Taking Flight (8 page)

“Give me half an hour or so,” he replied, “but I think I can get you into Cameron’s Physics class. It’d be your third period, replacing your Home Economics course. But it’s a very tough class.”

I backpedaled quickly when I heard that idea. I didn’t want Cammie to tutor me. I’d spent enough time with her this weekend to realize that too much time alone with her would probably just lead to tension and arguing, or else to a different kind of tension I didn’t like to dwell on. “Is that the only option, though? On second thought, losing Home Ec would be really tragic; I’ve actually always wanted to know how to sew my name onto a little handmade pillow.”

He shot me an expectant look. “This by far is the simplest and most convenient solution I can come up with, Lauren. Either you want the harder class or you don’t. But don’t make this decision lightly; I’m going to have to go meet with the teacher today and discuss your situation with her, so it would be best if you didn’t go back on this.”

I curled my upper lip unpleasantly, but waved my approval nonetheless. “Fine. Cammie can teach me Physics… but you’re assuming she wants to.”

“Cameron’s a responsible student,” he assured me. “She’ll help you get caught up.”

“Okay.” I moved to leave, but he gestured for me to come back.

“Wait; stay here for a little while. I’d like to discuss yesterday with you.”

“You mean you haven’t gotten bored of our talks yet?” I asked, feigning surprise as I grudgingly took a seat. David forced a smile.

“I understand what it’s like to be a teenager, Lauren. I know having someone your own age to spend time with is important, and I’m glad you and Cameron are getting along. But it’s also important for you to keep in mind what comes naturally with that. Trust. Honesty.”

“You want me to tell her about my mom,” I deadpanned, realizing where he was going with this. “That’s not gonna happen.”

“The issue here is not your mother.” He paused. “I suppose it’s necessary that I stress what I told you before. You truly are a special case. You came here out of a lack of responsibility and guidance. Most of the kids we get have something extra: a bad thing. And I believe you do too, but not on the level Cam and Scott are used to, which is why Cammie is confused the way she is. You’re here mostly to add good things – a decent attendance record, a supportive environment – not to remove bad ones, such as addiction. I don’t feel it’s my right to explain that to her, but it certainly is yours. Does that make sense?”

“I thought I had intimacy issues,” I mumbled sarcastically. I was only partially following him, but from what I understood, he was basically trying to say that I was the unfortunate byproduct of a shitty home life, and
that
only made me angrier.

He smiled in a way that told me he’d picked up on my sarcasm. “Perhaps I worded that wrongly. I meant to suggest that you haven’t had experience with a healthy relationship.”

“So I haven’t actually dated anyone. So what? Is that even any of your business?”

“I didn’t specify that it had to be a romantic relationship.”

It took a moment for me to make sense of that, and when I did, I glowered at him, at a loss for words. “Wow,” I finally breathed out, infuriated. “Are you serious? I love both of my parents. I love my best friend. Those are more than enough.”

“But do you feel you have a healthy relationship with any of those people?” he pressed gently. I grit my teeth, resisting the urge to bite out an instinctive response.

I considered his question. My mother was always working and then she was gone forever. My dad had had an alcohol problem for as long as I could remember. And Caitlyn… we adored each other, but we were a little bit of a roller coaster friendship, and I wasn’t sure the whole “occasionally having sex and then being awkward about it afterward” thing was totally healthy.

“It’s not fair for you to judge people you don’t even know,” I muttered, finally. I felt an ache in my chest start to form as I struggled to shake off what he’d said.

“I only asked a question, Lauren,” he told me, his voice still annoyingly gentle. I shot him another glare.

“But you knew what the answer’d be when you asked it.”

He offered me a sympathetic smile. The worst kind. “Not entirely. But it seems like you just gave me yours.”

*   *   *

The rest of the day was, frankly, terrible. I missed the first half of my Music Appreciation class, and when I finally arrived, it turned out to basically just entail sitting in a circle with musical instruments in a ceremony vaguely reminiscent of my Kindergarten musical experiences.

After that was lunch, only the lunch periods were beyond confusing, and I wound up sitting alone at a table for two lunch periods instead of one. Then it turned out
neither
of those lunch periods were the one I was supposed to have attended, and so by the time I finally got to Home Economics, they were actually leaving to go to lunch. So I spent another half hour drinking a chocolate milk alone.

