Welcome To Hickville High (Hickville High Series Book 1) (6 page)

“Yes.”

“I’ll just go see what I can help with.” Austin headed toward the back of the store.

Kelsey noticed dark circles under Mom’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Just a little tired.” She gave a weak smile, but Kelsey caught a slight quiver in her chin.

For the first time, Kelsey saw her mother’s optimistic outlook waver. Maybe Mom wasn’t as excited about the move as she seemed. After all, she’d had to give up Junior League, St. Monica’s altar society, St. Vincent de Paul, and whatever else she did with her free time. “You look like you could use a break. What can I do for you?”

Mom raised her brows, no doubt in shock that Kelsey was being cooperative. “If you’d sweep the floor I can…”

“Sit down and rest.” Kelsey picked up the broom. “Really, I got it.”

“Thanks. I’ll go check on Ryan and McKenzie. They’re tagging new inventory.”

Kelsey had never used a push broom in her life, or any other broom for that matter, but how hard could it be?’

She pushed the broom across the floor. It took her about five minutes to figure out short quick strokes worked much better to gather the dirt. By the time she’d finished she had several little piles of dirt throughout the store. She leaned the broom handle against the wall and went in search of a dustpan. Her arms felt like lead. Who’d have thought sweeping could be such a workout?

She wandered through a doorway at the rear of the store. A short hall opened to a warehouse area. Boxes and sacks were stored on industrial shelves. At the back, a garage door was open and a forklift was parked close to a loading dock.

Ryan, Mackenzie, and her mom sat at a rickety wooden table. Behind the table was a makeshift kitchen with a sink, microwave, and refrigerator. Austin leaned against the counter talking to her dad and uncle.

“Hey is there a dustpan? I need to pick up my piles.”

Dad looked at her. “You used a broom?”

“Yes, and I’ll never be able to raise my arms above my head again.”

Uncle Jack grabbed a regular broom and dustpan and handed them to her. “Empty the dirt into the large can at the front.”

Kelsey was grimy by the time she finished. Sweat mixed with dirt caked her body. She couldn’t wait to shower. She was glad Drew wasn’t around to see how gross she looked.

Austin was there though. He’d come into the room with a smirk plastered across his face as he watched her wipe her hands on her jeans.

She looked at him skeptically. “What?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking that you probably aren’t used to having dirt smudged on your cheek.” His smirk transformed to a smile and his dark blue eyes seemed to sparkle just a bit.

Kelsey was drawn to that sparkle and couldn’t look away. She wiped her cheek with her shoulder. “Not really.”

“It suits you.”

She shouldn’t smile, but her face wasn’t listening to her brain and went beyond smile to a full out grin. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Just that, you look kind of cute with dirt smudged over your make up.” He stepped close to her and brushed her cheek with his good thumb. “It’s this side.”

“Thanks.” Her face felt flushed, as if someone had let the Texas heat into the building. “So-o-o. Is there anything else?”

“Yeah.” He jerked his head toward the back room. “I’m supposed to get you. I guess your folks want you to drive me home and they’ll pick you up. Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

He turned to walk to the back room and she followed.

Kelsey reached to touch her cheek where Austin had wiped the dirt off. It wasn’t like she could still feel his touch or anything but she could feel the after effects. There was crazy stuff going on inside her. It didn’t make sense. Drew was everything she ever wanted. And Austin? Not even close.

In Mesquite, Texas, it is illegal for children to have unusual haircuts.

Kelsey decided she liked driving a pickup truck. It wasn’t just that she sat up high, she did that in the SUV. It was the feeling she got. Like she was doing something none of her friends would believe or approve of—like she was doing something rebellious.

Austin leaned on the door with his injured hand pressed against his chest. “So what was life like for Kelsey Quinn in Chicago?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I mean you obviously didn’t mess with animals.” He held his bandaged hand away from his body as if to validate his statement. “What kind of havoc did you create there?”

“I didn’t create havoc in Chicago. That would’ve been Ryan.” Kelsey put a playful sarcastic tone in her voice. “Besides, it’s just a little snake bite.”

