Southern Attraction

by Tracy Kauffman

  At last she came to her classroom and looked in to observe the ambiance. To her surprise only one chair was left open toward the back of the room. She took her seat as she noticed Jake, the same guy that was at Sally’s diner, sitting in the seat next to hers. She glanced at him and then up to the teacher as the teacher began to call roll. When Ms. Weston came to her name, everyone turned to look at her as she said, “Present.”

  “Everyone I want you to make Heather feel welcome. She is from out of town and she’ll need your help getting accustomed to everything here,” Ms. Weston said.

  Jake gave a slight smile trying to act as if he wasn’t interested, but Heather could tell he liked her. When the teacher finished roll calling, Heather made an attempt to talk to him.

  “Hi, I’m Heather,” she said as she held out her hand.

  “So,” he replied as he turned his head to snub her. With a small “huh,” she looked down at her new book trying to act as if she wasn’t embarrassed. I can’t believe that insolent jerk, she thought.

  Heather could see Jake looking at her several times and she couldn’t figure out why. She was confused now more than ever. She thought he liked her, but now he made her a public spectacle by refusing her friendly gesture. I’ll show him one day, she thought as she tried to focus on what the teacher was saying. All she could think about was conjuring up ways to get back at Jake for snubbing her. I was popular once, and I’ll be popular again. Then, I’ll show him, she thought. She caught herself looking toward Jake several times while she daydreamed of ways to injure his pride.

  Finally, class was over and she hurried out of the room as fast as she could. As she walked down the hall, she felt like someone was following her. She turned around and there he was.

  “Do you have a problem?” she asked.

  “Only one and it’s you,” he replied.

  “Why don’t you just leave me alone you jerk,” she said. Heather could feel tears forming in her eyes.

  “Jerk, is that the best you got?” he asked. Before she knew it, she reared back her hand to slap him. Jake caught her hand.

  “You almost got me,” he said as he smiled at her.

  “Why don’t you just tell me what you want?” she cried.

  Jake could see that he was really getting to her, even though he was joking with her. “Heather. Look, I was just playing with you. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” he said.

  Heather was speechless and couldn’t say anything. She turned and walked away. She was praying that this day would be over soon, and she could go home and never return. Jake stood in the hall watching as she walked away.

  Momentarily, she reached her second period class and there the scruffy looking redneck that tried to run her over, was sitting at the back of the class. Oh no, I’m not sitting anywhere near him. I’m not letting anyone else make me a laughing stock today, she thought. She walked toward the front of the class, and as she sat down a girl came up to her.

  “I’m sorry these are assigned seats. You’ll have to ask Mrs. Brice where you are sitting,” she said.

  “Great,” she said sarcastically.

  “Hello, I’m Heather,” she said as she came closer to the teacher desk.

  “Hello Heather. I’m Mrs. Brice. I am glad you will be in my class this year and if there is anything I can do for you, just let me know,” the teacher said.

  “Thanks. Where will I be sitting?” she asked.

  “Heather, you’ll be sitting toward the back in front of Shawn. He is on the last row with the blue jean shirt on,” Mrs. Brice said.

  Heather turned to look for this boy named Shawn, when she saw the guy that tried to run her over. You have got to be kidding me, she thought as she slowly walked toward him. She sat down trying to act as if she didn’t know who he was.

  “So you’re Heather,” he said.

  She turned around in her seat and replied, “Yes and you’re Shawn. The same guy that tried to hit me this morning.”

  Shawn replied, “Yep, that’s me.”

  Heather was amazed at how hard it was to read these country boys. Jake was acting mean to her, but then tried to say he was kidding. Now this boy, Shawn, was trying to be friendly but with sarcasm. She didn’t know what to think and now she was growing tired of trying. She couldn’t deny both were attractive, but both had injured her pride in some way. She didn’t take things like that lightly.

