Welcome to New Haven (3 page)

Holly walked into Chem class and looked for Dev.
 
She saw her, sitting near the centre, waving her over to her desk.
 

"Move over Jake" Dev said to the guy sitting next to her.

 
A blonde guy, about six feet, short hair that was spiked on top and blue eyes.
 
He reminded Holly of a typical 'boy band' kind of guy.
 
He had that look about him.
 
He smiled wide when he saw Holly walking towards them.

Dev pulled a chair next to her for Holly to sit down.
 

"How'd your first class go?"
 
Dev asked with a smile.

"Oh it was OK, I guess. You know, new girl, embarrassing introduction to the whole class…” Holly replied, trying not to think about why she was really embarrassed.

"Hi, I'm Jake."
 
Jake butted in, his hand outstretched for Holly to shake.
 

Holly just looked at his hand and then to Jake.
 
She recognised him from homeroom.
 
He’d sat at the front and had smiled at her when she walked in.
 

"I wouldn't.
 
You don't know where he's been."
 
Said Dev with a chuckle.
 

"Hey!" complained Jake but laughed it off, dropping his hand down.
 
"So…Holly. You're new.
 
How are you liking our school?"
 
He asked blinking his eyes quickly, trying not to be obvious as he was looking Holly up and down.
 

"I've been here for two hours." Holly replied.
 
"I can't really tell yet."
 

"Well I'm sure I can make things more pleasurable for you."
 
He said with a wink.
 

Oh dear God
.
 

"Jake! Don't be such a pig!
 
I'm so sorry about him, Holly.
 
He's an ape.
 
Just ignore him and he might go away. I do." Dev said as she scowled at Jake.

"I'm just kidding jeez!
 
Anyway, how old are you?"
 

His question caught Holly off guard.
 
She frowned a little in confusion.
 

"Seventeen, why?"

"Just asking, you know, getting to know you.
 
So…did you leave anybody behind in England?
 
A guy?
 
Boyfriend or something?"
 

Dev rolled her eyes at Jake, as though he had tried this before and it was his usual thing.

"Jake, leave her alone." She spat.
 

"I'm just asking. Come on!
 
What's the problem?" He turned back to Holly.
 
"So?
 
Anybody special in your life?"

Holly's thoughts immediately turned to Hot-guy.
 
He was pretty 'special' alright.
 
The kind of special you wanted to squeeze, just to make sure they were real.
 

"Um, no.” She said as she cleared her throat.
 
Her pulse racing as she thought about Hot-guy's lips, smile, hair, eyes…
 

"That's good.
 
There's a party at the weekend, down at the hill.
 
Wanna go?"
 

Holly was surprised at how forward this guy was.
 
He didn't know her, and yet he was asking her to go to a party with him?!
 
Not. A. Chance!
 

"Um, Sorry, no." Holly replied as she looked into her bag for her Chem book.
 

"Why?" Jake asked as Dev was trying to hold back a smile.
 
Holly wanted to be polite and make up an excuse, but what was the point?
 
There were only so many times the ‘I’m washing my hair,' or ‘I have lots of homework to catch up on' can be used.
 

Holly had already caught up on the work she had missed from the beginning of the school year.
 
She'd started it even before stepping foot onto US soil. Yes, she was all caught up and didn't have anything that 'had to be handed in urgently'. She decided to be truthful. It might hurt sometimes, but she didn't want to lie and make him think that she would have gone with him if 'insert excuse here' hadn't stopped her.
 

"I don't want to."
 

Jakes' mouth popped open and Dev couldn't hold back as a giggle escaped from her lips.
 

"What do you mean?" He asked as if he'd never heard that before.
 

"I mean I don't want to go to a party with you. Or anywhere else.
 
Please don't take offence, but I don't know you. I've been in this school for a couple of hours, and you ask me out as if it were a given that I would agree. Well, I'm sorry. That's never going to happen. You seem…sweet, but the answer is no."

"Oh, well ok then." He said, looking as if he didn't know what had just happened.

"That was awesome!" Dev mouthed to her as the teacher got everybody's attention to begin the lesson.

The bell signalled the end of class, and they picked up their bags ready to leave.
 

"I have math class now.
 
Ugh.
 
Algebra is kicking my ass!"
 
Dev complained.
 
"How about you, Hol.
 
What do you have?"

"I have a free period, so I'm using it to take Spanish lessons."
 
Holly replied.
 
She’d wanted to take Spanish lessons for a while.
 
Since the holiday with Emily and Jeff, Holly wanted to learn the language.
 
She’d been left in a room with a first aider, when Emily had gone to call her Mum.
 
The lady couldn't speak English, and Holly couldn't speak Spanish.
 
That prompted Holly to learn.
 
That and the fact she thought the language was beautiful.
 
It sounded so nice to listen to.
 

Holly even had some songs in Spanish that she liked to listen to and even sang along, but she didn't have any idea what they were saying.

"I could teach you Spanish!"
 
said Dev.
 

"You can?
 
You speak Spanish?"
 

"I'm fluent."
 
Dev answered with a shrug as if it were common knowledge.
 
“My Parents are Spanish.
 
Well, my Mom's Dad is American and her Mom's from Madrid, but my Dad's parents are from Alicante.
 
They came over here a couple of years before my Dad was born."

Holly could’ve kicked herself for not noticing Dev's heritage.
 
The olive skin, dark brown eyes, dark hair…Hispanic.
 
