The first three classes of the day were boring as fuck. I might need to revisit my academic schedule. I was ahead of a lot of these classes, but Jeremy had been right in his advice to test the waters first. Fourth period had potential. I liked math. My engineering classes were in the afternoon, so those were something to look forward to as well as foreign language. Two years of French to meet the requirements.
Another perk for public schools, so far there was no assigned seating. I could skate in and grab a desk in the back row. It put me in the perfect position to watch kids as they hustled in. The other freshmen seemed to be a mixed bag of totally not giving a damn and seriously anxious. The anxious ones earned my sympathy cause if I hadn’t practiced hiding my feelings for years, I’d probably look just like them.
The last four to skate in the door laughed their way in the door. Two jocks, though the third guy could be one, too, I supposed, but they weren’t what snagged my interest. No, the blonde in their midst with a faint smirk on her lips as she punched one of the jocks in the arm captured all of my attention.
“Shut up,” she muttered then hip-checked the second jock. “Asses.”
“Awww,” the third guy complained. “It was my idea.”
She flipped him off so fast, I had to snort a laugh then she slid into a chair in front of me which worked for me, I didn’t mind the view at all.
Her friends, however, scowled and the dark-haired guy gave me such a narrow-eyed look I planted my gaze anywhere but her.
For. The. Moment.
As soon as the teacher walked in though, I kept studying her. She barely looked up from her books except to answer questions. That kind of laser focus was scary. Still, math just got a hell of a lot more interesting even if the subject material was easy.
“Psst,” the blond jock leaned over and tapped her arm. I’d ended up sitting right in the middle of all of them but I didn’t mind.
“Yes, Bubba,” she said over her shoulder with a grin. “I’ll help with homework after school.”
“Awesome,” he said, grinning.
With him distracted, I could see his answer sheet. Why did he need help? He had all the problems answered already, but he tucked the page into the back of his book and then put a blank sheet on the problem set.
Huh.
Still, the glimpse of her profile had been like a donkey kick. She really was gorgeous. All too soon the bell rang and she and her escorts were gone before I could introduce myself.
That had to change the next day. Hell, I hadn’t even caught her name. I’d do better. I had first lunch so I headed for the cafeteria along with the rest of the herd. A couple of girls smiled at me and a guy from my first period class lifted his chin. I nodded back, but I couldn’t remember their names if they’d been said at all. Probably better to just play it cool.
I stood in line with everyone else and grabbed a tray of the most frighteningly greasy pizza I’d ever seen, some French fries (who served fries with pizza?) and grabbed bottled water. I’d kill for a soda but apparently they didn’t sell those in the lunchrooms here.
Healthier options or so it had said in the orientation packet. Looking at the greasy pizza, I had to seriously question that particular logic. Whatever. Food paid for, I scanned the cafeteria seating. The tables were packed. I didn’t know enough of these people to just swing over and ask for a spot so I navigated the room looking for an open table when the blond from math intercepted me.
Damn if I didn’t nearly swallow my tongue.
“Hey,” she said and my brain went on hiatus for a solid five seconds. “I’m Frankie. You can sit with me if you want.” She indicated the nearly empty table behind her. Well, nearly empty except for her tray and backpack. “My friends will be here in a minute.”
The communication lines between my brain cells zapped to life and I grinned. What was I going to say when a beautiful girl—seriously freaking hot—asks me to sit with her? I was not stupid.
“That’d be great, Frankie. I’m Archie.”
“Awesome those of us with ‘e’ at the end of our name need to stick together.”
I snorted a laugh as I slid my tray onto the spot next to hers and pulled out the chair. She said her friends were coming. I assumed that meant the guys from math, but maybe she meant girlfriends.
“You’re in my math class,” I managed as I unscrewed the top from my water bottle. Pithy one there, Arch. Really pithy.
“I know,” she said with a grin. Unlike me, she wore jeans, but they were ripped around the knees and her t-shirt was tie-dyed. She kind of reminded me of a cool hippie. The green of her eyes held all of my attention. “Saw you when we came in. Did you go to Freeman?”
I had no idea what that was. “No, just moved here this summer.”
“Oh, cool…”
“We can’t leave you alone for five minutes,” said the guy she’d flipped off during class. “Don’t you remember you’re not supposed to talk to strangers?”
“Bite me,” she said, pointing a plastic spoon at him. Like me, she had a slice of pizza and some fries, but she also had a chocolate pudding cup and was eating it first. “Coop. Archie. Archie, Coop.”
“Hey man,” Coop said with a grin as he set his stuff down on the other side of Frankie.
“Hey.”
“Why are you all the way over here?” Ah, here came the other two guys. The dark-haired one pinned me with a look that was far from friendly. “Who are you?”
“Jake, don’t be an ass.”
“Hard for him to do that when it’s his default mode,” Coop said with a laugh. The other blond with “Jake” snorted.
“He’s sitting in Jake’s spot, Jake never takes that well.”
Shit, she was already taken. That figured.
“Jake can sit there,” Frankie said, pointing opposite her. “It won’t kill him. Also, Archie, that's Jake, he growls a lot but he’s much nicer than he sounds and that’s Bubba.”
“Hey,” Bubba said, sliding his tray onto the table. “I don’t growl and I’m apparently not very nice.” But his laughter decried that as Frankie rolled her eyes.
I found myself grinning as Jake scowled but took the chair she pointed out. I could have offered to move, but I didn’t want to. Besides being pretty, she was adorable.
“Guys, this is Archie, he’s new, just moved in this summer and he’s gonna hang out with us for lunch, so don’t be dicks.”
“When was the last time we were dicks?” Coop asked with a laugh then bumped his shoulder to hers.
“This morning,” Frankie and Bubba said almost in concert, but Jake just snorted. He didn’t say much while we ate, but he did slide his pudding cup over to Frankie when she finished hers. The weight of his glare wasn’t lost on me, but I played it cool. Frankie chatted with all of us and her enthusiasm for school just seemed to bubble over.
“Wait,” I said when something she just mentioned penetrated past my just soaking in her voice. “You have French this afternoon?”
“Yep,” Coop said, popping the ‘p.’ “Both of us do. Sixth period.
Excellent. “Me too.”
“Hey, that’s two classes together. What else do you have?”