“So, buddy, how was your first day?”“It was great!” With that, he launched into nonstop chatter about everything he had experienced from the moment I dropped him off until I picked him up again. He had to tell me all about the rules, the classroom, the breakfast, the lunch and especially his favorite time of the day, recess.We made it home and he was still talking. I learned about all his classmates, including a little girl named Zaniyah that stood with him in the walkers pickup line. I am hoping that is Melanie’s little girl as I asked Nate if he liked her and he said that he did and that she was one of his best friends already.We sat at the kitchen table together as he ate the snack of grapes, cheese cubes and Goldfish crackers I fixed for him as I filled out the additional mountain of paperwork the school had sent home with him. He chatted away and I listened as I jotted down his social security number for the fourteenth time. I wanted to make sure everything was completed and i
As Phil and Nate dropped me off at work, I found we were unusually busy. The parking lot was packed and I could tell even as I walked around to the employee entrance that most every booth was filled and the stools around the counter area looked crowded, too. Slipping in the back door, I quickly grabbed my apron off the hook and tied it on as Barb peeked her head around the corner.“Thank the Lord you are here! It’s been a madhouse since four. Darcy is gonna stay on until we calm down a bit but the other girls are cashing out right now as I speak.”“What’s going on that we are this busy?”“School’s back in session, hun. Guess everybody in this damn town decided they were too tired to cook tonight and for some reason greasy diner food is what they settled on.”I patted John on the back as I headed past him toward the front. “It’s because everybody in this town knows there’s not a better cheeseburger to be had than one grilled up by my ole buddy, John.”That earned me a gruff growl as he
My hands were shaking as I wiped them against my apron. “What just happened?” I thought to myself as I picked up the tray of drinks, balanced them carefully and carried them to tables seven and eight. My reaction both surprised and intrigued me. I dreaded going back to that table now, for more reasons than just a typical pompous, self-centered customer. I managed to get my thoughts together to correctly deliver drinks to both tables and to take their orders. I carried the tickets to the pass, hoping they were correct in my distorted state of mind and sent them through to John before taking another deep breath and heading back toward the table full of what society would term my "peers".Six sets of eyes watched me approach now, some predatory like the jackass that grabbed me and one of the girls in particular, others curious and seeming to size me up. Then, there was Dark Eyes, watching me intensely through hooded lashes, openly staring while remaining completely aloof and indifferent i
I moved along to the sneering piece of plastic next to him, my tension coming back tenfold in an instant as I felt my hackles raise. I could tell undoubtedly that she was a “mean girl” as she sized me up, obviously annoyed that I was getting attention that she felt only she deserved. From her heavily applied, flawless makeup to her platinum blond hair and her thick spray tan, I could tell that there wasn’t a single thing genuine about her at all, inside or out.As if she suddenly wanted to be my best friend, she smiled sweetly, a triumphant grin that never reached her viper cold eyes. A grin that I knew meant trouble. “What brands of water do you carry?”“Brands of water?” I repeated, making sure I heard her correctly.She rolled her eyes, appalled at my obvious ignorance. “OMG, God love her! She doesn’t even realize water can have different brands.” She flipped her hair confidently as everyone at the table, besides 'Dark Eyes' and 'Shy Girl', laughed at her joke at my expense. She qui
I was quiet and distracted the rest of the night, finally to the point that when the diner cleared out, Barb pulled me into a booth with a knowing look after motioning to John that we were ready for our dinner, or rather, late night snack for me. Darcy had left around nine and the diner didn’t really clear out until right about the time she left.“Okay, spill.”“Spill what? I feel like I have spilled everything I touched tonight.” I laughed, half joking and trying to deter her from prodding any further.“Pssh. That was just a little juice. You cleaned it up. No harm, no foul. But, since you are already spilling stuff, might as well let me know what’s going on in that head of yours. I saw enough that I could just about guess but I want to make sure I’m on the right track.”I took a deep sigh and looked down, a pick in my apron suddenly very interesting. I didn’t really know where to start so I just blurted out the first thing that I could think of.“Nate had a really good first day at
“Why can’t you see yourself that way. Even better, actually. You mama was pretty but she was not curvy like you are, baby doll. Good Lord, you have a figure I would kill for. You have large, perky bumps there and the hips and booty to match it honey. Embrace those curves. Curves are one hundred percent woman. Every man loves a beautiful curvy red head, baby doll.”“You would know, wouldn’t you?”“Damn straight, sugar. I hated my red hair and pale skin when I was your age. I didn’t think I was pretty but like I said, I eventually realized that I was pretty damn hot. It just takes the right man to make you own it.”I had let my cigarette burn up with only taking a few draws off of it but I hadn't planned on taking up the nasty habit as I put it out. I played with the filter as my cheeks heated in embarrassment at her blatant description of my body. I dropped it into the tray as I hid my face in my hands and leaned by head back in the booth.“Barb, you’re gonna make me die of embarrassme
