Beckoning Light (3 page)

Sunday morning went by quickly. By the time I woke up, Charlotte was already practicing her cello. Although I’d never admit it, I didn’t mind listening because she was really good.

After a quick breakfast, I went for a run. One day away from practice and I already felt out of it. It felt good to stretch my muscles and get some exercise. I stayed out longer than I planned, and it was already lunchtime when I got home. 

Charlotte and Monty were in the den watching the pre-game football commentary when I came downstairs after my shower. I could tell that Charlotte wasn’t really paying attention to the show, so I decided to ask her to walk over to Liam’s house with me.

“I told Liam we would come by today to see his mom,” I said casually. “You want to head over?”

“Oh, I’ll stop by and see Debbie while you’re at practice.”

“Why don’t we just go together?” I didn’t understand her hesitation. “Let’s go.”

Charlotte nodded, maybe realizing her plan made no sense, so we said goodbye to Monty and headed next door.

Debbie Anders opened the door on the first knock and pulled me into a big hug.

“Kevin, you are so grown up,” she said, looking up at me; Debbie wasn’t a tall woman. Then she let me pass and took in Charlotte.

“Charlotte! Wow!” Debbie gushed. “Liam told me you were gorgeous, but I can’t believe this.” 

Charlotte blushed and looked down quickly. I looked over at Liam and could tell he was embarrassed. Leaving Debbie and Charlotte in the front room, I followed him back to the den.

“So you think Charlotte is gorgeous?” I joked, because it was just too good an opportunity to miss. He glared at me, so I dropped it. I figured that she probably did look really different from the last time he saw her. We sat around watching some football for a while, talking about sports mostly. 

“Last time we talked, you were dating that girl up in Fairbanks. Did you break it off, or are you going to try to do the long distance thing?” Liam asked.

“I broke it off.” I was surprised that he would even ask. “It wasn’t anything serious.”

“I figured, but I thought I would check because Karen Myers has already been asking about you.”

“Wow. That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.” I had dated Karen back in eighth grade, and I was trying to picture what she would look like now. “So, what about you? Are you seeing anyone?” Although this wasn’t exactly the conversation I had anticipated, it was nice just to shoot the breeze with him.

“No, I’m single right now. No need to get into anything serious before leaving for college.” He shrugged. I agreed with him, and we went back to talking about sports.  Eventually, I heard someone knocking out front, then Charlotte and Debbie came into the den with Monty.

“Hey guys, just a reminder that we have to leave for practice in less than twenty minutes,” Monty told us as he sat down on a couch. “Charlotte, you’re welcome to come if you want to see the school, but I’m guessing you would rather not.” He looked over to where Charlotte stood by the door.

“Good guess. No, I’ll just wait until tomorrow.”

After Liam grabbed his stuff, we said goodbye to Debbie and walked back to my house. We left Charlotte inside to finish unpacking, and Monty, Liam, and I drove over to the school together. I was looking forward to meeting the rest of the team and getting back onto the court. I couldn’t help but think about what it was going to be like to meet my team next year. As calm as I pretended to be about playing college ball, I was nervous. I had always played well, but I knew that next year would be like nothing I had ever experienced. One great thing about moving back to Charleston for my last high school season was that I would be playing with more competition. Basketball was a much bigger deal in the Carolinas than in Alaska. By the time we walked into the gym, I had cleared my head and was ready for practice. 

Chapter Three

Charlotte

Dressed in a jean skirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and a light jacket, I got out of the passenger side of Kevin’s car. My stomach knotted, and I started feeling lightheaded.

“You ready for this?” Kevin asked.

“No, but do I really have a choice?” I retorted. I knew that I shouldn’t be taking out my nerves on Kevin, but I couldn’t help it.

He stifled a laugh, “It’s just school, Charlotte. Besides, maybe this is a chance for a new start.”

“Maybe,” I mumbled.

I used the map my uncle had given me with my schedule to find my locker, which he had marked with a bright red ‘X.’ Thank goodness for Monty. At least he seemed to understand me sometimes. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my locker on the first try. I put in a few of my new books, which Monty had already picked up from my teachers. I thought about putting my jacket in there, but I reconsidered, afraid the classrooms might be cold.

