8
2. Killing Time
I wished that the new semester started on a Friday. But no, it started on a Monday. That meant that today was Tuesday. That meant that I had to deal with school again. I found a blue t-shirt and a jacket and jeans to wear today. It was simple, which is what I wanted and needed. I didn't eat much of a breakfast, just a granola bar, and headed off to school. I parked in the same parking spot as yesterday and waited until the bell rang to go into the school. I didn't know how to kill time very well so I just listened to music. People walked by me every now and then and would stare at me through my window. I'm sure my truck wasn't that out of place because no one had a shiny new Porsche in the parking lot. It was mainly trucks or Hondas. They weren't expensive, that's for sure. Someone banged on my window and I jumped but rolled it down.
"Hey, you're Kelly from Tractor's Supply," the girl said. Wait, that was Kaylie! Finally! I found someone I knew! I grabbed my backpack and opened my door.
"Finally! I found someone I know!" I exclaimed. I wanted to run of their and hug her. But, that'd be weird and I was already the new girl or the freaky girl.
"You didn't make any friends? I thought Farmersville was very welcoming," Kaylie muttered.
"If they were, I'd be hanging out with them." I pointed towards a large group, hanging out by a new Ford F-150. It was shiny and red.
"I'm sorry. That must stink," Kaylie apologized. Why was she apologizing? She didn't do anything. It was everybody else.
"Where were you yesterday?" I asked, nearly demanded. Kaylie laughed.
"Calm down, I had a fever," she said. I bit my lip. It was kind of rude but hey, she fit in at least!
"Oh, sorry," I answered. She smiled and then we went our separate ways to our lockers. I went to Mr. Bryce for English. He smiled at me and I took my seat. I didn't sit next to anyone, due to the fact that all of the seats were filled. You'd think they'd have some extra desks with a student population of four-hundred-sixty but, I guess not. Time drifted in and out as I made my way through the hallway towards the cafeteria. I saw Kaylie in line but she didn't notice me. Someone came up and tapped me on my shoulder.
"Hi! I'm Jennifer. You're Kelly Davis, right?" a girl with a high-pitched voice asked.
"Um, yes, I'm Kelly," I answered. I took a step forward as the line progressed and I got my chicken salad.
"Welcome to Farmersville High School!" Jennifer said.
"Um, this isn't my first day," I replied. Jennifer had thrown her arms up in the air but they now were staying at her side.
"I know but I didn't get to see you yesterday," Jennifer said as she bought her hamburger.
"You didn't get to see me? Are you like psychic or something?" I nearly screeched. Jennifer laughed.
"I didn't mean it like that. I meant, I didn't notice you here yesterday," she giggled.
"How can you not? I'm a new girl at a school with a population of four-hundred-sixty and my truck is probably the oldest in the lot," I argued.
"What year is your truck?" she demanded.
"1978," I answered automatically.
"Nope. Jerold Collins' truck is 1963," she denied.
"What model?" I asked.
"F-100," she replied. We were sitting down at the table and I had popped the lid off on my salad case.
"How do you know all this?" I asked.
"Me and Jerold are together." Jennifer took a bite, a rather large bite, out of her hamburger and placed it back down on her tray. She was explaining everything there is to know about Farmersville High School but I honestly didn't care. I walked out to the hallway and the bell rang, signaling for me to go to fourth period. I didn't have Kaylie or thankfully, Jennifer in my fourth period so I was all alone. I thought that Jennifer was my friend but maybe she wasn't. It was too early to tell.
"Miss. Davis, please come here for a second," Coach Norman said as she waved for me to come over. We had to dress out in gym but I didn't have a uniform yet.
"Yes?" I asked once I got over there.
"Here's your uniform." She handed me a package of clothes in a plastic bag. Please don't let this be too big or someone else's old uniform! I walked into the locker room and changed quickly. I was a little self-conscious about changing in front of girls but I mean, who wouldn't? Other girls were tying up their tennis shoes or pulling their hair into a ponytail. One was texting.
"Hey, new girl," someone said to me. Would it really be that hard to learn my name?
"Yes?" I asked. The girl calling my name had long, blond hair with emerald eyes. She had a model's body and teeth so white, toothpaste commercials would beg for her to star in them.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Kelly Davis," I replied. The girl smiled. She was the one texting. I had just realized that.
