by Amity Hope
“Cleo?” Emma pressed when she didn’t respond.
“I’m good,” she told her as she pulled her eyes away. She’d followed Reece’s line of sight and realized he’d been watching Mia. Of course he had been. Her stomach folded into a painful knot. She’d been dreading this day. Of course Emma knew this. She tried to smile and Emma rolled her eyes because she didn’t buy it. She knew better.
“So, Luci looked super cute today,” Emma said. She’d brought up the one subject that she knew would make Cleo smile.
It worked. She grinned despite herself. “Thanks. I thought so, too.”
Luci was her life. She was the thing that kept her sane. She couldn’t help but picture her. Her long blond hair all curled to perfection. She’d helped her curl it because she’d asked. But Luci still had such baby-fine hair that she knew it would be back to stick straight by the end of the day. She didn’t care. It made Luci happy and that made her happy. They’d gone school shopping. Cleo had let her pick out an outfit that cost twice as much as her own first day outfit. But you only start middle school once and Cleo had felt the splurge was justified.
“Thanks for driving us,” she said. She hadn’t asked Emma to. She sure didn’t expect her to. But when she offered, she hadn’t declined. Emma was sweet enough to insist on driving Luci, too. Even though it added an extra fifteen minutes because the middle school was definitely out of the way. And Emma was not a morning person. So Cleo appreciated the offer that much more.
She shrugged. “No problem. Sorry I can’t drive you home tonight. I can’t believe I got scheduled to work right after school. I’m barely going to have time to get out of here and change into my uniform. And it’s the first day. Who wants to work on the first day?”
“It’s really okay,” she told her. “I don’t expect you to drive me everywhere.”
Emma’s gaze darted toward Reece again. She grabbed Cleo by the arm. “I don’t feel like hanging around out here today. Do you mind if we just head inside?”
Cleo nodded. She wasn’t clueless. She knew the only reason they were headed in this early was for her benefit. Because Mia and Reece were not that far away.
As they entered the school, the familiarity calmed her. She loved school. She loved being in school. She knew it had something to do with school being the only place she had really felt happy when she was younger. Her mom had been sick. Not physically as much as mentally ill. Clinical depression, to be exact. It was such a debilitating disease that often times, she’d be bedridden for long periods of time. At those times it was Cleo’s job to keep Luci quiet so their mom could rest. Or because she had a headache and the noise bothered her. Their house, considering there were two kids in it, had always been unbelievably quiet.
Cleo was not a big fan of quiet.
So school was a refuge for her. There was always noise and activity and energetic teachers. She always welcomed the organized chaos.
Just walking into a school brought all of that back. She hoped to get her degree in education. She couldn’t think of a better place to spend all of her working years than in a school. Preferably a kindergarten classroom. All those busy little bodies, all that energy.
For a while, college had seemed like an elusive dream. Until she met with Mrs. Gaines, the school counselor, last year. She’d nearly assured her that she would probably qualify for enough financial aid to cover most of her expenses. She had decided it might be the one and only perk of being parentless. She’d started working when she was sixteen. She’d started saving most of her paychecks right away. But working part-time at minimum wage would barely make a dent if she had to come up with all of her tuition.
She had a nice little chunk of money saved away. But it would go fast once tuition bills started rolling in. So when Mrs. Gaines laid everything out for her, it was like a huge burden had been lifted off of her shoulders.
Their local university was small enough and her grades were high enough that she had no doubt she would get in. She wanted to be able to be close to Luci. But those were issues to ponder another day. For now, she had to get through senior year.
As soon as they entered the main hall of the school, Melanie and Lauren bombarded them.
“What lunch do you two have?” Lauren demanded. She was usually so put together but at the moment, she looked completely frazzled.
“Second,” Emma and Cleo said together.
Lauren made a miserable face and groaned.
“Awesome. We all have second lunch,” Melanie pointed out.
“Um,” Lauren said, looking a little offended as she waved her schedule at Melanie. “No we do not all have second lunch, Mel. I’ve got first lunch.”
“Well, right,” Melanie said unapologetically. “I didn’t mean you. I meant the three of us. Adam has first lunch though, right? Can’t you eat with him?”
“We’re not really at the eating lunch together stage. And even if we were, Mia and Reece have first lunch. He’ll be eating with them. I’d lose my appetite if I had to watch Mia hanging all over Reece. It was bad enough having to witness it over the summer,” she grumbled. She turned to Cleo. “Sorry, but it was disgusting.”
She shrugged, not even bothering to fake a smile. “It’s fine.” She knew that Lauren had dated Adam on and off over the summer. It only made sense that she’d spent some of that time with Reece. Which translated to Reece and Mia.
“Of course it’s fine. It should be fine,” Melanie pointed out. “You’re the one that dumped him, remember? Because you were with Ethan?”
“Watch how you word that,” Emma snapped. “She wasn’t with Ethan until after.”
Melanie snorted. “Yeah, thirty seconds after. I’ve got to find Natalie. I’ve got some questions about practice times. I’ll see you at lunch,” she said as she sashayed off.
“Or maybe you won’t,” Emma muttered. “Want to go off campus?”
