Torn Souls (9 page)

“Yes, honey. I’ll finish up here tomorrow, that’s fine,” said Dad as he leaned across the table to kiss Mom.

“Seriously, didn’t we have this talk back in Ohio? Get a room or something. Please, not while I’m eating,” I chimed in while making a barfing noise.

“Julia, stop it. Your dad and I are not going to stop kissing. You wouldn’t be saying this if you had a boyfriend,” Mom said as she cleared her throat.

“Whatever, Mom, I’m leaving to go swim in the tub, but I wanted to ask,can I stay home tomorrow and help Dad? I can start school the following day.”

“No, tomorrow’s Monday and I think it’s best that you start school in the beginning of the week, don’t you, honey?” Mom asked Dad like she needed him to agree, so she didn’t seem like the bad parent. Dad hated when Mom pulled him into anything that might make me mad at him for siding with her.

“Well… I guess in some ways, Julia, your mom is right. I can finish up the house, but thanks for wanting to stay and help me,” said Dad with a slight hope that I wouldn’t be mad that he sided with Mom like usual.

“Fine, I’ll go, but you’re going to wish I’d stayed and helped you, Dad.”

After everything Mom did for me I couldn’t be mad at her, but I could be at Dad and I was. Just once I wished he would not agree so easily with Mom. It drives me crazy. Once I cleaned off my dish, I headed to my bedroom for some clean clothes and my phone. While I waited for the tub to fill, which seemed like a really long time seeing as it was so big, I turned my phone on and began to read my book.

It was close to eight o’clock when I jumped in the tub to relax and read. I was a little worried about dropping my phone in it while I read, so I stuck it in a sandwich bag. The water was just the right temperature for relaxing. I finished my book just as the water was getting cold. I fell in love with Thawer’s book and couldn’t wait to download the next one in the series.

When I climbed out of the tub, I placed my phone on the sink and jumped in the shower to wash off. "OMG," was all I kept saying in the shower. I was in heaven. I didn’t want to ever leave my bathroom. In my old house, our shower didn’t have great water pressure, so most of the time it trickled down you. This shower literally cleansed me from head to toe.
Holy moly!

I had asked Mom before heading to bed who was taking me to my new school tomorrow and she said that Dad would because she’d be gone early. My parents were lucky. Neither of them had to go back to work until the following week. It wasn’t fair. As I looked for something to wear on my first day of school, my stomach started to hurt and panic was setting in.

Ugh, why me?
I didn’t want to stay up freaking out and not be able to fall asleep, so I put off trying to find something to wear and climbed into bed. It still took a while to fall asleep. Tossing and turning I was driving myself crazy. I decided to rock back and forth for a few minutes and it worked until I felt like I was going to throw up. The only thing that seemed to calm me was turning on the TV and listening to it.

The following morning I heard a knock on my door and my dad telling me it was time to get ready for school. God, I hated that word
school
. I couldn’t wait until I graduated high school. I had three and a half years left and I was done. Instead of getting up right away, I threw the pillow over my head and laid there for a couple of minutes, then finally decided to climb out of bed and get dressed.

I wasn’t even sure of what to wear. Some of the people I saw yesterday when I was out dressed a lot differently than what I’m used to. In any case, I had to throw something on, so I grabbed a pair of skinny jeans, a plain light blue t-shirt and my sneakers. I wasn’t sure if the school allowed phones, but I took it anyways making sure it was on silent so I didn’t get in trouble. It wasn’t like anyone had the number except my parents, so I was pretty much safe.

Before Mom left she had made banana muffins, so I would have breakfast. Dad said because I had lolly gagged I’d have to take my muffin to go because we were running a bit behind. It was only a little past seven, so I didn’t see the rush. I was pretty sure school didn’t start until eight, but what did I know? In New York, it could be different.

“What’s the rush, Dad? What time does school start here?” I asked, which I knew was probably a dumb question.

“It starts the same time as it did when you were back in Ohio, Julia,” Dad said while laughing at me of course.

“Then why do we have to head out now?”

“Julia, your school is about fifteen minutes away, but with everyone in New York City rushing to get to work it’s going to take me longer.” I could tell I was getting on his nerves, so I thought it was best that I kept quiet.

I couldn’t believe how bad the traffic was. It was just a little after seven in the morning, and there were so many were people yelling “Taxi,” as they waved their hand franticly in the air. I made it to school with just five minutes to spare. While I was getting out of the car, my dad told me he’d be back just before three to pick me up. Before walking inside the building, I stood outside staring up at it. Across the building read “
John Ewings High School.”
It
didn’t look much different than my old school back home. After fixing my shirt and smoothing my hair down, I walked up the stairs and pulled open the door.

As I walked straight ahead, I noticed on the left a door that read, “
Front Office
,” so I headed on in. There sitting behind the counter was a well-dressed woman on the phone. Covering the mouth piece she said, “Honey, I’ll be right with you. If you’d like, you can take a seat over there,” she instructed as she pointed across the room. There was no reason for me to stand, especially not knowing how long she’d be on the phone, so I took a seat and waited.

I was getting a little nervous knowing I was now late to my first class. It was eight twenty and I was still waiting in the office for this woman to get off the phone. I wasn’t sure if I should just say, “Excuse me,” and let her know I was a new transfer and that I just needed my schedule for my classes, so I could be on my way. Just as I was about to get up and walk back over to the desk, she hung up the phone, waved her hand to get my attention and said, “You can come now.”

