Author's Note: I wasn't happy with the progression of the story so I pushed (old) Ch. 5 "First Day of School, Again" back two chapters. In its place, I inserted new Ch. 5 and 6-a fun mini-trip for Seth, Logan, and family. As you'll see in the long run, it'll better illustrate the difficulties Seth faces and how his best friend, Logan, seeks to help.
If you already read (old) Ch. 5 "First Day of School, Again," no worries. (New) Ch. 5 and 6 occur the weekend before (old) Ch. 5 so the timeline isn't ruined and there aren't spoilers, just drama, drunk messes, and sexual escapades.
As always, comments are appreciated. Perhaps some suggestions on where, when, and with whom Seth should shack up with? This isn't to say that it's even going to happen in Life Resolute, but even I don't know the answer to that.
…
"Explain to me again why I have to go by Cullen?" asked Seth with a yawn. Seth had elected to drive into school with Emmett and I today—the first day of school, and was sprawled out on my back seat, as sprawled as a six foot four inched lug like him could "sprawl."
I laughed.
"We're supposed to be a tight knit family so nobody asks us about our 'previous' families. Why? Does that bother you?" Emmett's tone sounded like a challenge.
"Whoa, simmer down, Cujo! I was just asking. I like my new name. It rolls off the tongue. Sethhhhhh Cullennnnnnah…" Seth hissed the last syllable until his lungs gave out.
"Mr. Cullennnnnnah, shut the hell upppah," I said. "We're almost there so put on your super secret agent face and prepare to start your brand new life!" I sounded like Bob Barker.
"Oh man, this is going to be sweet," Seth observed to himself, rubbing his hands against one another furiously. Maybe he did win a new car?
I looked to Emmett. He wasn't all too pleased about starting school, again. I had often wondered how many times the Cullen "children" had done this ritual (before I came to consider myself one of them). They probably lost count, which for vampires was saying something. Emmett's grimace folded into a smile when I reached over and caressed his thigh. I squeezed gently.
"This time will be different. This time will be better," I predicted quietly.
Emmett nodded. This time would be different. It was going to be the first public showing of the Emmett-Logan coupling. It had been years since homophobia was acceptable. Today, it was very much a social, economic, and political faux pas to be homophobic, and after careful consideration, I decided to broach the subject of going public with the family when we first arrived in Maine.
From the very beginning, Emmett was very much in favor of the idea, but I was still a little apprehensive. Before I brought it up with the family however, Emmett and I agreed that if Carlisle, Jasper or any of the others had any reservations, then we would happily agree to wait another decade or so. It turned out that everyone was so supportive of the decision to go public that I found myself playing Devil's Advocate. The possibility of exposure put fear in my silent heart. After careful consideration, Jasper, the ultimate tactician and purveyor of our secrecy, decided it would be better to be public because it was so acceptable now. I decided to defer to Jasper's objectivity in the manner. His conclusion was so freeing to me because I could be myself in the outside world.
The Emmett-Logan coupling wouldn't be the only change either. In preparing for this bout of high school, the family collectively realized that going with the grain was the secret to maintaining the Secret now. The "going with the grain" principle led Jasper and I to address an novel topic with the family last night.
Last Night…
"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but can we make this quick? I have a homework due first period tomorrow and I haven't started it yet," Seth whined as he followed the family into the living room.
"Something never change," Rosalie spat. "Maybe you shouldn't have been shacking up in New York last night!"
"Anyways…" I shook my head to stop myself from bursting in laughter. "Jasper and I have discussed our plan of attack for tomorrow and well, he and I agree that we have to approach high school differently than in Forks. In Forks, we existed on the fringes and it wasn't until Bella came into our lives that we even sat with a human in the cafeteria. We live in the digital age even more now than before, which means keeping the Secret is going to be that more challenging. So what I propose is the exact opposite of what we did in Forks."
"What does that mean, love?" Emmett asked as he took a seat on the loveseat. Alice and Edward followed him to the couches, both snickering.
Rosalie eyed me suspiciously. She knew where I was going with this. "Oh my God, do I have to join the cheerleading squad?"
"If you think you make it on, darling. Try outs are this week," Jasper responded in his southern drawl. "We have several options for school… involvement."
I inspected the faces surrounding me. Some, like Alice and Ness, were positively giddy. Others, cough cough, Rosalie, were downright pissed. I sighed. "We need to be involved in the school. We need to make non-supernatural friends. We need to fit in because our lives depend on it. Just because we have heard nothing from the Volturi in a decade doesn't mean they won't come knocking tomorrow or the next day..."
