Hooked (3 page)

    
“Wow
.
” It was all I could say. 

    
“Millie, my prediction for senior year, involves you, him and a box of condoms
,
” Jess says and Cara laughs.  I roll my eyes at them, but I am secretly hoping
she’s right
.  Well,
at least
the part
about
he and I
being together.  “He seems like he would be cool
,
”
Je
ss says. 

    
“Negative, he seems like he would be a bad, very bad
,
boy that
you
r
dad would never let you go near!”  Cara exclaimed. 

    
Truth be told, Cara was probably right, but my dad wasn’t a mean person.  I doubt he
would judge someone without knowing them first. 
By the looks of this dude, my dad wouldn’t even open the door for him.  He look
ed
so mysterious, that we
couldn’t
help but stare at him, trying to figure out something about him
.

    
“Well, I
’ve
never
seen
him before
, that is for sure.  I wonder if he is even in school
,
” I
say
mostly to myself.
 

    
Jess spoke up, “I wonder if he’s the new guy Brian was talking
about
?”

    
“What did Brian say?” I asked.

    
“Nothing much, he just said Dave hired a new guy down at the garage after school.”

    
“What’s his name?”

    
“I’m not sure, Brian didn’t say
.  He just said that he was new in town and it was just him and his mom.”

    
“Well, this could be very interesting
,
” Cara added.
 

    
We finished our
ice cream
and talked to a couple of people from school before finishing our predictions.  Since Jess already made hers public, I spoke up
,
“I predict that Jess will have a steady boyfriend that does not go to our school, Cara
will get
into her first choice college and for me…I just want to have as many experiences
that
life will allow me.  I want to make some memories.
”

    
“Okay girls, my predictions go like this:  Millie, you and that dark
-
haired, blue
-
eyed
hottie
we just s
aw
,
will be in love by prom.  Jess is going to actually get into a dress on prom and have a
gorgeous
boyfriend who loves her and treats her great.  I will get into the same college as
Jason
and we will all live happily ever after!”  I start laughing at Cara’s dream like imagination and of course, Jess rolls her eyes.  We throw away our trash and climb back in my car.

    
We were kind of speechless on the way home.  All we kept saying was dang, man he was hot, and wow.  We laughed about our reactions, especially
C
ara.  I can’t believe she thought he was hot.  I didn’t even think she really looked at anyone other than Jason.

     
I drop the girls off and start heading home.  I have time to think about everything on my way home.  I have many things that I could concentrate on and think about
,
bu
t
my mind keeps going back to that
mystery
guy at the
D
airy
Q
ueen.  Who was
he? What
was his name?  And how in the heck did he ge
t
so hot?  Ugh, I wish I would have never seen him!  I park the car in the driveway and head upstairs to my room.  I shut my door and change into flannel shorts and a tank top.  As I lay my head down
on
my last night of summer, my only thought is
…
that’s not true, I’m glad I
saw
him and I hope I do again!

CHAPTER 2

    
The next m
orning, I woke up to Bruno Mars, The Way You Are.
I rolled over and after three tries, finally succeed at turning off the alarm.  I stretched out my bo
dy and then laid there still. 
Wow, I’m a senior, I thought.  It wasn’t that I loved school or anything, but I was excited to see all of my friends that I didn’t spend much time with during the summer.  I was ready to hear
how
everyone had spent their summer and what their future plans were.  I got up and made my way down the hall to the bathroom.  I was shocked that Eli was already in there.  I banged on the door.
Hard.
 

    
“Eli, hurry up! I need more time to get ready!” 

    
He
ignored me and began yelling the words to his song that was playing. 
Geez
, was that Jay Z?  He really needed to let him sing the song and put me out of my misery.  It was horrible.  I couldn’t even make out some of the words.  My dad was not keen on Eli’s fascination with rap music
,
but my mom always made him
purchase
the censored version.  My mom always told us she wanted us to grow up and be our own person.  In other words, my mom sweet talked my dad into letting Eli listen to whatever he wanted
,
with a few exceptions. 

