My Life With the Walter Boys (12 page)

“No,” I told him as I picked my way around the car. I didn’t want grease on my good silk blouse. “You never showed me this place during my tour.”

“That’s because nobody is allowed in here,” he said, his face flat. “It’s my space.”

“Oh,” I said, taken aback by how curt he was being. “Sorry, I didn’t know. I guess I’ll leave now.”

Cole sighed. “No, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to snap, but Alex has been a dick to me today and I took it out on you.”

“What happened?” I asked, trying to sound mildly interested. In reality, my ears were perked. When I made the decision to come down to the garage, it was partly because I wanted to find out if Alex’s accusations were true. I knew that the topic would be hard to slip into a conversation, and I hadn’t thought it would actually come up, but now that it had, a spark of excitement shot up my spine.

“I don’t know,” he said, leaning back against the car. “He’s been a prick for the last few weeks.”

“I see.” I couldn’t tell if Cole seriously didn’t understand why his brother was mad, or if something else was going on. “So are you going to talk to him?”

“I already did, but he never listens,” he said as he wrung the dirty cloth in his hands. “Whatever. If he wants to be ignorant, that’s his choice.” Cole crumpled the rag into a ball and tossed it on the workbench. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure,” I said, even though I was dying to know more.

“All right. Well, now that you’re out here, I might as well show you my baby.”

“Huh?”

Cole pulled back the passenger side door for me. “Get in.”

“Is it clean?” I asked, squinting inside. There wasn’t much light in the garage to begin with, and the lights in the car didn’t turn on when Cole opened the door.

“I vacuumed the seats,” he said, making his way around the front of the car. “Just get in.”

Ducking down, I carefully settled in. Cole yanked his door shut, and I followed suit, sealing us in the musty cabin.

“So this is your baby?”

“It’s a 1987 Buick Grand National,” he said, running both hands over the steering wheel. “Used to be my grandpa’s.”

“Am I supposed to be impressed?” I wasn’t trying to be rude, but the car was a bit of a clunker.

“This is a
classic
car.”

“It doesn’t look like much.”

“Well, it is. And when I finish restoring it, it’s going to run like a dream,” he said, sweeping his hand out in front of him as he imagined his car.

“So that’s what you’re doing? Fixing it up?”

“I’m trying to, but it’s expensive,” Cole said, his hand dropping back to his side. “That’s why I work at Tony’s. He pays me with the parts I need.”

“When did you learn to fix cars?” I didn’t mean to grill him, but this was the first conversation I’d had with Cole where he actually seemed passionate about something.

“I’ve taken a lot of shop classes in school, but it’s always just come naturally to me,” Cole explained.

“How long have you been working on it?”

“On and off since the start of high school.” He paused and then added, “But I’ve really made it a priority since last year.” Cole pressed his lips together, and his eyes turned dark cobalt as he stared out the windshield.

I took that as a sign not to push any further. “Cool,” I said instead.

He was obviously thinking about something, because then he shook his thoughts away. “I’m sorry, Jackie,” he said. “I don’t mean to kick you out, but I really wanted to take another crack at the engine before dinner.”

At first, I didn’t understand what he was saying, but then I realized he wanted me to leave. I must have said something wrong. “Oh, okay.” I fumbled in the dark to find the handle, and as I did, my face turned red. When my fingers finally found the smooth metal, I yanked it open as quickly as I could and stepped out.

“See you later,” he said, but he wasn’t even looking at me. His gaze was still focused out the window.

“Yeah, bye.”

I hurried out of Cole’s garage, but when I got to the front porch, I glanced back over my shoulder. It was hard to spot him in the shadows, but the mop of blond hair gave him away. He was still sitting in the front seat—he hadn’t moved at all.

“Cole, catch,” said Isaac, throwing the car keys to his cousin as we all trudged down the porch steps. It was Monday morning, and we were all moving slowly, not looking forward to school.

“You drive,” Cole said, tossing the keys back to Isaac. “I have my own ride.”