"I agree with Logan." Carlisle's voice was stern. I was grateful for this. I had spent a lot of time scheming on this one. It was true that technology had exploded in use even more than when we were at Forks High. Now, it was easier to search people's faces, names, and lives. That is exactly what we needed to avoid.
I walked over to Emmett and sat on the floor between his legs. "We can avoid being noticed by being part of the crowd. That's what every American teenager strives for: being in the in-crowd. And that should be easy given our natural charm."
"I'm not a teenager," Ness piped out.
"How do you want to be treated?" Emmett spouted off. "Jake could color with you again—I mean, that is your physical age. He could color with you instead of…" Emmett promptly shut up, leaving his phrasing open ended and for dirty minds to complete.
"LOGAN!" Edward yelled.
"Sorry, but I can't help what I think!" Bella shook her head and Emmett laughed. I peered over at Jake who was holding Ness's hand. His russet cheeks were flaming red.
"Well played, Uncle. Well played," Ness conceded.
"Anyways," I repeated. "Jasper and I have come up with options for everyone. You can do it or don't do it, but I think we need to stick to these options." One by one, I listed them off: Swimming, Cross Country, Track, Rowing, Cheerleading. These were all relatively non-contact sports, or at least, we could directly control the interaction. Of course, clubs were an option too.
"I can play sports instead of just watching them? Boo yah!" Emmett jumped to his feet with a fist pump.
"Sit down!" I yelled. His knees were sharp to my shoulder blades.
"Jersey Shore died years ago, Em. Stop!" Bella implored.
"In all seriousness, Emmett, you can participate, but you can never win." I knew Jasper's statement would deflate Emmett's happy balloon instantly. The living room became silent aside from the crackling fire and the crashing of the surf outside. We knew what Jasper meant—any sign of speed, strength, or smarts that was out of the ordinary was out of the question.
"We can think of it as a game to ourselves," Edward, the fastest of us all, said. "And what Jasper means, I think, is that you cannot win every time. Losing all the time will get you noticed as well. I am confident we can all find a happy medium," Edward trained his eyes on Emmett, "because we will all agree to remind each other of that medium."
"What? You think I can't keep it on the down low?" Emmett asked incredulously.
"Is that rhetorical?" Seth asked.
Emmett let out a small growl, but added a smile. "Do you even know what 'rhetorical' means, pup?"
"How about this, Em, let's bet that you can't damper it?" I suggested.
"Your on! But what are the terms?" Emmett was not one to disagree to a bet.
"Let's let the terms evolve over the course of the year," I suggested.
"You're on, babe." Emmett sat down smug in satisfaction.
"Mmmmm," came out of my pursed lips. It was my way of saying, "You're fucking ridiculous, but I love all the same." Emmett knew this too. He was my better half.
Back in the present…
The high school was an ordinary building complete with ordinary parking lots, a football stadium, tennis courts, and most of all—ordinary students. The parking lot was teeming with teenage life. This was clearly the hangout spot in the morning.
Emmett pointed to a parking spot and as I made my way towards it, I couldn't help but smile at the sight of all the turned heads. The heads were in our direction or at least, one of the cars in the Cullen caravan. I whipped into my spot and let the purr of my Mustang putter out. To my right, Rosalie pulled in her brand-new, sporty VW bug. To my left, Edward brought his Volvo in for a landing. All ten of us stepped out our respective vehicles and formed a circle in front of my car. Edward let out a small snicker.
"My… my… we are popular, aren't we?" Rosalie observed.
"Huh?" Jake peered around the cars and it was clear he disagreed with Rosalie's assessment. "You're paranoid."
"No, I am psychic," Edward cut in. "Everyone is taking peaks and then letting their teenage hormones do the rest inside their mind and I assume, body as well." Edward's clarification was met by a rolling of the eyes from Jake.
"Can't help it that I'm this fucking hot!" Emmett taunted aloud. He stretched his hands high to the sky giving everyone in the lot a view of his taut abdominals. As they peaked out beneath his forest green polo, I had to wipe some venomous drool away with my hand.
Rosalie punched Emmett in the stomach, hard.
"Ah, you bitch!" he wheezed, cradling at his stomach. "Charlie horse!"
"Stop showing off," Rosalie scolded. "Save it for someone who cares."
I raised my hand instantly. "I care." That earned me wails of laughter, mostly at my expense. What? At least I'm honest.
