes. Long dark lashes batted up at me. Her lips were a soft pink and they were parted in surprise.

I wasn’t sure how long we stood like that, oddly posing as though we’d planned this. She’d come running down the hall, fall into my arms, and I’d dip her like we were on stage for a ballroom dance competition.

Obviously, that wasn’t the case, but there I was, holding her in a dipping pose as she clung to my shoulders. There was something familiar about her, like I’d known her my whole life. There was a kindness in her eyes, a softness to her features that made me smile instinctively, wanting to see her smile in return.

And she smelled good, like some sort of citrus shampoo or body wash or something. Damn, I wished I hadn’t noticed that. I was already too dumbstruck by the looks of her, I didn’t need to have an intoxicating scent paired with her too.

And I definitely wished I didn’t know how good she felt in my arms.

The bell rang for the start of class and the moment was over. I was righting her, she was scrambling for her books on the ground. The whole incident couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds but for me, it felt like time had stood still.

I took a deep, steadying breath before going down on my knees to help her pick up her books. We were both heading in to AP Literature and I knew Ms. Davies would be pissed if we were late.

“Here, let me help you,” I said.

She muttered something that I didn’t hear. Her long brown, wavy hair fell forward and I couldn’t see her face. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I could see the way she hunched in on herself, as if she was trying to hide from me. Oh hell, almost like she was scared of me.

“Hey,” I said as gently as I could, placing a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry about that. Let me help you.”

She shook me off with surprising strength and this time I heard her voice, low and short. “I said I’ve got it.”

I sat back in stunned silence and watched her gather the last book before turning quickly, avoiding making eye contact. Then she headed into the classroom without me.

“Mr. Remi.” Ms. Davies’ voice was an unamused monotone. “Being late on your first day is inadvisable.”

I got to my feet, grabbed my stuff and went in. So, that was the new girl everyone was talking about. The one who was beautiful, friendly, and kind to everyone she met.

Beautiful? Check. But friendly and kind?

Maybe she was nice to everyone who wasn’t me. In fact, I was pretty sure I was the exception to the rule. How did I know? I watched her. All through class I stared at her, listening as she smiled and chatted with everyone who talked to her when there was a break in class and at the end when the bell rang. She was the center of attention and there was never a moment when someone wasn’t trying to get her attention.

She was never anything but friendly and kind, but the whole time she pointedly ignored me even though we were assigned seats right next to one another.

What the hell? Who was this chick and what had I ever done to her?