Welcome to New Haven

by Dawn Doyle

  As she had been a late application, and from England, she needed to take in original ID, have them photocopied for her file, and sign the declaration forms. That day was the only one they had available for her to go in. Holly and her Mum had still had to wait almost an hour because of the amount of late applications that had to be processed.

  Holly got to school and parked her car. There were already students there, and she was worried if Hot-guy had already shown up. She didn’t know what car he had so she just got out of her own and walked straight through the main doors.

  When she got to homeroom, Dev wasn’t there and neither was anybody else.

  Holly breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down. There was still fifteen minutes to go before school started so she got out her Spanish textbook try to take in some of the basic words. She’d been sitting for about five minutes when Dev sat down next to her.

  “Hola chica!” She said and beamed at her, when Holly jumped with a fright.

  “Hola!” replied Holly, with a hand on her chest, heart hard pounding away.

  “Cómo estás?” Dev asked as she noticed Holly’s Spanish book.

  “Um…” Holly said as she looked in her book for an answer.

  “Muy…bien…graçias…I think.” She said.

  Dev giggled.

  “That’s good, well done! Try saying ‘Estoy muy bien’ or just ‘Estoy bien’ instead. It’s a lot better than saying ‘very well’.” Said Dev as she looked over the page Holly had been reading.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means ‘I’m good, or I’m very well’. If somebody asks a question about yourself, it’s better to answer with ‘I’ or ‘I am’ instead of just the answer. Those books are super basic. I mean, I don’t know why they teach that stuff. Nobody talks like that. How many times have you asked somebody how they are, just for them to say ‘good’ or ‘very well’? They most always say ‘I’ or ‘I’m’ first.”

  Holly looked over the page again and saw exactly what Dev was talking about. The book was basic, but then again, Holly needed to learn the basics first.

  “I’ll try to remember that, thanks.” Holly said as she closed her book and put it away.

  More students were filing into class and Stacey with her friend, Cerise, walked in and took their seats, but not before throwing some fierce daggers in Dev’s direction, and Holly’s too.

  “I’ll help you with your Spanish on Friday, after school, if you’d like.” Dev offered.

  “That would be great thanks!” said Holly, pleased that she would get help from the beginning. That way, any mistakes could be rectified straight away.

  “I’ll help you with your algebra, if you want.”

  “That would be amazing! Thank you!” Said Dev with a huge smile.

  “Do you want to go to your house or mine?”

  Holly thought about it for a second before she told Dev that it would be better to go to Dev’s. There was construction work going on at Holly’s and the guys who were doing it were idiots, in her opinion. Gawking at her and elbowing each other, whenever she would walk up the path to the house.

  If they carry on, I’ll have to do let their manager know exactly how they were behaving on the job.

  The previous owners of her house had had the huge garage converted to an indoor pool. Holly’s parents were having it converted back into a garage, with a separate room for Holly so she could watch TV or hangout with friends. She didn’t think it necessary at first, but now she was grateful because she would like to have Dev and the girls come over.

  The smaller garage to the side was going to house Holly’s gym equipment. She had a cross-trainer, a treadmill, and some weights. She’d preferred to work out at home but, because of the work that was being done, she’d had to store, and use, her equipment in one of the extra bedrooms. Her sister, Emily, had one and there was also a spare.

  “Ok cool. We’ll have so much fun. I’ll teach you some curse words first. They can be really useful.” Dev chuckled. “So…I know you’ve only been here for a few days, but have you seen any guys you like?”

  Holly’s eyes snapped to Dev’s and she felt her face heat.

  Jakes’ interest in her, and the fact that some of the other guys had been staring, was Dev’s reason for asking.

  “Uh…It’s only been three days…” Holly began to say in defense.

  “Well, there are quite a few cute guys in this school. Some are just cute but as soon as they open their mouths…boring! So immature.” Dev then told Holly the names of the guys she thought were cute.

  Holly didn’t know who Dev was talking about so she just listened.

  “So nobody then?” Dev added at the end of her list.

  “Well…” Holly began and Dev smiled, propping her elbow on the table and resting her chin in her hand, leaning closer when Holly lowered her voice.

  “The guy Stacey was all over…he was cute…I don’t know his name though. We have one class together, but that’s it.”

  “Ooh what does he look like?” Dev said with avid interest.

  “He’s really tall, dark hair and eyes.” Holly tried to be as vague as she could with the details. Describing the features of a whole lot of the guys in the school. Dev wasn’t fooled though.

  “You’ve got to give me more than that. How can I find out who he is if you don’t give a detailed description?”

  “He has a great smile.” Holly added, hoping it would be enough to satisfy Dev’s curiosity.

  “That could be any of the tall, dark haired guys here. The girls who like my brother always go into a lot of detail when they gush about his “hotness”…” Dev held up her fingers in quotation marks. “Like I really want to know how they fantasize about him. Ugh. Too much information!” Dev wrinkled her nose, which made Holly laugh.

