Emily willed her stomach to be quiet. It was very distracting and Emily had already devoured every bit of information available on Harlow so there wasn’t anything new. All she could think about was garlic bread. Nice crispy garlic bread. And some pasta. Sweet, yummy red sauce.
Finally, they told the students to grab a bite to eat and a bottle of water, and to use the restrooms if required because it would take nearly two hours to walk around the entire campus and buildings. Two hours… wow, the place was bigger than Emily had thought maybe she would be surprised.
Emily wandered over to the hot food buffet. She grabbed a tray and was third in line. She stood behind a guy that looked really big and old, probably a senior, and another one that Emily had pegged as a prep or lower. She tried to make eye contact with the one her age, to say hello, but he stared down so intently at his tray that Emily was sure he was deliberately keeping to himself.
Emily decided to just focus on getting her tummy to settle down and wasn’t sure if she could ask for both lasagna and spaghetti. She was starving.
Just then, she heard someone behind her say, “Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?”
She turned around and saw a guy her age.
“Not the Oliver Twist gruel I was expecting,” he continued.
Emily smiled and giggled.
“Yeah, thank God,” she replied, “I hope they aren’t just trying to impress us on the first day with something edible.”
The guy beamed at her friendliness.
“Totally… I was just wondering how many days in a row I could survive off of toast,” he joked.
“Me, too,” she said, almost too excitedly, “Well, I thought about bagels actually, but it’s all bread, right?”
The pair pushed up in the line. It was Emily’s turn, and she pointed to the lasagna and took her piled up plate from the server.
“I’m Xander,” he said, “Are you a prep, too?”
“Yeah. Just arrived like an hour ago. I’m in Graves. What about you?”
He pointed to the spaghetti, and the server plopped some on his plate. Xander took it and placed it back on his tray. The pair slid down and started serving their sides.
“Yeah, I’m a prep, too,” he said, “I’m actually in Wainwright. Right next door to you,” he said, seemingly happy about it.
Emily liked Xander’s face. He had freckles; she was a sucker for freckles, and he had a cute button nose. When he smiled, which he seemed to do all the time, his eyes went squinty and he had white, straight teeth. He was super cute for sure, but quite short. So “cute” instead of “hot” he remained.
“Oh, that’s cool,” Emily said, “Maybe we can help each other find our way around this place.”
“Yeah, and we can eat together,” he said, instantly regretting it, “I mean, we’ll probably see each other because we’ll both be coming to Oak Street… as our closest dining hall.. if you know what I mean.”
His nervous excitement made her smile and also brought out a feeling of confidence. He was obviously happy to make friends.
“Yeah. I know what you mean… I’d love to eat together,” she said and noticed Xander’s shoulders relax, “I mean, I still remember looking around for someone to join in sixth grade in my first year of middle school. I mean, intimidating, right?”
She tried to make him feel comfortable.
Emily was just Xander’s cup of tea. She had really long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes and he felt she was a nice person. It didn’t hurt that she was pretty.
“Yeah. Totally,” he said, “Don’t want to go through that again… so where are you from? I love your accent.”
“Accent,” thought Emily, “What accent?”
“Oh, I, uh… I’m surprised you can hear an accent? I can’t!”
“Nobody can hear their own accent,” he said, laughing.
“Oh, yeah… that makes sense… I’m from Minnesota,” words that as soon as she said them, sounded so boring.
“Cool, long way from home then,” he said.
“Yeah. Almost a three-hour flight,” said replied.
“I’m only from an hour away. Londonderry.”
Londonderry sounded so awesome to Emily. It was probably the international reference that tipped her over. She would have loved to travel abroad.
He continued, “So why are you at Gateway?”
Emily stiffened a bit. If he was asking why she was at Gateway, he probably wasn’t there on scholarship like her.
“Oh, I had to have my appendix out… parents had to cancel my flight and never got around to re-booking,” she lied.
“Damn. Damn. damn. Why did I lie?” Emily was taken aback by her own lie. It came out like a hiccup. Totally uncontrolled.
“Sorry about that. Must have hurt,” said Xander.
“Whatever. I’m here now,” she retorted, as cheerfully as possible but disappointed in herself, “What about you? Why are you here? I mean, you must have had a million chances to see the school?”
The pair walked over to the dining area and grabbed a table together.
“Oh… I’m originally from New Hampshire, up the road, but my Dad has had a job in Singapore for the past few years and we literally just moved back a few days ago. So, you know, I actually haven’t been able to see the school. I’m the oldest… you know, the first one to fly the coop,” he said, nonchalantly.
“That sounds cool,” she said, trying to stay in her skin and keep her cool at the thought of actually living abroad, “I mean, Singapore. What was that like?”
“Ugh. Totally wasn’t cool. No good music was the main problem.”
“Oh. So you’re into music? What do you like?”
“East coast indie bands. Jam bands like Phish, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Panic… I mean, stuff like that,” he said.
Emily looked at him with a blank stare.
“Ah, don’t tell me… you’re a pop princess. Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus…”
“More like Taylor Swift,” Emily interrupted.