"We better split up. I think our group is causing a scene," Jasper warned, refusing to remove the grin from his face. Right. We didn't want to cause a scene on the first day. I punched Seth in the arm, hard, and motioned with my head that we should head in.
"Watch it, my dear brother. I heard that Cullen men are notorious for revenge," Seth warned nursing his arm.
"See, you're catching on already!" I intentionally bumped into Seth and simultaneously glued his shoe to the asphalt. He stumbled and cussed me out. Oops, two revenges were coming my way now. After he got himself unstuck, the Cullen clan went their separate ways to find their first classes. I had AP Calculus with Seth, Emmett, and Alice.
I was initially shocked that Seth was willing to put himself through such a thing. He had only got through Trigonometry by the skin of his teeth the first time around. But the more I thought about it, I knew that Seth was using this high school experience to make up for the one he missed back in La Push. Here, he could invest in his education further and prepare for a real stint in college. He and I never had discussed college. But since I was immortal, I planned to attend whatever college or trade school Seth decided to go to. He didn't necessarily have "all the time in the world" as the saying's implication for me went so I wanted to spend as much time with my best friend as his life would allow. Okay, I'll admit it. I'm in a bromance with Seth Cullen.
We were the first to class. Emmett and I took the seats in the back row with Emmett on the far side from the window. Seth hopped into a seat the row ahead, in front of Emmett. He pulled the chair immediately in front of me out for Alice.
"What a gentleman! Chivalry is not dead," Alice giggled. She didn't move to sit however.
After confusion flew across Seth's face, Emmett instructed that Alice should sit in the seat Seth had claimed.
"Why?" he asked. The room was starting to fill up with students by now.
"Alice and Emmett need to sit farthest away from the windows," I whispered beneath the hearing range of our human peers. "We wouldn't want them to get sunburn, now would we?"
Seth snapped his fingers and pointed his finger gun at me. "Gotcha. Super Secret Spy. Yep-yep." After he vacated Alice's seat and took the seat directly in front of me, I took to bouncing my feet on his chair legs. Any way to bother Seth was a path I chose to follow. I heard a growl erupt out of his chest, but I didn't stop. The room continued to fill up and I took stock of those who decided to sit around us. All the classic cliches were represented: pretty girl, pre-ivy leaguer, band geek, mean girl, AV nerd, regular nerd, emo, goth, and even jock. Times may have changed: a jock in an elective math course? Whoa.
I casually remembered back to my days at Forks High. Nate Farling would have never been in this class. What ever happened to him? An animal probably ate him. I laughed out loud.
"Something funny, pretty boy?"
My eyes trained in on the voice and my gaze fell upon a rather pretty girl. She was probably seventeen, maybe sixteen. Her eyes were a piercing hazel and her long brunette hair glowed even beneath the fluorescent lights above. If I weren't mated to the man of my dreams or gay, I would consider seeking this one out. I laughed again to myself. The pretty girl rolled her eyes. "Okay seriously, people are going to think you're some sort of wack job."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out. I'm just enjoying the first day of school and first day of Calculus too much." My explanation was light and uninformative. Perfect cover.
Seth turned around and said to the girl, "Don't listen to him. He is a wack job. He thinks he's some sort of wizard. He's into all that Dungeons and Dragons shit."
It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Wizard? Come on. You can't come up with one better than that?"
"Do you two know each other?" the girl asked.
"I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself," I said. "The name is Logan, Logan Cullen. This is," I kicked Seth's chair for good measure, "my brother, Seth."
"That's your brother?" The girl was incredulous, understandably so.
"It's a long story," I informed.
Alice cleared her throat and smiled sweetly at the brunette.
"Oh right," I redirected. "This is my sister, Alice. And this big lug is my…" I didn't want to say brother. That was soooo not our relationship. "Yeah, this is Emmett."
"Sup?" Emmett asked the girl giving her a nod. What a guy. He quickly returned to what he was busy doing earlier—staring down my backside. I hoped he was admiring my good looks and not getting pissed that I didn't say boyfriend.
Boyfriend. After all the events that we had shared—blissful ecstasy, life ending doom, and everything in between—the term "boyfriend" didn't cut it at all. It didn't bother anyone else save Bella and I, and that was because both she and I were the only two re-starting our relationships with our mates for the first time.
The pretty girl broke me out of my reverie. She was answering Emmett's question. "Nothing much, I'm Hayley by the way. Are you all seniors?"
