I immediately blushed. “Well it’s pretty warm… considering.” I quickly looked down before he could catch my eye again.
“I’m not complaining, Charlotte, just saying.” A hint of a joke hid in his words.
Great, this was getting even better. A boy I didn’t know from a hole in the wall was talking about me wearing a skirt. He was either trying to flirt or trying to make me feel weird; the latter felt more likely.
Other students began filing into the room. Most wore curious expressions, and some stopped to introduce themselves. A blond-haired girl came right over, and said, “Charlotte Calloway? Oh, my gosh, you look so different.”
“Anna? Wow.” Relieved to see someone I remembered who actually seemed happy to see me, I held back the comment in my head that Anna really didn’t look very different.
“I can’t believe you’re back. It’s so crazy you were in Alaska,” she said excitedly.
“Yeah, I know. It was a big move.”
“So I saw Kevin in the hall. He looks great.” She looked at me expectantly.
“Yeah, I guess.” Great, so that was it. She wasn’t excited to see me. She was excited to get friendly so she could get near my brother. I thought back on all of the times she invited herself over for sleepovers before I moved and realized that the motivation had probably been Kevin. Well, I figured her friendliness was better than nothing. Maybe we would have other classes together. As a bonus, her arrival had gotten me out of that awkward conversation with James.
Ms. Wilson started class by casually mentioning there was a new student, but luckily, no one stared for too long. Her next announcement was even worse. “We’re going to continue our discussion of modern American poets. As I mentioned last week, I want you to break into pairs and choose a poet to study over the next few weeks. At the end of this time, you must turn in a written report on the chosen poet; you must include a biography and an analysis of two of the poet’s works.”
Great, I thought. My first day, and already I had to find a partner. I looked down at my desk and waited as Ms. Wilson walked around the room writing down the partners and selected poets. I looked up when I heard James say, “Charlotte and I are going to work as a pair, Ms. Wilson, and can we please have Poe?”
What the heck? I thought. I couldn’t believe he had just volunteered us to be partners without asking me first. But I quickly realized that he was doing me a favor by saving me from having to ask anyone else. Maybe he really was just trying to be nice to a fellow new kid.
“Great. You two can definitely study Edgar Allen Poe.” After Ms. Wilson moved on, James moved his desk closer to mine, mirroring what others were doing in order to discuss the project.
“So, you ready to study, poetry partner?” James asked with a cryptic smile.
“Sure, how do you want to split this up?” I hoped to avoid meeting him outside of class.
“Split this up? I thought we were working together?” He sounded genuinely surprised by my suggestion.
I tried to soften my proposal. “I mean, shouldn’t we at least spend some time researching on our own first?”
“Why? It’s boring that way. Let’s meet in the library one day this week, okay?”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with a reasonable excuse fast enough. “Sure.”
“Oh, and I heard Ms. Wilson talking about the school newspaper,” he said, abruptly changing the subject. “You really should come.”
“So, you’re on it?” I asked, surprised. He didn’t strike me as a ‘school paper’ kind of guy.
“I wasn’t, but I was thinking about checking it out this week.”
“Oh, okay.” I doubted that his interest in the paper was a coincidence, but there didn’t seem to be a point in calling him on it.
Ms. Wilson asked for everyone’s attention, so I tried to concentrate on her lecture and not on how nervous I was about the rest of the day. Before I knew it, the bell rang. I got up with some relief—one class down.
“So I guess I’ll see you later,” James said, as we walked to the door.
“Yeah, see you later.” I hurried ahead.
The rest of the morning went smoothly. I had Spanish, which didn’t seem too bad, and I really liked my world history teacher. When I got to gym, I changed into my gym clothes and was relieved to see Anna. She invited me to join her team for basketball. Whether she was using me for my brother or not, it was still nice to be able to avoid asking the gym teacher for help in selecting a team.
Class was almost over when someone touched my arm lightly. I twisted around quickly. Everyone else was heading back to the locker room, but Anna had hung back with me.
“Hey, little Calloway!” Liam said, smiling.
“Hi, Liam.” I tried to comprehend how I had somehow failed to notice that Liam was in my gym class. I suddenly felt self-conscious in my gym shorts. Liam had walked over with a boy I didn’t recognize.
“I can’t believe you’re in high school.” Liam appeared so calm; he obviously wasn’t embarrassed about wearing gym clothes.
“Yeah, I’m not thirteen anymore.” I couldn’t believe my luck. Of all the gym classes, he had to be in mine?
“No, you sure aren’t,” Liam said, looking me up and down.
“What?” I wasn’t sure what to make of his sweeping look.
“So, you’re a sophomore?”
“Yeah, tenth grade.” I didn’t know why he had asked. Was he playing dumb on purpose? How could he not remember what grade I was in? Or maybe he had no reason to remember, since I was just his friend’s kid sister.
“It’s funny. I always felt like you were a lot younger than me, but I guess it’s only two years.” Liam stopped, as though suddenly remembering the boy next to him. “Oh, this is Brian. Brian, this is Charlotte, Coach’s niece, Kevin’s little sister.”
“Hi, Charlotte. So you’re who coach was talking about?”
“Hi, Brian.” I tried to sound friendly, but I sincerely hoped that Monty hadn’t been talking about me too much.
“So, how do you like being back in Charleston? I know Kevin seems excited.” Brian acted like he was genuinely interested in my answer.
“It’s nice. I think I missed it here more than I thought,” I admitted.
“Well, just so you know, I’m having a party Friday night. My parents are going to be out of town, so it seemed like a good excuse.”