Health class at the end of the day wound up being ninety minutes of watered-down Sex Ed. I felt sorry for the lanky, slightly dorky guy teaching the class, until he said something about abstinence that made me snort loudly enough for the whole class to hear, and he shot me a glare that told me he wasn’t nearly as much of a pushover as he seemed to be.

All in all, it was about as horrific as I’d expected, and when Cammie and I converged at David’s office to hitch a ride back home with him, I didn’t pretend that I’d liked it.

David handed me a sheet of paper as he exited his office. “Here’s your new schedule, Lauren,” he said.

I fixed my gaze to the paper to see that it was the same schedule we’d discussed earlier. My Home Ec class was gone, replaced with AP Physics. I balked.

“Wait. AP Physics?”

“Isn’t that what you asked for?” he questioned, confused.

“Nobody specified that it was
AP
Physics!” I exclaimed, trying hard not to panic. I’d never taken an AP class before in my life. “I just thought I was taking regular Physics instead of Home Ec!”

Cammie pulled the schedule out of my hands abruptly, looking down at it with disbelief and mild horror. “You put her in my AP Physics class? Are you crazy?”

“Hey!” I exclaimed, insulted.

Cammie looked just as affronted. “You
just
practically said the same thing yourself.”

“Well, yeah, it’s okay when I say it; that doesn’t mean
you
can act like I’m dumb.”

“I don’t think you’re dumb,” she insisted. “This class is hard for me too.”

Between us, David started rubbing at his temples again.

“Change it back, Dad,” Cammie demanded of him. “How did they even let her in?”

“I pulled a lot of strings,” David explained over my scoff. I glared at Cammie.

“Okay, you know what? I think I’ll keep it.”

“That’s really not a good idea,” she told me, eyeing the schedule with trepidation. “It’s a tough class.”

“Well I’m a tough girl. I can pass the class,” I snapped, and although she didn’t seem convinced, that ended our argument.

On the inside, however, I said a few words for the tattered remains of my already-low GPA. “
Rest in peace, 2.3. You’re gonna need a miracle.”

Chapter Six

Cammie, to her credit, started my Physics lessons that night. David had been right; she took schoolwork almost too seriously.

“You know what I don’t get?” she asked me as she flipped backwards through the textbook, toward the earlier chapters. I watched her patiently, chewing idly on the end of my pencil. I didn’t answer, and she continued, “How do you have the weirdest little pet peeves? Get sent halfway across the country and you’re understandably irritated, but call you spoiled or dumb and you fly off the handle.”

“I do not ‘fly off the handle,’” I argued.

“You were the first kid to ever do farm work on the first weekend, and now you’re taking an AP Physics class. This is the handle.” She pointed to her book. “This is you.” Her hand, pressed to the book, leapt off of it and slowly sank lower toward the ground, Cammie whistling as it went.

“That was more of a ‘falling off the handle’,” I protested, just to antagonize her. She rolled her eyes and went back to flipping through the book.

“I’m just saying you have strange priorities.”

“I just demand respect,” I told her. “That’s all. I don’t like to be judged before people get to know me. I don’t think that’s fair.”

She glanced up at me. “And why is that so important to you?”

I let out a deep sigh and shook my head. “You and your dad, I swear… Are you aiming for a therapy career as well?”

She smothered a grin as her eyes refocused to the textbook. “Not exactly. Are you going to answer my question?”

“It’s hard to get in L.A., sometimes.”

“Sorry, what?”

“Respect,” I clarified. “At school, or when I’m out with friends, or whatever. You have to demand it if you want it. I don’t let people just walk all over me, or tell me what to do, who to be, or who I am. Not back there, and not here.”

“Have you been in fights?” she asked. I raised both eyebrows.

“Me? No way. Have you seen the shoes I wear? Who fights in heels?”

“But I thought you were such a bad girl back in L.A.,” she countered, half-mocking.

I shook my head. “I never said that.
You
did.”

“Huh. I guess that’s true.” She paused. “I don’t think you’re spoiled or stupid, if that means anything at all to you. You’re just kind of confusing.”

“You too,” I told her shortly, and then nudged her Physics book before she could respond and asked, “So what’s the first chapter on?”

“Um… force.”

“Like the pushy kind?”

She stared at me. “Yes. The pushy kind.”

“Oh, okay. Cool,” I said.

She sighed. “Let’s just get started.”

*   *   *

My second day of school went better.