Once she was done introducing herself as Ms. Crane she asked me my name. I wanted to hurry up, but for some reason she must have thought I had all day. “So, Julia, where are you originally from?” she asked, and I was sure she was just being nosey.

Figuring she was going to ask me more than one question before giving me my schedule, I saved her the trouble by saying, “I’m originally from Ohio. My family and I moved here because of my dad’s job.”

“Well, I sure hope you end up liking it here in New York and at John Ewings. Here’s your class schedule. Now, seeing that the bell is about to ring, you’ll head to your second period class. Go straight down this main hallway and turn left. Once you get to the second set of lockers, you’ll see numbers on the wall. Continue walking down about three quarters of the way and you’ll find room 211. That is your next class with Mr. Walker,” she said while smiling as if I would remember all that.

After thanking her for her lovely directions, I started down the hall, but then it happened. The bell rang and students started rushing down the hall. Quickly, I hurried and took the left. Weaving in and out trying not to bump anyone, I lost my balance and fell to the ground. I wasn’t sure whether to get up or stay there until the hall was empty, but then I saw a hand that reached down toward me.

“Here, let me help you,” was all I heard coming from what sounded like a guy. I didn’t want to look up, but I had no other option. As I reached out my hand for his, he pulled me to my feet and said, “Hey, are you alright?”

Chapter Ten

I was completely and utterly embarrassed and so the only words that somehow managed to come out of my mouth were, “I’m not sure. I think I might have broken my butt bone, if that’s even possible.” Strangely enough instead of walking away after what I’d just said, he stood there and laughed for a second. Apparently he didn’t find me stupid, just funny.

I noticed when he laughed his mouth was a little crooked. I didn’t find it weird though, instead I found it rather cute. He reminded me of the actor Gerald Butler, but only because of his mouth. Looking at him from head to toe, he was just some average guy that seemed really cool.

“Sorry for laughing at what you said. I wasn’t trying to be rude or anything,” he said sounding really sympathetic.

“Oh, no, I didn’t think anything bad. In fact, I know I sounded like an idiot, so you had every right to laugh, I would have,” I said reassuring him that it was fine.

“By the way, I’m Alex.”

“I’m, Julia, Julia Stone all the way from Ohio,” I said sounding even more like an idiot. Good Lord, what was wrong with me. If I keep this up he’d probably run from me.

“Well, Julia, all the way from Ohio, whose class was you heading to?”

“Mr. Walkers, room 211. Can you point me in the right direction, Alex?”

“I sure can, but how about I just walk with you,” he suggested.

While we walked down the hall, I asked him what classes he had. Of course, we had none together. He did however say if I wanted to meet him at his locker for lunch, I could sit with him so I wouldn’t be alone. I was so glad he offered. My second period class seemed to by go so slow and there was nothing I wanted more than to hide under my desk. Mr. Walker had me get up in front of the class and introduce myself.

“Welcome, Julia. Class this is Julia, and she’ll be joining us. Why don’t you stand here and tell us, where you’re originally from and why you moved to New York,” he said sounding like my story was going to be fascinating.

I wanted to run out of the class. It was bad enough that I was starting in the middle of a school year, but to have me stand in front of all the students and talk was humiliating. I already hated Mr. Walker. Staring out into the class, I could tell by the look on everyone’s face that they could care less what I had to say. At one point, I heard some girls that were sitting in the front sigh heavily as to say “
Really
?
We could care less, Mr. Walker
.”

I was thrilled when the bell rang. Instead of rushing out of the room though, I waited until everyone was out. There was no way I want to fall or be pushed again. After surviving my third period class it was time for lunch. Alex was just putting his books in his locker when I met up with him.

“Wow, you’re fast. You already went to your locker,” he asked.

“Crap, I forgot to ask Ms. Crane for a lock. I think somewhere on one of my papers it has the locker number,” I said sounding more like an idiot.

“No problem, we’ll swing by there when we finish eating lunch,” Alex said as he pointed in the direction of the cafeteria.

During lunch Alex didn’t pry too much into my personal life which was nice. Instead we talked about things we liked. We both enjoyed pretty much the same kind of music and neither one of us liked watching sport or playing them. While getting to know a little bit about Alex, I realized that he was pretty cool and uniquely different than most guys I knew.

Once Alex and I finished our lunch we headed over to Ms. Crane’s office so I could get myself a lock. The bell was going to ring any minute and I didn’t need to be late for my next class. Just as I was about to thank Alex for going with me to get a lock he turned toward me and grabbed my hand. I wasn’t sure what he wanted with my hand, so without thinking, I pulled it from him.

“What are you doing?” I asked sounding a little freaked out.

“Julia, I was just going to write my number on your hand in case later on tonight you wanted to give me a call, that’s all I swear,” he said sounding really sincere and a little embarrassed.

God, I felt like a complete idiot. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know what to say. Instead, I just stuck my hand out and smiled a little.

As we parted ways in the opposite direction, Alex turned back looking over his shoulder and said while biting the inside of his lip, “I probably won’t see you until tomorrow, Julia, so maybe you’ll call me?”