Welcome to New Haven (16 page)

“Nobody believed her though.
 
Everybody had heard him shooting her down.”
 
Added Riss.
 

“Yeah, she even tried to get him to have a drink with her.
 
She even brought over a red cup with beer in it. He took it, just to get rid of her and poured it into a plant when she wasn’t looking.”
 
Kayla said as her face turned into a snarl.
 

“Then, she seemed to be hanging around, watching him.
 
Not like the usual way she does but like as if she were waiting for something…”
 

“Yeah that was creepy.”
 
Said Riss.
 

“Alex was getting a little freaked out, so we all left.
 
We’ve not been to one since. She seems to turn up everywhere he does too.
 
I swear she’s some kind of stalker.”
 
Said Kayla.
 
Her hands up, emphasising the point.
 

The girls shuddered.
 
Holly was raging.
 
She could feel her teeth grinding together, her fists clenching.

The guys came over and sat down at the table with them.
 
Holly immediately froze.

As the guys were walking over to the table, Alex could see Holly having a discussion with the girls.
 
She was chatty one minute, and then the girls were saying something and Holly looked angry.
 
He didn’t know what they’d said, because they were too far away to hear, but whatever it was it couldn’t have been good.
 
He’d ask Dev about it later.

“Hi, baby.
 
Wanna come sit with me today?” Stacey’s grating voice pierced his ears.
 

“Don’t call me that, and no.
 
Not ever.”
 
Alex said as he continued walking without even looking at Stacey.
 
His gaze firmly on Holly.
 

“Just you wait, Alex, you’ll come running.”
 
He heard her say from behind him.
 

“Fuck off”.
 
He was going to have to put in another complaint about her.
 

He had done previously, twice, but other than ensuring they had as few classes together as possible, nothing seemed to be working.
 
He was pleased that the schedule had them only in social studies together.
 
They weren’t together in Phys.Ed anyway so the one class, he could cope with.

They got to the table and sat down, the guys leaving only the space next to Holly for him to sit.
 
Not that he minded…at all.
 

Holly seemed to freeze and go quiet.
 
It wasn’t just Alex who noticed either.
 

“Hey girls”
 
Ryan said as he rested his elbows on the table, glancing at Holly.
 
“Pretty interesting shake up we had today, huh?”
 

As the conversation picked up around the changes, good and bad, Alex saw his chance and leaned into Holly.
 

“Are you ok, Holly?” He asked and her cheeks turned pink as she turned to look at him with those green eyes…

“Are you ok Holly?” Alex had said.
 

Goodness, she loved the way he said her name.
 
It rolled off his tongue in a breath that made her knees weak.
 
Holly opened her mouth to say something but made the mistake of glancing up at him.
 
She felt her cheeks heat.
 

“Yeah…I’m…um…wha…hmm?”
 
Holly looked back down at the table, completely embarrassed.

Shit! Not again, not now, with everybody here!

She closed her eyes for a moment before she chanced another glance at him.
 
He was frowning.
 

“You ok…after Saturday?”
 

Holly closed her eyes and nodded.
 

Please, ground, swallow me up
!
 

Everybody seemed to turn their attention towards them.
 

“What are you two talking about?
 
She heard Kyle ask.
 

“Nothing”
 
she heard Alex say, with a little too much emphasis on the ‘nothing’.
 
Well, that’s exactly what it was.
 
She couldn’t speak…again.
 
The group must have seen something in their faces because they left it at that. Holly wanted to hide.
 

“Lost your voice Holly?
 
Ben asked her with a little smirk.
 

“No.” Holly said as her blush returned with vigour.
 

“You were a lot more talkative in Calc class.”

“Ben, shut up”
 
Dev said, coming to Holly’s rescue.
 

“What?
 
I’m just making an observation.” He said with his hands up in surrender.
 

“Just leave it Ben” muttered Alex.
 
Holly saw Ben smile at Alex, and then to her.

What’s going on?
 

“You’re an ass sometimes Ben.”
 
Dev snapped.

“I know”
 
he replied as if it were old news.
 

Everybody laughed at Ben, but then the subject was, thankfully, changed, after somebody from another table dropped a tray, earning them a round of applause.
 

Dev gave Holly’s arm a little squeeze and she smiled, sympathetically, as she looked down and saw Holly’s bouncing leg.
 
The look on her face said she would be asking about that some time soon.

The guys were talking about something they were doing later, when Holly heard Alex say…

“I’m getting a haircut.”

Holly looked to him, involuntarily, and looked at his hair. She must have done something because Alex looked back at her with confusion in his eyes, before his attention was averted when Ryan asked him something.
 

Well, she didn’t want him to get a haircut.
 
His hair was gorgeous the way it was.
 
In fact, she often thought about running her fingers through it.
 
To see whether it felt as silky as it looked.
 
It was so shiny, and she wanted to touch the strands that fell into his eyes…
 

”Holly?”
 
she heard her name and turned in the direction of the voice.

Ben.

He was smiling at her and she frowned.
 

“What?”
 
she asked and he just shook his head
 

“Nothing”.

They finished their lunch, and he bell sounded for the beginning of the last lesson of the day.
 
Algebra was next.
 
The girls all walked together, the guys behind them, until Holly turned into A.Alg.
 
