Salvaged (20 page)

He gave me a hug, and it lasted way too long for it being given
by someone that I hardly knew. "I'm so glad that you made it. I've
been looking for you. Come on, I'll introduce you to some friends."

"Oh, I don't know, Cooper; I probably shouldn't leave my
friend."

"What friend?"

"Tess... " I turned and realized that she was gone. "Uh, nobody
I guess."

He grabbed my hand and started dragging me through the
crowd, and as the other kids laughed and enjoyed each other's company, I frantically searched their faces for Riley's. Unfortunately,
none of the faces I saw were his.

"Hey, guys," I heard Cooper say. "This is Attie. She just moved
into town with her family. Her grandfather runs the veterinary clinic
over on Main."

I looked at four new pairs of eyes staring at me. "Hello." I spoke
softly and gave them a weak wave.

Cooper began making introductions. "This is Rick, Beth, Wes,
and Tiffany."

My instincts told me that this was the dreaded "in crowd," but
they were totally mismatched, and even though they weren't much
taller than I was, I felt like they were looking down on me.

"Hi, Attie. I'm Tiffany," one of the girls spoke as she offered her
hand for a shake. I wondered if this was the Tiffany that Riley took
to prom. "So you're the girl that's living with Riley?"

"Um, with his family, yes," I answered.

"I've heard about you. Riley and I have been dating for a while."

"Really? He hasn't mentioned you." I couldn't believe the words
left my mouth, but I was pleased with myself.

Yes, this was the girl, and as far as she was concerned, they were
still dating. Riley might be interested in knowing that little piece of
information.

"You're the girl from the accident."The boy named Wes pointed
it out as if I didn't already know. "Cool."

"Yes, cool," I repeated.

Cooper and his friends chatted, and I took the opportunity
to inspect Tiffany. She was the complete opposite of me, tall with
an athletic build and jet-black, curly hair. Her tanned complexion
caused her blue eyes to radiate. She was stunning, and I immediately wanted to hate her. I also happened to notice that unfortunately, she
did have big boobs, and the revelation was very upsetting.

I turned my gaze to the other girl, Beth. Looking at her, the first
question that came to mind was how she made it into the in crowd.
She wasn't unattractive, but she wasn't attractive either. She was a
little plain, like me, and she had a nervous little giggle. She looked
friendly enough; maybe I could like her.

"Did you see what Tammy's wearing?" she asked Tiffany. "That
girl is so strange."

Nope, I determined that I couldn't be her friend after all.

Wes was, well, dirty for lack of a better term. Or at least he looked
like he hadn't bathed in days. His brown hair was greasy, his clothes
were wrinkled, and it was obvious he didn't believe in shaving. Worse,
he was eating a hot dog and talking with his mouth full. To keep from
getting sick, I looked away and gave Rick the once over.

Rick was a pleasant enough looking guy and much more like
Cooper. He was clean, nicely dressed, and appeared to be friendly.
His personality was very outgoing, and he kept everyone in the group
laughing, so he was more than likely the ringleader of the clique. He
seemed nice enough, but I was sure that he probably possessed a
dark side. Most members of elite cliques did.

After several moments Cooper finally excused us and pulled me
toward the house. "Come on, Attie, I'll give you a tour."

I searched for one of the girls to rescue me but couldn't find one.
"Maybe I should try to find my friends so they don't worry about
me," I suggested.

"Oh, we'll just be a minute, Attie." He grabbed my hand and
pulled me along behind him.

More than thirty minutes later, we still hadn't made it beyond
the first floor. Cooper took me through every room on the first level
and made sure to point out every piece of art or artifact and give its
history. I didn't get to say one word, and all the excess information
was nauseating. If he was trying to impress me, he was failing miserably. He talked nonstop about all the travel he'd done to Europe and
how much he loved art.

"Are you an art lover, Attie?"

"Can't say that I am, no."

"Have you been exposed to much?"

"Just a few museums in New York, but that's it."

"Oh, I bet if you were exposed to it a little more you'd fall in love
with it."

My mind wandered to Riley's sketches. Come to think of it,
there was one type of art that I liked-Riley's.

"Attie." I heard Tammy say my name.