I walked to my first class, English, hoping the day would pass quickly. There were still about ten minutes before class started, but I decided to walk in anyway. The room was empty except for an extremely young, dark-haired teacher. I took a deep breath, preparing to introduce myself, but the teacher spoke first.

“You must be Charlotte. I’m Ms. Wilson.” She stood as soon as I reached her desk.

“Hi, nice to meet you.”

“Your uncle has told me so much about you. Mont—I mean, Mr. Winthrop, is just so happy that you and your brother moved back home. Does it feel good to be back?”

“Yeah, I’ve missed Charleston and my uncle.” 

“Your uncle told me you are quite the writer.” Her voice lilted upward at the end, making her comment seem almost like a question.

“I like to write, but I don’t know how good I am.” I wondered what else Monty had told her.

“Well, I’m the advisor for the school newspaper. Would you be interested in joining us? We’re meeting in here after school,” she added.

“Oh, that actually sounds great.” I hadn’t looked at the list Monty gave me, but the school paper seemed like it might be a good fit. I had occasionally written articles for my school paper in Fairbanks, so I knew what to expect.

“Wonderful,” she said with a warm smile.

I heard books hit a desk and realized another student had entered the room. I decided not to look over. There was no reason to make whoever it was think they needed to make conversation. “Okay, great. Where should I sit?”

“Ms. Wilson?” the student who had just entered the room called out. “There’s an open seat next to me.”

“You’re right, James. Charlotte, why don’t you go sit over there?” I glanced over to see that Ms. Wilson was pointing to a chair in the back row closest to the windows. I slowly walked over to the desk, looking down as much as possible. It was only after I was seated that I snuck a peak at the other student. He was tall and athletic-looking, wearing a fitted polo shirt that looked a little tighter than what I expected a guy to wear. I guessed that he was wearing it to draw attention to his muscular build. He sat completely straight in his chair and, when he saw me looking at him, he made direct eye contact, making me think he was the over-confident type. He smiled brightly as if seeing an old friend. I expected to feel nervous, but something about him felt familiar, even though he made me feel uncomfortable at the same time.

“Hi, I’m James,” he said, extending a hand.

“Charlotte.” I accepted the handshake awkwardly, still locked in his intense gaze.

“Pretty name. I know how you must feel. I was a new kid at the beginning of the year, but it hasn’t been so bad.”

“Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, but it’s kind of more complicated for me.”

“Complicated? How?”

“Well I’m not completely
new
. I’m from here, but I’ve been living in Alaska for the last three years.”

“Alaska? Wow, must have been hard for a southern girl.” I sensed some sarcasm but decided to ignore it.

“It wasn’t too bad, but it’s nice to be out of my parka.”

“I bet.” I didn’t think it was possible, but he smiled brighter.

“What?” I asked, trying to understand what the smile meant.

“You’re probably the only girl wearing a skirt today.” He momentarily broke his intense eye contact to look down at where my legs were visible below the desk.

I immediately blushed. “Well it’s pretty warm… considering.” I quickly looked down before he could catch my eye again.

“I’m not complaining, Charlotte, just saying.” A hint of a joke hid in his words.

Great, this was getting even better. A boy I didn’t know from a hole in the wall was talking about me wearing a skirt. He was either trying to flirt or trying to make me feel weird; the latter felt more likely.

Other students began filing into the room. Most wore curious expressions, and some stopped to introduce themselves. A blond-haired girl came right over, and said, “Charlotte Calloway? Oh, my gosh, you look so different.”

“Anna? Wow.” Relieved to see someone I remembered who actually seemed happy to see me, I held back the comment in my head that Anna really didn’t look very different. 

“I can’t believe you’re back. It’s so crazy you were in Alaska,” she said excitedly.

“Yeah, I know. It was a big move.”

“So I saw Kevin in the hall. He looks great.” She looked at me expectantly.

“Yeah, I guess.” Great, so that was it. She wasn’t excited to see me. She was excited to get friendly so she could get near my brother. I thought back on all of the times she invited herself over for sleepovers before I moved and realized that the motivation had probably been Kevin. Well, I figured her friendliness was better than nothing. Maybe we would have other classes together. As a bonus, her arrival had gotten me out of that awkward conversation with James.