Xander threw his hand into his hand and shook it dramatically. He looked up with a smile and lifted his eyebrows.
“That is just so basic… It’s time for a proper education, Emily,” he said.
And she wanted one. Xander had something about him. He felt new and familiar at the same time, and he made Emily feel at ease.
Xander and Emily were inseparable on the tour, which lasted for three hours, and didn’t talk to anyone else. When the tour ended, she had felt sorry for the one other prep that was on the walk. They hadn’t spoken with the guy at all, and he had tailed the adult giving the tour the entire time.
The tour ended back where they had started, at Oak Street, where the students were to have a light dinner before heading back to their dorms.
At 6:15pm, and Emily and Xander walked back toward their Graves and Wainwright together. Turning in time was 7pm for preps, and Emily was pretty beat, but she was on a high all at the same time. It had been such a perfect day.
She couldn’t believe that she and Xander had been talking for such a long time and never seemed to have a dull moment or awkward silence. It was as good as being with Grace.
Emily had laughed so much that her stomach hurt. He was the king of one liner jokes, quick wit and silly impersonations.
She was in the middle of one of her laughing fits when they reached her dorm entrance. Wainwright’s side entrance was only thirty feet from Graves.
“Xander, I literally am going to have a six-pack after laughing all day like this,” she said.
“Come on… I have one more,” Xander said, “Why do rappers need umbrellas?”
She looked at him questioning.
“Fo’drizzle,” he said.
She giggled and pushed him lightly. Xander had a way about him. He was light-hearted and energetic. He became cuter and cuter by the minute.
And he wanted to make Emily smile. He really liked her. She was so nice and different from other girls he had met. The ex-pat girls in
Singapore had been so snobby and before them, he had only hung out with one girl in elementary school and she had been a tomboy. Emily was cute and smart, but she didn’t seem to know it. She was laid back and able to genuinely laugh at his corny jokes.
“Dude,” said Emily, “You’re literally killing me.”
He smiled. It felt like the end of a date. Not that he had ever been on one.
“Want to do another loop around the back sports fields,” he asked, not wanting to turn in.
“I want to Xander but I’m beat. I had to get up sooo early this morning for the flight. And I haven’t even called my Mom,” she said, surprising herself. Bart had interrupted the only real free time she would have had to do it.
“Oh crap. Well, you’d better give a buzz,” he said.
“Yeah,” said Emily with wide, guilty eyes, “Anyway we get to go out on the shells tomorrow at the boathouse. Let’s walk over together? Have some breakfast first?”
Xander beamed inside and out. After so many years of fake friends in Singapore, it was so nice to have Emily, someone his age to mess around with.
“Totally. How about here, same spot at 8:30?”
“Cool. See ya,” she said. And she hugged him goodbye.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE,” Xander said the next morning when Emily stepped out of Graves at 8:20am.
“You’re early,” she said.
“So are you,” he said, “My Mom thinks that early is on time. It’s a habit now to feel like I’m running late if I’m not early.”
“Same! My family is early for everything,” she said.
They started walking toward the boathouse, each having texted each other that they would just eat a cereal bar on the way to the boathouse. For Emily at least, going to Oak Street may have meant getting caught up with other people on their way to rowing, too. And she really wanted to just be with Xander.
“Can’t say I think I’ll be early for Saturday classes though,” Xander said, “I mean, I thought my parents loved me but now I know the dark truth. Saturday classes… some form of child abuse.”
Emily knew it was a joke but thought of Bart’s words.
“Did you want to come here? To Harlow,” she asked.
“Good question. My first choice was Exeter,” he paused for a second, words suspended in the air and Emily wondered if he’d continue, “I didn’t get in there though.”
Emily hadn’t even considered looking at other schools. She didn’t think she’d be choosing among schools until she hopefully had a chance to go to college.
“Dad said boarding school shaped him in a way that even university didn’t so I applied to a few and this was my second choice. Anyway, I don’t want to sound like a jackass, but no, I didn’t really want to come here. After Singapore I think I was ready to just slot into a regular high school life. Hide among the misfits.”
“Like you’re a misfit,” Emily bumped her shoulder on his.
“Ugh, yeah. I’m totally unruly,” he said, making a hang ten sign with his hand.
“That’s like a surfer pose,” she said, “Too laid back to be a misfit.”
“I meant to be a rock star with that… didn’t pull it off?”
Emily shook her head, pretending to force a very serious ‘no.’
Xander snapped his fingers. This one got away from him.
“Enough about me. What about you… did you want to come or are your parents whip crackers, too?”
The pair reached town now and a few cars milled about, but on the whole; it was a sleepy place.
“I really wanted to come. I didn’t look at any other schools so I guess you could say this was my first choice,” Emily said, thinking back to what a saga it was just to get her family to take part in getting her into one, let alone several.
The pair continued along the main street. They passed the whimsical gazebo, the one that Emily had seen the day before, and now Emily could see that the town, only a stone’s throw away from campus, had everything a teen could need. A drugstore, an ice cream shop, coffee shop. It even had an old, independent movie theater that, had it been in Minnesota, would have looked run down and uncool, but among the bricks and magical history of Henley, looked like a hipster hangout.
