West

by Michele G Miller

  At Hillsdale, the cheerleaders and jocks were used to the prime parking spots; popularity had its advantages. Tanya always parked directly outside of the gym, a few feet from the overhangs that protected students from severe weather. When it rains here at Rossview, they’ll be soaked before they make it half way to the school.

  “It’s like starting all over again,” Jules mutters as she climbs out of the vehicle slowly.

  West missed the light turning into the campus, which affords Jules the amazing view of watching people stop and stare as his bike purrs its way to the space on the other side of Tommy’s truck. She finds the attention he garners interesting, seeing as how most people ignored them as they drove in. She leans against the trunk of Katie’s car and watches as West makes his way through the crowd of students.

  “Ready?” Jeff calls, throwing one arm around each of their shoulders. The heavy weight of his body practically causes her knees to buckle, and Katie laughs as she throws her hip into his side.

  “I figure if I have to be new man on campus I might as well show up with the two hottest girls in Texas,” he says with a wink. It’s on the tip of Jules’ tongue to make a snide remark, but the moment she turns to speak, Jeff falls away from her.

  With a playful growl, West grabs him from behind and they jostle for position; leaving Tommy looking on with an amused expression plastered on his face.

  “Ugh,” Katie groans as Jules joins her. “Boys.” They sigh simultaneously and decide to leave them behind.

  The parking lot is almost deserted and they rush to get to their classes before the tardy bell sounds. The guys catch up after a moment and West takes Jules’ hand without missing a step. They pass a group of stragglers still huddled by a beat up car and Jules smiles politely at one of the girls, who merely glances up as she takes a long drag of a cigarette. The raven-haired girl simply turns away.

  The warning bell sounds as they open the main doors, causing a frenzy of motion in the crowded halls. The five of them stand there for a moment, taking in the foreign building and breathing in this new life.

  “Well, well, well, look who we have here,” murmurs a low voice.

  The sultry tone causes Jules to turn and search for the owner. She spots a tall brunette with her thick hair teased up into one of those messy ponytails that look like they take no effort, but in reality take thirty minutes or more to create.

  “West Rutledge,” she purrs as she walks up to West; placing her palm on his chest and leaving scant inches between them. “Hi, good looking. Nice to know something good is coming from this Mustang invasion,” she teases; her lips curling into a smile.

  “Bri,” West acknowledges warily; his hand going to her wrist as he takes a step back.

  She pouts when he pulls away, and looks over at the rest of the group. Her large eyes stop on Katie and Jules a tad longer than the guys, taking them in. “So, my little loner does have his own little friends?”

  Jules bristles at her reference and steps forward as Katie coughs and West gives her a guilty look.

  “Bri, this is Jeff, Tommy and Katie.” He points around the circle and makes introductions before turning towards Jules, now glued to his side. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he adds meaningfully, “And this is Jules, my girlfriend.”

  Jules doesn’t miss the emphasis he puts on the word ‘girlfriend’ and she smiles inside as Bri’s eyes narrow.

  “You have a girlfriend? Well, that’s unfortunate.”

  “For you, maybe,” Jules quips rudely. West pinches her side lightly, but she doesn’t care. Who is this chick? She looks like she should be at some nightclub with her smoky eyes, bright red lips and skimpy little outfit.

  “Most definitely for me,” she admits, before leaning into Jules’ face. “I know all too well what I’m missing.”

  Jules’ jaw drops. Katie, who is close enough to overhear the comment, pushes her way in with an angry, “Back off.”

  “Bri,” West warns angrily; stepping in front of Jules while grabbing Katie’s arm. Bri laughs and shrugs off her indifference.

  Through her red hot anger, Jules can see the curious glimpses they’re getting standing there as everyone else tries to make their way to their first period classes.

  A voice shouts “Parker!” and pulls all their attention temporarily, giving Bri a chance to step away.

  “We’ll catch up later,” she promises; wiggling her fingers at West with her bright red nails flashing.

