“Hello?”
“Good morning, beautiful. Now, I want you to do me a favor and go get into the vehicle for Kane. Do not argue with me. I happen to have doctors orders that you are not to ride your bicycle for at least another two months.”
I stood staring at the now grinning Kane. “Doctor’s orders, huh? You wouldn’t happened to have paid the doctor for the orders would you?” I challenged.
He chuckled. “Never, now go get in that Hummer before Kane does what he was instructed to do.”
I froze and stared at the giant in front of me. “What were his instructions?”
“To get you in that vehicle no matter what,” he countered.
I grinned, shrugged in defeat, and walked to the Hummer. Kane opened the door, and I had to take his hand to step up into it. “Okay, Rock Star, I’m in your Hummer.”
“Thank you.”
I had been expecting him to gloat, so his simple thank you made my heart flutter. “You’re welcome.”
“I miss you,” he said softly.
“I miss you too.”
“I have a concert Thursday night, and then one on Saturday, but after that, I am coming home to you for Sunday at least.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Have fun at school today for me, please. Remember, you’re experiencing high school for both of us.”
I sighed. “I’ll keep that in mind when I am being picked on in the halls and eating bad cafeteria food.”
He chuckled, and then his voice got very serious. “If anyone picks on you threaten them with me.”
This time I laughed. “Sure thing, that will help me fit in real nicely.”
“I love you, Sadie.”
My heart still raced when he said those words. “I love you too.”
“I am going to let you go because Kane should be pulling up at school.”
I glanced outside the window and realized he was right. “Yes, he just stopped. Bye, have a good day.”
“You, too, bye.”
I pressed end on the phone and sighed. I reached for my backpack as Kane opened my door.
Smiling at him, I said, “Thank you, Kane.”
He nodded, and I could have sworn I saw him smile. I headed for my locker. I was going to have tons of makeup work. I needed to empty my book bag so it could hold it all.
“Sadie, I’m glad you’re back at school. Bum thing that happened.” Dylan McCovey had come up beside me. He glanced back at Kane leaving and grinned. “You sure got a sweeter set of wheels now.”
I had to try hard not to roll my eyes. Instead, I nodded. “I can’t ride my bike for a while.”
Dylan laughed. “Yeah, well, I doubt you’re going to be riding your bike again ever. The whole town’s talking about the way Jax Stone sat in your hospital room and sang to you until you came out of your coma. Then he apparently wouldn’t leave you alone for a minute. The boy sounds hooked.”
I smiled at Dylan’s words, but I didn’t respond. We stepped inside the school building.
“I have to get to class. See ya later, Dylan,” I called over my shoulder as I walked away from him. I didn’t want to talk about my private life to anyone.
The moment I stepped into the hallway, people stopped and stared. I wanted to turn around and run back outside. Instead, I forced my feet to walk to my locker. I didn’t make eye contact with anyone, but it didn’t seem to matter. Before
I got five steps, people began to attack.
“I’m so glad you’re better, Sadie.”
“Sadie, is it true Jax Stone was with you in the hospital?”
“Was that Jax’s Hummer that brought you to school?”
“Are you living with him?”
“Is Jax Stone going to move here?”
I wanted to put my hands over my ears and scream for them all to go away. More voices joined in, and people kept asking questions that I didn’t want to answer since it was none of their business.
“Move! You all have classes to be at, so I suggest you get to them,” Principal Farmer called over the vultures.
They moved away, but they all did so reluctantly. I turned back to my locker and got what I needed.
“Miss White, we are glad you’re back and doing well,” Mr. Farmer said from behind me.
I turned and smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He nodded and cleared his throat. “I want you to know, if you need anything or you are having problems like the one I just encountered, you can let me know, and I will fix it. I want your experience here at Sea Breeze High to be a great one.”
He had never spoken to me before, so his sudden desire to make sure I was happy was strange.
“Thank you, sir,” I said, despite my confusion.
“Yes, well, I also want you to know that if your, uh, boyfriend wants to attend any of our functions here, we would love to have him. He is more than welcome.”
It all made sense to me then, and I wanted to burst out laughing. Mr. Farmer was just as star crazed as everyone else. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I nodded and headed toward class. I was probably already late.
Lunch in the cafeteria was some sort of tomato and pasta mixture that was hard to swallow. I did the best I could, but, after a few bites, I just resigned myself to drink my water. I found Amanda and sat with her. We were surrounded by her friends and people who wanted to know about Jax. I didn’t say much. I managed to ignore most everyone’s questions, and Amanda worked hard to get them to leave me alone.
“So, who’s ready for Homecoming this Friday night?” Amanda asked trying to get everyone’s mind on something else.
“I found the cutest dress last week in Mobile,” a girl on the other side of Amanda gushed. Several other girls started talking about their dresses and how they planned to wear their hair. I listened, but didn’t have anything to add to the conversation since I wasn’t going to go.
“Sadie, are you coming to the game?” Amanda asked me before she bit into her apple.
I started to say no, but then I remembered my promise to Jax and his wanting me to go to football games. “Um, I don’t know,” I said over my bottle of water.
Amanda swallowed. “Please come with me. I am going to the dance afterwards with Jeff Garner, but he is on the football team, so I will be dateless during the game.”
That sounded good to me. I could go to the game and tell Jax and maybe that would satisfy him for a while.
“Sure sounds good.”
Amanda beamed. “Great! You can come over to my house after school, and we can play around with those amazing curls I’m so jealous of, and we’ll find a way to style your hair, and then you can help me with my straight as a board head of hair!”