Emily and Xander stopped to grab a coffee (Emily had never had a coffee before, but there’s a first time for everything) on their way down the main road, peering into shops, but not really paying attention. It was an effortless walk where the conversation never skipped a beat and they finally arrived at the boathouse.
Emily couldn’t believe her eyes. Upon entering, there was a giant room with about ten long, thin boats. There were five on each side of the room, all stacked on top of each other on some enormous special shelves. There were also a few boats that appeared to only seat four, two or one, hanging from pulley systems on the ceiling. Oars were stacked upright along the walls and the scene was out of this world for Emily. It all seemed so… rich.
Emily and Xander joined the rest of the Gateway group, most of which were already there waiting as they had had breakfast as a group beforehand. Bart stood among them, caught Emily’s eye and gave her a wave.
Three crew coaches and four students, all extremely tall and older looking, stood at the far end of the grand room. The coaches introduced themselves and then the students.
“I’m Madeleine and I’m a Senior.”
“I’m Adelaide and I’m also a Senior and have been rowing since prep year.”
“I’m Wilder and I’m an Upper. I only started rowing last year.”
Nobody at Harlow seemed to have a “normal” name.
“I’m Pierce and I’m also an Upper. I’ve been rowing since I was 12.”
Pierce caught Emily’s eye. He was tall for starters (Emily found herself drawn to tall guys), well over six foot and had deep, dark brown hair and brown eyes. No freckles on his face but she could see some on his shoulders that peeked out from his rowing top, some sort of spandex one piece get up that if it hadn’t been covered by track pants, might have seemed silly looking.
Pierce was gorgeous. He looked more like a young man than a boy. He had chiseled cheeks and Emily thought he must already have to shave. He was really tanned, being the end of summer they all were, but he looked as though he had spent his time outside more than most. His skin was the delicious color of glowing caramel. He had a strong looking body but not too muscly. Emily tried not to stare but couldn’t take her eyes off of him and found herself addicted to her peripheral vision.
Xander noticed Emily’s body language. “This is where it all falls apart,” he thought, “Older guys.”
The lesson required too much concentration for anyone to flirt. The only one in the group of twelve who had ever rowed in a shell was Xander. Emily noticed that he seemed to have done everything and she felt lucky that, rather than make her feel inadequate, he tried to help her and wanted her to have fun.
The coaches and student helpers were incredible and it shocked Emily that this random group of people, who had mostly never even seen a crew shell before, could make a boat go after an hour lesson. There were a lot of “crabs” (oars that seem to get caught underwater by the boat’s current) and quite a few wobbles, but they had been lucky it was a beautiful, placid day out on the river.
Before turning around in the river to turn back to the boathouse, the coaches, who were in motorboats next to the shells, told everyone to take a breather and to pull in the sights. The back of the shops could still be seen from their spot on the river as they hadn’t travelled much of a distance from the boathouse. The water was almost completely still, strange for what should have been a moving body of water, and there was tall, wispy grass on the banks of the river. Emily saw a stray cat peering into the edge of the water, and the sun shined down warmly on her skin. It was heaven. Peaceful, calm heaven.
What felt like a million miles away from home, she was also million miles away from any of those old problems. That old life. That li
ttle, silly girl who couldn’t stop thinking about her dead brother. Except at that very moment, she did.
Andy would have loved this. Andy was smarter than she was and belonged at Harlow. Andy had been like the cool boys that were in charge today.
A fish jumped out of the water and everyone gasped, snapping Emily back to reality.
Rowing back to the boathouse hadn’t been any easier than rowing out, but Emily loved every minute. She loved learning new things, and it was nice to feel a sense of teamwork. She hoped that crew was included in the “prep program” junior PE that she had to do. She knew the program had something to do with trying out all the different sports.
Back at the boathouse, Emily awkwardly took her twelve foot oar and tried to situate it in the oar stand on the back wall. It wasn’t the most elegant act.
Suddenly, a hand popped out of nowhere and grabbed the oar, taking the weight.
It was Pierce.
“Hey,” he said, “Let me help you.”
She felt suddenly shy.
“Oh, thanks,” she said, as he took the oar from her hands and put it in place.
“So,” he said, “How did you like rowing? First time, yeah?”
“Yeah. I loved it. It’s really peaceful out there,” she said, regretting the word peaceful. She wished she had thought of something cooler to say.
But to her surprise, Pierce agreed.
“Yeah, I know, right? I love that. Honestly, class can get kind of stressful, so I’ve used this for escapism as well as sport.”
She admired his openness.
“I’m Pierce,” he said.
“Yeah. I got that at the beginning… I’m Emily,” she introduced herself.
“Maybe you should go out for junior rowing. You’re pretty tall. Five seven?”
“No, only five six,” she said, feeling flattered even though her height was just a fact.
“Well, give it a try. You’d be surprised how many complete non-rowers make the team. Though I guess it kind of makes sense because so few people row before they come here.”
“Except you,” she said, “You’ve been rowing since you were twelve?”
The End Defines the Beginning : A Boarding School Coming of Age (Harlow Academy Series Book 1) Page 7