"Nice name. Mine's Leah Rollins. Don't mess around with Coach Norman; she'll blow up on you." Leah winked at me and then walked into the bathroom. Okay, that was officially weird. Coach Norman told us to go out into the gym and we started our volleyball unit. Yay! A sport I was absolutely horrible at! I was much better at softball but that wasn't really and indoor sport. The guys were already in the gym and we sat up against the wall while Coach Norman demonstrated how to properly bump the volleyball. She said we'd be moving on to serving tomorrow. Then on Thursday, there'd be a tournament. I pitied anyone who had me on their team.
"Davis, you're with Lucas," Coach Norman barked. Who the heck was Lucas? It was someone's last name because Coach Norman didn't bother learning our first. Poor, poor, Lucas. I stood around in the middle of the gym until a guy, really lean and muscular, came over to me.
"Kelly, right?" he asked. He was not cute. I wasn't going to date anyone in this school. I wasn't a girl who was smooth around guys.
"Um, yeah," I mumbled. At least he got my name right. At least he didn't call me "New Girl".
"Ready to start?" he asked excitedly. I shrugged and he tossed me the ball. It went straight up to the ceiling and came down, inches from my face. He laughed.
"Try again," he instructed. I put a lot less power on it and it just went halfway up to the ceiling. This was super embarrassing. Lucas or whatever hit it back perfectly to me, of course. Finally, Coach Norman told us to go dress out. Leah came over to me again.
"You are so lucky!" she squealed.
"Um, how?" I muttered. She sighed and twirled a piece of hair around her finger. I pulled on my jeans and then took off my shirt and put my other one on.
"You get Caleb Lucas for your partner!" she exclaimed. Great. Everyone was going to hate me because I got the "cute" guy for a partner.
"How does that make me lucky?" I asked. Leah just stared at me with wide eyes.
"Have you seen the looks of Caleb?" she hissed. I shrugged and then walked over towards the door of the locker room.
"Yeah, and he's not that cute," I replied. Leah's mouth fell open and luckily, the bell rang. I nearly ran to fifth period and by the time I got to my truck, I'd forgotten all about Caleb and Leah. I drove to Dairy Queen to stop and get some French fries before heading back to Mom's house. She was outside again, reading, and she looked up when she heard me pull up. I stopped in the middle of the driveway. I'd go back and park in the garage later.
"Jeff might get a little mad," Mom whispered to me. All the windows were open so I assumed that's why Mom whispered.
"Why'd you marry a man with anger issues?" I hissed. Mom laughed.
"That's none of your business. Now, how was school? Did you make any friends?" Mom asked, immediately changing the subject.
"Yeah, um, this girl named Jennifer and another girl named Kaylie," I replied.
"Was it Kaylie Baylor?" Mom questioned.
"Uh, I think so. She works up at Tractor Supply, though," I said.
"Yes, that's Kaylie Baylor. What a sweetie. She's a great girl," Mom answered as she smoothed my hair back.
"Do you know Jennifer?" I asked.
"Um, hmm, what's her last name?"
"I don't know. She has a really high-pitched voice, though."
"Oh yeah! That's Jennifer Daniels," Mom exclaimed suddenly.
"Oh, she's kind of annoying. She was acting all weird today," I mumbled.
"She's just trying to be welcoming," Mom assured me. I sighed and then went around to my truck. I got in, pulled it into the garage, and grabbed my backpack. I went upstairs after that to finish my homework and read a little.
"Kelly, dinner's ready!" Mom called around seven. I closed my literature book and then walked downstairs. Mom was setting the table and on the plates was spaghetti. I wasn't a huge fan but I knew Jeff would blow up on me if I complained.
"Yum, spaghetti." I tried really hard not to make a face but when Jeff pulled the newspaper up to his face and Mom turned around, I stuck my tongue out at the plate. Mom sat down a cup of iced tea in front of me and sat a bowl of lemons down in the middle of the table. Did she not know the repulsive feeling my stomach got whenever she sat that down? Lemons were not my friend. I was extremely allergic to them and she knew that. Yet, there were three instead of two.
"Kelly, why are you staring at the lemons like it's a bowl of puke?" Mom teased. I knew that she only said "puke" because that's how I felt and probably looked.
"I'm allergic," I finally managed.