“What?” Alex demanded, and we all looked up at Cole. He smirked as a slick, black Porsche turned into the driveway. Everyone stared as the car pulled up, finally sliding to a stop in front of him.

“It’s getting a bit cramped in the truck, don’t you think?” Cole asked.

The window rolled down, and I recognized one of the boys who sat with Cole at lunch. “Hey, Walter,” he said, looking annoyed. “You coming or not? We’re going to be late.”

“Dude, chill. We have plenty of time,” Cole answered, jogging around the side of the car. He opened the door, leaned down, and said something to his friend that I couldn’t hear. “Hey, Jackie,” he said, glancing back up. “Want a ride too? You don’t have to go with the losers if you don’t want.” He offered me one of his cocky grins and opened the back door as if he expected I was going to say yes.

Danny, Nathan, Isaac, and Lee had already made their way down to the truck and were trying their best to ignore Cole as they piled their backpacks in the bed. Alex, however, was still standing next to me on the front walkway. I could feel him staring at me, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he had gone rigid. But he didn’t have anything to worry about. Until I knew exactly what had happened between the two of them, I was going to stick with Alex since he seemed like the more trustworthy one of the pair.

“Actually,” I said, shouldering my satchel. “I think I prefer riding with the losers.”

Cole’s only response was to stare at me, surprise evident on his face. Turning back toward Alex, I offered him a thumbs-up before making my way over to the truck. I kept my eyes glued to its rusty red shape so I wouldn’t break my resolve and peek at Cole. One glance at those blue eyes and I would crumble. Nathan pushed open the passenger-side door for me and offered me a hand up. As I climbed in, I heard a car door slam and gravel crunching.

“Damn,” Nathan whistled, watching the Porsche disappear through the rearview mirror. “Did you see his face?”

“No,” I said, buckling my seat belt. “Why, was it bad?”

“He’s beyond pissed,” Alex said, laughing, as he climbed into the backseat. The grin on his face was huge. “Man, I wish Jack and Jordan could have got that on camera. Cole Walter getting turned down.” He was shaking his head in disbelief.

“It was just a car ride,” I said, starting to feel a little nervous. “Not a marriage proposal.”

“You don’t understand.” Nathan had a look of pity etched on his face. “I tried to warn you on the first day. Cole doesn’t get rejected. You’re a challenge to him now,” he said, and Danny nodded his head in agreement.

“What do I do?”

“Just ignore him,” Alex said, like it was no big deal. But I knew how hard it was to ignore Cole when he was around. I wasn’t good at it at all.

“Pray,” Danny muttered at the same time. My eyes went wide.

“Isaac, can we just leave for school now?” Lee demanded. “I don’t really care about this stupid soap opera. I’ve got classes to skip.”

“Preaching to the choir,” Isaac said as he started the truck. “I was just waiting for Captain Dork to get in.”

Alex rolled his eyes but otherwise disregarded his cousin’s insult. The purple marks were still present under his eyes, but unlike yesterday, he looked positively cheery. The truck lurched backward and started down the driveway, and I stared out of the window into the right side mirror. Unfortunately, I thought, as I caught a glimpse of my face, I don’t look nearly as happy as him.

Twenty minutes later when we arrived at school, my stomach was still a knotted mess. It didn’t help that when I climbed out of the truck, the skin on the back of my neck prickled and I knew that I was being watched. Looking around, I spotted Cole sitting on the front steps with a flock of girls around him, but he wasn’t paying them any attention. He was staring across the parking lot at me. I knew that I would have to face him in math class, and the thought made my fingers tremble.

“Hey, Alex,” I said as we walked toward the school. “Where do you normally eat lunch?”

“I don’t really eat lunch,” he said, his cheeks going pink. “Normally, I—um, go to the computer lab to get a quick round of
Gathering of Gods
in.”

“That’s the online game you play with Kim, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, you play?”

“No, but I was wondering if you wanted to take a break today and eat lunch with us.”

“You and Kim?”

“And our other friends, yeah.” He looked like he was about to say no, so I quickly added, “Pretty please?”