  Jake had brown curly hair, brown eyes and a little more muscular than Shawn. Shawn had long sandy blonde hair and eyes as green as an emerald. Shawn was the opposite of Jake. Jake had a five o’clock shadow, and his jeans had holes everywhere except in the seat area. Heather could tell that Jake spent some time grooming himself in the mirror, because his hair was more tidy and well placed. Shawn didn’t have to try much, because he was just effortlessly fine. She usually wasn’t attracted to that sort of fellow, which felt strange to her.

  As Heather tried to listen to Mrs. Brice, Shawn did things to try to annoy her. He kicked the back of her chair several times, so she wouldn’t mistake it for an accident. Then, he knocked her pencil off her desk as he reached forward with his book. Heather tried hard to ignore him, but it was very difficult. He wouldn’t stop. She tried not to pay attention to his pranks.

  Finally, she felt something hit her in the back of her head. She reached back and pulled out a spit ball from her hair. Shawn had rolled up a piece of paper and threw it at her. When she turned around to make sure it was Shawn, she saw a devious smile on his face. With her eyebrow raised, she picked up the piece of paper and threw it as hard as she could into his face. Heather was never good at throwing, especially any type of balls. The paper ball hit him right in his eyes and his eyes, teared up instantly.

  “I’m so sorry, are you all right?” she asked with shock in her voice.

  “Are you crazy, you -----?” Shawn caught his words before he was able to let out a curse word. By this point Mrs. Brice was headed toward them.

  “Heather, did I see you throw something at Shawn?” Mrs. Brice asked.

  “Yes, but I…..” Shawn interrupted Heather before she had a chance to finish her sentence.

  “Mrs. Brice it is my fault. We were goofing off, and she just happened to throw back a paper wad that I threw at her,” Shawn said.

  “So you both were throwing things in my class? Heather, I don’t put up with horse play in my room, and Shawn, you know better. Both of you need to go to Mr. Thomas’s office right now,” Mrs. Brice said.

  “Yes, Mrs. Brice,” Heather replied.

  Heather left the classroom as quickly as possible, while Shawn gathered his jacket and slowly left the room. Shawn was more laid back and didn’t worry about getting into trouble, because no one ever dared to bother him before. He thought Heather was quite different than the other girls at the school. She wasn’t afraid of what boys could do to her if she fought back. Shawn liked that spunkiness about her. He thought she was beautiful. He figured that she thought she was too good to ever give him the time of day, especially after seeing the car she drove. Something changed that day in him when he followed her to the principal’s office. He liked the feeling he had when he was with her.

  Right before Heather opened the door to the office, Shawn stopped her. “Wait, I want to talk to you,” he said.

  “Why? So you can be mean to me some more?” she asked.

  “No, I just want to talk. Do you want to go out to my truck and talk?” he asked.

  “We can’t go outside, we have to go to Mr. Thomas’s office,” she replied. “We can go in a few minutes. Mrs. Brice will not know that we didn’t go straight to his office. She’s still in the classroom. Please, for just a minute,” Shawn urged.

  Heather couldn’t deny the feeling she had when she looked into his piercing green eyes.

  “Come on, I wont bite ya,” Shawn urged.

  “All right, for just a minute,” she replied. Shawn grasped her hand and pulled her a little closer to him as they walked toward the exit. He loo
ked around to make sure no one else was watching them, and Heather followed him as he walked toward the truck. Shawn opened the passenger side of the truck.

  “I’m not getting into your truck,” Heather said.

  “Come on before anyone sees us,” Shawn urged.

  Heather looked around and then jumped in, afraid she would get into trouble if anyone saw them. Shawn walked around and jumped in through the driver’s side.

  “Why were you so mean to me in class?” Heather asked as Shawn shut the door. After a short pause, Shawn responded,

  “To tell you the truth, I thought you were a snob, and I liked trying to annoy you. I guess I wanted to see how you would react,” he said.

  “And what do you think now?” she asked.

  “Same,” he said with a smile.

  “No really, what do you think,” she asked.