Ms. Wilson started class by casually mentioning there was a new student, but luckily, no one stared for too long. Her next announcement was even worse. “We’re going to continue our discussion of modern American poets. As I mentioned last week, I want you to break into pairs and choose a poet to study over the next few weeks. At the end of this time, you must turn in a written report on the chosen poet; you must include a biography and an analysis of two of the poet’s works.”

Great
, I thought. My first day, and already I had to find a partner. I looked down at my desk and waited as Ms. Wilson walked around the room writing down the partners and selected poets. I looked up when I heard James say, “Charlotte and I are going to work as a pair, Ms. Wilson, and can we please have Poe?”

What the heck?
I thought. I couldn’t believe he had just volunteered us to be partners without asking me first. But I quickly realized that he was doing me a favor by saving me from having to ask anyone else. Maybe he really was just trying to be nice to a fellow new kid.

“Great. You two can definitely study Edgar Allen Poe.” After Ms. Wilson moved on, James moved his desk closer to mine, mirroring what others were doing in order to discuss the project.

“So, you ready to study, poetry partner?” James asked with a cryptic smile.

“Sure, how do you want to split this up?” I hoped to avoid meeting him outside of class.

“Split this up? I thought we were working together?” He sounded genuinely surprised by my suggestion.

I tried to soften my proposal. “I mean, shouldn’t we at least spend some time researching on our own first?”

“Why? It’s boring that way. Let’s meet in the library one day this week, okay?”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with a reasonable excuse fast enough. “Sure.” 

“Oh, and I heard Ms. Wilson talking about the school newspaper,” he said, abruptly changing the subject. “You really should come.”

“So, you’re on it?” I asked, surprised. He didn’t strike me as a ‘school paper’ kind of guy.

“I wasn’t, but I was thinking about checking it out this week.”

“Oh, okay.” I doubted that his interest in the paper was a coincidence, but there didn’t seem to be a point in calling him on it.

Ms. Wilson asked for everyone’s attention, so I tried to concentrate on her lecture and not on how nervous I was about the rest of the day. Before I knew it, the bell rang. I got up with some relief—one class down.

“So I guess I’ll see you later,” James said, as we walked to the door.

“Yeah, see you later.” I hurried ahead.

The rest of the morning went smoothly. I had Spanish, which didn’t seem too bad, and I really liked my world history teacher. When I got to gym, I changed into my gym clothes and was relieved to see Anna. She invited me to join her team for basketball. Whether she was using me for my brother or not, it was still nice to be able to avoid asking the gym teacher for help in selecting a team. 

Class was almost over when someone touched my arm lightly. I twisted around quickly. Everyone else was heading back to the locker room, but Anna had hung back with me.

“Hey, little Calloway!” Liam said, smiling.

“Hi, Liam.” I tried to comprehend how I had somehow failed to notice that Liam was in my gym class. I suddenly felt self-conscious in my gym shorts. Liam had walked over with a boy I didn’t recognize.

“I can’t believe you’re in high school.” Liam appeared so calm; he obviously wasn’t embarrassed about wearing gym clothes.

“Yeah, I’m not thirteen anymore.” I couldn’t believe my luck. Of all the gym classes, he had to be in mine?

“No, you sure aren’t,” Liam said, looking me up and down.

“What?” I wasn’t sure what to make of his sweeping look.

“So, you’re a sophomore?”

“Yeah, tenth grade.” I didn’t know why he had asked. Was he playing dumb on purpose? How could he not remember what grade I was in? Or maybe he had no reason to remember, since I was just his friend’s kid sister.

“It’s funny. I always felt like you were a lot younger than me, but I guess it’s only two years.” Liam stopped, as though suddenly remembering the boy next to him. “Oh, this is Brian. Brian, this is Charlotte, Coach’s niece, Kevin’s little sister.”

“Hi, Charlotte. So you’re who coach was talking about?”

“Hi, Brian.” I tried to sound friendly, but I sincerely hoped that Monty hadn’t been talking about me too much.