“Only if you really want to,” Cleo replied. She packed her lunch. It didn’t really matter to her where they went.
“Then we’ll go somewhere. But be quick after third hour so Mel doesn’t catch us,” Emma ordered.
“Maybe I can have my lunch changed,” Lauren mumbled. She looked over the paper in her hand again.
“You might have to change your whole schedule,” Cleo pointed out.
“It might be worth it,” she said. “I’m going to go look for Andrea. Maybe she has first lunch,” she moaned as she headed off.
Cleo felt for her. She wondered if whoever was in charge of the almighty lunch schedule had any idea how detrimental it could be to someone’s school year if they ended up in the wrong one.
She and Emma migrated with the rest of the students through the halls, separating to go to their own lockers. She grabbed a few notebooks and headed toward Community Participation. It was a newer class but it was popular. She’d heard they’d had to add another section of it this year because two hadn’t been enough. She was glad that Emma was in first hour with her. When she got there, there was a group of people in front of the door.
Emma appeared and groaned beside her. “A seating chart? What is this, preschool?” She scowled at the white tag board, with its neat little squares drawn out, depicting desks. Each little desk had a name scribbled inside. “I’ll go check this out,” she said. Her tiny body slipped through a crack in the wall of people.
Cleo managed to squeeze her way into the door. She backed up a few feet into the room. She glanced around and…there was Reece. Every nerve ending in her body erupted. Or maybe it was an adrenaline rush. Either way, she felt sparks go off and her heart sped up.
His caramel colored hair had been neatly cut. His skin was a deep bronze, probably from baseball and fishing on the lake he lived on. And then his dark brown eyes were on her, catching her sucking up the sight of him. She knew she should look away. She should try to not to make it awkward for either of them. But she just couldn’t.
She was expecting him to give her a look of disgust or frustration or…someth
ing. She wasn’t expecting him to wave. To be decent. But of course he was decent because he was Reece. He gave her a small smile—so small it didn’t even set his dimples free—and she forced one back. And managed a wave.
“Crap,” she heard Emma mutter from right next to her. She knew she had spotted him, too. “You sit right here,” she informed Cleo. She pointed conveniently at the desk Cleo was already standing next to. The look on her face was apologetic. She turned her back to Reece.
“Maybe you need to look into a schedule change,” she suggested.
Cleo shook her head. “This isn’t a big deal. I can handle it.”
“Of course you can,” she sighed. “It’s just one class, right?”
“Right,” Cleo said with a shrug and an overly bright smile. If she were to drop the class, Reece might take it personally. After everything else, she didn’t want him to be upset with her over that, too. And if she was going to be honest with herself, she was thankful for the chance to see him. No matter how much more difficult it made things. Though she would never tell that to Emma.
However, for possibly the first time ever, she was grateful for a front row seat. She knew she couldn’t really lose herself in accidentally gawking at Reece that way. It would be too conspicuous. She was glad to be close to the door as well. She could bolt as soon as the bell rang and not have to worry about being next to him as the crowd filed out. If seeing him across the room had such an effect on her, she was sure being right next to him would be so much worse.
She leaned her elbows on her desk. She rested her face in her hands as Mr. Jessen bounded into the room. He smiled, looking pleased that most of the class had found their seats. The last few stragglers and the ones chatting at the door finally found theirs now that their teacher had arrived. The bell rang and he grinned. He looked up and down the rows. Cleo had the distinct feeling he was already trying to remember their faces. Or maybe trying to see if he already recognized any of them from the hallways. He finally pushed his gold framed glasses up on his nose and he began his introduction.
She tried to listen as he went over the expectations of their community service projects. They’d be working on everything from making up posters for school events to going out in the community and volunteering. He explained they would be doing this with partners.
“Alright class, it’s time to pair up,” Mr. Jessen finally announced.
Cleo glanced over her shoulder and her eyes inadvertently landed on Reece. His best friend Adam happened to have the seat directly in front of him. Adam was turned around in his seat, presumably locking up a partnership with Reece. In the split second it took her to assess this and for her to redirect her gaze and smile at Emma, Mr. Jessen cut off the noise that had erupted.
“Seniors!” They all turned obediently toward him. “In no time at all you are going to be out of high school and tossed into the real world. More often than not, you will be spending time with people who would not normally be of your choosing. Whether it be in the workforce, embracing community service projects or whatever else comes your way. As part of the objective of this class, I want you to be comfortable working with someone chosen at random.” He held up a large, blue bowl. “This is how partners will be decided.” He held up a slip of paper as he motioned to her side of the room. “This section has their names in the bowl.” He shook the bowl so they had a visual, apparently. “And this side,” he motioned to the other, “will draw names.”
A chorus of groans filled the air, causing Mr. Jessen to smile. “Ah, such enthusiasm so bright and early in the day! So delightful! A wonderful start to the year!”
She was sure he was being sarcastic but he kind of sounded like he meant it. Or maybe he just enjoyed their torment. With that grin on his face, she really couldn’t be sure.
Emma was technically on the opposite side of the room. She mentally crossed her fingers hoping Emma would draw her name. Emma looked at her and made a comical face, making Cleo sure she was hoping so, too.
