Shattered Ties(5)

“Can you tell me where Ms. Mason’s class is? It’s my next class, and the lady in the office wasn’t very good at giving directions.”

He gave me a smile, and I felt my heart speed up. “Yeah, sure. It’s actually my next class, too, so I can just show you.”

Did I really just say that? I was supposed to be pretending that he didn’t exist, not walking him to class.

“That would be great. Thanks,” he said sincerely.

I studied him closer. This guy seemed to be exceptionally polite, and I wasn’t used to that around here. Most of the guys were raging idiots. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was nervous and a bit shy or if he was just this nice in general. Surely, this hot guy covered in tattoos couldn’t be shy. His demeanor and his physical appearance were complete opposites.

“So, what’s your story?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

He looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I was just wondering where you were from.” I gestured to his tattoos. “You don’t fit the mold for most of the guys around here. Did you just move here or something?”

He hesitated for a split second before I saw determination fill his eyes. “Nope. I attended the public school across town all my life. I’m here on a scholarship. As for my tattoos, I like to be creative, and sometimes, I use my body to do it.”

I felt my cheeks turn red from embarrassment. I was sure he could get very creative with that body of his.

He seemed to sense my discomfort, and he laughed. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”

“It’s fine. I was just embarrassed for being so nosy,” I lied.

“You weren’t being nosy, just curious. But you were right about one thing—I don’t fit in around here. My mom kind of forced me into coming here.”

That surprised me. Hamrick High School was one of the top private schools in California. I had no idea why he wouldn’t be jumping for joy at the chance to attend when so many would kill to be in his position.

“Why don’t you want to be here?” I asked.

“I thought it would be obvious. I’m not one of the rich kids, like you. My kind tends to be looked down on.”

“Oh,” I said, unable to think of anything else to say.

He gave me a small smile, and I noticed a dimple in his left cheek. How did I miss that?

“You don’t have to feel awkward or anything. It’s just the facts of life. I’ve been looked down on my entire life by this entire town because my mom works as a waitress instead of being married to some rich guy.”

I added blunt to the list of notes I’d made about him in my head. The kid didn’t beat around the bush. He got straight to the point.

“My mom isn’t married to a rich guy.” I pretended to glare at him, but I couldn’t keep a straight face. “Well, she isn’t married to him anymore.”

He looked shocked at first, but then he realized that I was kidding, and relief flooded his face. “I thought I pissed you off there for a second.” “Nah. I was just messing with you!” I said as I giggled.

The bell rang to signal the end of class. I grabbed my trig book and threw it into my bag. Lucy waved good-bye as she left for her next class on the opposite side of the school from mine. I knew that the two of us couldn’t have every class together, but I hated the ones that she wasn’t in. School was boring without Lucy around.

I glanced over to see Jesse waiting for me to lead the way to our next class. Maybe history won’t be so boring after all.

We walked side by side out of the classroom and down the hallway to our next class. As soon as I entered the room, I heard someone shouting my name from the back of the room. I looked up to see two of the girls on my squad, Andrea and Vanessa, waving their hands and pointing to an empty seat in front of them. I smiled and waved back as I started walking toward them.

Remembering that Jesse was still with me, I turned to look at him. “Do you want to sit back there with us?”

He seemed unsure, but he finally nodded. “Sure.”

I watched Andrea’s and Vanessa’s eyes widen as they took Jesse in. I smiled to myself. Leave it to the broke kid to make every girl at Hamrick High turn into a puddle on the floor.





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This place was everything that I had expected and not in a good way. I had known coming here was a mistake, but my mother hadn’t listened to me when I told her that I wouldn’t be welcome here.

“Nonsense. You snagged that scholarship, and you have just as much right as the rest of them to be there,” she’d said this morning, standing in the kitchen of our single-wide trailer.

I had tried to make one final attempt to make her see reason, but she’d refused to listen to me. It wasn’t that I cared what those stuck-up rich kids thought of me because I didn’t. I just had no desire to attend Hamrick High and pretend to be something I wasn’t. Public school was fine by me, but my mother had all but begged me to apply for the scholarship.

I had agreed, not expecting to even be considered. When I came home from school one day last spring, I had been shocked to see my mother sitting at our kitchen table, holding an acceptance letter in her hand. Since then, I’d tried to find every excuse out there not to attend, but she’d refused to let me get out of it. She thought this was my chance to make it somewhere in life, to escape the mobile home park I’d grown up in.