Welcome To Hickville High (Hickville High Series Book 1) (12 page)

In Texarkana owners of horses may not ride them at night without taillights.

Mr. Shipley made all of the students say their name and tell one thing about themselves. Almost everybody was involved in either band or sports. Several were on the rodeo team. Rodeo team? Now that was something she’d never see at St. Monica’s.

When it was Kelsey’s turn she said, “I’m Kelsey Quinn. I moved here from Chicago.” As soon as the first words left her mouth, every head in the room faced her. She’d hoped Mr. Shipley would move down the row to the boy who sat behind her. But no, he lingered on the new girl.

“Kelsey Quinn, from Chicago.”

“Yes.”

Mr. Shipley stood at the front of her row. Three desks separated her from the round little man with a mustache, but she felt like he was leaning over her with his face close to hers. “Well, Kelsey Quinn from Chicago, in my class it doesn’t matter who your father is. Tom Quinn may have ruled the school in his day, but he’s not here. You have to stand on your own merit.”

“Okay.”
Please, just move on. How did this get to be about my father anyway?

“Okay? This is not Chicago. Here, you answer with yes sir or no sir. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered and resisted the urge to stand, click her heels together and give the Nazi salute. Herr Shipley gave a curt nod and moved to the boy behind her.

After all of the introductions were made and he’d picked on a few other students, he stood at the front of the room and looked the class over. “We have a zero tolerance policy at this school. If you have a fight—you go to jail. If you come in to my class high because you’ve smoked wacky weed in the parking lot—you go to jail. If you carry a hunting knife, a penknife or a play knife on school property—you go to jail. Leave your hunting rifles at home. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir.” The class answered.

“We cannot, however, stop an intruder from bringing such paraphernalia into the building. I’ve devised a plan that will save your life. Listen closely.” The man paced in front of the room like he was delivering a speech to his troops. He pointed to Travis and said, “Barnes, you and the other young men will barricade the door and cover the window. Use whatever means you have, but you’re going to have to be swift.”

“Yes, sir.” Travis answered.

Mr. Shipley addressed the class again. “In the event of an intruder, the rest of you will gather supplies to throw at him and lie prostrate on the floor. Do you know what prostrate is, Ms. Quinn?”

“Lying flat on your stomach?”

Mr. Shipley gave a half smile lifting one side of his mustache. “I see they taught vocabulary in Chicago. Welcome.” He paced to the other side of the room. “As Ms. Quinn explained, you will drop to the floor and lie flat on your stomach. If he manages to penetrate…” At the word penetrate snickers trickled through the room. He sighed so deep and hard, Kelsey imagined his skin rippling to his toes and back like a cartoon character. He began again. “If they find a hole and penetrate our defenses….” Most of the class broke out in laughter.

Mr. Shipley contracted his muscles so tight Kelsey could swear she saw the cuff of his khakis rise an inch or two above his loafers. It was like he wedgied himself.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Need I remind you of incidents at other schools? You may think we are immune at Hillside, but I assure you, there are crazy people everywhere.”

The class quieted but there was still a lot of eye rolling and snickering.

“As I was saying, if the shooter enters, you are to pelt him with the items you have gathered. The key is to knock him off balance and take him down. In the event of a drive-by, you will drop prostrate to the floor until you hear an all-clear signal. Do we need to practice?”

“No,” drifted through the class.

“No what?”

“No, sir,” the class answered.

“Very well. Let’s move on to AP Literature.” The rest of the period Mr. Shipley discussed how honored they should be to be in an AP class and that he expected more from them since they were college bound. Big Woo. Kelsey had read most of the books he’d assigned anyway.

When class ended, Kelsey took her time gathering her things. After almost falling for Sabrina’s misdirection, she was glad Austin was going to meet her. She wondered how her sisters were doing—especially Kenzie. If she wound up in the wrong class she’d probably sit through it to avoid embarrassment.

*

Austin listened to Cody Biglow, tailback, talk nonstop as they walked to meet Kelsey. Austin had heard pretty much the same thing from the rest of the football team. “Have you s-s-seen the new girls? They are hot.”

“Yeah. I work for their dad.” The girls had been in the school for a little over an hour and already everybody was talking about them. Austin wondered how many guys had actually seen the Quinn sisters.