He was clearly confused but nodded his head anyway. “Sure, I guess.”

“Perfect,” I told him as we walked into anatomy together. “Pick me up by the math room. We can walk down together.”

As we sat down, I smiled to myself. I’d decided the best way to fight off one Walter boy was with another. And my plan worked perfectly. Later that morning, I turned up at math just before the bell rang so Cole wouldn’t have the opportunity to talk to me. Then, when he saw Alex waiting for me after class, he swept out of the room without a backward glance.

“Hi,” I greeted Alex cheerfully. Kim was standing next to him, an impressed look splashed across her features.

“How’d you do it?” she asked.

“What?”

“Get him out of the computer lab for lunch. I’ve been trying for ages.”

“I just asked nicely.”

“That’s a neat trick,” Kim grumbled. “You’ll have to show it to me someday.”

“I’m not a dog, you know,” Alex shot back. But we knew he wasn’t really angry, and the three of us made our way to the lunchroom laughing.

***

Despite Nathan’s warning, my next two weeks in the Walter house were Cole free. I avoided him as best I could, and in turn, he stayed out of my way. The most interaction we had was one-way—from my window, I could hear everything that went on in the pool below. Swimming was Cole’s entertainment of choice when he brought one of his hookups over to the house, and in the past few days, there had been a revolving door of girls in bikinis.

My plan seemed to be working. Because I was hanging out with Alex, Cole left me alone. Alex and I became friends quickly, and now he was eating lunch with me and my friends regularly, not to mention that we always did our anatomy homework together. He had been right—knowing part of his past made it easier for me to open up around him. He was like the brother I’d never had.

I was on my way down to his room, my satchel slung over my shoulder, when I heard the fighting.

“Come on, Alex. You’ve blown me off all week.”

The door to Alex and Nathan’s room was ajar. At first I thought Alex was fighting with Nathan, but then I recognized Lee’s voice.

“I know, dude, but Jackie and I have a huge test in anatomy that we need to get ready for,” Alex said back.

“You’re ditching me?” Lee demanded. “We always watch the game together. Screw her!” There was a pause, and when Alex didn’t answer, Lee continued. “Oh, I get it,” he said. “That’s exactly what you want to do, isn’t it?”

“No!” Alex hissed, quickly defending himself. “We’re just studying!”

“Yeah, whatever,” Lee said, storming out of the room. When he saw me standing a few feet away, he shoved past me, his shoulder ramming into mine. “Bitch,” he coughed out and kept walking. Two seconds later, his bedroom door slammed shut.

I contemplated walking back to my room after the encounter, but Alex poked his head out into the hall.

“Oh shit,” he said, running a hand through his messy hair. “You heard all that, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, kind of,” I said, looking away from him. “If you want to hang out with Lee, I understand.”

“No, Jackie, don’t worry about it,” Alex said and pushed his door open all the way. “Come in.”

I wavered for a moment, not sure what to do, but then Alex took my satchel from me, so I had no choice but to follow him in. His side of the room was just as messy as the last time I saw it, if not worse. Clothes were scattered everywhere, and empty bags of junk food covered his desk. Nathan’s half looked like a
Better
Homes
and
Gardens
magazine, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“I didn’t really get the chance to tidy up,” Alex told me, kicking a pair of shoes out of the way as he led me over to his desk.

I laughed. “Alex, you’d need a SWAT team to clean up this mess,” I said, picking my way across the floor and being careful not to step on any dirty laundry.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said, pulling out his computer chair so I could sit down. On the seat was a moldy plate that had turned so green I couldn’t even tell what type of food was on it. Alex looked at me sheepishly before grabbing the plate and shoving it under his bed. “I’ll take care of that later,” he muttered. “Have a seat.”

“I don’t know,” I said, eyeing the chair suspiciously to see whether or not it was molding as well. “It might be dangerous.”

Alex shot me a look. “Funny.”

“What?” I said, but sat down anyway. “Can’t be too careful.”

