Starbright (The Starbright Series) (19 page)

             
“Oh, sorry,” Seth apologized, watching the girls ponytail bob from side to side as she waited.

             
“Hi, Pi,”
I turned toward my
female best friend and smiled at her.
I knew Piper
would have a million questions for
me
, starting with Seth and ending with where was Tristan, but
I
also trusted her not to blurt them out immediately.

             
“Hey
, Stel…..” she prompted, waiting for an introduction. “Who’s your friend?”

             
“Pip
er
Cassidy
this is Seth…. Seth…..”
I
froze realizing
I
didn’t know the last name Seth went by or even if he had a last name.
I
panicked
for a
second while
trying to rack
my
brain for the information
I
wasn’t sure if
I
had ever been given.

             
“Seth Smith,” Seth finished, flashing his charming smile at
my
bemused best friend.

             
“Seth Smith,”
I
echoed with confidence
, biting back a laugh at the simplicity of his “taken” last name
. “He’s an old friend of the family. H
e
and his….
g
randpa just moved here.
Seth, this is
my best friend, Piper
.”

             
“Nice to meet you Piper,” Seth extended his hand so Piper could shake it. “Stella you have a lot of best friends,”
he commented curiously
.

             
“Yes, she does,” Piper complained. “But none of us hold a candle to
Tristan
.” Piper said Tristan’s name as if it were a
communicable
disease and
I watched Seth’s eyes light up in appreciation
.
It was obvious he immediately liked Piper. Great… they could make an “I hate Tristan club.”

             
“That’s not true at all! You and Tristan hold equal candles.” I
defended
my
self
to Piper
, closing
my
locker with extra emphasis. “And I only have two best friends. I like to keep thin
g
s
fair and honest
,
gender speaking,
so I have one of each,”
I
smiled at Piper, knowing this would get on her nerves.

             
“Oh, is that why you keep Tristan around? You’re an equal opportunity employer?” Piper pressed, rolling her eyes.

             
“Exactly,”
I
laughed. “Seriously though, Piper’s always been jealous of Tristan because he was my best friend first.”
I
explained in good humor to Seth, but inwardly cringed. The rivalry between Piper and Tristan was nearly as old as we were and something I tried to balance daily.

             
“I’ve never been jealous!” Piper squealed,
lifting a wrist covered in silver bangle bracelets in defense.
“It’s not even a fair competition. You’ve known Tristan since you were in diapers. I had to wait all the way
unti
l kindergarten before I could step in and by that time he had wormed his way deep inside your
generous little
heart and refused to leave.”
Piper was a mix of trendy bohemian and small town politics.
I
knew
my
friend would love to dress in peasant skirts and
bold prints
all the time
, but she kept things conservative to balance her farmer heritage and sport’s star status. Today she wore a tight-fitting vintage Mead High School volleyball t-shirt that was probably her mother’s, a short, frayed denim mini skirt and thick black tights. The outfit itself was something any of the girls at school would wear, but no one else would pair it with shin-high tan furry boots, that looked like the needed to be brushed on a daily basis, two wrists full of
sparkly silver
bangles,
bright
feather earrings and a hoop nose ring.
I felt boring standing next to her in black leggings and a turquoise sweater dress. I tried to imagine my simple grey Uggs with fur on them, but decided to let her have the glory of wearing small animals on her feet.

             
“Poor Piper,”
I
sympathized, hugging
my
books to
my
chest and
gave her a sympathetic smile
.

             
When all I got in return was an irritated eye roll, I
put
my
arm around
my
friend’s shoulders that stood almost exactly the same height as
mine
. Piper laid her head down on
me
and stuck out her full bottom lip in a pretend pout. Seth laughed with
us
;
and I could tell by the way he looked back and forth between us that he was glad my friendship circle extended beyond Tristan
.
Boys
.
 

             
“Hey,” Tristan joined
us
, flanked by
his closest guy friends and rival athletic studs.
I leaped from Piper’s side straight into Tristan’s arms, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. He hugged me closely to him, whispering in my ear. “Hey, Stel.” His deep voice rumbled against my hot skin and I nuzzled closer, relishing the feel and smell of him.

I waited for three more seconds before stepping back and nodding to Tristan’s male best friends.
Together the three boys dominated all sports and carried the most votes in popularity
.
But Tristan was king jock among them, h
e walked the halls with a confidence and carelessness that only those truly at ease could carry.