Seth jumped in. "No, Alice is a sophomore. Emmett, Logan and I are juniors. We're all in Calc 'cause our previous school had a stellar math program."
Stellar? Simmer down, secret agent man!
"Right…" Hayley said.
As final bell rang finished ringing, our Calc teacher ran into the class. I looked to my siblings and they were shaking their heads. Who would've thought that it would be our teacher that would be late? Class was boring as ever. I spent all of last week, aside from our New York mini-vacation, finishing off all my homework assignments. Now, I was two months ahead of schedule in all subjects, at least to the extent the teachers' syllabi calendared homework assignments. The only class I wasn't prepared for was English, but it was all British literature this semester. I would make sure to sit myself right in between Bella and Edward. They were the classic love tragedy so I knew I could soak some sort of knowledge out of them.
After the bell rang, Hayley asked where our next classes were. It turned out she was a junior as well, but she only had one other class with any us: Advanced Chemistry with me, last period.
"See you then!" Hayley giggled as she left the class.
"Well, mark one friend down on the list," Emmett suggested.
"Meh," Seth responded as he was getting out of his chair. "She seems like one of those flighty people who think they figure you out in one sitting and then decide right there and then if they'll be your friend. I guess Logan will find out where we stand in Chemistry today." Seth was probably right. Being ageless, and I guess Seth technically qualified right now, allows one to become an expert in human behavior.
…
The rest of the morning was an absolute bore. I watched the minute hand tick by second for second. By the time the lunch bell rang, I was counting the seconds in my head. I was right, of course. The clock in Modern American History was off by seven seconds. They should get that repaired.
I caught up to Seth in the lunch line and buzzed through it quickly, making sure to pick up the menu items he pointed out. He would be eating my lunch for I already ate. This food smelled terrible. I mean, all food smelled terrible, but the food I made for Ness and the pack smelled at least, nonterrible. Lunch food had definitely not improved since Forks High. Shocker. Not.
I didn't have to search for the new Cool Kids Table, where the Cullens would congregate, because the scent of vampires, a wolf, and a hybrid directed Seth and I to a large table farthest from the expansive windows that faced the forest outside.
What I wouldn't do for a quick run around the forest. I was feeling restless.
And it certainly didn't help matters when Emmett decided to rub my thigh underneath the table. His fingers were highly skilled. Uf. The venom in my mouth began to pool. I told myself not to drool this time! I was about pull him into the janitor's closet when Hayley called my name from across the cafeteria.
Hayley and two other girls meandered over to the Cool Kids Table after stopping to chat with a few other tables. I had to admit that I was impressed. Hayley was of the pretty girl cliche, but she was equal opportunity when it came to associating with people. "Hey, Logan, Seth, Emmett, Alice!" she said as she took a seat to the left of Seth, who was seated to my left. "These are my friends… Brianna and Allison. Is this the rest of your family?"
Brianna and Allison waved to us.
Seth piped up to answer Hayley's question. He introduced everyone and when he was done Allison jumped into the conversation.
"So I won't lie, the rumor around the school is that you're all together. Like together-together."
Bella's caught Edward's eye. She whispered, "I remember someone saying that to me once. It was so long ago."
"Yeah," Emmett answered. "That was Jessica Stanley on the first day—like your very first day." Bella's lips made a gigantic "O." She was still reacquiring her human memories. This was another moment she had gotten back.
"So…" Allison jumped in again. "Is it true?"
"Wait, what have you heard?" Ness asked with a smile. This was her and Jake's first "outing" as a couple too. She was more excited than anyone.
Allison gave a whimsical story how we moved from Washington, D.C. and our father was a political powerbroker between some powerful special interest groups. It was awkward how close Allison really was. I mean, come on, Carlisle Cullen, of the Cullen Coven, of the Cullen-Quileute Alliance, that stood up to the Volturi Guard, and survived.
"Well, his day job is being a doctor," Seth answered. "And I'd appreciate it if you spread the correct rumor about my family. It goes a little like this… Dr. Cullen and his wife ran a group foster home and over time, the Washington state foster system landed each one of us there. The older we got, the more difficult it was to get adopted. So, one by one, Carlisle and Esme adopted each of us. Carlisle's great uncle passed away not too long ago and left him a crappy house in his will. Esme fell in love with the house so they shipped us across the country. I mean, although none of us are related by blood, we are very close. We've been through a lot together."
"That is so cool!" Allison exclaimed. "I wish I had a family. I do, but I mean no brothers or sisters."