After dragging a chair over from Nathan’s desk, Alex sat down next to me and pulled out his textbook. “So what’s our plan of attack?” he asked.

It was just a figure of speech, but Alex had no clue how seriously I took his question. I’d never been one of those really creative kids who could dance and sing or paint a pretty picture. There weren’t any doodles in my notebooks at school because I couldn’t even draw a stick figure. But the one talent I could brag about was my ability to study. It didn’t matter what type of test it was. As long as I had a decent amount of time to prepare, I could ace anything. This anatomy test would be no different. After all, it was my first academic performance at my new school, and I wanted to set the bar high.

“We should start by going over the review sheet and defining all the terms,” I said, pulling the important piece of paper out of my organizer. I handed it to Alex to look over since I knew he’d already lost the one we were given in class. “I’ve color-coded my notes and arranged them by lecture to assist us. If we can’t find a specific answer in my notes, which is highly unlikely, we can turn to the textbook as a last resort.”

“What about my notes?” he asked, glancing up from the review sheet. He set it down, and I tried not to cringe as the paper soaked up a tiny puddle of mysterious liquid—probably one of the Kickstart energy drinks that I saw him drinking every morning—that was spilled on his desk.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, snatching the paper back. “The only notes you took was the picture you drew of Mr. Piper where you labeled all the facial bones. And those weren’t even accurate.”

“Point taken,” Alex said, scratching his head in embarrassment.

“All right,” I said, glancing at the first category listed on the review sheet. “Let’s start with the appendicular skeletal bones…”

Half an hour later, we had only covered the first twenty of the seventy-five terms we needed to know. I was trying to keep Alex focused on studying, I really was, but that was easier said than done. Every few minutes his e-mail would beep, causing him to glance at his computer. By the time I focused his attention back on anatomy, another e-mail would ping and the process would start all over again.

Finally I gave up.

“Just check it,” I said with a sigh as another message drew him out of our textbook. Either Alex had a serious problem with junk mail, or someone was really trying to get hold of him—and apparently whoever it was didn’t know how to use a cell phone. This was the tenth e-mail in the past five minutes.

“Check what?” he asked, his eyes darting back to the passage he was supposed to be reading.

“Your e-mail. I know you’re dying to.”

“Sorry,” he said, but he quickly pulled up his inbox. He double-clicked on the first little blue envelope, his eyes scanning the message. “My guild is going on a ZG raid.”

He’d lost me in one sentence. “Guild? Raid?” I asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s gamer talk,” Alex said, as he went through the rest of his e-mails. “You know, for
Gathering of Gods
.”

“Oh, right. I’ve heard Kim talking about it before,” I said absentmindedly, “but I didn’t really get it.”

That was possibly the worst thing I could have said to Alex. He turned to me as an unsettling smile crept onto his face. “Put your notes away, young padawan. Much to teach you, I have.”

Alex was so enthusiastic about
Gathering of Gods
that he couldn’t just explain it to me. He had to show me. And by showing, I mean he forced me to play. After explaining that game play consisted primarily of completing dangerous quests, he helped me create a character, which took quite some time.

“Why does it matter what color my hair is?” I asked, as he clicked through all forty different styles.

“Because,” Alex said, as if I were being childish, “you’ll never be able to change it. You have to go with something you really love.”

When it came to choosing what race my character was, he got even more frustrated. The options consisted of humans, dwarves, demons, and fae, but I wouldn’t pick one until I knew which was the most successful.

“It’s a completely legitimate question, Alex,” I told him. “Which one is the best?”

“One isn’t better than another,” he tried to clarify. “I personally like the demons because I think they’re badass, but lots of people like fae too.”

“So I should be a demon?” I asked, moving the curser so it hovered over an ugly-looking creature with horns and scales.

“No, I’m not saying that.” Frustration tinged his voice. “Each race has a different skill set, so it all depends on what you enjoy playing the most.”

“But how can I know which one I like the most if I’ve never played the game before?”

Alex took a deep breath, trying to remain patient. “Just pick one, Jackie.”

“At least tell me which race will help me beat the game in the least time.”