     
The door swung open quickly.  Eli glared at me.  At that moment, I knew he spotted the tampons on the counter.  See, I had a plan when it came
to me and my brother sharing a bathroom.  I
figure
he is so uncomfortable with feminine products, that if I
keep mine out where he has to look at them
every time
he goes in there, he won’t stay as long. 

    
“I really wish you would put that crap away when
you’re
done with them.”

    
“Eli, I can’t help it that I have a period once a month
,
” I say sweetly.

    
“Well, you don’t have to leave everything lying around for everyone who comes in here to see!” 
He
says
.

    
“I just figured you’d want a heads up on which week to leave me alone
,
” I say as I slide beside
him
into the bathroom. 

    
I laugh as soon as he slams the door shut.  He’s so easy to rile up. 
He doesn’t realize that I leave my stuff out all the time.  There’s no way I need that stuff three weeks out of a month
,
h
e won’t just stop and think about it though. 
The tampons are good, but I also love hanging my bras from the shower.  I giggle a little as I think about it.  I once caught him using his baseball bat trying to unhook it from the shower.

    
As I get in the shower, my thoughts sway back to the guy from
last
night.  I’ve never
noticed
anyone like him before. 
He seemed
quiet
and dangerous.  He
had
this mysterious swagger
,
a
lmost like
y
ou would never know what he was thinking o
r
feeling.
  I wondered to myself if he was going to my school.  I didn’t know
how old he was
,
but from his looks, he was older than me. 
I finished washing my hair and shaving my legs because I decided on wearing shorts today.
The beginning of September
in Tennessee is so
humid
,
it is hard to take a breath when you walk outside.  I got out of the shower and padded to my room in my towel.  I walked to my closet and thought about wha
t
T-shirt
I wanted. My phone beeped and I knew
without
looking it was Cara
.
 

*What r u
wearin
2day?

*I
thot
shorts and tank?

*K, I think
im
goin
w/ a skirt

*K,
snds
good, c u there!

     
I knew not to expect a text from Jess.  She would probably be in jeans and a tank with some band from the
nineties
on it.  Plus, she wasn’t girly about things like that.  She didn’t need confirmation from Cara and I for her to feel comfortable wearing her clothes
,
s
he was confident on her own.

     
I got dressed in white shorts, a black tank top and my red low top converse.  It was a simple outfit
,
but it fit my mood today.  I was simple and carefree.  I finished
drying and
straightening
my hair and applied just enough make up to make my eyes shine and headed down stairs. 

     
Eli and dad were sitting at the table, while my mom was
j
ust pulling the biscuits
out of the oven.  “Good morning,” I said
taking a seat.
 

    
“Hey
Mil, what did Cara and Jess think of your car?”
M
y mom asked.

    
“They loved it!  Cara said it suited me and Jess was jealous that I had a CD player.
”
 

    
My
dad laughed at this. 
He loves Jess’ sense of humor and relates to her on some other level
.  Her sister was able to get her a car
,
but it is a 1992 Toyota Celica and the radio does not work.  That is one of the reason
s
she always has her
iPod
with her. 

    
“Well, how does
it
feel to be in your last year of high school?”
M
om asks. 

    
This was the perfect opportunity for Eli to voice a smart remark
,
so he took it.  “We hope
it’s
her last year!” He says as he smiles at me.

    
“It w
ill be,”
I said glaring at him.
Dad laughed and started drinking
h
is coffee. 

    
“Hey, dad, what do you think about me getting a part-time job?” I asked.

    
“Millie, we have been over this before.  I don’t want my kids working when they are in school
.  You will have the rest of your life to work.
  You just concentrate on your grades and basketball.  If you need money for something, just ask
,
”
h
e said
.

     “Ok
ay
,” I answered. 

    
I could tell he was done talking about it, so I didn’t force the issue. 
I understand where my dad is coming from
,
so I d
idn’t
get mad at his answer.  It would just be nice to have my own money.