  “Same, but you have potential,” he replied. Heather reached her hand out as if she were going to slap him. He caught her hand and then leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips.

  Heather was taken back by what Shawn did but then allowed herself to kiss him back. She really enjoyed the kiss and how it made her feel, but she didn’t want him to know how much it affected her. She took a deep breath and hit him on the cheek with the palm of her hand.

  “What makes you think that you can just kiss me like that?” she asked.

  “I take what I want. No I just felt like kissing you. What about you, didn‘t you want to kiss me too,” he asked. He held her hands to keep her from hitting him, and kissed her again more slowly.

  “Stop, I can’t breathe,” she replied.

  “You just don’t know how to handle us country boys. City boys have nothing on us country men,” he said very seriously as he gave her a wink.

  She pulled her hands loose and scooted closer to the door. “You are nuts, what makes you so conceited?” she asked.

  “I’m not conceited, just confident,” he replied.

  “Whatever! We have to go back now. I don’t want to get into any trouble and give the teachers the wrong impression about me,” she said as she jumped out of the truck.

  “I guess if we have to,” he said as he sighed deeply.

  xxxxx

  Principal Thomas thought it was pretty funny that Heather hit Shawn in the eye with the paper ball.

  “Serves you right, boy. Bout time some pretty young girl showed you up,” Mr. Thomas said.

  “Heather, I’ll let you go this time for clowning with my boy, but next time I‘ll have to give you detention,” he said.

  “Your boy! Do you mean that Shawn is your son?” she asked.

  “Yep, he’s my boy,” Principal Thomas said.

  “Just shut it,” Shawn said, disgusted at the thought of anyone knowing that his father was the principal.

  Heather was amazed at how Shawn talked to his father. “Thanks Mr. Thomas. I will not do it again,” Heather said as she left the office with a huge smile on her face. I would have never guessed that, she thought as she walked back to her class.

  Chapter Six

  The rest of the day was uneventful except for Lucy Miller spilling chocolate milk all over her white shirt during lunch, and all the boys gawked at her the rest of the afternoon. Heather tried to make friends with some of the girls in her classes, but they shunned her on several attempts.

  During lunch, Heather quickly swallowed her lunch, because she wanted to talk with the girls’ coach about joining the cheerleading squad. “Miss Brandon, it is a sticky situation allowing someone new to join the squad after school has already started. The cheerleaders had to go to cheer camp during the summer, just to be able to try out for the squad,” Coach Garner said.

  “I understand that, Coach Garner, but I have already went to a cheer camp up north at my last school. I was head cheerleader and I’m not bragging, but you won’t regret giving me the opportunity,” Heather replied. Coach Garner felt sorry for Heather. News traveled fast in Huckleburg. Everyone in the small town knew what Heather was doing there. They knew about her parents and how she had to go live with her uncle, just to have a place to stay.

  “Okay Heather, I will give you a chance, but don’t let me down. I expect you to show up for all our practices or you will be kicked off the squad. Is that agreed?” “Yes Coach, you will not be sorry. What time is practice?” Heather asked. “Practices are every afternoon at four. We practice for one hour each day during the week, until football season is over.”

  “Great, I’ll see you this afternoon,” Heather replied.

  Heather was elated to hear that the coach would make an exception and allow her to join the team. She didn’t even ask her to demonstrate her abilities or skills. She suspected that the coach gave her some sympathy, because of her parents. She suspected that the coach knew about her situation, but she didn’t care. As long as she was on the squad, she felt like things were starting to look up to her.

  After talking with Coach Garner, Heather hurried to her next class. She was a little late, but the teacher didn’t seem to notice. As the teacher was writing lecture notes on the board, Heather found an empty seat and slid into her small desk as quietly as possible.

  “Hey, I’m Stephanie,” the girl next to her said as she turned toward her.

  “Hi, I’m Heather.”

  “I know, you’re new. I heard you came down from New York or some place like that,” Stephanie replied.

