Authors: Diana Gardin
But the truth is, I like being with
Luka.
It will be nice to see where
one real date could lead us.
As I open my mouth to answer him, the
chair across from me scrapes loudly on the cement floor.
I look up, startled.
“Hey Cam Short For Camryn Grimes,” Cooper
says with an easy smile.
As he sits down, Dara and Brandon arrive.
Dara’s eyes immediately find Luka,
sitting so close to me, and then Cooper, making himself comfortable at our
table.
“Well, hey there Cam,” she says.
“Looks like we got here just in time to
meet your new friend.
Hey, Luka.”
“Hey,” Luka and I reply together.
Luka shoots a frown across the table in
Cooper’s direction.
Cooper stands and holds out his hand for
Dara.
“I’m Cooper Goode.
I met Cam this morning on our way to
first period.
She was kind enough
to show me the way, and inform me about the exhibits while she acted as my tour
guide.”
“Did you feed any of them?” I ask
seriously.
“Nope,” he replies. “Not a single one.”
Dara looks from Cooper to me and back
again.
“That sounds like my girl. Yes
Cooper, I think we all saw your grand entrance this morning.
I’m Dara, and this is my boyfriend
Brandon.”
Brandon shakes Cooper’s hand.
“Hey man, the Ninja you rode in on this
morning is sick.
I was jealous.”
Cooper shakes his head. “Nah, dude, don’t
be.
I won it in a poker game. It’s
not like I can afford something like that on my own. Do you ride?”
“I wish,” Brandon replies.
“My parents would flip if I mentioned
the word bike.
My dad is always
saying that “we” are working for a D-1 basketball scholarship in the ACC.”
“Whew,” Cooper whistles.
“You must be pretty good then.
I wouldn’t want to risk that, either.”
“Yeah, but still…” Brandon looks wistful.
Dara smacked him on the back.
“No bikes, superstar,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” I pipe up. “Did you just say
you won it in a
poker game?
Did you
move here from Vegas? And are you forty-five?”
“Yes, no, and no,” Cooper answered,
grinning at me. “My mom hangs out with questionable characters. Which means I
get dragged to places not appropriate for teenagers. Which means I learn how to
gamble and other unsavory things.”
He was so nonchalant. I don’t even think
he noticed our jaws dropping lower with each word he uttered.
Luka speaks up.
“What’s up, Coop?
I’m Luka Caliper.
Brandon’s teammate, and Cam’s…” he
trails off, glancing at me.
Is he expecting me to say boyfriend?
Because we have only been on one group date, so that wasn’t happening.
“Date for this Friday night,” I finish,
smiling reassuringly at him.
I can
tell Luka feels threatened, even though he has absolutely no reason to be.
I know I’m not Cooper’s type.
I just happen to be the first person he
met at Oceanview.
He isn’t actually
interested in me. I glance around the cafeteria. It’s quickly filling with
students. A couple of tables away, a group of cheerleaders sit starting at
Cooper, not at all worried about being discovered. I’m sure they are wondering how
much of themselves they have to offer him to get him to sit at their table.
Luka grins back at me, and settles in his
seat with his arm draped loosely over my chair.
I turn back to Cooper.
“So, how is your first day going so
far?”
He shrugs.
“It’s alright.
Everyone seems nice.
School’s not my favorite place in the
world.
But Oceanview will do.”
He smiles and glances at me.
“I’m kind of into music, though.
How can I get in on that fall musical
you’re choreographing?”
“Are you serious?” I ask in
surprise.
Cooper looks athletic and
cool, with his tall, lithe build and his black leather jacket.
I’m shocked he’s interested in joining “Mamma
Mia.”
“You guys have already had tryouts for
that, right Cam?” Luka asks, taking a bite of his cheeseburger.
“Well, yeah,” I reply, nodding.
“But I could talk to Mr.
Laffy
, the theater teacher, if you want me to, Cooper.
There might be a spot left for you, or
he may let you audition for an understudy role.
Do you sing?”
Cooper gives me a friendly smirk, turning
up the left side of his mouth.
“I’ll
let you be the judge of that, Camryn.”
My mouth drops slightly.
When I recover from the little spell I’m
under, I unwrap my sandwich and begin to eat my lunch.
“So, Cooper,” says Dara.
“Tell us where you moved from.”
As Cooper explains how he came to be in
Virginia, the rest of us continue to eat our lunches.
When the bell rings to signify the end
of our lunch period, we gather our bags and rise to exit the cafeteria.
“Hey, Camryn,” Cooper touches my arm.
“Can you put your number in my phone? You know, in case I have a question about
all that literature I’m supposed to be analyzing tonight.”
I nod, taking his phone and programming
my number into his contacts. I pretend I don’t notice Luka’s watchful eyes
taking it all in.
“What class you got next, dude?” Brandon
asks Cooper.
“Spanish with Gonzalez,” he replied.
“That’s me. Let’s go, man.” He gives Dara
a quick kiss on the cheek.
Cooper turns to Dara and Luka.
“Thanks for letting me crash your lunch,
guys.
Nice meeting you.” He flashes
me another cheeky smile before heading off with Brandon.
Luka squeezes my shoulder and heads off
to his next class, leaving Dara and I alone to walk to the Arts wing.