"Don't worry about it. You don't have to eat them, silly," Mom said as she cut a slice of spaghetti. I nodded and then carefully sipped my tea. Jeff finally sat the newspaper down and grabbed a lemon. He took his steak knife and cut it in slices. He then sat one slice on his cup and then squeezed the other seven. Why didn't he just squeeze all eight? He caught me staring at him and asked, "What?"
"It's nothing," I muttered and then I cut some of my spaghetti. Mom looked at me curiously and then resumed eating.
"How was school today?" Jeff asked.
"Fine," I mumbled.
"Have you made any friends? You could invite them over for a sleepover," Jeff asked.
"Jeff, I've known them for two days. Besides, it's only Wednesday," I answered, trying to make him sound stupid. He glared at me but then he and Mom started talking about church or whatever. Sometimes, I listened. Sometimes, I ate and tried to not breathe whenever I put the spaghetti in my mouth. I finally finished and nearly dashed upstairs. I had homework to finish.
I rolled over on Wednesday morning and stumbled my way to my closet. I had gotten used to the hardwood floors a little so I didn't need slippers. I picked out an outfit at random and went to the bathroom. I showered quickly and blow-dried my hair. I ate a bigger breakfast today, waffles and orange juice, and quickly drove to school. As you may have noticed, killing time isn't easy for me. I sat in my car and finished up some leftover homework and then I got out and started walking in when the bell rang. I couldn't find Kaylie but I was okay with that. I walked to Mr. Bryce's room and then took my seat.
"Students, get out your literature book. We're going to be studying pronouns, again," Mr. Bryce instructed once the second bell had rang. He called on random students, thankfully not me, and they all had the correct answers. I was wrong on four out of ten.
"Hey, Kelly!" a high-pitched voice called. She kind of reminded me of Alice from Twilight but Jennifer was not graceful. I put on a fake smile and turned around to face her.
"Hey, Jennifer!" I exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.
"Do you want to eat lunch with me? Kaylie can sit at our table, too, if you want," Jennifer invited. How the heck did she know that Kaylie was my like, only friend now?
"How do you know that I want Kaylie to sit with me at lunch?" I asked.
"Um, well, it's kind of obvious that you too like each other. Not like, like, like, but I mean, a friendly like," Jennifer stuttered.
"We barely know each other," I pointed out. Jennifer shrugged and skipped away to second period.
As lunch rolled around, I had been thinking of all the possible things that Jennifer could be. How ironic would it be if she could see the future? Or she could read minds? I hoped she wasn't like a character from Twilight. I didn't need that in my life. I was perfectly fine with my brand-new life in Farmersville but she made her way over. I bought my lunch, a salad again, and then sat down at the only empty table. Jennifer eventually came in and she sat down next to me. I didn't see Kaylie; she was probably with her own little clique.
"Okay, um, Jennifer, you're not normal," I confessed. She looked at me questionably and then broke into hysterics.
"What…are…you talking…about?" she asked between laughs.
"It's like, you can read minds or something," I mumbled. She immediately straightened up and then bit furiously into her pizza. No wonder she was a bit chubby, she ate fattening foods.
"I can't read minds, Kelly. I'll tell you what I can do and what happened later," she muttered. She suddenly took a sheet of paper from her notebook and started scribbling furiously.
Okay, this can never, ever be thrown away. I'll shred it to pieces but do not leave this lying on the table. Well, two years ago, I was in a plane crash. Somehow, I survived and no one else did. Not even my older brother, Dylan. I miss him terribly. Well, after that, just by looking at someone, I could see their life story and I could read their minds. I've never, ever experienced something so frightening and freaky in my entire life.
I stared at the paper, frightened, and then quickly grabbed my tray.
"Wait, where are you going?" Jennifer demanded.
"Somewhere where I won't be scared," I whispered. She grabbed my arm.
"Please, Kelly, don't. That's what everyone has done whenever I told them my secret. Just, let me explain today after school," she nearly begged.
"Yeah, because everyone else is normal," I said, using emphasis on the word 'normal'. She looked like she was about to cry but I sure felt that way. I was freaked out.
"Please, Kelly; don't go. I just wish that I had someone who actually helped me get through this, not put me down," she said, her voice a mere whisper.
"Sorry, Jennifer but, I want a normal friend," I muttered and then nearly ran away.