  “Yes, I guess everyone knows about me, now. It is nice to meet you,” Heather replied. “You can share my book until Ms. Smith gives you your own.”

  “Thanks, that’s nice. You know you have been the only person to actually talk to me in a nice way today,” Heather said.

  “I am. Yeah, people from here don’t take too much to strangers. They especially don’t like Northerners, but they’ll get use to you,” Stephanie replied.

  “I hope so, because I don’t know how much more I can take from everyone giving me a dirty look or throwing things in my hair,” Heather said.

  “Who is throwing things in your hair,” Stephanie inquired.

  “No one, it doesn’t matter,” Heather said as she looked down at the book.

  “Stick with me and you’ll have plenty of friends before you know it.” Heather looked at Stephanie as though she was a little conceited.

  “I didn’t mean that everyone loves me and I’m better than everybody. I just meant that I’m on the student council and I can help you get to know everyone,” Stephanie said.

  “Thanks, I appreciate it,” Heather replied.

  “Is there anything I can help you with. I heard you were a cheerleader up north. I can help you talk to the coach about getting on the squad. I am on the squad and I can probably convince her to let you try out,” Stephanie replied.

  “It’s funny that you said that. I have already talked to her and she has agreed to let me join the squad. I’m glad I know someone else that will be on the team too,” Heather replied.

  “Stephanie, can you introduce your new friend to the rest of the class?” Ms. Smith said as she saw the girls talking to each other.

  “Of course Ms. Smith. Everyone this is Heather and she is new to our school. She is going to be on our cheerleading squad, so I hope you will all make her feel welcome,” Stephanie announced. Heather smiled as she watched Stephanie introduce her. She was glad things were finally looking up for her, especially now that she had made a friend.

  xxxxx

  Every day, Heather showed up to cheerleading practice on time. Slowly, she became friends with the other team members, and Huckleburg started to feel a little more like home to her.

  Jake started talking to Heather more politely, and he hinted on several occasions that he liked her. It was hard not to notice how great he looked in his football uniform. As he threw the football several yards down the field, his muscles tightened and Heather couldn’t help noticing how in shape he was.

  Shawn, being the rebel he was, tried to act like he didn’t care about her.
She knew deep down he did, because of the way he had kissed her that first day. Shawn became more aware of Heather’s affections toward Jake, when he saw her look at him and smile. Shawn was confused and irritated. He had never had to fight for a girl’s affections before, as a matter of fact, he hated it. He knew Jake and Heather were more alike than he was with her, but that made him like her more. She was his complete opposite. She was the type of person he usually tried to stay clear of, but he was completely enamored with her. He wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way, when it came to winning her affections.

  Shawn decided to warn Jake to stay away from Heather. He didn’t want to give him time to win her interest. After football practice was over, Shawn approached Jake in the locker room.

  “I need to talk to you outside for a minute.”

  “I know what you want to talk about, and you can hold your breath. Heather can make up her own mind,” Jake responded.

  “What makes you think you could ever have a chance with her?” Shawn asked.

  “The fact that you are here to tell me to stay away from her, speaks a lot. After all, what do you have to offer her? You are not even in the same class that she is,” Jake said.

  “I’m warning you. Don’t cross me or you’ll be sorry,” Shawn replied.

  “Eww, I’m scared,” Jake shook his head as if he had a shiver.

  “I know you are, cause I see it in your eyes,” Shawn replied as he walked around the long set of lockers. His locker was on the other side next to the coach’s office.

  After Jake took a deep breath, he decided that he had to stand up to Shawn or everyone would see how much he feared him.

  Shawn started to pull off his uniform when Jake came around the lockers to face him.

  “You warned me, now let me warn you. If you think you will ever win Heather, then I will step aside. But only when I hear it from her mouth, that she wants you,” Jake said.

  “That won’t be long, trust me,” Shawn replied.

  “Only in your dreams,” Jake said as he pointed his finger at Shawn.