Like somebody else she thought of…Hot-guy.
 
He had the same olive skin as Dev.
 
She'd seen quite a few students that also looked of Spanish heritage.
 
Some, possibly, Italian or maybe mixed heritage, she didn't know.
 
But, she knew that Hot-guy had some serious gorgeous features and she imagined those features right next to her…
 

”Holly are you ok?"
 
She heard Dev say.
 

"Oh…yeah…Um…Thanks.
 
I'd be grateful if you could help me that would be great.
 
I'll still take the lessons though.
 
I don't want you to miss any time with your own stuff to help me.
 
Besides, I really need to start with the basics.
 
I'm a complete beginner."
 

Holly knew she was rambling.
 
She couldn't help it.
 
She’d been zoning out with images of Hot-guy in her head she felt bad that she might have ignored what Dev was saying to her.
 

"That's a good idea.
 
I might get carried away. Did you put my number in your phone?"
 

Holly nodded that she had.
 

"Good.
 
Text me your number and, if you get a chance, text me in class, and let me know how it's going.
 
I have to get going anyway.
 
Alex will be waiting for me.
 
We have Algebra together."

Dev left for her class and Holly walked to the languages department.
 

'
Let’s hope this goes well
'. She thought as she, once again, drowned in the sea of student’s bodies.

Chapter 2

Alex waited outside the classroom for Dev.
 
He saw her walking towards him, and he smiled. He was close to his little sister.
 
Well, she was two minutes younger but she was definitely ‘little’.
 
She stood at five feet and seven inches next to his six feet and three inches.
 

“Hey little sister.”
 
He teased.
 

“Hey stretch. What’s up?”
 
Dev asked in greeting.
 

“Nothing.
 
Ben’s just left for his free period.”
 

They all had Algebra, but the way the school worked; some had Algebra on different days. Today, he and Dev had their Algebra class, but Ben’s was on a different day, even though they were at the same level.
 
That was supposed to be changing soon though.
 
He hoped so.
 
It would mean that he had more lessons with his best friend, and maybe he’d be able to keep out of the path of Stacey ‘psycho’ Scutter.
 

She’d moved to their school, two years before, and she’d been trying to hook up with him since day one.
 
She made his skin crawl, and not in a good way
at all
.
 

Truthfully, he felt nauseous around her.
 
It was a running joke that she had a weird fixation on him and that he should just ‘give it up already’ so she would leave him alone.
 
That was
never
going to happen.
 
Not in this lifetime, or any other for that matter.

Dev could deter her so much, when they had classes together, but when he was alone…Stacey made him miserable.
 
Some days he felt so depressed, when he would actually take to hiding in storerooms away from her.

“Awww what a pity I won’t get to see his smiling face.” Dev said sarcastically.
 

Alex laughed.
 

“Be nice Dev.
 
What is up with you two?
 
You seem to be fighting a lot lately.
 
More than usual.”
 

“Nothing.” Dev answered with a shrug.
 
“He just gets under my skin.
 
Some days I can tolerate him, others I feel like I want to squeeze his throat.
 
Other than that…things are
peachy
!” She said with a huge fake smile.
 
“Let’s just go and get this over with.” She groaned as they took their seats.

Ben was Alex’s best friend.
 
They’d known each other since they were six, when Ben started Kindergarten.
 
He’d moved from his previous one when his Dad had opened up his metal shop business, and they’d moved house to be nearer to the city.
 
Most of his Dad’s jobs were there so to move closer made sense.
 
It had worked out great for
them
.
 
They’d been inseparable ever since.

Ben was like family.
 
A brother for him and another for Dev.
 
Maybe that’s why they had fought so much.

It seemed to start after they’d turned fourteen, and Alex and Ben were out doing ‘guy’ stuff and Dev hadn’t wanted to go.
 
He figured it was a ‘girl thing,’ and she wanted to hang with other girls more.
 
Maybe she resented Ben for taking up a lot of Alex’s time, which didn’t make sense really.
 
He saw Dev every day at school, at home, and Ben even stayed over.
 
He even had his own room at their house!

He’d asked Dev what was wrong between them, but she always replied with, ‘
he gets on my nerves’, ‘he irritates me’,
or one of his favorites…’
He’s an overgrown ape and I’m allergic to his fur’.

When asking Ben about it, he would say ‘
Dude; I have no idea why she’s pissed at me.
 
I try talking to her, but she jumps down my throat!’
 

Alex’s thoughts were interrupted when the teacher got the attention of the class.

“We have a new student.” She said and Alex looked around for Holly.

He didn’t see her when they went in, and he couldn’t see her then either.
 

“Everybody, this is Kate.
 
Kate is from Texas. Let’s make her feel welcome.”

Alex’s heart sank that the teacher wasn’t talking about Holly.
 

Kate looked around the class with a big smile.
 

“Hi y’all”
 
she said in her southern drawl.

She was about to say something else but stopped when she looked at him.
 
Her eyes widened, and her smile got bigger as she looked him up and down.
 

Oh no!

He sank into his chair a little and looked to the front of the room, feeling self-conscious.

“Another one bites the dust, huh?”
 
Dev whispered as she giggled.

Alex didn’t like the way some girls looked at him.
 
He could see their eyes and expressions change when they saw him.
 
They would openly stare, wide eyed, and their mouths would either hang open or they would bite their lip and smile seductively at him.
 
As if that was supposed to entice him…it didn’t work.
 
It actually annoyed him because they were judging him on his looks.