I realized very quickly that my switch to Physics had created way more stress than I’d wanted, but my ego wouldn’t let me back down on it, so after ninety minutes of typing and another ninety of shaking maracas in a circle of students, I entered my Physics class.

Cammie was already there, sitting by two friends of hers I assumed were from the cheerleading squad. She offered me a smile, but I knew immediately that I wasn’t sitting anywhere near her. As much as she’d insisted that I’d get along with her friend Tiffany, I had no desire to try and fit in with the cheerleaders.

I don’t know if she expected me to join her, but I do know that she certainly didn’t expect me to go take the empty seat that I did. There was a girl sitting off to the side alone, sporting a general look that could be described as nothing other than “alternative.” She had jet-black hair and clothes to match it, with a haircut that left the underside of one half of her head completely shaven. I was surprised that was allowed at Collinsville High, given their no doubt strict dress code rules.

At any rate, she looked lonely, and sitting near her beat sitting with the blonde girl next to Cammie I was pretty sure was Tiffany and the brunette on Tiffany’s other side who seemed equally intimidating and judgmental.

Cammie shot me a confused look, but Tiffany distracted her soon after that, whispering something in her ear and giving me a furtive glance. I saw Cammie shrug and her friend giggle, and I rolled my eyes silently.

Our assignment for that day – and every day, I would soon find out – was a small problem set that consisted of ten practice problems. Our teacher, a portly, friendly man in his forties, began by introducing a new formula to us and explaining the concept behind it, and then he passed out the papers to us. He paused by me to privately welcome me and to offer his help anytime I needed it, which was nice of him, but I wasn’t going to be the kid to walk to the front of the class and basically advertise that I didn’t understand anything.

My biggest problem after that was that I really
didn’t
understand it. The majority of his explanation went right over my head, and I had no freaking clue how to solve for tangential velocity or acceleration or whatever the hell we were supposed to be doing.

Cammie’s two friends spent most of the class period talking in hushed whispers, but Cammie got right to her assignment. I spent a solid fifteen minutes glaring at her back, willing some of her knowledge to osmosis it’s way on over to me, but it predictably didn’t work.

I cut that out when the girl I’d sat by whispered, “Hey, do you need any help?”

I looked at her, surprised she’d spoken. She’d seemed like the quiet type.

She offered me a smile when I glanced over at her, and continued quietly, “Sorry. I’m Maddie. I’ve kind of been out of it today; I didn’t realize you were new. This class takes some getting used to.”

I scratched at my head and looked down at my paper. I wanted to be able to finish some of it myself, but I couldn’t even make sense of the first problem, which was supposedly the easiest. I sighed. “Yeah, I’m kind of lost.”

“You just have to figure out how to plug in the formula,” she explained, gesturing toward the series of symbols written on the board.

“It’s like an alien language,” I mumbled. That made her grin.

“So you’re, like, totally new to our school then?” she guessed. “Where are you from?”

“Los Angeles.” I pointed at Cammie’s back with my pencil, and, curious to see Maddie’s reaction, declared, “I’m with that one. Her dad’s next pet project. Do you know them?”

She blinked at me, looking taken aback, and then shook her head abruptly. “Wait. You’re the next kid living with the Marshalls?”

“The one and only.”

“What are you doing in this class? I mean, no offense, but from what I’ve heard those kids don’t have the greatest track record with grades.”

“I’m doing a terrible job of proving a point because my ego is massive,” I declared, sighing deeply. “Cammie’s tutoring me, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t think I’m too smart, so it’s just frustrating for her and annoying and insulting for me right now. And that’s just after one study session.”

“So why aren’t you sitting with her?” Maddie asked. I noticed she looked like she was trying not to smile. As though she already knew the answer.

“I think the girl with the bubblegum lip gloss and the other one doing her makeup in class right now have got it covered. I remember the days when I thought bright pink lip gloss was a good idea…”

She snickered beside me, and I knew then that I liked her. “Nice. Yeah, no offense… you could fit right in with them with some effort.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know, I know. I sound like a total hypocrite sitting here judging your school’s popular chicks when I don’t look much different, but historically I don’t exactly share a lot of personality traits with them.” I studied her. “I like your haircut; how’d you slip it past the censors?”

“Thanks.” She smiled. “My dad’s the principal. He went pretty crazy when I came home with it a week ago, but it’s a hard cut to fix once it’s done, so I get to keep it until it grows back.”

“Nice. School principal for a dad. I bet you get out of anything.”

