I Wish... (5 page)

"I went to the diner and then took a walk in the woods behind the house."

"You know how I feel about you going off without telling me where you are going and when you'll be back. I can't imagine what possessed you to do that
here
of all places."

"Here? As in Desire? We've been in some of the biggest; most crime ridden cities in the country and you are worried about me staying safe in this little town? The biggest danger I've seen so far is pollen from all the picture perfect gardens. Lucky for me I don't have any allergies."

Ramona's nostrils flared and her lips pursed. "You will watch yourself around me, young lady or there will be consequences."

A more defiant kid than me might have been tempted to see exactly what she thought she could do, but I've never been one to make waves. The truth was I knew that I had messed up. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

"Get your things; you'll be sharing a room with Krista."

"How many days are we staying?"

"Bring them all inside. We're going to be staying here and taking care of Georgina. She isn't well and she needs me here."

The blood drained from my face. "What? Are you serious?"

"You wouldn't believe how serious I am about this. You'll be starting school in the morning. Now get going!" She went inside, her loose clothes billowing out behind her and I heard her calling to Marla.

School here? This town was full of psychos. And what about living in this house? I didn't know what Krista would be like, but if her mother and sister were any indication, I should probably sleep with one eye open. I grabbed a huge double arm load of my things.

I found Marla waiting for me on the porch. She didn't seem especially happy to see me. In fact, she looked rather pissed about it. "Come on." She pivoted on her bare heel and marched up the stairs to a room on the second floor. She opened the door for me and gestured toward one of the twin beds in the room.

I threw my things on top of the bed and she stalked past me and opened the closet door and shoved the clothes inside to one side. "We really weren't prepared to have guests, but until we figure something else out this arrangement is going to have to work. I'll have Krista clear out a couple of drawers for your things after school tomorrow. She called to say she won't be home until late. I'll tell her not to wake you when she comes in."

"Thank you."

She paused in the doorway and looked at me over her shoulder. "You might want to go ahead and go to sleep now. School starts early for overindulged little girls who've never had had to adhere to a schedule in their whole life."

This was one of those moments where the perfect witty come back only occurs to you hours later while you lay in bed. Instead I just stood there gaping at her doing my best impression of a goldfish. Seriously? I stood there staring for nearly a minute after she left.

I spent a few minutes hanging the clothes I'd brought inside. I thought about getting the rest of my things, but as much as it irked me to admit it, I
was
awfully tired. I worried that I might have trouble sleeping with all that I had to think about, but instead I barely laid down before I fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

***

Chapter 3

The years on the road turned me into a deep sleeper. I hadn't had a single moment of wakefulness from the time my head hit my pillow until my mother shook me awake the next morning. I didn't hear Krista come in the night before and, as it turned out, I hadn't heard her leave for school the next morning either. When I pulled my head out from under the pillow I saw immediately that the light was wrong for early morning.

"What time is it?" I asked mom.

"It's almost ten thirty. I didn't see any point in waking you before we were able to get you enrolled. Mother was able to do it over the phone. I think that even if they didn't offer that service they would have started on the spot. You know how she can be when she doesn't get her way."

"I really wanted someone to wake me up before Krista left. It would have been nice to meet her and find out what the kids wear here. It's hard enough to be the girl who's never been to public school before, but now I also get to be the one who wears stupid clothes."

Mom smiled faintly. "I think you'll find that it really doesn't matter what how you dress. You're a beautiful girl from an important family. That'd count for a lot anywhere, but it's really significant to people in Desire."

"Mom, when I went to the diner yesterday the people I met were really nice until they found out my name. It was a total Jekyll and Hyde thing. So weird."

"Was it women or men who were mean to you?"

What a strange question.
"Does it matter?"

Her normally serene face had a bitter expression on it. "I'll bet it was the women. And you might run into some of that at school, but I promise, you'll have a lot of friends who respect you and your pick of all the cutest boys."