“Dude, introduce me. I heard the oldest is sw-eet.”

“Dude, she’s taken.”

Cody huffed. “M-maybe for now.”

Austin shook his head. “Don’t be a jerk.”

“W-what? You got dibs?”

Austin didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to talk about Kelsey or her sisters—and didn’t like the way the guys talked about them either. It was like hearing his friends talk about hooking up with a sister—if he had one.

Cody punched his shoulder. “That’s it, isn’t it? You g-g-got dibs.”

“We’re friends.” Period. Besides, she’d placed Harvard-boy so high up in that Ivy League tower, he wouldn’t have a chance even if he did go after Kelsey.

As they approached Mr. Shipley’s room, Austin spotted Kelsey standing just inside the doorway. She had a wide-eyed look, sort of like an animal caught in a cage. When she saw him, her eyes softened and her lips formed a smile that he felt in his gut from ten feet away.

Cody hit his shoulder again. “D-damn, she’s hot.”

“Yeah.” As beautiful as she was with her makeup on and her hair all fixed, he wanted to see the freckles sprinkled across her nose and the curls that refused to stay put. He was crazy about the girl who had an affinity for water fights and an aversion to large animals with four legs.

He greeted her with a friendly hug. “Hey, Kelsey. How was Shipley?”

“Crazy. We spent the first half of class reviewing intruder defense tactics.”

“Not part of the curriculum in Chicago?” He teased.

“Are you kidding? We had metal detectors and campus police.”

“Oh, you haven’t met our campus cop, Mr. Tinny. You’ll see him. He drives around in a golf cart with hornet painted on the front.”

“Seriously?”

Travis and Sabrina joined the group. Travis shook his head. “How can that guy still be teaching? He is wacked.”

As they talked, Austin noticed that on one hand Sabrina seemed to be ignoring Kelsey’s presence and on the other, Cody was openly ogling her. He was about to suggest they head toward their next class when Cody went into some kind of spastic oh-God-I’m-gonna-fumble gesture and wound up standing directly in front of Kelsey. Austin shot him a what-the-hell look but Cody ignored it and stuck his hand out.

“Hey, I’m-m-m Cody Biglow.”

She gave him a wary look as she shook his hand. “I’m Kelsey Quinn.”

“I ju—I ju—st wanted to m-m-m-meet you.”

Austin had known Cody Biglow his entire life and knew Biglow had two modes. Loud-obnoxious and nervous-weirdo. He also knew Biglow had his and every other man on the team’s back.

Sabrina gave the bitch-eye-roll and said. “Let go of her hand, C-c-cody. You’ll s-s-scare her.”

Austin didn’t care for Sabrina on a good day, but when she teased Cody about his stutter, he couldn’t stand her.

Kelsey pulled her hand from Cody’s and flashed him a grin. “My bad, I didn’t let go.”

In that moment, Austin knew Kelsey Quinn was about the best thing that’d happened to Hillside High.

“I’ve got to go.” Sabrina huffed away from the group.

Austin checked the time on his cell. “We’d better go too, or we’re going to be late.” He looked at Travis and Cody and said, “We have econ together. Where are y’all going?”

Cody said, “I g-got econ too.”

Travis stepped away from the group. “I have history. Catch y’all at lunch.”

As they headed down the hall together Austin saw Sabrina talking to Britney and Courtney. He could almost feel the daggers the girls were probably shooting at Kelsey’s back. He leaned close to Kelsey, “Watch out for Sabrina.”

Kelsey nodded. “I figured her out when she sent me to the wrong room.”

“Seriously? She sent you to the wrong room?” Sabrina, Britney, and Courtney had a hold on most of the girls at school. Austin didn’t understand why the girls would kowtow to them, but they did. Most of the guys put up with them, but he didn’t have any use for them.

Kelsey looked back at Sabrina. “It’s no big deal. I know her kind.”

*

“I wonder if my sisters had any trouble this morning?” Kelsey surveyed the halls for friendly faces.

Austin said, “I saw Mackenzie on my way to meet you, but I haven’t seen Ryan.”

Kelsey tapped Austin’s arm. “How was McKenzie? She’s so shy, I worry about her.”

“Surrounded by other freshmen.”

The thought of Mackenzie having to talk to people she didn’t know made Kelsey’s stomach tighten. “She must have been terrified.”