  Once homeroom was over, the girls had to go their separate ways. They’d meet up for lunch, and Holly was looking forward to meeting the rest of their group of friends. Anything to take her mind off Hot-guy and his lips…smile…eyes…hair…

  Wednesday morning went straight forward. Well…Stacey hadn’t found him…yet, and he’d missed Holly coming into school.

  When he’d walked Dev to homeroom, Holly was already there and reading a book. They’d been on time today, rather than a few minutes early, because Dev couldn’t find her other converse sneaker. When he’d tried to rush her along, by suggesting just wearing something else, she’d asked why he was so eager to go. He said he wasn’t, but he’d wanted to make sure that they missed the busy traffic, you know, just in case they got caught in it.

  When they’d finally gotten out and picked up Ben, they’d gotten to school two minutes before the first bell went for homeroom.

  He was about to walk in with Dev when Stacey had walked down the hall, aiming right for him. He and Ben had walked away quickly and gone to their own homeroom. That was twice now that she’d made him miss talking to Holly.

  Between lessons, Alex had caught sight of Holly. Her long shiny hair swishing in her ponytail. Her pink lips shining when she ran her tongue over the bottom. He’d tried to catch her attention saying ‘Hi’ as she neared him, but she seemed to speed up and walked straight past him with her head down, without replying to him. The scent of coconut hitting his nostrils.

  He’d tried to go after her, but he always managed to get stopped by somebody or, the last time, Holly darted into the girls’ bathrooms and didn’t come out.

  Alex, and the guys, had a message from the Phys.Ed coach. They had to go see him before lunch. They were discussing their workout sessions for that semester. Why he had to see them then was beyond him. They could have discussed that during Phys .Ed.

  After the time with the coach, they guys quickly bought their lunch and went outside to their table. The girls weren’t there.

  Again?!

  It was getting ridiculous now. He was beginning to get paranoid, thinking that Holly was trying to avoid him. The way she would walk straight past, looking d
own. Going into the bathrooms and not coming out.

  He hated to admit it, but he felt as though he was doing to her, what Stacey was doing to him. Pursuing him enough that he would hide out to get away from her.

  He felt bad. Nauseated even.

  But he only wanted to officially meet her… right?

  There was nothing wrong with that…right?

  She was his sister’s friend after all and he would probably, eventually end up talking to her at some point.

  His behavior was starting to make him on edge. Not once had he been like that. He would never have thought to go out of his way to talk to someone, especially a girl. He just didn’t understand it. His rational thoughts were telling him to ‘leave it alone,’ but he couldn’t. His heart wouldn’t let him. Thinking of her sent his pulse racing and his pants tightening. He couldn’t get her out of his mind, no matter how much he’d tried. He’d even gone to the gym, the night before to exercise himself to exhaustion, so he didn’t have the energy. That didn’t make the slightest bit of difference.

  He decided to text Dev. See where they had gone.

  A: Had to talk to the coach. Where are you?

  He kept his phone out of his pocket, just in case he didn’t hear her reply, even though he had the vibrate function switched on…

  D: Knew you had to go, thought you’d be a while, sorry. We had our lunch at the new coffee shop. Back soon. X

  Well that explained why they’d gone out. But why now? Whenever any of them had to do anything, they’d still be there when they’d finished. Why were they choosing to go out now?

  Oh great, I am so paranoid!

  Any more of that and he’d have to have a serious word with himself.

  “Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?” asked Ben as they finished up.

  “What are you talking about?” he replied as the three guys were staring at him.

  “Look, we know Stacey pisses you off and you get mad, but man, this is some serious bad mood shit you’ve got going on.” Ryan said.

  “It’s nothing”

  Alex tried to brush them off with a shrug.

  “It’s not nothing when you’re sitting there, all quiet, and having a stare down with your sandwich. Growling at it isn’t going to help either.” Kyle added.

  I was growling? Fuck!

  Alex really needed to get a grip. His hormones were off the charts, and he was feeling pretty messed up.

  He took a deep breath and decided to say something to; hopefully, throw the guys off.

  “Dev’s been spending time with the new girl, Holly. She normally has lunch with us, and now she’s off out with the girls. She would normally wait for us to get back.” Alex knew he sounded like a spoiled brat, but he’d prefer the guys think that he was that rather than a love sick teenager.

  “Are you jealous that your sister has a new friend?” Laughed Ryan.

  “Concerned” Alex replied with a scowl. “You shouldn’t be…” Ben cut in. “…Holly’s cool. No need to worry about her with Dev.” He said as he finished his sandwich.

  “You know her?” Alex asked as he quickly looked to Ben.

  “Sure. We had Calculus together this morning.”

  Ben was really smart. He was in the regular algebra class, but he was amazing at calculus. He was in the advanced class, which meant Holly was smart too. She was in Alex’s Advanced English class and Dev had mentioned advanced algebra, or A.Alg as they called it. Shortening the names of the other classes too.

  Holly was beautiful and smart. Alex was in trouble.