I have dance and she has choir.
“So, Cooper seems super nice.
And he’s obviously beyond hot,” Dara
remarks.
“Uh-huh,” I reply, refusing to bite.
“And I noticed that Luka had his arm
around you at lunch.
How’s that
‘just friends’ status coming along?” she teases.
“Oh, just great,” I laugh.
“He officially asked me out for Friday
night.”
“I knew it!” Dara screeches.
“You guys look so great together, and
he’s into you, Cam.
I could
tell.
All I had to do was get you
two breathing the same air at the same time!”
She frowns.
“But Cooper seemed to find you basically
mouthwatering. I was surprised he didn’t drool onto the table. Do you think
he’s into you?
Are you into him?”
I shrug.
“I don’t know D, I just met the guy this
morning. He’s cute.
And nice.
And apparently he’s into music, which
makes him even more interesting.
But ‘into me?’ I don’t know about that.
You know his type doesn’t usually find
my type attractive.”
Dara’s frown deepens.
“Cam.
Are you talking about the whole race
issue again?
Because there
are
people in the world who don’t think
that matters.”
“There are,” I agree.
“But there have been white guys that I
crushed on who wouldn’t even see me as more than a friend.
Why should Cooper be any different?”
“Cam, I saw the way he looked at you at
lunch.
The guy is
not
thinking of you as just a
friend.
He already is different.”
Cooper
Pulling up to the new high school on my
motorcycle is easy. Getting off my bike and going inside? Not so much.
I hate school. With everything in me, I
hate walking into some drab building every day and pretending like I care.
Pretending like I’m just like the rest of them. A happy well-adjusted teenager.
I’m not.
I’m a teenager who has seen more in my
short lifetime than any of the rest of them could even dream of. The liquor
store runs my mother got me involved in, walking into whichever dump we lived
in to find lines of white powder laid out on a table…over and over again. Those
were life experiences I’d trade with these spoiled high school kids any day.
That was my reality.
But my aunt insisted I enroll. She’d said
I needed the normalcy.
Whatever.
I think about my guitar, sitting in its
box in the closet in my room at my aunt’s beach house.
Or should I call it a beach mansion?
She’s done well for herself. I can’t help thinking…what if my aunt had been my
mom, instead of my actual mom? My life would be so different right now.
I don’t care about the part where we
never have any money. The part where we live in small apartments and don’t know
when our next meal is coming, or where it’s coming from. I care about the part
where I can’t always be sure where I’m sleeping every night. I care about the
part where I don’t know who will be coming home with my mom from one night to
the next. I care about the part where she doesn’t care if I go to school or
not, or where I am from one hour to the next.
So, needless to say, as I pull up to
Oceanveiw
High I’m not looking forward to a long day in a
building full of strangers who I have nothing in common with.
One thing I can count on, I know I’ll
have the only bike pulling into the parking lot. I’m right. As I pull into a spot,
the roar of my Ninja causes a stir, and everyone outside turns around to stare
at me.
Very satisfying.
When I walk into the school building, I
find the office. I know I’ll have to sign in there to get my schedule or figure
out what the hell I’m supposed to do with myself all day.
“Can I help you?” the lady behind the
large
formica
countertop asks me. She peers at me
over her glasses, and a smile brightens her dour features.
“Yeah,” I answer. “I’m new—today’s
my first day. I’m Cooper Goode.”
The secretary reaches back onto her desk
and grabs a folder with my name on it.
“I was expecting you today, Mr. Goode.
Welcome to Oceanview.”
She pulls a page out of my file and hands
it to me. “I remember last week when your aunt enrolled you. Here’s your
schedule. Would you like someone to walk you to your first class?”
“No thanks,” I answer. “I’d rather find
it myself. Do you have a map?”
She points to the counter next to me,
where several documents are standing in plastic organizers.
“There you go,” she says. “The map is the
yellow one. And I’ll call down to make sure Mr. Taft is looking for you.”
“Thanks,” I say and turn my back on her.
I study my schedule as I walk into the
hallway, hoisting my messenger back up over my shoulder. I look up, and that’s
when I see her.
You know in books, when they say stupid shit
like “When I saw her, my heart skipped a beat”? Yeah, well…I don’t think that
shit’s so stupid anymore.
This girl walks right into my path, and
it doesn’t even feel like a normal girl is standing there. It feels like I’m looking
at this ethereal being…she is otherworldly. She does crazy things to my body,
and my heart literally does skip a beat.
Who is she? She’s obviously a student
here. She’s wearing a book bag, and she is carrying a pair of dance shoes. My
eyes travel up her perfect body to stare at her face, and her beautiful
chocolate brown eyes meet mine. I almost stumble. Her eyes are big and warm and
slice through me like paper. The power of those eyes…they have the ability to
see right through me. That scared me, because there’s a lot I don’t want people
to see. Especially someone as perfect as her.
I have to talk to her.
“Hey,” I address her. “Do you know where
D-112 is? It’s my first day.”
She says she does, and that she has the
same class first this morning. I should go and buy a lottery ticket after
school, because today is clearly my lucky day.
As we walk and talk, I study her. She’s African-American,
with dark skin that looks soft enough to melt in the bright sunlight outside. I
want to touch that skin from the first moment I see her.