Summer
One
The school
parking lot was a complete mess. I pulled in hoping it would be organized like my
school’s lot was. We each knew where to park our cars: the geeks got the far
lot, the preps had the center, and the popular kids, or status monsters,
got the upper lot closest to the school. Since the sixth grade, I had called
them status monsters as it referred to their needy desire to get noticed
in school. They would do anything to become popular, even turning themselves
into status hungry demons, therefore the name stuck.
There was no
designated space for my kind because well, I didn’t have a category. I wasn’t a
geek. I was definitely not preppy. I sure as hell was not a status monster
either. I was one of a kind. My spot was usually where the last possible space
was. Usually late to class, my best friend, Lily, and I would hit the doughnut
shop for our usual coffee and sour cream doughnut. When we rolled up to school
after scarfing our breakfast and rocking out to the newest song by our favorite
band of the month, we’d find a parking spot wherever it was available. We’d
walk as slow as we could to our first period class and just barely make it
before the tardy bell rang. To put it simply, we were not excited about getting
to class, ever!
But this
school was totally different. I sat in my Honda with the air conditioning on
full blast watching the mad chaos ensue in front of me. Most of the kids were
waiting for other people to park their cars while they were stuck behind them.
The cars blocking the entrance were there because the drivers were merely
chatting it up with friends, planning out their summer on the first exciting
day of summer school. I sighed heavily when I noticed my chance. Far off in the
distance a lone spot was open. I jammed the gear shift into drive and took off
swerving around students and cars until I smoothly slid into the tight spot.
I killed the
engine and grabbed my new bag. I refused to go to summer classes with my junior
year backpack. No way! I had purchased all new items for the next four weeks.
This was a new school and a new chance to actually become someone different. A
clean slate. No one here knew me, so my past history was erased. I would be
Sadie Peters, popular and outgoing, instead of Sadie Peters, a shy nobody that
no one pays any attention to.
I looked up
at Alcott High’s newly rebuilt entrance. It was the town’s oldest school, but
it held the most history. It was the very first school built in Laurel Lakes
when it was a small town. Now that the town has grown immensely, they needed a
new school built, and that’s how Ridgeline High, my school, was built. While I
liked my school for various reasons, I loved the history of Alcott. To me it
held hope and immense change. After a complete and utterly disastrous junior
year, I could only see promise staring me in the face.
I would be
taking courses that were required for senior year now, so that when next year
started, I would only have a half-day session. Then, after school I would be
taking creative writing courses at the local college, preparing me for a
university and hopefully an internship at a publishing firm. I had it all
planned out. This was just the first step in my well thought out plan. A plan
devised with Lily many years ago. We hated this town and wanted to get out as
soon as our diplomas were in our hot little hands. I frowned at the thought of
Lily at home sleeping in while I was here. She was spending her summer serving
ice cream at Scoop’s while I was here. Scoop’s was the best place to meet guys
in the hot weather, and she had been looking forward to this summer job all
year. While I was jealous she was going to be surrounded by town hotties all
day, I knew I had to do this. Besides we planned to meet up at the lake after
school.
It will
be fine. You’ll meet new people and have a fresh start. I told myself. Take that first
step.
I took it
with my eyes forward and head held high. But I failed to miss the hot guy
walking straight into me. His books flew out of his hand, and I fell on my ass.
Everyone in the quad looked directly at me and laughed. Not the start I had
hoped for, at all. I looked up from the gravel into the eyes of the hottest guy
I’d ever seen in Laurel Lakes.
“Are you all
right?” hot guy asked me. I stared in astonishment. His blue eyes dug into mine
like he was searching through my soul.
“Uh, yeah.
I’m good, you?” I mumbled.
“I’m
actually doing great. I’ve never seen you before,” he said as he pulled me from
the ground. “I would remember a face like that.”
I smiled
from ear to ear as I brushed myself off. Maybe it was too soon to say I failed
my fresh beginning.
“I’m Sadie,”
I told him even though he didn’t ask my name. He threw me off by noticing my
face. “I go to Ridgeline.” He smiled and rolled his eyes upward. “That’s where
they’re hiding you, huh? I hate Ridgeline, but I won’t hold it against you,” he
admitted. “I’m Nash Rylan. Nice to meet you, Sadie. What are you doing here?
Did you fail Economics?”
I laughed. You’d
have to be an idiot to fail Economics.
“No, I’m
taking English Lit now, so I don’t have to take it next year,” I confessed. His
wide smile actually faltered slightly, but not slight enough that I didn’t
notice. “I want to have half a day next year that way I can get extra credits.”
I looked
down instantly feeling shy at telling him all of my plans. Then I wondered why
he was here in summer. Did he fail a class?
“I totally
get it,” he said as he rubbed his neck with his hand. “I wish I was that ahead
of the game. I actually failed Economics.”
Oh my
God! I just called
him an idiot. Thank god I didn’t say it out loud. That was another thing I was
working on with myself, thinking before I speak.
“Too bad we
won’t have a class together,” I blurted. I mentally kicked myself for not
thinking before saying that. Still I had to work on it obviously.
“I was gonna
say the same thing,” he said with a smile.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.
I’d love to get to know you more, Sadie.”
I was not
prepared for this. I wasn’t prepared for any guy interaction, let alone
guys this hot. The most I had was my guy friends. I never dated, so I had zero
experience when it came to guys. I just stood there dumbfounded.
“Can I get
your number?” he asked finally.
“Sure!” I
said eagerly. He pulled out his cell and handed it to me. I added my name and
number to his contacts list. I even added a small heart next to my name. That
way he’d remember me.
I handed him
back his phone and realized my hands were shaking. He took it and bent down to
pick up his pencil that fell, no doubt, when I ran into him.
“Can’t
forget this!” he joked. “I can’t fail now, I have my trusty pencil, and I got
the prettiest girl’s number. It’s gonna be a good day for me.”
The bell
rang out loudly. I wouldn’t be late at this school. Another rule for myself: no
more slacking when it came to class.
“I should
go,” I said walking away. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay with him and keep
talking. Keep staring at his beautiful face.
“Okay. See
ya!” He waved at me and then turned to join his friends. They all greeted him,
and at that moment he turned to look at me again, showing me his bright smile.
I waved at him and smiled back. I hardly ever smiled like that, not unless it
was something extremely funny or I felt really happy.
Nash made me
smile because he’d given me just what I was looking for when I signed up for
summer school. He gave me optimism. I would be whoever I wanted to be without
anyone or anything to hold me back.
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