"That's an odd pep talk, but I appreciate the sentiment." Impulsively, I threw my arms around her. She stood there stiffly for a few seconds before she gently broke my hold and told me she'd be downstairs waiting to drive me to school when I was ready.

I debated briefly about what to wear, but I didn't have a wide variety of clothes to choose from. Maybe I'd meet someone who wanted to go shopping with me, but for now jeans and a t shirt would have to do it. I chose a faded purple v neck with a tiny pocket over one breast. Sadly, it was the least tomboy-esque shirt I owned.

My mom didn't have a lot to say on the way to school. She told me that we'd get some new school supplies later this week, but for now the stuff I already had would have to work. I assured her that it wasn't a big deal. I didn't need new stuff when my old things were still useful. Maybe I'd get into the frame of mind that it was important to have brand new things to start the school year, but for now it felt like a really arbitrary purchase.

Before my mom dropped me off she told me that I needed to stop by the office to check in. I was nervous about finding it, but it was the first thing I saw as I walked into the building. The secretary, Miss Mueller, had me fill out a couple of papers and then she handed me a class schedule.

"You aren't going to know where any of these classes are though. Hmmm." The secretary scanned the handful of students in the office. She double checked my schedule and then called over to a boy who was making copies.

"Evan? You have Mr. Miller for class right now, don't you?"

The boy turned from his copying to acknowledge us. Oh my, but he was a good looking guy. He had thick brown hair and clear hazel eyes. His shirt was a little on the tight side, but I didn't mind. His torso rippled with muscles so defined that I could count his abs through his shirt. When he eyed me curiously, my heart started racing and I could feel the flush on my cheeks.

"Yes, ma'am. Do you need someone to show her around?"

Miss Mueller printed a second copy of my class list and handed it to Evan. "Jane Madison, this is Evan Spencer."

Evan offered me his hand. "Nice to meet you, Jane."

"Actually, I go by Thistle." I felt a little stupid, but I just couldn't connect myself with the name Jane.

"Thistle? I've never heard that one before. I thought the celebrities had snatched up every unique name possible." I appreciated his attempt to soften the weirdness of my name. Cute and sweet?

He held the door to the office for me as we walked through and then he led me through a maze of halls. Desire High was surprisingly large for the size of the town. Judging from what I'd seen of it so far, the townspeople had no problems with spending a healthy amount of money on education. "What locker number did they assign you?"

"Umm..." I checked the sticky note attached to my schedule. "Looks like it’s 204."

"Ah, ok. That's upstairs." He lead the way to a stairwell. "So where are you from?"

"Well, I guess you could say that originally I'm from Desire. I was born here, but I've been traveling with my grandmother since I was three."

Evan stopped on the stairs so abruptly I almost ran into his back. He wheeled around to face me. "Your grandmother is Ramona Madison?"

Here we go again.
I sighed. "So this is the part where I say yes and you go psycho on me?"

I was surprised by his laughter. "No way. But I can't wait to see what happens when my sister and mother find out you guys are back in town."

We made it up the stairs before he stopped again. "So you guys really went by the last name Nettlebottom? Everyone in town keeps tabs on Ramona’s books, but I always thought it was just a pen name. I guess calling you Thistle makes sense in that context."

I grinned. "To tell you the truth I didn't even know that my name was Jane until yesterday when we got back to town."

He took me to my locker and waited while I tried the combination. "Wait for me after class and I'll introduce you to some of the kids you'll want to meet at lunch."

"Oh! Hey, do you know my cousin Krista..." I trailed off. "I just realized I don't know her last name."

"Madison."

"Really? I assumed they'd have the same last name as their dad, but I guess if Marla didn't take it when they got married it would make sense."

"He took her last name." Evan gave me a funny look.

Not wanting him to think I was a total spaz, even though I thought it was way too unusual for a man to take his wife's name to justify the "what an idiot" look he was giving me, I just nodded in what I hoped was a knowing way.