  When Holly suggested going out for lunch, when the guys had been called to speak to the coach, Dev had assumed she was just shy.

  Holly had had a sudden flare of panic in her chest, and she’d needed to get out of the school.

  “You know, you don’t have to be shy. Alex is great. He’s so sweet and easy going; you’ll love him. Ben, Ryan and Kyle are ok too. They can be a real pain in the ass but otherwise harmless.” Dev had said with a warm smile, as if assuring Holly she would be fine.

  The truth was; she didn’t know why she had suddenly panicked. Possibly the stress of dodging Hot-guy was getting to her. They would, after all, be visible sitting at the lunch table, and Holly was trying to stay as hidden as possible.

  She’d been having sudden urges to turn in different directions, but as soon as she would, there he was. She’d, at the last minute, decided to take a different route to class and, yes, there he was. It was as if her mind knew exactly where he would be and her internal Sat-Nav was guiding her to him.

  She wondered if she should just ‘give up’ and talk back to him. Maybe that would help, but she couldn’t find her voice. One look at him and her powers of the spoken word left her completely. The thoughts, however, were stronger than ever. Holy hell you’re beautiful’ she’d thought when he’d said ‘Hi’ to her the first time that morning.

  I want to run my fingers through your hair, was another thought. But that wasn’t all. The thought that had her running was…

  What’s under your shirt?

  Holly had made herself blush with that one.

  What the hell was happening to her? Normally, she couldn’t give a toss about what was under a guy’s shirt, but now, since seeing Hot-guy, she thought about what was under his, often. His biceps peaking out from below his sleeves. His olive skin, looking so tasty she wanted to lick it…

  Stop! Stop it! She'd screamed internally.

  Her stomach was rolling, her pulse erratic and tingles all over her body, settling down into places they had no business in settling.

  When the girls had gotten back to school, Holly had to go to her Spanish lesson. Saying goodbye to the girls, she walked down the hallway, quickly, turning the corner and almost walked into a huge body. Stopping just in time before impact. It was him! Hot-guy was standing a few inches from her and she’d almost walked into him…again. He was talking to somebody, and she stayed where she was, just for a few seconds to listen to his voice. The vibrations in his tone sent shivers down her spine, right down to her toes. Holly heard him say goodbye to whomever he was talking to and moving as if he were going to turn around.

  Holly darted back around the corner, her back to him as he walked past her. He got about two feet away when he stopped suddenly, as if sensing her there, and he turned his head to look back. Holly shot around the corner as fast as she could and almost ran to her class.

  Holly walked through the door and took her seat.

  “Hola Holly. Cómo estás?” Miss. Delaney asked her.

  That teacher annoyed Holly. She would speak in Spanish for the majority of the lesson, as if the students there actually knew what she was saying.

  Does she know this is beginner Spanish? She’s beginning to get on my nerves…

  Holly decided to say something that Dev had taught her in homeroom and at lunch.

  “Estoy bien, graçias. Pero tengo un dolor de cabeza.”

  Miss. Delaney looked surprised at Holly’s ‘language’ skills, but her look changed to one of annoyance. Obviously, she liked to be the only one who could teach her students Spanish.

  Holly rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for a big headed teacher to get pissy.

  “Parece que alguien ha estado aprendiendo español fuera de mi clase.” The teacher said with pursed lips.

  “Ok, I don’t know what you said. I do have a headache, but my friend told me how to say it, if you asked how I was. I thought you’d be at least a little pleased that I used some initiative.” Holly retorted.

  The students in the class were silent as they waited for the teacher’s response. Miss Delaney was not amused at Holly’s answer, but Holly didn’t give a shit. She was exhausted, and she wanted to leave. She needed to get out of there before she said something that she would really regret.

  “I’m not feeling too good. I need to go home…now…before I puke on your nice clean carpet.” Holly stood and walked out.

  She would put money on the teacher
not taking a chance in calling her back; just in case she had to contend with the smell of vomit gracing her classroom.

  With the hallways now empty, Holly could easily find her way out, so she got her phone out to send a text to Dev.

  H: Had to get out. Migraine. Will text you later. X

  Dev replied instantly.

  D: Are you ok?

  H: Yeah, just need to go home. X

  D: Ok hun. Text me when you get home. x

  Dev had told Holly about the ‘texting on arrival’ thing she had going with her family and friends. Whenever they would go out, they had to text the other to say that they’d gotten to their destination safe and sound. That way, if anything happened, but hopefully not, they would have an idea of where they would be if they needed help.

  Holly got home, parked her car, and walked into the house, ignoring the whispers of the ‘dick head’ workmen.

  They’ll learn the error of their ways soon enough she thought to herself as she went to her room. A smile playing on her lips.

  She quickly texted Dev that she was home, before changing into her workout gear. Maybe exercise would help to clear her mind.

  After two hours, and many, many thoughts of Hot-guy, Holly wasn’t feeling any more relaxed than she had before and her headache was worse. Fuck.