Edward? I thought. He nodded. Allison believed Seth completely. Wow, Seth was good.
"Agreed," Edward said.
"What?" Allison asked.
"It is cool that we all came together. I do not know where I would be without my family," Edward seamlessly lied with a big dose of honesty.
"Cheers," Jake said and raised his third milk carton.
"And to answer your original question," Seth said. "Yes, there are members of our family that are together-together. I guess being together for so long will have that effect on people. I mean, we aren't technically related or anything."
"Nice thought," Jasper said sarcastically.
"Yeah well, I'm sure these lovely ladies can spread the gossip correctly, don't you agree?" Seth smiled a toothy grin at the humans before us. All those attending that were of the supernatural variety heard the humans' heartbeats putter faster. Seth went down the list of mated pairs. It was awkward for Jake and Edward when Seth went over the Jake-Ness pairing. If Edward could blush, he would have. It was probably good that he couldn't because Ness wasn't supposed to be Edward's daughter, and the only other possible explanation was that Edward had a thing for his daughter. AWKWARD!
When Seth got to the Logan-Emmett pairing, I grabbed for Emmett's hand under the table. I was nervous and only Emmett could make it better. I didn't know if he shared my anxiety and that part killed me. What I wouldn't give to be Eddie right now!
"And the final pair is…" Seth started, but I slammed my boot down on Seth's foot. Yep, there was a crunch of bone. "OW!"
I raised my eyebrows apologetically. "Oops, sorry. My foot slipped."
Seth nursed his clearly broken foot with a grimace toward me. With a sudden jerk, he rolled it and we all heard resetting of bone. The whole scene was lost on Hayley, Allison, and Brianna though.
Hayley piped in, apprehension coloring her voice. "So who is the final pair?"
How dense can these people be? I thought.
Seth put his foot down and kicked his other foot hard to the side. It sounded like he kicked the steel of the chair, but it was my calf. Ouch. "Yeah, the final pairing is…"
I took a breath.
"Logan and Emmett here. These two orbit each other's worlds. I hope to find something like that some day," Seth concluded. Oh my Lord! It was out. Ugh, this whole move was destroyed now. We'll be targets of questioning, commentary, and gossip.
"Don't lose yourself, love," Emmett whispered. He clenched my thigh, hard. He broke me out of my fit in sufficient time to hear Hayley's reaction. Well, it wasn't so much a reaction to Emmett and I…
"Wait, so you're available?" Hayley said. That question was to Seth. The interest in her voice was palpable.
WHAT!?
I laughed to myself. Hayley and the others didn't care. No biggie in their books. They were more interested in the fact that Seth's single. Wait…
"Yeah, he's single," Emmett announced. "And straight." Oh gosh, Seth is going to kill me later this evening, for Emmett. Let's see… revenge times four? Was Seth's return kick a revenge for crushing his foot? I guess I'll have to see this evening.
"Um, I mean…" Seth tried to say. "I'm straight, but…" He scratched his head awkwardly. He didn't know what to say, but his body language said everything. The girls undressed him slowly with their eyes, Allison and Hayley that is. Briana was staring down my man.
"Problem, Brianna?" Emmett asked with a smile. He knew exactly what Brianna was doing and Emmett planned to milk it for all that it was worth. What a bastard.
"Are you sure you're gay? I would've never picked you out for being of the homosexual variety. No offense." Brianna was quick to the point. Is it bad that I contemplated fusing this wench's tampon to her vagina?
"Yes," Edward said aloud. To anyone else, it looked like he was talking to Bella, but I knew what Edward was really saying. No tampon fusing!
I looked to Emmett and he reassured me with another squeeze of his hand. My dick ached inside my jeans. I thought it might tear a hole through the fabric, which would bring a whole new level of exposure to my life. Fuck, Emmett was SO DISTRACTING.
He gave Brianna his dazzling smile. Yeah, he was a bastard! "Actually, I didn't consider myself gay until Logan came into my life. He's my one and only, so aside from him, I guess I'm asexual." Emmett's response was calm and collected. It was almost scientific, which for people who knew Emmett, that made it sound strange.
"Bummer!" Brianna resolved herself to the fact that Emmett wasn't on the smorgasbord of male tail. I had Emmett's male tail all to myself and frankly, if he didn't stop touching me, I was going to throw him on the lunch table and have my way with him right there and then.
Jasper, ever the emotional sponge, shifted in his chair and looked to Alice. Her smirk was all that was needed and they disappeared through a side door.