Austin laughed. “Your concern is heartening.”

“I do feel bad.” Remembering the blood gushing from the bite, she added, “Horrified really.”

He gave her a sideways look. “It wasn’t all your fault. I should have booted that thing across the chicken yard.”

“I just hope day two isn’t so exciting.”

“Aww—this is Texas, baby—every day is excit’n.” His exaggerated tone made her smile.

“Excit’n? Chicago is excit’n.” Kelsey tried to mock his accent but couldn’t quite get the hang of dragging her words out and chopping off the end.

Austin covered his face with his good hand and shook his head. “Don’t even try.”

“It was pretty bad.”

“No. It was real bad.” He leaned his head against the seat and closed his eyes. His face had a strained look and he cupped his bandaged hand with the good one.

“Hurting?”

He peeked at her from half open lids. “Yes. Distract me. Tell me about Chicago.”

A knot formed in Kelsey’s chest. “My life was perfect. I had everything there.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Like everything. Chicago is awesome. We have museums, art galleries, Millennium Park. The restaurants are to die for. The shopping is amazing.”

“We have a museum.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. It’s across from the courthouse. There’s got to be at least fifty-sixty things on display.”

“Woo. Look out Chicago. What about galleries and shopping?”

“Not so much on art galleries. There is one, but I haven’t been there in a long time.” He closed his eyes and took a breath before opening them. “Chelsea, the girl whose grave you saw, was an artist. She worked at the gallery. She liked to paint about high school life. Every painting, every drawing told a story.”

“Ryan is an artist. She went to the art magnet school in Chicago. She can paint, draw, sculpt—whatever she touches turns to art. I can’t color and stay in the lines.”

“Staying in the lines is highly overrated.” He kept his head pressed against the seat as he spoke and his speech was a little stilted like he was having trouble speaking through the pain.

Kelsey tried to keep the conversation going. “Metaphorically or for real?”

“Both.” He smiled, but it looked tense.

“Do you have pain pills with you?”

“I’m good.” He leaned forward and turned in his seat a little toward her. “I’m guessing you’re a stay-in-the-lines kinda’ girl—metaphorically.”

She laughed bitterly. “You would be correct. A lot of good it’s done me. I still got exiled here.”

“Exiled?” He smiled full on this time, and although she caught his look in glances between him and the road, it was enough to make her heart beat a little faster. He shook his head. “We’ve got a Wal-Mart. Spring Creek has a Target and a Penney’s. What more do you need?”

Austin’s tone was teasing with a mix of sarcasm and that made Kelsey laugh a little. “Okay cowboy, how far is the closest real mall?”

“That’d be about an hour from here.”

“An hour?” Okay, better than two hours. “I can do that.”

“I’m glad to know you won’t totally wither away out here in the wilderness.”

“Seriously, Austin. What is there to do here?”

“In the summer, not a lot. But in the fall there’s football. How about your school?”

“I went to a Catholic school.”

“All girls?”

“Co-ed, thank you very much, so no jokes.”

“It never entered my mind. What did you do for fun at the co-ed Catholic school?”

“I mostly studied my brains out so I could get into a good college. I’m going to apply to Notre Dame to make my parents happy. I want to go to Harvard with Drew, but I’m not sure I could get in even if my parents still could afford it. I’ve thought about Boston College. At least then I’d be close to Drew.” A tear slipped from her right eye. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m sorry.”

He looked at her like he was seeing the pain she felt. “It’s got to be rough moving away your senior year. I’ve never lived anywhere but here. Sometimes this town gets a little small, but I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I think I’d be pissed off if I was forced to move to a strange place.”

God, I look weak and pathetic.
She swiped at the lone tear and pushed her sadness away. “So what makes Hillside wonderful? Besides the museum and Wal-Mart?”

“I didn’t say it was wonderful. First off, everybody knows your business. Secondly, if they don’t know your business they’ll find it out. It can get a little…intense.” Austin shook his head. “My mom says it’s a good thing. We kinda take care of each other around here. “

“I guess I’ll find out just how well you take care of each other tomorrow.”