"Anyway, I know Krista. She's a sweet girl and pretty cute, but we don't hang out."

"I see."

He gestured for me to walk with him. We passed a few students intent on various tasks. I noticed that every girl made it a point to greet him in some manner. I was gratified to see that I was earning a jealous look or two. I felt like I was walking with a member of high school royalty.

"This is it." Once again he held the door open for me. All I really knew about the way people interacted with each other came from books and movies, but I thought Evan was a lot more polite than I assumed high school boys were in real life. I rather liked it. He seemed... courtly.

I entered the room and found myself on the receiving end of a room full of stares. Everyone in the class seemed to be sitting in groups of two with their desks pointing towards each other. The teacher, Mr. Miller, greeted me quietly at the door. Evan handed him the stack of papers he copied in the office.

"Miss Madison?" I nodded and he handed me a textbook.

He turned and addressed the rest of the class. "Guys, this is Jane Madison."

"Umm, if you don't mind, I actually go by Thistle." He raised an eyebrow, but corrected himself.

"I mean, this is Thistle. She'll be joining our class. It actually works out perfectly because I just assigned the class partners for a big project and now we're even. Thistle, you'll be working with Evan." I swore I heard a few girls groan.

Mr. Miller handed us both a sheet of paper with the details of the assignment and started passing the rest out to other students. I followed Evan to an empty pair of desks.

"I'm glad I volunteered to make the copies. Who knows who I would have been partnered with otherwise?" He winked.

My face burned. I wasn't embarrassed, but my skin felt like I was feverish. Ramona had accused me of being excessively boy crazy in the past and I knew there was a lot of truth to that. I spent a lot of time day dreaming about finding a handsome boyfriend who displayed dozens of positive qualities and occasionally I even went so far as to imagine things that were slightly less innocent than holding hands with the aforementioned boyfriend. The reality of Evan was way better than anything I'd ever pictured though. As it turned out, when an adorable guy with gentlemanly manners complimented me I was in very real danger of spontaneously combusting from the excitement of it all.

Lacking any kind of witty retort, I looked at the hand out we'd been given. The assignment was to write a speech that we were to present to the rest of the class. We could present it any way we wanted although his preference would be for each person to give a sizable portion of the speech. The presentation had to be between ten and fifteen minutes and visual aids were encouraged.

Mr. Miller finished passing out the papers and he grabbed an old fashioned top hat off the corner of his desk. "Inside this hat are the topics I've selected for this project. They are all topics that spark some debate and can be presented from multiple angles. If you and your partner would like, you can choose to present speeches from opposing points of view."

One by one the other groups selected their topics. Abortion, the death penalty, and legalizing the sale of marijuana were a few of the topics. When the hat came to us, Evan gestured that I should be the one to choose. I pulled a slip of paper out and unfolded it to see that our topic was sexually transmitted diseases.

Nothing cools lust faster than the harsh truth that we live in a world where herpes exist. That truth coupled with the snickers of your classmates makes you question whether you will ever be capable of a lustful thought again. Suddenly the idea of being partners with Evan was way less appealing. I most definitely didn't want to discuss STDs with the potential love of my life. So this was high school. Lame.

I was grateful that Evan didn't seem to take my awkwardness personally. As soon as the bell rang he grabbed his bag and waited patiently for me to get my things together. "So are you dying to meet some of the other kids besides me?"

Like I'd ever get tired of spending time with you.
"Sure, lead on."

He made small talk with me the entire trip to the cafeteria. I'll admit it. I was smitten with him. I was also cautiously optimistic that he might be single because so far he hadn't mentioned a girlfriend. It seemed like a long shot that such a good looking guy who didn't seem to have any troubles talking to all the girls who said hello would be single.

We got our meals, which seemed like pretty standard fare for institutional food, and joined a table that was already teeming with kids.