After a quick glance at my watch, I noted that we still had fifteen minutes before class. Perfect. I caught Emmett's gaze and shifted my head towards the door.
"What?" Emmett asked coyly. Again, bastard.
I shifted my head again.
"What?!"
Oh for god's sake! I grabbed his dick with my mind and stroked it to a full and uncomfortable length. Was that a sufficient answer for Emmett?
"Um, so I got to go to the office. My locker is jammed and the custodian needs to fix it," Emmett informed. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up.
"Mmmmhmmmm," Seth commented sarcastically.
"Don't be a douche, Seth. Wait until you find your Imprint!" I whispered quietly.
"Hey, aren't you two going to eat?" Allison asked taking note of our full plates of nasty cafeteria grizzel.
"I got this," Seth declared stabbing his fork into my meatloaf surprise.
"Dibs!" Jake grabbed Emmett's tray. Well, that took care of that question.
Emmett squeezed my hand and we walked at a semi-human pace out of the cafeteria. I scanned through the walls of the school and committed the layout to memory. "There's a large supply room on the other side of the north wing. Nobody's in there or near it," I said.
"Perfect," Emmett growled. We ran like the vampires that we were.
Once we were in the supply room, I locked the door. I turned around to meet Emmett's gaze. He lowered his head but kept his eyes on me. A growl erupted from his chest and he pounced on me. I let him drop me to the floor with a rather loud thud.
I returned his growl.
He lavished me in kisses. His sweet scent rushed over me and I got drunk off him. His lips and mouth tasted like the sweet tea that I'm sure I would have drank with him had we been human and in his native Tennessee.
I could drink Emmett all day long, but sadly we only had fifteen minutes. I've had less with him before so I couldn't complain. A quickie only tempered the craving inside me for Emmett. Yep, he's getting extra lucky tonight. Yep-yep.
…
The rest of the day went at a snail's pace, but the Lord had mercy today and canceled last period Chemistry for me. Every year, the high school had an activities fair on the first day so everyone could see what was offered. The fair was mostly for freshmen, but I still enjoyed it far too much what with all the free stuff I acquired. I may have been a multi-millionaire, but there was nothing quite like free stuff. I gave Seth all my food pick-ups, stuff like Sour Patch Kids and pizza, and he gave me all the Frisbees, stress balls, and pens he picked up.
As we meandered by all the tables, I found myself trying to decide to what kind of person I wanted to be in this high school experience. Cripes, there were so many options: pretty boy, pre-ivy leaguer, band geek, nerd, emo… What I eventually settled upon was jock… My tiff with that Farling kid years ago was forever engrained in my brain. Farling the Jock picked the wrong person to bully… I wanted to be the jock this time, but moreover, a nice one.
Hmmm… What sport? I went through my self-made list of approved sports, but couldn't settle upon any of them. I dragged Seth to every table. He found himself looking into Track, but the Football coach was after him to join up. Wow, Coach Olsen revisited… The last table I hit was the crew rowing team. Allison was explaining the sport to a pair of freshmen girls and was having difficulty getting her message across. The girls looked utterly disinterested.
This was the case until I walked up. All three girls gawked at me, observing my innate beauty or as Emmett put it, hotness.
"Yeah," Allison stammered. "We're technically two teams—boys and girls, but we practice together and compete together…" As Allison spoke more and more about rowing, the sport sounded interesting. And if I were in a boat all by myself, I definitely could control my performance with inhuman precision.
I took a flyer from Allison and gave her a warm smile. "Yeah, Al, I think I'm going to try out." I gawked back at the freshmen girls and suggested they try out too. They swooned and their hearts fluttered.
"Awesome!" Al screamed loudly, which made my ears bleed a bit (hypothetically of course). Whatever… She was cool in my book. "You'll like Daniel," she continued. "He's the boys team captain. Coach Adams is a real hard ass, but you'll see the performance boost for sure!"
"Whoa, whoa… who said I would make the team?" I joked. I mean, I knew I would make the team, but I had to play the humble one.
"You got a rower's body, Logan. You'll do fine given some training!" she said with a tap to my bicep. I curled it reflexively.
"Exactly," Al said with open arms. "Tryouts begin tomorrow after school! Make sure you got your physical in by then. I heard a doctor from the hospital is going to be here tonight to do them for free, so stick around."
I nodded. Yeah, I knew who would be doing my physical, or at least signing off on a fake one. Hey, Dad!