Barb made John bring me home and drop me off right at midnight, after much protest on my side. She wouldn’t listen to my arguments about it either, insisting that I have more than three hours of sleep before I started my first day.I was both grateful and annoyed. I had already calculated that sleep would not come easy due to nervousness so I had banked on being so exhausted that anxiety would not be an option. Taking being dead on my feet and mentally drained out of the equation, I tossed and turned for the first couple hours after my head hit the pillow, as I knew that I would.By the time I finally started to relax enough to drift off, I had already convinced myself that this was a mistake and that the best thing for me to do was just tell Phil I wanted to continue to home school this senior year and be done with it. Sorta the ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ mentality.The alarm gave a jump start to my heart right at six and as I threw the quilt back and stood up for a stretch,
“Is that what you are wearing today?” He asked me, his tone gruff with an accusing edge that I did not like in the least.“Yes, it is. Is there a problem with what I am wearing?” We glared at each other for at least three Mississippis before he sighed and looked down.“No, you look amazing.” He answered as he approached the breakfast table and sat down to his plate. “Maybe a little too amazing is all.”“It’s just clothes, Phil.” I answered calmly.He picked up his fork and stabbed at his eggs, stopping as he brought the fork up. “You’re right. I’m being silly and maybe a little more possessive than I have any right to be. I’m sorry. You do look amazing. You would look amazing in a potato sack, though.”I gave him a warm smile and he started eating.“Thank you. I’m gonna go wake up Nate and get him dressed.”I didn’t wait for a response, exiting the kitchen as smoothly as I could. It was getting rather crowded in there this morning, what with that darn elephant back. I opened Nate’s be
As soon as Mr. Hanson announced our pairing, Bethany asked, “Mr. Hanson, who is Fulvia and what does she have to do with Mark Antony? I thought he was in love with Cleopatra?”“Ahh, an opportunity to learn, Miss Yates. What topic did you draw again?”“The Roman bathing system.”“I’m changing it. I will lecture on it tomorrow. In the meantime, Miss Yates, I have now given you the topic of Cleopatra and added you to Miss Butler and Mr. Marshall’s group. Two powerful women. Nothing you can’t handle, right Mr. Marshall?”Owen just chuckled and shook his head but I couldn’t help but wonder if this was an inside joke of some sort and it made me uneasy. Was Owen Marshall just a player? Did he see me as his next conquest? Did he see me at all? My defenses were back in place, locked and loaded. I couldn’t be tricked by dimples, a handsome face and those dark eyes. I couldn’t be like her, I reminded myself.“As a matter of fact,” Mr. Hanson continued. “Didn’t one of you draw Octavian?” He asked
I followed Courtney up the stairs and down the long hall. Thankfully, all the students were heading in the same direction. Halfway down, she tucked in a door on the right so I followed her inside. Typical history classroom. Nothing impressive.The girl that was offended over the Orange Fizz last night waved to Courtney and she skipped ahead and slid into a desk right beside her. Courtney looked back at me and patted the seat right in front of her, indicating she wanted me to sit there. Since I had little choice in the matter, I followed her and sat down, pulling my backpack between my legs as every movement I made was watched carefully.“Aurora, this is Bethany. Bethany, Aurora is our new student and I am her guide this week.”I looked back and gave her a small smile. “Hello again.”She didn’t answer but gave me a half smile in return, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes. I turned back and took a pen and notebook from my bag, ready to ignore them and get this class over with.Student
“You’re welcome, sweetie. We want you to be comfortable and feel at home here at Wood Haven on your first day.” She answered back with a genuine smile. “Now, let me see which of our guides I need to pair you with. Hopefully, there is a volunteer that you share some classes with.”She hummed away, looking at the computer as she decided which guide she would call for me. I sent up a silent prayer for it to be someone nice and normal, someone who didn’t want to be front and center with introducing me to everyone in the school on my first day.“Here we go. I think I have found the perfect match. She picked up the phone and overhead paged. “Courtney Romero. Courtney Romero, can you come by the office for a moment. Thank you.”She hung up the phone and motioned to an empty chair behind me.“Just have a seat there, Aurora and she will be up here in just a few minutes.”“Thank you again.”“No problem, sweetie.” She turned away from me as I sat down and motioned for the next student in line.I