             
“Well, speak of the devil,” Piper mumbled,
punching me in the
shoulder
and turning back to her locker.
“I don’t get greetings like that.” I laughed, knowing she would kill me if I hugged her like that and potentially messed up her hair.

             
“
Seth, this is Rigley Merrit,”
I
introduced Seth to
the boy on Tristan’s right; he had
deep, reddish brown hair that curled wildly at an unkempt length. His
face
was
dusted
in matching freckles and his boxer’s nose crooked to one side. He was an athlete, like Tristan, with high school boy biceps and a thick neck. But his freckles and pale green eyes kept a boyish look about him
that I knew most girls could not say no to
.
He knew it too.
“And this is Lincoln Chase,”
I
continued, introducing Seth to the other boy who had perfectly clear skin
that grew lightly pink with any kind of attention
.
Lincoln was shorter than Tristan and Rigley
by a few inches, but still an obvious athlete. His pale blonde hair was stick straight and hung across his eyes in a way that
amplified his
shy and reserved
look
.
And as dangerous as Rigley could be, Lincoln was quiet and careful.
“Guys, this is Seth, he just moved here,”
I
finished
the
introductions and waited for them to all
acknowledge each other
in turn.

             
“Are you headed to Government?” Tristan asked when not much had been made out of the consecutive handshakes.

             
“In a minute, I’m going to help Seth find the office first,”
I
explained.

             
“Oh,” Tristan said surprised. He rubbed his hand over his shaved head and looked down the hallway a little lost.

             
“Save us a seat?”
I
prompted, knowing
I was interrupting our daily routine.
Tristan was still adjusting to Seth’s sudden appearance in
my
life
, but I didn’t feel bad about making him walk to class on his own
.
It was just one class.

             
“Sure,” Tristan replied, not at all wanting to save
us
both
a seat.

             
“Tristan and Stella aren’t walking to class together?” Piper turned from her locker,
dramatically
pretending to be
appalled with the situation. “What is happening to the world?” she cried out, holding her Government books up toward the ceiling and shaking them with mock outrage.

             
“Piper, I missed you over winter break, how was Breckinridge?” Tristan
goaded
Piper with heavy tones of sarcasm
.
Deep down they loved each other….
o
r at least that’s what I promised myself when she turned snarky and he turned pretend polite.

             
“It made me slow and lazy,” she admitted
moodily
, thinking about practice a half hour ago
and repeating her coaches exact words
.

             
“You’ll catch up,”
Tristan promised encouragingly but Piper only rolled her eyes and waved at
us
before marching off for class.
There was nothing she hated more than when Tristan played nice. She refused to like him and preferred him to make it easy for her to hate him.

             
“See you guys later,”
I
waved at everyone
too
, taking an amused Seth by the shirt sleeve and dragging him toward the school office.

             
“Your best friends
hate
each other,” Seth commented
when we had turned the corner
, clearly enjoying the situation.

             
“They don’t
hate
each other,”
I
tried to plead a useless case
I
had been fighting since grade school. “They just don’t always see eye to eye.”

             
“It’s just so unexpected,” Seth continued, the shock ringing in his voice. “The way you worship Tristan…. I just thought…. I mean I thought
everyone
loved him.”

             
“Everyone does love him!”
I quickly
defend
ed
Tristan. “Except…. Piper….”
I admitted, trailing
off. “
Piper just doesn’t like to like anything that everyone else likes and that includes Tristan…..
a
nd I
don’t
worship him! We’re just…. best friends.”

             
“So I’ve heard, at least a thousand times since I met you,” Seth answered a little put off. “And I only met you a week ago!”

             
“Whatever,”
I
laughed Seth off and opened the glass door to the school office.

             
Three secretaries sat working busily at retro desks behind a light wood partition with
a
long gray
peeling
countertop. The entire office screamed late 70’s, even the secretaries in their polyester skirts and thick, tan nylons.
I
smiled at the three older ladies who had been working i
n this same school for as long as anyone could remember
.

             
“Mrs. Sadler, this is Seth Smith, he’s a new student here and needs to check in with you,”
I
explained sweetly, approaching the long counter with a trailing Seth.

             
The three secretaries paused their work, fingers hovering over computer keyboards to
gawk
at the new student as
blatantly as
my
classmates
had. Mrs. Sadler, a woman in her late sixties recovered first, adjusting her thick framed cat-eyed glasses and pressing a hand to her graying French twist carefully. She stood quickly and walked to the counter with an unsure smile plastered to her overly made-up face.