“What’s tomorrow?”

She gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “I register for classes.”

“You’ll be fine. It’s not like you have a huge choice.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Just try not to get Mr. Shipley for AP English.”

“Why?”

“He’s crazy. He’s a survivalist. He’s always talking about how to get out of idiotic scenarios that one-in-a-billion people will ever see.”

Oh great. Welcome to Texas.
“Who should I get?”

“Mrs. White. She’s the only other choice, but she’s really good.” He gave her names of other good and bad teachers, but by the time she pulled into his drive, she wasn’t sure which was which.

She put the truck in park and Austin said, “Do you want to come in while you wait on your folks?”

“And get out of this heat? Sure.” Besides she was curious about what the inside of one of these metal cracker boxes looked like. She handed him the keys and followed him up the wooden steps leading to a deck in front of the house. But before he got his key in the doorknob, her parents pulled into the drive.

She watched Dad park behind Austin’s truck. “So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Bright and early.”

His eyes twinkled just enough to make her duck her head and hide the blush she felt crawling up her cheeks. “Okay then.”

She jogged down the steps. When she reached her parents, she turned and raised her hand to wave goodbye, but he was already in the house. A pang of disappointment traveled through her as she left the gesture unfinished and climbed into the car.

She plopped onto the seat next to Mackenzie. “So is anybody else as I tired as I am?”

Mackenzie stretched her arms in front. “This is a whole different kind of tired than eight hours in the gym.”

Ryan leaned her head back. “We must have moved a hundred boxes while we waited for you and Austin to show up.”

“What are you saying, Ryan? Because I didn’t see you out there picking up chicken-poop-covered eggs.”

Dad glanced in the rear view mirror. “Everybody did their share of chores. You got that.”

She got it, but Kelsey wanted to fight with Ryan. She had followed all of the rules, even the stupid ones. Not Ryan. She’d snuck out, did drugs, did guys, and everybody’s life was tuned upside down and inside out because of it. Sure, Dad was fired from the investment firm. But it was only after Ryan was caught having sex with Dad’s former partner’s son that they decided to move to Texas. All Mom talked about was how this move was good for the family. Remembering her quivering chin, Kelsey doubted even Mom believed that line of crap anymore.

*

Aunt Susan and Uncle Jack’s house was not what Kelsey expected. It was a brick ranch style on a street with little doppelganger houses on each side. Aunt Susan answered the doorbell and greeted them with a round of tight hugs. “Mercy me, y’all must be tired. Come in.”

They stepped onto a white tile foyer surrounded by whiter carpet. Mom pulled her shoes off and ordered the girls to do the same. As Kelsey slid her feet from her sneakers, she watched her mom go into Junior League mode. “Thank you for having us. Your house is lovely.” Leave it to her mom. It didn’t matter how crappy her day was, she always managed to extend social graces. She was the epitome of class, even wearing a ball cap and jeans.

Aunt Susan smiled. “Thank you. Jack thinks I’m crazy for wanting all this white, but after thirty years on the farm I wanted something that felt clean.”

The kitchen, den, and eating area kind of morphed into one big room. The back door was on the right side between the den and dining area across from the kitchen.

Uncle Jack came in through the back door wielding a pair of barbeque tongs in one hand and a bottle of Shiner beer in the other. “Well look what the cat drug in. Just in time too. I’m ‘bout to throw the steaks on the grill. Beer’s in the fridge, Tom.”

Aunt Susan added, “For the girls, I have sweet tea or coke.”

Not sure which flavor of coke she would get, Kelsey opted for the tea. She watched her aunt get drinks and thought about how different her parents were from her aunt and uncle. It hardly seemed possible that Uncle Jack and Dad were brothers. Uncle Jack wore denim cargo shorts, a Hawaiian shirt that fit loose enough to cover his gut, a straw cowboy hat, and flip-flops. He was laid back and loud. Dad wore plaid shorts, a polo shirt, and leather sandals. He didn’t need to wear a loose fitting shirt because he worked out every day—or at least he had until they moved. And he seldom cracked a joke, probably because he was stressed out all the time. It’s too bad Dad hadn’t inherited at least a little of Uncle Jack’s laid-back attitude.