She felt relieved that she was on her own for this class, as she didn’t have to face any of the questions from lunch.

Alex wasn’t too pleased when the rest of them turned into their Algebra class.
 

“What’s up, Alex?”
 
Dev asked as she sat behind him.
 

“Oh…nothing”
 
he said as he took his seat.
 

“Yes there is.”
 
She said as she leant forward on her elbows.
 

Ben, Ryan and Kyle sat down at the desks to Alex’s left so he turned to his right to look back at Dev.
 
His back to the guys so they couldn’t over hear them.
 

“I’ll tell you on the way home” He said with a sigh.
 

There was no point in keeping it from Dev.
 
She knew there was something wrong, and she always found out what it was.
 

“You better. I don’t like to see you sad.”
 

The class went by, and Alex noticed the smirk on Ben’s face.
 
He wanted to ask him about it, but he thought better of it when Ryan smirked at him too.

They’re up to something
.

He decided to wait for a better time to see what the hell they found so funny.

After class, Dev met Holly by their lockers, along with Riss and Kayla, and they all walked out of school together.
 
As they got into the parking lot, Holly saw Stacey shooting daggers at her.
 

“What’s
her
problem?”
 
Holly said, more to herself, but the others overheard.
 

“She’s probably jealous that you have both Jake
and
Caleb mooning over you.”
 
Said Kayla.
 

“What?
 
How would she know about that? Caleb only said that today.”
 

“That doesn’t matter”
 
said Dev
 
“If there were people with him, they would know, which means
she
would end up knowing too.”
 

“Stacey doesn’t like competition.”
 
Riss said shaking her head.
 
“Jake has turned her down too, so for him to ask
you
out, she wouldn’t have liked that.”
 

Holly already knew that Stacey was pissed about Jake.
 
She’d made her distaste known in homeroom.
 

“What is the
matter
with her?” Holly asked incredulously.
 

“Beats me, but she’s like a female version of Caleb, but with a lot more bitchiness.
 
At least he doesn’t throw a tramp tantrum like she does.”
 
Dev said as she turned to walk out.
 
“I have a ride with Alex.”
 

“Any plans for later?” asked Kayla before they all went their separate ways.
 

“Not yet” Dev replied.
 

“Well, we could hang at my place. My Mom got me a
shit
load of makeup and nail stuff.
 
You guys could be my guinea pigs; ‘cos I need to practice my nail care.” Kayla said, wiggling her nails in the air.
 

“I’m so up for that.” Said Riss, which would be a given anyway since they were joined at the hip.
 

“That sounds like fun!”
 
Dev said with an excited bounce.
 

“Holly?” Kayla asked. “Are you coming?”

“Definitely. I’d love to.”
 

“Yay!” squealed Kayla.
 
They all swapped hugs.
 
“Six o’clock, ladies.
 
I’ll have everything set up.”

“Ok, spill”
 
Dev said to Alex as soon as she got into the car.
 

“You don’t waste anytime do you”
 
he asked with a snorted laugh.
 

“Nope.
 
Not when you look like someone’s stolen your puppy.
 
And, because Ben’s not here, we have more time to talk. What’s up?”
 

“Holly won’t talk to me.” He sighed.
 

“Won’t talk to you?
 
Didn’t she answer you at lunch?” Dev asked with a frown.
 

“Well, yeah, but not like she talks to you, or the others.”
 

“She’s
shy
Alex.
 
Being new at school and surrounded by us all, when we clearly all know each other well, will probably do that.”
 
She said waving her hand in the air.
 

“But she spoke to Ben!” He said raising his voice, exasperated.
 
“He even said at the table that she was more talkative in calc class”
 
he said, his voice lowering to almost a whisper.
 

“Yeah, but that was
just
Ben.”
 
She said in defense.
 

“The rest of the class were there.”
 

“Point taken, but I doubt the whole class was involved in their conversation.”
 
She said with her eyebrows raised.
 

“Well, no, but still.” Alex ran a hand through his hair.
 
“It’s like she’s purposely avoiding me.
 
Just
me.
 
What did I do?”
 

“Wow, Alex, I’ve never seen you like this.
 
Over anybody…ever.
 
You’ve known her for only a week too.”
 

“I know”
 
Alex let out a long breath as he continued to stare out of the windscreen.
 
“Will you find out why?”
 
he asked as he glanced to Dev.
 

“Alex…”
 

“Pleeeaaase?”
 
he begged and put on his best puppy dog expression.
 

“Aww Alex…not the face.” Dev whined.
 
“The code
and
the face…it’s not fair!”
 

Alex just looked at Dev, whilst they were stopped at a traffic light.
 

“Oh alright.” She said as she gave in. “I’ll try to find out what’s going on with her.”
 

“Thanks sis, you’re the best.” He beamed.
 

“Yeah I know”
 
Dev said sternly.
 
“We’re going over to Kayla’s later.
 
What time are you getting your haircut?”
 

“As soon as I’ve dropped you home.”
 
He said then his mind suddenly jumped back to lunch.
 
Holly’s face when he said he was getting a haircut. She looked to him, then his hair, and frowned.
 
Did she think it was a waste of time?
 
Or was it because…could she…?
Like
his hair?
 
He thought about it some more and decided to test out the theory on Dev.