"You look so handsome!" Lita exclaimed excitedly. "And I mean that in a good way!" She winked. "Be safe, and go get him girl!"
I smiled back tentatively.
"Now study hard, okay? We'll come visit you soon!" Amy said gently. "We'll be missing you!"
"I'll miss you too," I replied, picking up my bag and turning towards Mina. She enveloped me in a warm embrace, and I squeezed back tightly. "I'm scared to death," I admitted.
"You'll be fine," she said gently. "If anyone can do this, you can."
"Thanks, Mina." I smiled, and she grinned back.
"Oh yeah!" she added. "If you meet any cute guys, send him our way, okay?"
"What about Derek?" I asked.
"We broke up!" she sighed. "Surprise, surprise!"
I laughed and shook my head. "I'll call you when I get there."
"Okay."
I walked towards the bus, turning around one final time to see Andrew and Allen waving from the front door of The Comfort Café. I waved back, and then got on the bus. There were three other boys there, all on their way to Madison. I recognized one of them, he was a friend of Darien's. He was the cute blonde-- the jokester. I took the seat in front of him, and waved once more at the girls outside. They waved back enthusiastically, and a moment later, the bus was pulling away and I was leaving home behind.
"Man," came a voice from behind me. "All those babes yours?"
I turned around and came face to face with the boy I remembered from the diner. I grinned and shook my head. "A few friends," I said nonchalantly, trying to drop my voice as much as possible.
He whistled low and grinned. "Hook a brother up, dude!"
I laughed in spite of myself, and made the mistake of laughing my own way. He gave me a queer look, then chuckled himself.
"Your voice high enough there?" he cracked, and I blushed.
"I'm a late bloomer," I muttered sarcastically, and turned around.
"Hey man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it!" He said quickly, standing up and dropping into the seat across from mine so he could face me. "We all go through the voice change-- I just like to mess around." He grinned, and I smiled back. "I'm Jarod Bellmont," he said, thrusting his hand forward.
"Ren Johnson," I returned, shaking it.
"Nice to meet you Ren. You heading up to Madison?" he wondered.
"Aren't we all?" I asked.
"Well, most of us, but there's a few passengers that just go to visit family or something in the city."
"How long is the ride?" I asked, itching to get there.
"A little over three hours with all the stops. We'll actually be picking up a few of my friends, so you can meet them. This is your first year, right?"
"Yeah," I answered. "Can you tell?"
"Naw, just never seen you before," he said easily. "You a senior?"
"Uh huh, transferring over for my last year of high school," I explained.
"Wow! That must be kinda hard leaving family, friends, all those girls…" he trailed off, and I laughed again, this time keeping my voice at a low pitch.
"It wasn't so bad, and it looks good for college," I said, picking at my nails.
"I hear that," he agreed. "My parents are shelling out some serious money to pay for tuition. They're determined to get me into Harvard or Yale, and Madison's my ticket in."
"Pretty high expectations," I commented.
"Yeah, they want me to study law and become a corporate lawyer."
"Wow, you cool with that?"
"I guess, it definitely pays a lot. It's one of those 'I made it' jobs, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah."
"What about you?" he wondered. "Have any idea what you're gonna do?"
"NYU," I answered. "I want to study journalism."
"That's awesome man, I almost wish I could do something like that," he said, sighing a bit.
"Why don't you?"
"Doesn't pay enough for parental approval. I like art myself, but when has anyone heard of a living successful painter?"
"Thomas Kincaid…" I offered.
"I meant talented," he said sarcastically.
We both laughed pretty hard at that one, and in the middle of that laughter, Jarod and I became friends. I was on the inside now, so I could be close to Darien, and I wouldn't have to go through that awkward first day of school. Maybe this wouldn't be so difficult after all.
The rest of the ride was actually a lot of fun! When we hit the city we picked up two of Jarod's other friends-- Nathan Landry and Zach Ryan. They both had just flown in from Los Angeles, but neither seemed to be suffering from any sort of jet lag. I found both of them to be really nice, and even began to feel at home thanks to Nathan's easy-going nature and Zach's quiet and intelligent sense of humor. They reminded me a lot of Lita and Amy, and were already beginning to make me feel at home.
"So who's going to be your roommate?" Zach inquired, brushing a strand of his sandy-colored hair out of his green eyes.
"I don't know yet," I answered. "They didn't tell me."
"Well good luck finding one!" Nathan chimed from his seat next to Zach. "Returning students get priority and can either pick their roommate, or live alone--at their parent's expense, of course! Most new students and freshmen are stuck with whatever's left."
I frowned. I had been hoping everyone got their own room, but I obviously had been mistaken. What if I got some gross guy who ate his toenails and never showered?
"I don't think Ren'll have to worry," Jarod broke in suddenly.
"Really? Why?" I asked eagerly.
"I don't have a roommate, and I'm sure I could talk Mr. Wakefield into letting you bunk with me," he explained.
"Really? You don't think there are any more empty rooms?" I asked hopefully.
The three guys laughed, and I blushed with shame.
"Don't push your luck, Ren!" Nathan snorted. "First years never get their own room! But don't worry, Jarod's not a bad roommate-- if you don't like sleeping."
"Hey! I'm a great roommate!" Jarod protested.
"He snores like a lawnmower. It's like nothing you've ever heard!" Zach interjected, throwing Jarod a wink.
"Okay," Jarod amended, "I do snore, but it's not that--okay it is pretty bad." We laughed, and he grinned. "Tell you what! I'll personally purchase earplugs for you, and we'll call it even. Deal?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
I smiled and nodded. "Deal."