Kelsey took the glass of tea and followed her aunt and sisters onto the back patio.

Twenty minutes later she bit into quite possibly the greatest thing about Texas. It was the juiciest, most tender rib eye she’d ever experienced. That, coupled with a loaded baked potato and Aunt Susan’s sweet tea, gave life to her tired body.

Uncle Jack told stories about growing up on the farm. He had a way of making everything sound like an adventure. As the family laughed at Uncle Jack, Kelsey watched her dad. At first, his smile was tight, like it was all he could do to force it on his face. But as the evening continued, Kelsey saw him change. He leaned back in his chair, the furrows in his brow relaxed, and he actually let out a laugh or two. And for a moment, she wasn’t angry with him and she didn’t hate Ryan.

After dinner, Aunt Susan pulled out the 1984 Hornets yearbook and flipped through the pages until she found what she was searching for. She handed the book to Kelsey and her sisters. “This is your dad.”

Kelsey held the book as Ryan and Mackenzie looked on from either side. She studied the picture labeled Thomas Anthony Quinn. This was her straight-laced, militant dad?

The girls broke out laughing and Kelsey shook her head. “Seriously, Dad? This is you?” His hair was almost to his shoulders and he wore a lavender T-shirt beneath a white wide-lapelled jacket.

Her dad peeked over her shoulder. “Hey, I was a stud.”

The girls broke out in a collective “Ewww.”

Aunt Susan said, “Here, let me see that.”

Kelsey handed her the book and she flipped to other pages of Thomas Anthony Quinn: junior class president, quarterback, president of the Latin club, and treasurer of the Future Farmers of America.

Ryan looked at her dad. “You did all this and you were a junior? What was left over for your senior year?”

“I didn’t do much after that.”

Mackenzie asked. “What happened?”

He took a step back and tugged at his collar before mumbling. “I focused on my studies.” He drew a long swig of beer and walked to the kitchen to toss the bottle.

Aunt Susan shook her head. “Cassidy Jones is what happened. She was a real piece of work.”

“Who’s Cassidy Jones?” Kelsey eyed her dad.

“Nobody.” He leaned over her shoulder and flipped the pages to the senior class. “Look up your uncle. Now, there’s class.”

Kelsey thumbed through the pictures until she reached the page with the Q’s. She barely recognized the kid staring back at her from the album. He had thick blonde shoulder length hair, oversized horn-rimmed glasses and wore the same wide lapel jacket as her dad only with a giant bow tie.

Aunt Susan leaned over and looked at the picture. “Lord have mercy. I forgot all about that bow tie. That tie about got Jack suspended from school.”

Ryan looked up at her aunt. “For a bow tie?”

“Yes. Jack was always the class clown, bless his heart. He wore that ridiculous tie on picture day and about half the senior boys had their turn at it.”

Kelsey flipped through the senior class and sure enough, most of the guys and a couple of girls wore the tie. “But why would they kick him out of school?”

“For having a little fun.” Jack moved to stand around the table with the girls.

Aunt Susan dismissed Jack with a flick of her hand. “You know you were making fun of Mr. Deaver.” She shook her head. “He taught Economics. Always wore a bow tie, bless his heart.”

“He was a hundred years old and dyed his hair with cheap dye. When he got nervous brown sweat would roll down his forehead.” Uncle Jack could barely get the story out before he broke out laughing.

He had one of those infectious laughs that made everybody else spontaneously join in.

Aunt Susan shook her head. “Still, ya’ll shouldn’t have made fun of him.”

Kelsey watched her Uncle throw his head back and laugh. Dad laughed too, but it looked unnatural on his face. They were as different as brothers could be. As different as she and Ryan. Did they fight like she and Ryan too? They seemed to get along now.