Welcome to New Haven (2 page)

Mrs.Carter motioned for Holly to find a seat, and she turned in the direction her hand was held out to.
 
She looked around and saw a girl smiling in her direction.
 
She had big brown eyes and long dark hair.
 
Her skin was olive and completely blemish free.
 
Cheek bones that any Hollywood star would be jealous of.
 
She was so pretty that Holly thought she may be a model, or at least, a beauty queen of…somewhere.
 
Maybe the world…
 
The girl smiled even bigger, and Holly looked behind her wondering who she was smiling at.
 
She was giggling when Holly turned back.
 
The girl beckoned with her hand and scooted over to make room for Holly at her table.
 

“Hi!
 
I’m Devon Valencia.
 
But, I like to be called Dev.”
 
She said as she beamed at Holly.
 

“Hi. I’m Holly.”
 
She replied, shyly.
 

“Your accent is
so
cool.
 
Which part of England are you from?” she asked with, what looked like, genuine interest.
 

“Liverpool.”
 

“Awesome!
 
Where about is that?”

“The North West.
 
It’s not as huge as Seattle, but it’s still a big city. I used to live about twelve miles from the Centre.
”
 
Holly explained.
 

She was used to being questioned which part of Liverpool she was from.
 
Her accent wasn’t as thick as some.
 
Quite possibly due to the fact that she didn’t go out much, or that she had to learn to speak slower and more clearly because Oli couldn’t understand her.
 

“I like how you say ‘Seattle’. Will you say it again?” asked Dev, with a grin.
 

“Seattle.”
 
Holly repeated.
 

With her accent, it came out as ‘See-a-uhl’.
 
Dev giggled excitedly.
 

“Oh my God that’s amazing. My friends are going to
love
you.”

Dev told Holly about her friends, Marissa ‘Riss’ Kennedy and Kayla Roberts.
 
They were cousins that were so close; they should have been sisters.
 
Their Mums were twins and the girls were born close together, so they had been raised together too.

“There’s a group of us who hang out together.
 
Some of them are guys.
 
One of them is my twin brother, Alex.
 
He’s a great guy, I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
 
Dev said with a warm smile.
 

It was evident that Dev loved her brother and was close to him.
 
Hey they
were
twins after all.
 

“Um…ok…I guess.” Holly said nervously.
 

“Oh, I’m sorry…” Dev snorted an apologetic laugh. “…Here I am already planning your day for you.
 
You don’t have to hang out with us if you don’t want to.”

Holly thought for a second and realised that she actually
did
want to hang out with Dev.
 
She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling that they would be good friends, and Holly didn’t usually make friends easily.
 

“It’s ok. I’d love to hang out with you.” She said, making Dev grin from ear to ear.
 

“You would?
 
Great!
 
I’ll tell you what…We’ll keep it to just us girls for a couple of days.
 
Let you settle in and then we’ll introduce to the others.
 
We usually just have lunch with them anyways.
 
You’ll probably see them in class before then.”
 
Dev was practically bouncing in her seat with happiness.

“What the fuck is
that
thing?”
 

Holly heard from behind her.
 
The girls’ voice was quiet, but Holly could tell she was meant to hear it.
 
She turned in her seat and made eye contact with a girl at a table, one behind and to her right.
 

“Excuse me?”
 
Holly asked, her heart rate increasing.
 

The girl had blonde hair, down to her shoulder blades, brown eyes, and her lips pursed as if she were sucking on a lemon.
 
Her eyes were narrowed at Holly as if she had done something to royally piss off the girl.
 

“Ignore her Holly…”
 
said Dev quietly.
 
“…That’s Stacey.
 
The resident bitch.
 
Don’t waste your time talking to her.”
 

“I said ‘what the fuck is
that
thing’?”
 
Stacey repeated.
 
“And by that, I meant
you
.”
 

Holly was surprised at what Stacey had said to her.
 
She’d been in the class for less than twenty minutes and somebody had started on her already.
 

“Me?”
 
Holly asked, her voice high pitched in disbelief that this girl had said something nasty to her, when she didn’t even
know
her.

“Yes, you.
 
What the fuck are
you
supposed to be? New girl showing up halfway through the school year?
 
What the fuck did you do at your old school?
 
Fuck the principal?”
 

This made Stacey cackle and the girl sitting at her table laughed with her.
 
There were a few snickers around the room and Holly could feel herself getting angry.
 
She told herself to stay calm and not rise to the bait.
 

That’s what the girl wants.
 
She wants to see how far she can push you because you’re new.
 
Don’t let her win.
 

“I moved here.”
 
Holly kept her voice calm and steady.
 

“Was he any good?”
 
Stacey threw her head back and laughed again.
 

Holly clenched her fists on the table.
 

“Stacey, shut the fuck up.
 
If anybody was going to fuck the principal, in any school, it would be you.
 
Now shut up!”
 
Dev shouted to Stacey.
 

The other students burst out laughing at what Dev had said, and Stacey’s face fell into a scowl.
 

“I was just kidding, for fucks sake.”
 
Stacey spat.
 
“I just wanted to see if ‘Mary Poppins’ could take it. You know, ease her into her new school. It can get real nasty around here.”
 