“She seemed fine to me.” Austin shrugged.

“I hope so.” But Kelsey’s stomach didn’t feel it. Mackenzie just wasn’t the type to make friends in new places.

Austin stopped and nodded toward a group of standing across the hall from them. “Look, you can ask her yourself.”

Mackenzie stood next to a locker with a group of girls around her and she was smiling as they talked. Kelsey called out, “Kenzie!”

Her sister said something to the group and trotted over to her. “Hi, Kelsey. How’s your day going?”

Crappy.
“Okay. How about you?”

“Good. There are some nice girls here.”

Kelsey caught Cody elbowing Austin, and although Austin seemed oblivious, Kelsey was pretty sure Cody wanted to be introduced. She smiled at her sister and pointed to Cody. “This is Cody Biglow. He’s on the football team with Austin.”

Cody stuck his hand out to Mackenzie. “Nice to m-meet you. What year are you?”

“Thanks, you too. I’m a freshman. Are you a senior?”

Cody nodded.

Austin glanced at the hall clock. “We’d better go.”

“Wait.” Mackenzie looked at Kelsey. “Have you seen Ryan?”

“No. You?”

Mackenzie shook her head.

Austin put his hand on Kelsey’s back. “We’re gonna be late if we don’t hurry.”

Mackenzie returned to her friends and Kelsey, Cody, and Austin headed to economics. They slid into the room just as the bell rang.

Mrs. Moya’s economics class was a lot less traumatic than Shipley’s AP English. She was a normal teacher teaching a boring high school class. The big class assignment was to fictitiously purchase stock and follow it for the year. Kelsey had done the same project when she was a sophomore and wondered if she’d get to do anything new and exciting at this school.

The class dragged on and Kelsey thought about St. Monica’s and her friends. They were going to spend the year taking fourth year foreign languages, reading the equivalent of sophomore college literature, philosophy, Greek, and calculus. They’d celebrate when each of them got into their dream college.

And here she was, stuck in remedial everything because she was in Hickville, Texas—home of mediocrity. Probably not a bad school, but let’s face it, St. Monica’s was a prep school. She figured her grade point average should skyrocket here, but wondered if the less than stellar course selection would keep her from going to college with Drew.

Drew. She wished she’d never asked the “do you love me” question and at the same time, wished she had the guts to ask it again. When he got back from Europe, they’d talked for hours. He’d promised they’d Skype soon. But soon hadn’t come. And lately, his calls and texts had been über short. She told herself it was because he was busy getting ready for school, but the truth was he was drifting away from her. She’d hoped he’d be at least a little jealous of Austin, but they didn’t really talk about her life in Hillside. She wasn’t sure he even knew about Austin.

Austin was another issue all together. He was cute, funny, kind. He’d become a great friend. He was the kind of friend who made you feel better just being around him. But the feelings she had since that day at the courthouse freaked her out. It was too easy to flirt with him. All the talk about love and the changing faces probably didn’t help. But if he’d wanted to kiss her—would she have let him?

No. She was just lonely for romance. It seemed like forever ago that she’d felt Drew’s guiding hand on the small of her back. And it had been eons since he’d wrapped his arms around her, pulled her body against his and had a major make-out session.

She looked at Austin sitting across from her writing notes in his spiral. She’d felt his hand on her back, guiding her. No. Not guiding, more like guarding, as if he was saying, “I’m right beside you, close enough to catch you if you fall, or protect you from harm.”

She wanted to feel his hand on her back again. She closed her eyes and wondered what his lips would feel like on hers.

She saw him moving closer, his grey-green eyes intent on her. His lips almost touched her…

“Kelsey…” Austin whispered.

She opened her eyes and saw the girl who sat in front was holding a stack of papers for her to pass back. She took the papers and handed them to the boy who sat behind her.

What was she thinking? Austin never even looked like he wanted to kiss her. He was a friend and never tried to be more. A few raised arm hairs at the courthouse and she was daydreaming about cheating on Drew.

She pulled her cell from her purse and snuck a text off to Drew.

Kelsey: I miss you. Hugs and kisses.

When the bell rang, Austin turned to Kelsey. “Are you okay? You looked pretty out of it.”

Sure. I was just daydreaming about cheating on my perfect boyfriend with you.
“I’m fine. I was just thinking about Drew.”