Читать книгу The Bump - Lauren Castleton - Страница 7

Chapter 1

Walking out into the school parking lot, I immediately see Riley. The glow of her pink hair is hard to miss. She leans on the hood of a car, presumably hers. Reid, Kerry, and Andy are there too. I walk up to them, my eyes constantly darting to Reid. He cleans his Ray-Bans using his shirt and doesn’t seem to notice me at first. But Andy sees me, cigarette in hand, and shouts out, surprised, “Look who took us up on our offer!”

The others look up and see me now. I can feel myself blush at the attention.

“Yeah,” I say. I nervously tug at the edge of my plain white tee shirt.

“Hop in, Viv,” Riley says, as she unlocks the car and gets inside. I climb in, and everyone else files in after me. Kerry sits in the front seat with Riley. His dark hand holding hers—well, the one that’s not on the steering wheel—as she pulls out of the parking spot. I’m sandwiched in between Andy and Reid. Andy passes the cigarette around the car, and everyone takes a drag. I try it and cough a little, choking on the smoke. Reid watches and laughs quietly. Andy takes it back, his acne-splattered face relaxed as he rolls down the window.

Reid’s short, dark hair is blowing around a bit from the wind through the open window. I watch until he catches my eye.

“So where exactly are we going?” I lean forward and ask Riley.

“I don’t know. Denny’s sound good?” Everyone agrees, and Riley turns at the stoplight. I sit quietly as they all discuss their class schedules. Riley’s still a sophomore, but Kerry, Andy, and Reid are juniors.

We pull into the parking lot and pour out of the car. I stick next to Reid as we walk inside and make sure I end up sitting by him when the waitress seats us. It’s quiet as we skim through the menu. Only after we order does the conversation start up again. This time I’m the target of their talk.

“So, Viv,” Andy says, “how’s freshman year treating you?”

I grimace as all eyes focus on me. I had made friends with Riley first, almost by accident, when she helped me collect the contents of my backpack and fix the broken strap—at least until I could get home and get a new one. I liked her, even though she was like no one else I’d ever known, not to mention her bright pink hair, but she was easy to be around and just accepted me from the start. Something like that wasn’t easy to come by at a new, huge school.

“Well, I mean, I went to Jefferson for middle school, like I said. So it’s a pretty big change. I don’t know. What do you want me to say?”

“Don’t you have any friends from your old school?” Kerry asks, “Like, what made you wanna hang with us?”

Again I shrug and feel myself blush, trying to steer away from the real answer. I thought high school would cut me some slack and give me a break from what happened last May when Morgan, my best friend all through grammar school and into junior high, decided to kiss me. I had no idea she was gay. Not once during the whole time she was my best friend. Then the rumors started. Besides being stared at and made fun of, I felt betrayed by Morgan. Luckily, she went to Daphne Heights, which is mostly why I decided to come here. “I guess I . . . I don’t know. It was time for a new group of people to hang out with.” At least I wasn’t completely lying.

“All right, I can dig that,” Andy says, taking a sip from his Coke. Reid nods in agreement and plays with the paper napkin in his hands. I take advantage of his fascination with the napkin to marvel at his face.

After we finish eating, the waitress brings the check. Everyone looks at each other, and it seems an unspoken understanding passes between them. Riley hands her car keys to Kerry, then jumps up and grabs my arm.

“Vivian, come to the bathroom with me?” she asks as she pulls me toward the restrooms.

“Yeah, I gotta go too,” Reid says, standing up and following after us. They both look suspicious.

“What’s going—” I start, but Riley shushes me as we walk into the bathroom. “I’ll explain in the car,” she says. Reid peels away into the men’s room. Riley drags me into the large stall with the small window and locks the door.

“What are you doing?” I ask, confused. Riley doesn’t respond but hops up onto the toilet to reach the window. She pries it open and hops down.

“Up, up, up,” she says playfully, gesturing to the window.

“You want me to—”

“Don’t wait for me when you get to the other side. Run straight to the car,” she instructs.

I stop and panic. If I don’t go, then what? I’m stuck here alone with no way home? I’m not even sure I know what’s going on, but I don’t stop to ask. I feel the pressure to keep going, so I climb up and shimmy out the window feet first. My feet hit the pavement, and I realize I’m in the back lot of the restaurant; dumpsters line the wall to the right. I remember what Riley said and jog around front to find the car. When I get there, Kerry’s behind the wheel and Andy’s in the passenger seat. Kerry taps his fingers against the wheel impatiently until the back door next to me flies open and Riley and Reid jump in.

“Go!” Riley screams, laughing as she pulls the door shut. Kerry floors it, and the car swings out toward the main road. I notice our waitress coming out the front door of the restaurant, waving her arms furiously. I can’t hear what she’s shouting over everyone else’s laughter. Even Reid, despite his shyness, seems to have a hard time containing himself.

“What just happened?” I finally ask, once the laughter has died down. My hair is tangled around my face from some of it having gotten stuck in the tiny window I just pushed myself through, and my sneaker is half falling off. Andy turns around from the front seat to face me.

“We skipped out on the check,” he says, a huge smile filling his face.

“You mean you didn’t pay it?” I ask, a bit surprised. Andy grins and starts laughing again.

“The trick,” Riley says, “is to not be the last one out. That’s why it’s always ladies first.”

Riley giggles and runs her hand through her pink tresses.

“Not that one time,” Reid reminds her, and everyone bursts out laughing again. My stomach forms knots. I feel pretty uncomfortable about the whole thing, but I don’t say anything. I’m just grateful to have made some new friends, especially considering they are older. And so I just kind of go with it.

“We should do this again,” Riley says once we’re back in the school lot, heading toward the main building.

I shrug. I think I still need to process what just happened, but since Riley seems like my best shot at having a friend so far, I say, “Sure.” The bell sounds as we walk inside; it must be the second one, because the hallways are deserted. We all split up, heading off to different classes. As I turn left to head to bio, Riley calls over her shoulder, “You up to hang this weekend?”

“Of course,” I holler back.