"Tammy!" Instant relief washed over me. "We're back here."

She made her way into the back hallway to join us. "Whatcha
doin', Cooper?" she asked distrustfully.

"Hey, Tammy," Cooper said warmly. "Attie wanted a tour of the
house, so I thought I'd oblige."

"Did she now? Well, Cooper," she said softly, "you have to share
the new girl. Everyone wants to meet her."

"She hasn't seen the upstairs yet. We'll only be a few more
minutes."

"Oh, Cooper, that's all right. I'll make sure to see it next time,"
I lied.

"Well... " He hesitated. "Promise?"

"Yes," I lied again.

"I guess I should probably check on the guests," he admitted.

"Yes, you probly should," Tammy replied. "I think they were
running out of hot dogs, and you know how high school kids are
when they run out of hot dogs."

"Okay, I guess I'll find you in a little while, Attie?"

"Looking forward to it," I lied for the third time.

Cooper walked off, and when he was out of sight Tammy stuck
her finger into her mouth as if she was gagging herself.

"Tell me about it." I rolled my eyes. "How did you find me?"

"Riley sent me in after you."

"Riley? He's here?" My heart raced.

"Yep. But don't you dare tell him I told you. He'd kill me. He saw Cooper drag you in here and got worried after you'd been gone
awhile, so he asked me to come in here and drag you back out."

"Did he seem jealous?"

"Oh yeah. He was totally jealous; it was awesome."

As we made our way outside I intentionally didn't look around.
If Riley was watching, I didn't want him to know that I knew he was
there. I did, however, notice Tiffany walking up to me.

"So, Attie, did you like the house?"

"It's very nice."

"Hey, Tiff, how's it going?"

"Hi, Tammy," Tiffany responded without even looking her direction. "So, Attie, looks like we'll be on the cheer squad together."

I gulped and then gave her a weak smile. "Great. That'll be nice."
I lied again-what was this, the fourth time today already?

"I'll probably be captain this year. We vote before the first game."

"Good luck. You've got my vote," I lied for the fifth time.

"Captain? What does that mean? Like, you kick the highest?"
Tammy asked dryly. "I'm underwhelmed."

Tiffany rolled her eyes, "See you around, Attie." She turned to
walk off and then spoke over her shoulder. "Tell Riley to call me; he
owes me a dinner."

"I will," I called back to her and then whispered in Tammy's ear,
"when I wake up next to him tomorrow morning."

She laughed. "That was awesome, even if I was the only person
to hear it."

"That's the most wonderfully tacky thing I've ever said," I
boasted. "I'm in awe of myself."

"You should be. Did it feel good?"

I nodded my head enthusiastically.

"I've trained you well, my fine young padawan." An extremely
large smile covered her face. "Pretty soon you'll even be able to say
stuff like that out loud."

"Attie! Tammy!" Anne called for us to join her and Jennifer. "We
got some lounge chairs."

"Thanks for deserting me, Anne," I taunted as I took a seat.
"Hey, Jennifer."

"Did I desert you? I'm so sorry, Attie. I didn't realize."

"You left me to chat, Tammy left me to eat, and then Tess took
off and I don't know where in the world she is."

"Oh." She looked sad. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm just teasing you; don't worry about it."

"But she was saved by Cooper, and he blessed her with a tour of
his lovely home," Tammy added sarcastically.

"Ugh," Anne moaned.

"Cooper's a freak," Jennifer added.

As if he heard his name, Cooper appeared in front of me. "Hello,
girls." He grinned.

"Hey, Cooper," we said flatly.

"Do you girls want to help judge the belly flop competition?"

"Are you gonna be in it?" Tammy asked.

"Of course." He nodded.

"Sure, we can do that." She tried to sound friendly but wasn't
very convincing.

"Great! You'll have a blast. Now, as we each take turns, yell out
your score-anything from one to ten with ten being the best."

"Thanks so much, Cooper. I don't know if we could have figured
out how to do it on our own."

"Anytime." Again, Tammy's sarcasm flew right over Cooper's
head, and he trotted off to join his friends.

"Maybe he'll hurt himself," Tammy mumbled.

"Tammy, be nice," Anne scolded.

