Welcome to New Haven (12 page)

“She’s just started learning and she’s struggling.
 
Miss. Delaney isn’t a very good teacher.”
 

“That’s so nice of you honey.”
 
Evie said with a huge smile.
 
“I’m so proud of you.”
 

“Thanks Mom”
 
Dev beamed.
 

“How’s school been for you, son?”
 
His Dad suddenly asked.
 

“It’s been ok, I guess.
 
We’ve got two new guys in our homeroom.
 
That’s all that’s happened for me, really.”
 

Holly happened

 
Alex had to stop himself from grinning.
 

“Am I missing something?”
 
his Dad said as Alex saw Dev and his Mom exchange another look.
 

“No, Honey”
 
said his Mom quickly, which he was grateful for.
 
“So…What are your plans for the weekend?”
 
Evie asked.
 

“I’ll probably go to the gym with the guys and maybe catch a movie later.” Said Alex.
 

“The girls and I haven’t planned anything just yet.
 
We might do a little more studying, but we haven’t decided anything else.”
 

It was unusual for Dev not to have made plans.
 
When Rami pointed that out, Dev just shrugged a shoulder.
 

“We’ve been focused on making Holly feel welcome, that we haven’t thought about it.
 
We
are
going to do something, but we may decide tomorrow.”
 
Dev went on to say that because Holly is new, they may show her more of the city as she’s only been there for a few weeks.
 

Alex took a mental note to find out where they were going.
 
Maybe so they can ‘accidentally’ run into each other.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Alex was feeling so confused, and he reminded himself, again that he’d only known Holly for a short time.
 
But, there was something about her.
 
It felt more than just a ‘teenage crush’ but what that was…he didn’t know.
 
Not that he could, because he’d never felt anything like that before.

After dinner, Alex went into their hangout room to watch TV.
 
Their parents had converted the second lounge into a sitting room for the twins and their friends, so that they had somewhere to go when they got bored, the weather was bad, or just to hangout together.
 
He sat down on the sofa and turned on the TV, when Dev walked in.
 
She sat down on the edge of the sofa, and he could feel her staring at him.
 

“What?”
 
he asked as he could feel her eyes boring a hole into his face.
 

“Oh, nothing”
 
she said with a smile.
 

“Why are you looking at me like that, Dev?”
 

Like she didn’t know already.
 

“So, Holly…”
 
she said as she cocked her eyebrow, her smile widening.
 

“What do you mean?”
 
he asked as he quickly glanced at her and then back to the TV.
 
He had no idea what he was watching.
 

“You know
exactly
what I mean” she replied.
 

Alex could feel the heat creeping up his neck into his face. Oh my God, he was blushing! Dev shook her head, still staring at him.
 

“You’ve never once knocked at my bedroom door when my friends have been there, to see whether we needed anything.”
 

“So?
 
I was being polite.”
 

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, big guy.”
 

Dev got up to leave and headed to the door.
 
Alex felt a panic in his chest.
 

“Dev wait…”
   

“Yes?”
 
she said as she turned.
 
A huge grin on her face.
 

“I want to apply the ‘code’.”
 

“Aw, no Alex!” she whined.
 

The ‘code’ was a code of trust between them, and whomever it applied to.
 
If one of them had done something, or said something, that they didn’t want anybody else to know about, they applied it so that they couldn’t tell anybody.
 
The whole group knew about it too.
 

There was a time when Ben was playing about with his Dad’s tools, after he had told him not to, and had cut his hand pretty badly.
 
Ben had applied the code to Alex, so he couldn’t tell anybody what he’d done.
 
Alex had gotten his Mom’s first aid kit and dressed Ben’s hand for him and when Ben’s Dad had asked what happened, he said he’d cut it climbing a tree. Alex had to agree, because of the ‘code’.
 

When Alex had beaten up the senior, for grabbing Dev’s ass, she’d applied the code to all of them; to not let any of the other students know why Alex had done it.
 
She’d been afraid that others would do the same to provoke him, causing him to get kicked out of school.
 
They had to deny any knowledge of what the guy had done.
 
The senior had been so embarrassed that he’d not said anything about it either.

“Yes, Dev.
 
The code applies right now.
 
You can’t tell anybody.”
 

“Tell anybody what?”
 
She asked, trying to look clueless.
 

Alex ran his fingers through his hair, as he often did when he was frustrated.
 

“Don’t make me say it.”
 
He pleaded with her.
 

“Say what?
 
How am I supposed to keep your secret if I don’t know what it is?”
 
she smiled sweetly at him with a wicked glint in her eyes.
 

Of course she knew, she just wanted him to say it out loud.
 
Alex blew out a long breath.
 

“I like Holly.” He said in defeat.
 

“Ah
ha!”
Dev said whilst pointing at him.

Alex rolled his eyes at his sister’s excited tone.
 

“I knew it!
 
That’s why you asked where we were at lunch.
 
Did you say you weren’t coming so that Holly wouldn’t avoid you?”
 

Alex knew that the look on his face would tell Dev the truth.
 

“Well that backfired didn’t it?”
 
she said as she crossed her arms.
 

“Yes it did.”
 
