Мэг Кэбот - Avalon High стр 3.

sure: He wasnt smiling anymore.

who, I noted

maybe because I almost ran into

 Finally, he said something that seemed to placate the blond couple, since they stopped

looking so upset.

 Then the blond boy climbed into a Jeep, while the dark-haired guy slid behind the wheel

of a white Land Cruiser

Which surprised me, since it had looked to me like she and the cute blond guy, not the

dark-haired one, were the couple.

 But having had little experience in the boyfriend department, Im not exactly an expert.

 I was sitting on the hood of our own car reflecting on what I had just witnesseda lovers

quarrel? A drug deal of some kind?when my dad finally came staggering over.

 Water, he croaked, and I gave him the other bottle.

 It wasnt until we were inside the car, the air-conditioning blasting on us at full power,

that my dad asked, So. Have a good run?

 Yeah, I said, kind of surprised by the answer.

 Want to go again tomorrow? my dad wanted to know.

 Sure, I said, looking at the place where the three people Id seenthe two blonds and

the dark-haired boyhad last stood. They were long gone by then.

 Great, my dad said, in a voice totally lacking any sort of enthusiasm.

 You could tell hed been hoping Id say no. But I couldnt do that. Not because Id finally

remembered how much I enjoyed running, or because Id had a good time with my dad.

 But becausefine, Ill admit itI was hoping Id see that cute guyand his smileagain.

CHAPTER THREE

 I didnt. At least, not at the park. Not that next week, anyway. Dad and I went running

every dayat around the same time as that first daybut I didnt see anyone in the ravine

again.

 And I looked. Believe me. I looked hard.

 I thought about themthe three people Id seena lot. Because they were the first people

and the blond girl slipped into the passenger seat beside him.

my own age Id seen in Annapolisoutside of those working at Grauls, the local grocery

store where we bought trash bags and bread, or waiting tables at Red Hot and Blue.

 Was that ravine, I wondered, some kind of local make-out spot?

 But the dark-haired guy hadnt been making out with anybody that I had seen.

 Was it where kids went to do drugs?

 But the guy hadnt seemed high. And he and his friends hadnt looked like headbangers.

Theyd been wearing normal clothes, khaki shorts and T-shirts. I hadnt noticed a single

tattoo or piercing on any of them.

 It didnt appear that I was going to get answers to any of these questions anytime soon.

Our days of running in Anne Arundel Parkand my floating in our poolwere coming to

an end anyway: School was starting.

 It had always been my dream, of course, to start off my junior year as a new student in a

high school in a faraway state where I knew no one.

 Um, not.

 The first day at Avalon High School wasnt a real first day. It was an orientation.

Basically you just got assigned classes and lockers and stuff. Nothing cerebral involved, I

guess to sort of ease us back into the academic routine.

 AHS was smaller than my old school, but had better facilities and more money, so I

wasnt exactly complaining. They even had a student guide they handed out on the first

official (non-orientation) day, with a small photo and bio on each student. I had to pose

for my photo during orientationme and two hundred giggling freshmen. Yippeethen fill

out a form that asked me for my pertinent information: name, e-mail address (if I chose to

share it), and interests, so they could put it in the guide. It was so we could all get to

know one another

 My parents were super excited on my first day ofreal school. They got up early and made

me a big breakfast and a bag lunch. The breakfast was okaywaffles that were only a

little freezer burnedbut the lunch was really sad: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with

Red Hot and Blue potato salad on the side. I didnt have the heart to tell them that the

potato salad would get all warm in my locker before I ever got a chance to eat it. My

parents, being medievalists, just dont think about refrigeration that often.

 I took the bag they offered me all proudly and just went, Thanks, Mom and Dad.

 They drove me to school the first day because I said I was too emotionally fragile to take

the bus. All of us knew this wasnt true, but I really didnt want to deal with the hassle of

not having anybody to sit next to, and people possibly not wanting to share their seats

sort of Image for the student population.

with a total stranger, et cetera.

 My parents didnt seem to mind. They dropped me off on their way to BWI, the local

train station, because they had decided to make a day of it and go into the city to consult

with other medievalists on their booksmy mom about Elaine of Astolat, and my dad

about his sword.

 I told them to play nice with the other professors, and they told me to play nice with the

other high school kids.

 Then I went on into the school.

 It was a typical first dayat least the initial half was. No one spoke to me, and I spoke to

no one. A couple of the teachers made a big deal out of my being new, and from the

exotic land of Minnesota, and had me tell the class a little about myself and my home

state.

 I did.

 No one listened. Or if they did, they didnt seem to care.

 Which was all right, because truthfully, I didnt care very much either.

 Lunch is always the scariest part of any kids first day at a new school. Im kind of used

to it, from previous sabbaticals, though. Like, I knew enough from my experience in

Germany that taking my paper bag and going to sit in the library by myself would peg me

as a huge loser for the rest of the year.

 So instead I took a deep breath and looked around for a table where tall, geeky-looking

girls like myself were sitting. After I found some, I went over to introduce myself.

Because, basically, thats what you have to do. Feeling like a complete and total dork, I

told them I was new and asked if I could sit with them. Thank God they scooted down

and made room for me. That is, after all, the accepted code of conduct for tall, geeky-

looking girls everywhere.

 Granted, they could have told me to get lost. But they didnt. Avalon High, I was starting

to think, might not be so bad after all.

 I was especially convinced of this right after lunch, which is when I finally saw him. The

guy from the ravine, I mean.