  Jules looks up at West. “Who was that?” she asks as a group of guys from Hillsdale descends on them. She’s not an overly jealous type, but with so many changes in her life lately and so much uncertainty, she finds her emotions are all over the place, especially when it comes to West.

  “Hey man.” Jeff smiles at the group, and fist bumps and man hugs ensue.

  “Ladies, looking good. Tommy—what’s up, man? West. Can you believe this place? It’s like some other planet here,” complains the new addition to their group. Jules thinks back to freshman year when Fred played special teams for the Mustangs. He had always been nice and was one of her pep buddies—each cheerleader was assigned several members of the team to make good luck signs for each game day. She used to bring him Fanta and Skittles every Friday as his favorite treat.

  She can’t help but feel guilty when Fred’s eyes rake down her body and find West’s arm around her waist. She holds her breath, expecting a comment from him, but instead he winks at her with a short nod and turns his attention back to Tommy and Jeff.

  She looks around at the student body, seeing what Fred sees. Rossview is certainly a bit more ‘country’ than Hillsdale was. Many of the students here actually live on farms, whereas Hillsdale and north up to Robinson is more of a business suburb. While cowboy boots and mammoth belt buckles are commonplace everywhere in Texas, at Rossview they are a little more prevalent. So is the camo and NASCAR gear, she notes.

  “Get to class, ladies and gentlemen. No lingering,” a teacher calls out as he makes his way down the still crowded hall.

  Ignoring the others, West pulls her to the side; his body barely touching hers but making her pulse race. He looks worried as he eyes her. “Hey, she’s just a girl I’ve hung out with, okay?”

  Caught in his brown gaze, it takes her a moment to catch on. Girl? Oh, the Bri chick. “Hung out with? You want to define hung out?”

  “I do, but not right now and not right here.” He speaks clearly, not hesitating for a moment. His hand runs down her arm and takes hold of hers. “I can’t help what others do or say.”

  She gives him a huge smile as he lifts her fingers to his lips. “I’ll see you in third, okay?”

  Jules is happy they were lucky enough to get assigned the same history class and lunch break. She’s looking forward to getting to see him during the day.

  “Yeah.”

  “You okay, Buffy?” She nods and plasters on a happy face as he leans down to press a quick kiss to her lips. “My first class is upstairs, so I better run.”

  She nods again as he takes off, and then he turns and makes the hand signal for a telephone. She assumes it’s his way of saying to text him if she needs to. When she looks away from his back, she discovers the hall is nearly empty. Jeff is whispering in Katie’s ear, Tommy’s gone and across the hall a small brunette, whom she knows is a cheerleader for Rossview, is giving her the dirtiest looks she possibly can.

  “K, let’s go,” she urges; pulling her gaze from the hateful stare. They rush down the hall to find their fourth year Spanish class and begin their first day of senior year.

  By the time Jules reaches third period she’s endured enough dirty glances from Rossview students to make her feel like a leper. Thankfully, her first two classes are liberally peppered with Hillsdale students, and although she’s happy to find friends to keep her company, the cold shoulder treatment still bugs her. Hillsdale and Rossview have always had a spirited rivalry, and she assumes that’s the reason for the hostility, but come on. It’s not as if
she, or any other Hillsdale student for that matter, wanted to change schools.

  “Hey gorgeous.” West startles her; wrapping her in a monstrously tight bear hug as he comes up behind her.

  “Hi.”

  His face buries into her hair as he asks, “How many days left until graduation?”

  Jules groans with him as his arms drop, and he takes her hand and leads her into the class.

  “Right? One hundred and what, seventy-something?”

  “Too damn long, babe, that’s how long.” Pulling her behind him, he leads the way to some seats along the back of the room. She gives him a weary glance and he laughs. “Bad boy, remember? You didn’t want to sit up front, did you?”

  She doesn’t answer, but he sees it in her face. “Oh, hell. You’re such a good girl, it’s cute,” he teases with a wink as they take their seats.

  “What? I’m not a good girl.”