I tried to control the annoyance I felt at his stunt, knowing I would be unable to do anything about it at the moment. If I said anything right now, it would look like a lover’s quarrel to anyone outside of this truck and Phil would get that label put on me that he was so desperately seeking.I set my jaw, pissed but determined. Two can play this game. What he didn’t realize is that I was already an actress. Anyone working in the service industry has to be. I had mastered the friendly smile and carefree attitude all while inwardly telling someone to go screw themselves a long time ago.I underestimated my opponent, though. As I leaned into the backseat to grab my backpack, he leaned forward to block my face with his as he simply said, “Have a good day.” into my ear. That was it and he leaned back again. Seemingly innocent enough but to a crowd of over one hundred nosy, perpetually horny teenagers, it looked like he just gave me a kiss.It shouldn’t bother me but it did. Part of me rea
“Bye, Daddy” Nate called with a wave.“Bye, buddy. Have a good day!”I shut the truck door, taking Nate’s hand as I led him around the front of the truck, across the street once the traffic was clear and up onto the side walk on the opposite side. Wearing shoes I was not used to actually made my pace stay right with Nate’s, all the way up to the front steps.“Bye, Rory. Love you!” He called as he broke free and took off up the steps without even looking back.“Love you, too.” I called after him but he was already gone.As I turned and walked back down the sidewalk, I had to walk past one of the buses of high school students. I tried to ignore the whistles and cat calls as I hurried past, suddenly questioning my choice of outfit for the first day.I was already going to be the ‘new girl’. That was enough to stand out but I thought it would be smart to dress up, in a fricking skirt no less! Obviously, I should have given this whole scenario a little more thought. I took a deep breath, s
I walked around them and the table as I grabbed Phil’s lunch pail and opened it up, sitting in on top of the stove to pack it. I opened the refrigerator and loaded the bottom of the cooler with his drink divider ice pack and lined up four bottled waters and two cans of soda from the refrigerator.“Do you want the leftover pizza or should I make you some sandwiches?” I asked him over my shoulder.“Do you want to take the pizza with you?” He asked me back as he looked up at me from the table.“No, I won’t have much of an appetite today. First day jitters and all. I was just going to see what they had in the cafeteria based on how I am feeling at lunchtime. I have a granola bar and a bottle of water already in my bag, too.”“Yeah, just give me the leftovers, then. No sense in you going to all that trouble to make sandwiches when the pizza and cheesesticks need finished up.”“What am I having for lunch today, Mo….Rory?” Nate caught himself.I closed the refrigerator door to look on the ca
“Is that what you are wearing today?” He asked me, his tone gruff with an accusing edge that I did not like in the least.“Yes, it is. Is there a problem with what I am wearing?” We glared at each other for at least three Mississippis before he sighed and looked down.“No, you look amazing.” He answered as he approached the breakfast table and sat down to his plate. “Maybe a little too amazing is all.”“It’s just clothes, Phil.” I answered calmly.He picked up his fork and stabbed at his eggs, stopping as he brought the fork up. “You’re right. I’m being silly and maybe a little more possessive than I have any right to be. I’m sorry. You do look amazing. You would look amazing in a potato sack, though.”I gave him a warm smile and he started eating.“Thank you. I’m gonna go wake up Nate and get him dressed.”I didn’t wait for a response, exiting the kitchen as smoothly as I could. It was getting rather crowded in there this morning, what with that darn elephant back. I opened Nate’s be
Barb made John bring me home and drop me off right at midnight, after much protest on my side. She wouldn’t listen to my arguments about it either, insisting that I have more than three hours of sleep before I started my first day.I was both grateful and annoyed. I had already calculated that sleep would not come easy due to nervousness so I had banked on being so exhausted that anxiety would not be an option. Taking being dead on my feet and mentally drained out of the equation, I tossed and turned for the first couple hours after my head hit the pillow, as I knew that I would.By the time I finally started to relax enough to drift off, I had already convinced myself that this was a mistake and that the best thing for me to do was just tell Phil I wanted to continue to home school this senior year and be done with it. Sorta the ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ mentality.The alarm gave a jump start to my heart right at six and as I threw the quilt back and stood up for a stretch,
“Why can’t you see yourself that way. Even better, actually. You mama was pretty but she was not curvy like you are, baby doll. Good Lord, you have a figure I would kill for. You have large, perky bumps there and the hips and booty to match it honey. Embrace those curves. Curves are one hundred percent woman. Every man loves a beautiful curvy red head, baby doll.”“You would know, wouldn’t you?”“Damn straight, sugar. I hated my red hair and pale skin when I was your age. I didn’t think I was pretty but like I said, I eventually realized that I was pretty damn hot. It just takes the right man to make you own it.”I had let my cigarette burn up with only taking a few draws off of it but I hadn't planned on taking up the nasty habit as I put it out. I played with the filter as my cheeks heated in embarrassment at her blatant description of my body. I dropped it into the tray as I hid my face in my hands and leaned by head back in the booth.“Barb, you’re gonna make me die of embarrassme