The boys lined up to take their turn at being physically tortured.
The first to go was the dirty boy that Cooper introduced me to.

Before he jumped, he looked over and gave Tammy a wink.

"Automatic two-point deduction for the wink," she grumbled.

His body hit the water in a slight curve, so technically it wasn't
the perfect belly flop. Under normal circumstances, he would have
received three sixes, but with the two-point winking penalty he got
fours from everyone but Anne, who went ahead and gave him a six.

I scanned the line of willing volunteers and caught Cooper looking at me. Our eyes met, and he gave me a large smile.

"His teeth are perfect," I noted. "I wonder how much they spent
on orthodontia for teeth like that."

"Who?" Anne asked.

"Cooper."

"Well, sadly both he and his sister were born perfect. Neither
one ever experienced an awkward phase."

"Totally unfair," Tammy stated and then quickly followed by
yelling, "Seven!" I hadn't seen the boy jump, so I gave him a seven as
well. Anne gave him an eight, and Jeri gave him a six.

I looked back at Cooper who now enthusiastically talked to the
boy in front of him. He was shorter than Riley but a few inches
taller than me, and he wasn't built as muscular as Riley. Cooper was
muscular in the way that rider's bodies are developed. He must have
spent a lot of time on horses.

As if she could read my mind, Tammy spoke, "He may be annoying, but that Cooper sure does have a tight butt."

"You think?" I asked.

"Oh yeah." She nodded her head.

I looked back at him. His deep blue eyes stood out against his
blonde hair, and his teeth were a brilliant white. With his tan he
looked more like a California surfer than an Okie. I could see him
fitting in nicely at Cornell; he certainly had a well-manicured look
about him.

I moved my gaze to the next flop victim, a rather large boy who
looked like he could be a lineman for the football team. As he flew
into the air, he arched his back in perfect belly flop form, and I
waited to hear the slapping noise that was certain to reverberate as
soon as his skin made contact with the surface of the water.

Smack!

There it was.

Everyone groaned in sympathy but followed with loud cheers.
As he jumped up and down in celebration, his tummy jiggled. The
girls and I gave him a sympathetic applause and then followed with giving him tens across the board before Cooper took his spot on the
diving board. As he waited at the back of the board in anticipation
of a friend telling him it was time to go, he yelled to get my attention
and make sure I watched his "perfect belly flop."

I gave a fake smile and nodded.

He also executed perfect form, but the splash wasn't as large as
the boy who received the perfect score.

"Nine," I shouted.

"Nine," Tammy and Jen agreed.

"Ten," Anne countered.

He climbed out of the pool wearing a grin from ear to ear and
his chest bright red from the impact of his skin on the surface of the
water. Walking directly over to me, he took the liberty of sitting on
the end of my lounge chair. "Attie, I can't believe you only gave me
a nine.

"Not enough splash, Coop," I answered. "The big boy blew you
away.

"Fair enough." He smiled. "I guess a nine is a pretty great score
for a scrawny kid like me."

The competition continued, but Cooper didn't leave my chair.
Since he wasn't leaving my chair any time soon, I figured that I
might as well be nice to the boy. And actually, we carried on a fairly
interesting conversation.

"Oh, I didn't tell you that my dad is a professor at Cornell. He
teaches veterinary medicine," I advised.

"That's my major!"

"Really? That's what I'm going to study as well."

"You're kidding?" he asked, laughing.

"Nope. It's in my blood."

"Could your dad be one of my professors?"

"Unfortunately, he won't be there next year. He's moving back
here this summer to join my Gramps's practice."

"Oh, is he?"

"If he gets here before you leave, I could introduce you. I'm sure
he'd give you all kinds of good information."

"Would you really?" I didn't think it was possible, but his smile
got bigger, and I was practically blinded.

"Are you going to specialize in equestrian?"

He pointed toward the stables. "Do you think I have a choice?"

"Is that not what interests you?"

"Does it matter?" he teased.

"Are you gonna answer all of her questions with a question?"
Tammy interrupted.

"Is that what I'm doing?"

"Yes, it's very annoying," she informed.

"Tammy, do you say everything that comes into your mind?" he
asked.