 I was looking down at my schedule, trying to remember where Room 209 was from my

orientation tour, when he came hurtling around the corner, and practically smacked into

me. I recognized him at oncenot just because he was so tall, and there arent a lot of

guys who are taller than me, but also because he had such a distinctive face. Not

handsome, really. But attractive. And nice. And strong-looking.

 The weirdest part was, he seemed to recognize me, too, even though he could only have

seen me for, like, five seconds that day in the park.

 Hey, he said, smiling, not just with his lips, but with his sky blue eyes, too.

 JustHey . Thats all.Hey.

 But it was aHey that made my heart flop over inside my chest.

 And, okay, whatever. Maybe it was the eyes, and not theHey so much. Or maybe it was

just, you know, a familiar face in this sea of people Id never seen before.

 Except

well, Id seen the girl standing next to himit was the blond girl, the same one

Id seen him drive away withbefore, and my heart hadnt flopped over at the sight of her.

 But maybe thats because she was plucking on his sleeve and going, But I told Lance

wed meet him at the DQ after practice.

 To which he replied by putting his arm around her and going, Sure, that sounds great.

 Then the two of them went by me, and were swallowed up in the hordes flooding the

hallway.

 The whole thing had taken maybe two seconds. Okay, three.

 But it left me feeling like someone had kicked me in the chest. Which justwell, it isnt

like me. I amnot that way. You know, theOh my God, he lookedat me, I can barely

breathe type. Nancys the romantic optimist. Im the practical one.

 Which is why it made no sense at all that the minute I got to my next class, I was

whipping out my copy of the student guide and frantically thumbing through it until I

found him, paying not the slightest bit of attention to the reading syllabus my new World

Lit teacher was trying to go over with us.

 He was a year ahead of me, a senior. His name was A. William Wagner, but he was

known as just plain Will.

 I thought that suited him. He looked like a Will.

 Not that I know how a Will should look, really. But whatever.

 According to the book, A. William Wagner was quite a star. He was on the school

football team, as well as a National Merit Finalist and president of the senior class. His

interests included reading and sailing.

 It didnt say anything about Wills dating status, but Id seen him twice now, both times

with the same stunningly pretty blonde. And the second time hed put his arm around her,

and shed talked to him about meeting someone at the Dairy Queen after practice. She

had to be his girlfriend.

 Guys like A. William Wagner always have girlfriends. You dont have to be the practical

type, like I am, to know that.

 Since I had nothing better to doMr. Morton, my World Lit instructor, was trying to

interest us in Gaelic legend, which I probably would have found interesting if I didnt eat,

drink, and breathe Gaelic legend whenever I was in the presence of my parentsI looked

the girlfriend up in the guide, too. I found her picturein my classand saw that her name

was Jennifer Gold, and that her interests included shopping and, what a surprise, A.

William Wagner.

 Her extracurricular was cheerleading.

 It so figured.

 I flipped through the student guide, looking for the blond boy Id seen with Will and

Jennifer that day in the park, I found him, eventually. Lance Reynolds. He was in Wills

class, a senior. He was listed as a guardwhatever that wason the football team, as well

as having an interest in sailing.

 As first days of school went, this one hadnt been all that bad. Id even made some new

friends. Some of the girls Id sat down next to at lunch turned out to be on the track team.

One of themLizlived on the same road as me. She said shed see me on the bus in the

morning.

 When I came outside after school and saw Mom and Dad sitting there in our car, I didnt

melt with relief or anything. I just got into the car and said, Home, Jeeves, in a jokey

way. On our way back to the house, they asked me about my day, and I told them it had

been fine. Then I asked them about theirs. Mom went on about some new text shed

found that actually mentions Elainenot me,her Elainein Arthurian legend, unconnected

to the famous Tennyson poem about her. Which, you know, is so exciting. Not.

 And Dad talked about his sword until my eyes started to cross.

 But I listened politely, because thats what you do.

 Then, when we got home, I went up to my room, put on my bikini, came back

downstairs, and got onto my raft.

 My mom came out onto the deck a little while later and looked down at me as I floated.

 Youre kidding me with this, right? she said. I thought we were through with this,

now that school has started.

 Come on, Mom, I said. Summerll be over soon, and well have to close up the pool.

Cant I just enjoy it for the short time I have left?

 My mom went back inside, shaking her head.

 I leaned back against my raft and closed my eyes. The sun was still hot, even though it

was after three. I had homeworkhomework, on the first day! Id been right about that

Mr. Morton, the World Lit teacher

essay assignmentsbut that could wait until after dinner. There were e-mails, too, from

my friends back home, that needed to be answered. Nancy was begging to come visit.

Shed never been to the East Coast, let alone stayed in a house with its own pool before.

But she had to come soon, or it would be too cool to swim.

 I had established a very strict floating regimen. I floated on my back, in the center of the

pool. If the raft drifted too close to any of the kidney-shaped pools sides, I shoved off

with my foot. The guy who owns the house had put all these big rocks around the edges

of the pool, to make it look more like a naturally occurring pond, or something (except

you dont see that many ponds with chlorine and filters in them. But whatever).

 Anyway, you had to be careful how you shoved off from the rocks, because there was

this one really big rock that had a hugeas big as my fistspider that lived on it. A couple

of times when I hadnt looked where I put my foot, Id almost squashed the spider. I

didnt want to upset the delicate ecosystem of the pool, so, like with the snake, I was

trying hard not to kill this spider. Also, of course, I didnt exactly want him to bite me and

send me to the emergency room.