  “Oh Buffy, I think you are.” He leans to the side, his desk lifting up off the floor onto two legs as he tilts towards her. “Don’t worry though, babe, I happen to find your good girl vibe sexy.”

  Two girls in obscenely short jean skirts walk past slowly, pausing to say ‘hi’ to West. He gives them a polite smile and nods hello before returning his attention to Jules almost immediately. Their eyes follow West’s to her face and they both frown visibly, letting her see their annoyance at her presence, and she’s amazed.

  “I feel about as welcome here as a Kardashian at a legit Hollywood party,” she mutters to West; rolling her eyes as the girls take the empty seats two rows up.

  The taller blonde looks over her shoulder, letting Jules know she heard her, but says nothing. As West leans his desk closer, he skims her arm with the tip of his fingers.

  “Did something happen in your other classes?”

  Her reply is interrupted by the low vibration of her cell phone going off.

  Katie: Bathroom! First floor near cafeteria

  Throwing a glance at West, Jules reads the message a second time and checks the time. She has one minute until the bell rings and no teacher has shown up yet. If she leaves she’ll be tardy getting back.

  Stay. Go. Stay. Go. She muses when the phone goes off again.

  Katie: PLEASE!!!

  The over usage of exclamation marks and the caps make up her mind for her. Sliding from her chair she throws West an apologetic glance. He moves to follow her, his eyes full of concern, and she leans forward slightly to whisper an explanation.

  “It’s Katie. She’s asking me to meet her in the bathroom. I’ll see you at lunch if I don’t make it back.”

  He nods and his fingers skim her arm as she hurries out the door before their teacher shows up. Her steps are light and quick as she ducks into the restroom halfway down the first floor hallway and nearly crashes into three girls as they come out.

  “Sorry,” she murmurs; pushing past them and taking in the vacant bathroom. The air is a vapor cloud of freshly sprayed perfume; the flowery scent tickling her nose as she looks around. All of the dark blue stall doors are cracked open slightly, with the exception of the last one.

  “Katie?”

  Sharp snaps sound on the vinyl floor and the door clicks open.

  “Were you hiding in there?” Jules asks as Katie steps out of the stall. Her face is red and blotchy from fresh tears and Jules rushes forward immediately. “What happened?”

  Katie holds out her phone without a word.

  “What?”

  “Just take it and look for yourself,” she offers and her hand trembles as Jules takes the phone.

  Casting an unsure glance at Katie, she looks at the screen. It’s a calendar appointment – a reminder actually, upon further inspection – and it takes Jules a moment to understand what she is looking at.

  “This is your monthly reminder to continue being awesome! - You ROCK! <3<3 Tanya”

  Jules’ sharp inhale of breath echoes off the tile walls as she is reminded of the monthly “appointments” Tanya made in Katie’s phone late last school year after some stuff went down with Katie’s mom and dad.

  “It shocked the hell out of me.” Katie looks at her reflection in the mirror. “For a moment, I started to text her. I forgot for the briefest of seconds, and then my heart plummeted to the floor and I ran from class like some lunatic.”

  “You’re not a lunatic.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m angry. Aren’t you angry, Jules?” Katie pleaded.

  “K—”

  “No, really. I mean come on, Mother-freaking-Nature!” Katie drops her bag and purse from her shoulder and throws her arms up. “A tornado in Tyler? What did we do to deserve it? Too many keggers on the farms? Our short skirts offending you? You couldn’t have sought revenge on a town a little more perverse?” She laughs manically.

  “Sweetie, I don’t think Mother Nature takes revenge on depraved societies,” Jules deadpans.

  “Well, God, then. Do we blame him? Who do I blame for this piece of shit hand that we got dealt, huh?”

  Taken aback at the venom in her best friend’s voice, Jules tries to maintain her calm. She thinks about how she speaks with Jason, calm and cool, when all she really wants to do is knock him over the head.

  “It just happened. We can’t blame God. We lived, didn’t we?” she points out. Jules is well aware of the desire to want to pin the blame on someone. She’s gone over all the places to lay blame and comes up empty every time; with the exception of herself, of course.