Stacey was smiling but with a venomous look in her eyes. There was obviously a
lot
of animosity between her and Dev, and Holly had a feeling that she hadn’t heard the last of Stacey’s bitchy comments.

The bell sounded for the next lesson to start and all of the students got up and began leaving the room.
 

“What class do you have?” Dev asked as she picked up her bag and stood.
 

Holly noticed that Dev was only a little taller than her.
 
A few inches, maybe five-seven, but not as tall as some others she had passed in the hallways earlier.
 

“Advanced English. You?” she felt relieved that her new friend didn’t tower over her as much as she thought.
 

“Oh just regular English for me.”
 
Dev chuckled.
 
“My class is in the opposite direction to yours.
 
Do you know where you’re headed?” she asked as Holly looked down at her map.
 

“Yeah, I remember where this room is now.
 
I think I’ll be ok.”
 

“That’s good.
 
What do you have afterwards?”
 

“Chemistry”
 
Holly replied as she looked at her schedule.
 
“Room…thirty-two”
 

“Oh yay! We have that class together!”
 
Dev said happily.
 

“I’ll see you then, but if you get lost…”
 
she quickly got out a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote something.
 
“…Call me.
 
Here’s my number.
 
Text me yours when you get a sec.”
 

“Will do. Thanks.” Holly took the piece of paper from Dev.
 

“It’s really great meeting you, Holly. You’re going to have so much fun here.”
 

The warm and friendly look in Dev’s eyes made Holly feel funny inside.
 
Like she was
happy
.
 

Well that hasn’t happened for a while
.
 

“Thanks Dev. It’s great to meet you too.”
 

They waved to each other and turned to go to their classes.

Holly made her way down the hall, trying to find her way through the mass of tall people.
 
She looked down at the map in her hands and was glad that she was still going in the right direction.
 
She needed to pass three more doors, and then her ‘A.Eng’ class would be the next door on the left.
 
Holly, felt a chill down her spine and she lifted her head just in time before she almost walked into a huge wall of…chest.
 

“Hi, you must be one of the new people.”
 
A male voice said to her.
 

The voice rolled over her, sending shivers through her body and breaking out in goosebumps.
 
Holly looked up and saw the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen in her whole life!
 

Black hair that was long on top and short around the sides, some strands falling down into big chocolate brown eyes that were framed in thick black lashes. Cheek bones that most girls would
kill
for and lips that looked full and juicy and kissable and…
 

"Español?" He asked, sending another wave of tingles through her body.
 

Holly found that she had lost the ability to speak and just stood there…staring…the heat began in her neck, and she felt it creeping up to her face.
 

Oh no!
 
Please don't blush!

"Francais"? He narrowed his eyes a little, pushing his hands into his pockets.
 

Nope…still nothing. She was frozen, staring at the beautiful and
extremely
tall
guy standing in front of her.
 
He had to be over six feet at least.
 

"Are you ok?" He now had a look of concern.
 

 
Holly swallowed and found her tongue could finally move again.
 

"Um…I…”

Holly couldn't form any other words and she walked away, completely embarrassed, as fast as she could.

Holly got to her classroom, slightly breathless, her heart beating fast, and introduced herself to the teacher.
 

He showed her to her desk, and she sat down putting her head in her hands.
 
Her face was still on fire, and she had to take deep breaths to calm herself down.
 

I cannot have a panic attack now!

 
Whenever Holly got scared, or worried, especially about someone she loved; she would often go into a panic.
 
The last attack she'd had was when she'd gone on holiday with her sister, Emily, and her then boyfriend, Jeff.
 
Some young boys thought it would be funny to push Holly into the pool.
 
Holly couldn't swim and, even though the water was shallow and she had stood up, she had a panic attack and Emily had gotten her out of the water before she passed out.

Holly managed to calm down when she had a strange feeling in her stomach and looked to the doorway, just as the Hot-guy as she'd named him, walked in.
 

His eyes locked with hers for a split second before she looked down and tried to focus on a small scratch on the corner of the desk.
 

 
As everybody took their seats, she felt Hot-guy behind her.
 
Not directly, but close enough to keep her goosebumps present.
 
If she were to look over her right shoulder, she would see him.
 
See his eyes that she imagined could look right into her soul.
 
His lips that she swore had hidden magnets inside, pulling hers in their direction, his black hair that she wanted to run her fingers through…

The teacher addressed the class and said the five dreaded words she didn't want to hear.

"We have a new student…”
 

As the teacher introduced Holly to the class, and told them she was from England, some of the students actually said 'Hi' to her.
 
She didn't want to appear to be 'snotty' so she looked to those who had spoken and said 'Hi' back to them.
 
As she looked towards the back of the room, she made eye contact with Hot-guy and he was smiling at her.
 

Oh. My. God his smile!
 

Her stomach knotted with the butterflies fighting over each other for space.
 

 
Holly felt the heat creep up her cheeks again and turned back to stare at her desk. She kept her head down for the rest of the class, not really hearing what the teacher was saying.
 
The bell went for the next period, and Holly bolted out of her seat and practically power-walked to Chem class, making sure not to look back as she went.