Alex dropped his head as he scowled.
 

“Wow I was just guessing with that but, Oh my God, Alex.
 
Don’t you think that was a little unfair?”
 

“What do you mean?”
 

“Well, you were looking for her today, weren’t you?
 
Bear in mind that she didn’t know who you were.”
 
Dev said as she waved her hand in the air for emphasis.
 

“She told you that?”

“You took her by surprise a little.”
 

“I didn’t mean to.
 
I just wanted to say ‘hi’…and stuff.”
 

Alex really hadn’t meant to upset her at all.
 
He’d honestly thought that she knew he was Dev’s brother.
 

“Well she wasn’t expecting you to be looking for her.”
 

“Fuck!
 
Did she say anything else?”
 
he said as the bad feelings were increasing in his stomach.
 

“Just that she went to class.
 
That’s it.
 
Did anything else happen?”
 
she asked as her eyebrows pinched together.
 

“No. She actually
did
just go to class.” His voice quietening as he spoke. “She didn’t seem to want to talk to me…at all.” His chest was beginning to hurt, and he just looked down at his hands.
 

“Look, she’s shy, Alex. She doesn’t really talk to anybody other than me and the girls.”
 
Dev tried to explain.
 

“Holly’s talked to Ben. He told me so himself.”
 

“Well then, I don’t know what to say to that, Alex.
 
Just try again but do me a favor?”
 

“What’s that?” He asked, looking back up to his sister as if there were some miracle that she could get Holly to acknowledge him.
 

“Don’t ambush her. It’s not cool.”
 

“Got it” He said.
 
“The code” Alex repeated as Dev started to walk out of the room.
 

“The code”
 
she said with a dramatic sigh.

Holly was sitting in her room when she received a text from Dev.

D: What are you up to tomorrow?

H: No Plans as yet.
 
You?

D: We could go out for the day.
 
I’ll show you around the city. Kayla and Riss will be coming too.

H: Just us girls?

Holly wanted to make sure that Alex wouldn’t be going with them. If he were, then she wouldn’t be able to go.
 
It had felt uncomfortable enough at their house, and she’d only seen him a few times.
 
Being with him all day would be torturous.
 

Yeah, but you get to be near him and his hot self.

“I’m going crazy!”
 
she whispered out loud before shaking her head and turning her attention back to her phone.

D: Yes.
 
We could watch a movie at my place afterwards.
 
Alex and the guys are going to the gym and to the movie theatre after. They’ll be gone all day.

H: Yes, ok.
 
That sounds like fun.
 
I’ll drive.

D: Cool.
 
What time do you want to go?

H: Whenever you want.

D: About 9:30?
 
I’ll get the girls to meet here.

H: Ok.
 
See you tomorrow. x

D: See you tomorrow. X

Holly was excited to go out, and she was glad that the boys would be out elsewhere.
 
At least she would be driving so she could make a sharp exit if she needed to.
 

Holly lay back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. All she could see was Alex’s face when he opened the door, smiling at her.
 
At Dev’s bedroom door, in the hallway, the window…
 
She didn’t know what was wrong with her.
 
She kept getting a fluttering in her chest and stomach, as if she were really nervous about something.
 
Add that to the fact that she lost the ability to speak coherently around Alex had only made her think she’d lost her mind.
 

Holly was definitely attracted to him.
 
But that wasn’t how it felt.
 
It felt…more, but she didn’t know what.
 
The way her body would react
before
she would see him.
 
The way her head turned to the doorway, in A.Eng class, just before he got there.
 
It was as if she were drawn to him.
 
He was the magnet, and she was a weak little pin that had no strength against his pull.
 

It had only been the first week of school!
 

She’d gone through six years of high school without, even once, having any reaction to a boy.
 

 
Holly thought more about what was happening to her, but no matter how much she tried to make sense of it, she had a strong feeling that she was right where she was supposed to be.
 

She was so confused!

Holly did her best to put it to the back of her mind, but as soon as she fell asleep, her subconscious awoke and had a mischievous plan to corrupt her dreams…

Holly got up in the morning and went down to the kitchen for breakfast.
 
Her face still flaming from the dreams she had of Alex.
 

He’d been walking down the corridor towards her with purpose.
 
His eyes fixed on her.
 
She didn’t know how, but she knew he was going to kiss her.
 
He was a few feet away when Stacey appeared wearing an oversized white T-shirt and jeans, not her usual attire, her arms snaking around him.
 
Literally.
 
Her arms had turned into snakes and were wrapping around him like constrictors.
 

“Good morning love.”
 

Her Mum said, snapping her out of her dream recollection.
 

“Morning.”
 
Holly replied as she let out a yawn.
 

“Are you alright?
 
Her Mum asked her with a little frown.
 

“Um…yeah.
 
Why?”
 

“You were shouting in your sleep.”

Oh no!

Holly's
 
Mum and Dads' room was on the ground floor, and if her Mum had heard her shouting, she must have been pretty loud.
 

“What did I say?”
 
Holly asked as her stomach was doing cartwheels.
 

“I couldn’t understand most of it, but I heard you shout ‘get your dirty hands off’."
 

Holly looked down at her toast.