  “We lived,” Katie repeats and then lowers her voice. “But she didn’t.”

  Tears spring to her eyes. “No she didn’t.”

  “I hate this school already.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think they’re known for their friendly student body.”

  Katie snorts. It’s a half-cry, half-laugh type of sound that brings a chuckle from Jules’ own lips. “Girl, they sure seem friendly. I’ve had to tell off two hoes already for hitting on Jeff. And that was just in the hallway!”

  Jules knows the feeling well after seeing the covetous looks West received in the parking lot and halls this morning.

  “Are we going to get through this, Jules? This year, I mean. All of the ‘last times’, and she isn’t here with us,” Katie bemoans. She closes her eyes as tears streak her face again. She’s a mess and Jules’ restraint finally breaks as she pulls her best friend into a tight hug.

  “We have to make it for her. Okay? We take every second we have and we live. We make up for the time she didn’t get.”

  “You know she would be so bored to walk a mile in our shoes, right?”

  The wild child. That was Tanya, Jules thinks to herself.

  “So we walk a mile in hers.”

  Katie pulls back from their hug with a sad smile on her face. “Deal.”

  * * *

  “Seven words. ‘So we walk a mile in hers’. Those seven words set off a series of events that completely changed my senior year. With that pact, my grieving heart took on a new mission. Find closure, retrace Tanya’s steps and, understand the part of her I never knew. It had hurt the night of the tornado to learn from West that Tanya partied with him more often than I ever knew. It hurt earlier that summer when Tanya confessed to her secret relationship with Carter, and then again when Katie said Tanya was confiding things to her about her love life.”

  “Suddenly I was hungry for answers and understanding. It’s a downfall of mine; always curious. Never leave things unresolved. Walk a mile in her shoes . . . I was ready to try.”

  Acknowledgements

  Whenever I finish a book I come to this spot and I debate on what I’m going to say. I’m nothing without the people behind me. My readers, bloggers, Facebook and Twitter friends, my family, and my local fast food providers (I kid, kinda!) all of you are the reason I survive day to day as stories consume my life and mind.

  The professionals who back me up:

  My editor, Samantha—This has been a true labor of love. Thank you.

  My cover desig
ner—Starla, you’ve made this series so beautiful. Thank you.

  My cover photographer—Regina, I adore you.

  My PR agent, Rick Miles and the crew at Red Coat PR—You're the best pimps ever. Thank you for your advice and for making me look good.

  My Literary Agent, Italia Gandolfo, and Gandolfo Helin Literary Management—Here’s to the future and #NOLA

  My biggest supporters:

  J, Gray, Gabe and Belle—my family, my life, my first and best fairy tale. I love you like crazy.

  My Fierce sisters—Starla Huchton and Christy Foster (aka Iron Man and Black Widow) sharing this writer life on a day to day basis is a pleasure with you ladies by my side. I heart you.

  My Mindy Hayes—Captain America, critique partner, Fierce sister, best friend. Cheers to all of the road trips, white cheddar popcorn, bad movies, good movies, karaoke, dance parties and adventures shared. And those yet to come. In this insane world of writing, I’m profoundly happy to have you by my side.

  My Jessica Surgett—you weaseled your way into my life and I’m a better person for it. I love you.

  My Megan Toffoli—I miss you Canada! I’m so happy you’re so busy though ;)

  My Chele's Belles and Mischief Makers—Aisha, Amanda, Cathy, Cheri, Courtney, Danielle, Destiny, Kayla, Laura, Mandy, Marla, Megan B., Nancy, Nicole, Rachelle, Tanya, Tess, and Veranda. Thank you for supporting me in whatever way you're able and always lending an ear when I need one.

  Special thanks to Melody Wade who allowed me to use her name. I got her name and she got to be West’s past hookup, not a bad deal.

  About the author

  Michele writes novels with fairy tale love for everyday life. Romance is always central to her plots where the genres range from Coming of Age Fantasy and Drama to New Adult Romantic Suspense.