“Your reputation doesn’t disappoint,” she joked, and began to look to my problem set in a way that told me she wanted to get back to helping me out with Physics. I was stuck on her last comment, though.

“I have a reputation?”

“Oh, no. Well… yes. Not
you…
more like the kids that showed up before you. I mean, everyone knows about the Marshalls. Cammie’s brother Scott was a big football star back when he was here, and now she’s like the cheerleading squad’s second in command or whatever, and their dad’s worked here for a while now and apparently a lot of the students like him, I guess. Everyone knows who they are; everyone knows what they do. There’s usually about one new kid a year, so you’re right on schedule to show up.”

“So the others were terrible?” I guessed.

“For a little bit. I think a lot of them were in my dad’s office on the first day, actually, because he’d come home complaining about the new Marshall kid. But that always stopped eventually as the year went on, so I guess whatever Cammie’s dad does seems to work. You actually seem more… together than I’d think. Then again, I never really talked to any of the others.”

“Well, I did accidentally stick myself in AP Physics,” I murmured. “I bet that’s never been done here before.”

“You could switch out,” she suggested with a shrug, but I shook my head.

“It’s this or Home Ec, and I’d like to prove I’m not stupid.” I glanced to my paper. “Although I’m kind of starting to wonder if I actually am.”

“I’m sure you’re not. Look, the formula works like this…”

We spent the rest of the class period working through the problems together. Maddie did the first one for me as an example, and then walked me through the second one until I could get it right on my own. The third one I
did
get right on my own the second time I tried it, and the same with the fourth, although both took me a while. I was halfway through the fifth problem when the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

After that was lunch. I was excited to finally have someone to share a table with, but Maddie informed me that she unfortunately did not eat lunch, instead spending her time in the library every day doing homework. Despite her style, Maddie did seem to be at least somewhat of a nerd underneath it all. I preferred her teaching me to Cammie, though, so that was okay. It just meant I wound up walking to lunch alone, up until Cammie unexpectedly caught up with me.

“Hey.” She fell into step beside me, a strange expression on her face. “Why’d you sit with Maddie Parker in class today?”

“Um, I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Because there was an empty seat beside her?”

“You could’ve sat by me,” she told me. “And you can come eat lunch with us too, if you want. You don’t have to sit alone.”

I was quiet for a moment, rubbed the wrong way by her insinuation that she and her friends were the only people I’d be able to get a seat with. I cleared my throat. “Look, Cammie. You’re nice and everything. But those girls are your friends, not mine. And I can make my own.”

“I think you should give them a chance,” she pressed, but I shook my head.

“They would never give me one, and you know it. Just because you and I are getting along doesn’t mean your friends will feel the same way about me. I’m gonna find some friends of my own, alright? Like maybe Maddie.”

“Maddie’s not a good idea,” she retorted instantly.

I rolled my eyes, not looking at her. “And why not? She seems kind of cool-grunge-nerd, and her dad’s the school principal. Not a bad friend to have considering I’ll probably end up in trouble here at least once.”

“Maddie’s just…” Cammie trailed off with a sigh, and simply shook her head. “Look. If you trust me on one thing, please let it be this. You and I both know high school’s rough if you aren’t socially savvy—”

“Socially savvy,” I echoed, cutting her off with a loud laugh. “Cammie, are you
socially savvy
?”

“Shut up,” she mumbled, turning red. “You know what I’m trying to say.”

“Be popular or be miserable; I got it.” We were approaching the lunchroom now, and I paused outside of it, turning to face her. “So Maddie’s not popular, then. Well, I’m already miserable, so I may as well have friends I actually like while I’m here. Do you like your friends?”

She stared at me, eyebrows furrowed, and I entered the cafeteria without waiting for a response.

When I’d gone through one of the lines and gotten my tray of food, I scanned the tables of students, trying to slap on labels in my head. The cheerleaders and jocks were easy to spot; so were the video game geeks. But not every group looked like a stereotype; there were some groups that just seemed to consist of four or five close friends. There was no way I was going to try and worm my way into those.

I found a group of two that I eventually decided to approach, solely because they didn’t look unfriendly and there were only two of them. They were a boy and a girl, both were dark-skinned, and they sat across from each other at the end of a table, which was where I paused and worked up the courage to ask, “Hey, is anyone else sitting with you guys? I’m kind of new.” I held my breath as they looked at me, hoping they’d take pity on me.