"Awesome! Oh yeah, one more thing roomie, I just have to let you know that in my room, we have a few rules…"
Everyone groaned and hung their heads, but I couldn't keep a smile from my face. This was going to be easier than I expected, and for the first time, I was really feeling like I could do this.
An hour later, we pulled up to the gate of Madison's School for Boys. The grounds were filled with concrete walkways, bordered by towering forest-green hedges, and littered with gorgeous maples. An immaculate emerald lawn spanned over three-hundred yards up to the white, marble, plantation-style entryway. The campus consisted of a set eight immense, beautiful, brick buildings crawling with green ivy set in a square surrounding a gorgeous courtyard. Just past the last buildings I could make out a small forest consisting of maples, beech trees, and cottonwoods, bordering a huge lake. The girls' school must be just across that, I thought to myself. My mouth dropped open. This was a school? It looked more like a mansion!
My thoughts were broken as the bus driver opened the door, letting loose the compressed air in the hinges with a whoosh!
"Time to go!" Nathan announced, grabbing his sports bag and trunk.
I rose to my feet quickly and started to gather my things, straining under all the weight. "Is anyone going to pick us up?" I asked, glancing back at the vastness of the lawn. The last thing I wanted to do was walk across that thing dragging all this stuff behind me.
"Nope," Zach said mournfully. "Most guys walk that thing almost every year--Dean says it builds character. You only get a ride if somebody drives you."
"Nice to know you're getting your money's worth, eh Ren?" Jarod cracked, hoisting his bag onto his back. "Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky this year!"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Sometimes a friend will help us out on the way," Nathan explained. "It's good to have a few connections at this school, but some semesters they don't make it in time."
I raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and got off the bus, groaning under the pressure of my trunk. The thing had to weigh over a hundred pounds, and the entrance had to be over 300 yards away. I wanted to faint! My trunk had wheels, but they wouldn't do much good on the gravel driveway.
"They can't be serious!" I moaned. "It's like ninety-five degrees out here!"
"Awww, does the wittle baby tink it's too hot?" Came a sneering voice from behind me. I whirled around and came face to face with a boy who would have been considered tremendously attractive if the smug look was missing. His blonde hair was so light, it appeared white in the glaring sun. However, the most striking aspect of his appearance was his eyes… I had never seen purple eyes before. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and glared back at him.
"Cut it out Diamond," Jarod suddenly piped in. "He's right-- it is hot, and you're not going to like dragging your stuff all the way up there either."
"Who says you guys have to drag it up?" A voice suddenly interjected. I turned and recognized one of boys' other friends standing next to a black Lincoln Navigator.
"Malcolm White!" Jarod shouted, grinning impishly and heading towards the car. "I knew you'd come through!" He turned back and waved me over, and I picked up my trunk to follow.
"Enjoy the walk!" I shouted over my shoulder at the boy's glowering face.
"Nice!" Nathan laughed as we headed over to the car, slapping me a high five.
"Who was that guy?" I asked, glancing back to watch him pick up his trunk and start heading up the expansive driveway.
"Lucas Diamond, the richest jerk-off in school. Looks like he's on probation again this semester, usually he's got his own car with him," Zach explained.
"We're allowed to have cars?" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah, restricted usage though. Weekends and holidays only, and sometimes they don't even give you that. Plus, mom and dad got to be rich enough to pay for the garage space." Jarod cut in as we finally reached the car.
"So, who's your friend?" Our rescuer asked, glancing at me through his silvery-blonde bangs.
"Diamond certainly seems to like him!" A voice joked from the other side of the car, and then HE came around the side. My knees nearly turned to jelly, and my heart skipped a beat. "Don't worry, anyone who isn't a friend of his is a friend of ours!" he said with a grin. My heart pounded hard in my chest, and I prayed that he couldn't hear it.
"Darien Shields!" Jarod cried out, reaching out to shake his hand. "My man! I should have known you were already here."
"You know I always ride with Mac," Darien said smiling, then he glanced at me and his eyes were filled with curiosity. "And as much as I hate to repeat my cousin, who is your friend?"
"Darien Shields, Malcolm White," Jarod began expansively, "this is the man with the master plan! A babe magnet, a poet, a lover, a fighter, a brother, a friend, my future roommate…"
"Cut the crap Jarod!" I interrupted, laughing.
"Okay okay," he said, laughing as well. "Ren Johnson, this is Darien and Malcolm. Get to know 'em, get to love 'em, because you'll be seeing a lot more of 'em!"
I rolled my eyes and reached out to shake Malcolm's proffered hand. When I reached for Darien's, however, I had an unusual experience. As soon as our fingers touched, electricity traveled straight up my arm making my entire body warm and my skin tingle. I nearly gasped, but tried to keep my breathing even and my hand still as I pulled away.
"Nice to meet you," I said quickly, glancing up only to see the same strange expression on Darien's features that I knew was gracing mine.
There was a brief silence, but as usual it was broken by Jarod. "So, we got room for him or what?" he asked, jerking his head at me.
"Of course!" Malcolm said, waving me over. "Just pile it all in, and we'll get ourselves up to the school. You really rooming with Jarod?" He asked, giving me a look.
"I guess so," I answered.
"Good luck," Darien said, grinning at me.
I laughed and looked at Jarod, who was actually blushing. "Are you really that bad?"
"No!" he answered sheepishly. "They're totally exaggerating!"
"I guess I'm just going to have to see for myself!" I exclaimed. "Just don't be surprised if you wake up with a sock stuffed in your mouth!"
The boys laughed, and Darien casually threw an arm around my shoulder, making the entire area tingle, and I had to resist shivering. "I like this guy!" He said, smiling at me. "You'll fit right in!"
And that's how our friendship began.