Mr. Jessen held the bowl up in the air, above the first person’s head. It was a kid named Eli. Eli drew a name and Mr. Jessen told him to announce to the class who it was.
Cleo breathed a silent sigh of relief that it was Natalie, Mia’s best friend. Natalie crinkled her nose at having to work with Eli. He quickly turned around in his seat, facing the front when he noted her reaction. Cleo already felt bad for the guy. Natalie was someone she absolutely would not want for a partner. Not that she would’ve ended up with her anyway considering they both had their names in the bowl, but still.
Mr. Jessen continued to go down the aisle. He waited after each name was drawn. Giving the student enough time to announce the name of their partner before he moved on.
Cleo was trying not to watch because he was getting closer to Reece’s seat. And she did not want to look at Reece.
But she finally did because he was drawing a name.
She tried not to feel too self-conscious because really, about half the eyes in the room were on him. Not just hers. They waited to hear who he had. She realized it was silly to be glad that Natalie’s name was already drawn. She didn’t want Reece working with Natalie because it would just be one more connection to Mia.
Ridiculous, she knew. She was sure he saw Mia every day, every night for that matter. So having Natalie for a partner should not have mattered to her.
Yet it did.
He unfolded the paper as Mr. Jessen waited and she knew. She just knew because of the way the color drained from his face. It was so apparent she could see it from the other side of the room. He looked at the paper like he had to read the name more than once. She was sure he was probably hoping it would magically morph into someone else’s name in the next three seconds.
She felt her stomach drop. What kind of cruel twist of fate was this? There were at least a dozen other names in the bowl. But fate had never exactly been kind to her. Why should she expect things to go her way now?
“Don’t keep it a secret Mr. Hildenbrandt,” Mr. Jessen chastised. He moved on to the next person but held the bowl out of reach as he waited for Reece.
Reece’s eyes drifted to Cleo’s. “Uh,” he said, and then he had to clear his throat. As if it was hard for him to force her name from his lips. “Cleo,” he finally admitted, never taking his eyes off of her.
She felt herself biting her lip again. He gave her what looked like an apologetic shrug. Then he grabbed his pen and started writing something in his notebook. Or at least he was pretending to. They hadn’t been given any information to write down yet.
Reece was simply avoiding looking at her.
She didn’t blame him. Not at all.
Chapter 3
“Twins!” Luci squealed again. She was beaming and her blue eyes were sparkling. She bounced so hard on her bed that Cleo bounced right along with her.
“But they don’t sound like twins. Their names are Marissa and Addison. Like, don’t you think it should’ve been Marissa and Madison? Or Addison and Madison? But it’s not. I mean, they don’t rhyme or even start with the same letter but they look exactly alike. Well, not exactly because Marissa told me the way I could tell them apart is because she parts her hair on the left and Addison parts hers on the right. But that’s so funny because I don’t even have bangs. So it’s like all three of us are different even though we look so much alike. But I’m not supposed to tell anyone else about their bangs. They only wanted me to know. And they said no one ever figures it out. Even though their mom started doing it when they were tiny.
“They invited me over Friday night. I mean, they have to ask their mom first, but they think I probably can. The only reason they think maybe I couldn’t is because their house might not be unpacked enough yet. But if it is, they’re going to invite me for sure. So can I?” Luci asked as she stopped for a breath. “Can I go if they invite me?”
“If they invite you,” Cleo agreed. “Just make sure you don’t invite yourself.”
Luci tossed an insulted loo
k her way. “I wouldn’t do that!”
Cleo bit back a smile and gave her a stern look. Luci was outgoing enough that yes, she would. She refrained from calling her out on this. She just gave her a gentle warning instead. “If they just moved here, it might take them a while to settle in. So don’t be pushy about it. Just wait until they invite you.”
“Do you think maybe they could come here?” she asked. She scrunched her face up into a look of hopeful apprehension.
“You know that’s probably not the best idea,” Cleo told her. Luci seemed to deflate before her eyes. “I’m not saying they can’t,” Cleo relented. “Let me think about it. It’s just…it’s hard to plan ahead for things like that. And you know that most of your friend’s moms don’t like it if a parent isn’t around,” she gently reminded her. And Paul, Luci’s dad, luckily wasn’t around much on the weekends.
“I know,” Luci sighed as she stilled.
She hadn’t bothered to make her bed that morning. Cleo knew for a fact she probably wouldn’t get around to making it once during the school year unless she begged her. Her bright pink comforter hung half way off the bed, on the floor at their feet. She tried to tug it up and toss it back on the bed without dislodging Luci from her perch.
Luci continued to jabber.
“They weren’t going to even move until the middle of the month but their mom insisted that they move at the start of the school year. Or she said she wasn’t going to move at all. So they moved and their dad is coming as soon as he’s done with…well,” she paused and her pale eyebrows furrowed, “I don’t really know what he’s doing. But he’s moving as soon as he can. So right now, it’s just them and their mom.”
Cleo grinned at her sister. She was pleased that she’d made not just one new friend, but two on her first day. She hadn’t followed the story completely. But apparently Luci had an uncanny likeness to the twins and a fast friendship had been formed.
