cute off-white sandals I’d just taken stock of. I kept walking as Sarah pulled slightly away from the guy and reached up on her tiptoes to give him a final kiss. I had almost passed out of eyesight when I heard my name.
“Cazz! Cazz, over here.”
I turned toward the voice and saw Sarah waving me over. I took a deep breath and walked up to the pretty couple. The tall blond boy with the crew cut grown out slightly longer than that of my dad’s army colleagues’ had dark-blue eyes, prominent cheekbones, and a strong jaw. He was a good six inches taller than Sarah, who was about my height, which made him at least six-four. Although broad shouldered, he wasn’t thick like a linebacker, but he clearly spent many hours in a gym, sporting well-defined biceps and triceps. The combination made for a very handsome boy.
“Cazz, this is Dirk Clemens. Dirk, Cazz Warner. She just transferred here.”
Dirk made a display of gradually checking me out from head to toe and back again. “Nice.” He drew out the word, and Sarah elbowed him in his abdomen. Dirk chuckled and held out his hand with a welcoming smile chock-full of straight white teeth. “I mean, nice to meet you, Cazz. Where you from?”
I took his hand, returning his firm grip. “All over.”
Dirk slightly furrowed his brow without changing his smile, seeming confused by my answer.
I withdrew my hand and clarified slightly. “We move around a lot. Nice to meet you, Dirk.” I glanced at Sarah. “Thanks for the intro.” I started off toward the library.
“How was the first day?” I heard her ask, and I turned around again.
“Odd.”
“Odd?”
“Odd. High school is cliquey and usually no one talks to the new girl. You guys…” I shook my head and shrugged. “It’s weird.”
Dirk laughed. “That’s because this one here’s running for student-body president and goes out of her way to know everyone by name so they’ll know who to vote for.” He playfully poked Sarah’s shoulder.
She laughed. “It’s called being friendly.”
Instead of being offended by her calculated overtures of friendliness, I realized that as much as I hated the attention I’d been paid during the day, her repeated efforts to welcome me made me feel, well, welcome. “Effective strategy,” I said, calling out over my shoulder as I walked away. “You’ve got my vote.”
*
Two days later, in Earth Science, I listened in growing discomfort as our teacher began identifying the recipients of the five top scores on the first test of the semester. It was a refresher, designed to get students reacclimated to Earth Science after a summer-long hiatus, not counting toward our grade. It seemed strangely cruel that the teacher, Mr. Mullens, would call attention to each of the top five students—in terms of how they fared on the test—like they did something wrong. Who wanted to be highlighted for having aced an exam?
Mullens began. “Five: Dawkins, Kip.” A couple of catcalls from some girls in the back of class. “Four: Clemens, Dirk.” A bunch of hoots from what sounded like football players, with their deep voices and happy amusement at the discomfort of a fellow player. I noted Dirk wasn’t only good-looking, but had a brain, too. “Three: Rodgers, Eric.” A few groans. Apparently whoever Rodgers was, he was a typical test-acer who wasn’t popular with fellow classmates due to consistently high grades and what I guessed was an absence of good looks or athleticism. “Two: Perkins, Sarah.” A few “aws” and “whats?” as if there was some miscount of the scores. From the middle rows, I heard Sarah Perkins’s voice. “Two? I came in second ?” As if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Mullens continued. “Number one and top grade goes to: Warner, Cassidy.”
I wanted to die. I should have pretended not to know the answers, but the exam was so easy I owed it to myself to answer as best I could. I slumped in my chair. There were a few
Charles G. McGraw, Mark Garland