“Hey, Penny,” Becks greets her warmly and reaches her a croissant from his backpack. He’s so thoughtful.
“Um, thanks.” She takes the warm bread from him. The smell hits my nose, making my stomach rumble embarrassingly. That small bowl of cereal just didn’t do it for me. “Spilt it with me, I can’t eat it all,” Penny offers.
I scarf down my half in one bite. Becks shakes his head, laughing at me. His sandy brown hair shakes and slithers in a wave like he should be in a shampoo commercial. It reaches right under his chin. It isn’t fair that a boy should have such beautiful silky hair when mine is a constant frizzy mess. Penny once gave me some smoother for it. The stuff worked a miracle on my hair, but I wasn’t able to afford to keep buying it, so now I am back to the frizz.
“What?” I bark.
“Nothing,” he quips, continuing to snicker.
I step in front of them and continue the cold walk to school. I can tell it is about to snow soon. The air has a dampness to it that coats my throat when I breathe in. Once we get there, we take our turns going through the metal detectors. I once made the mistake of bringing a pair of nail clippers in my purse. I was nearly expelled. I mean, I understand the whole no weapons rule but seriously, what was I going to accomplish with nail clips. They didn’t even have one of those little things you can dig under your nails with on them. Besides, it isn’t as if we live in some big city. We live in a poor Kentucky coal-mining town, Muddy Waters to be exact. Our town earned the name, because the water when the town was founded was muddy.
The guys here either go to work in the coalmines straight out of high school or go away to college, never to be seen again. And the girls, if they don’t get out of here to go to college, they end up pregnant and married to a miner by the age of twenty-three. I refuse to end up like that. I study hard and work hard at maintaining good grades. My dream is to move to New York and sing. A girl has to have dreams, right?
I leave Penny at her locker with Becks and head down to the south hall to mine. I hate that our lockers are so far apart, but it’s actually better for me being on this end. It’s closer to my first period History class. I linger at my locker a little too long before realizing the second bell has rang. Mr. Lowe does not tolerate tardiness. Slamming my locker shut, I nearly scream when I turn around and bump straight into the chest of Aaron.
“Katie,” he says my name sickly sweet in a singsong tone, twirling my hair around his finger.
I smack his hand away. “What do you want peter cheese?” I am always thinking of a new insulting name to call him. The real Aaron comes out whenever Penny isn’t around. I tried to tell her about his horrible behavior once and she got mad at me and didn’t speak to me for a week. It was awful, so now I keep his asshole episodes to myself.
“Valentine’s Day party this weekend at my place. Parents are going to be out of town. You should come. Could be like old times, I haven’t forgotten how sweet you were.” He leans in close, pressing my back against the row of lockers.
“I’m sure you understand that I have better things to do with my time.” I try to step around him, but he steps in closer to me, pressing me into the locker.
He pinches my bottom lip roughly, staring at me with this weird expression on his face. He closes his eyes briefly and it freaks me out.
“Um, what are you doing?” I ask hesitantly, not sure if I want to know the answer.
“Did you think I wanted to kiss your frog lips?” He laughs and punches the locker beside of my head.
Kai Cooper picks the perfect moment to interrupt whatever game Aaron was playing just now. Aaron bumps roughly into his shoulder. “Watch it loser,” he barks loudly at him.
Most guys would shrink away from Aaron but not Kai. He is his own brand of special. Kai Cooper is also known as the school stoner to most, but to me he is Mr. Mystery.
Kai is that mysterious guy. The one you know skips class and smokes in the bathroom. I just wish he’d leave me alone and allow me to disappear like most do, other than Beckett and Penny. He has made it his personal mission to drive me insane ever since sixth grade when we were put into a closet together to play seven minutes in heaven. He licked my face like a dog, it was gross, and I screamed and kneed him in the nuts.
I admit my reaction was a tad dramatic, but he really took me by surprise. I hope for his girlfriend’s sake, if he has one, that he has improved his technique. I have been trying to figure that boy out for years with no luck. He keeps to himself. Well, when he is around. I catch him staring at me a lot. It should freak me out, but Kai is sort of hot. He has that whole bad boy thing going for him. His dad owns Cooper Energy—the coal company. His parents are loaded, but they do a lot to give back to our poor town. They have been trying for years to get us a Walmart.
“You okay? Want
me to kick his ass?” He tries to joke, but I don’t find fighting all that funny, not when I have spent many nights locked in my room after being hit by my mom. “Want to get out of here?”
“No thanks,” I mumble. It is sweet of him to offer, but I have never cut school before.
I try to dip my head so that I am not looking him in the eyes. He does have a gorgeous pair of forest greens and dimples to match, but I’d never be caught dead admitting that to anyone. He cups my chin harshly, forcing me to look at him. I blow out an exasperated breath, getting annoyed with his delusional hero agenda of the day. He sweeps his thumb over my lips and a warm feeling spreads through my veins. My heart rate increases. What in the hell is wrong with me? I don’t have time to fall for boys in high school, and especially not Kai Cooper.
“Well, if you change your mind, Kat—you just let me know. I’m sure I have a pair of pliers in my locker that can get that stick out of your ass.” He walks away whistling.
Kai is the only person who calls me Kat. He has called me that since sixth grade. I don’t know much about him now, other than what people whisper about him in the halls, or from what I read about the good deeds his family does in the local paper.
God. Today must be asshole day. Now I am officially five minutes late for class. Great, just great.
Chapter 2
After being embarrassed by Mr. Lowe in first period, I have managed to make it through Language Arts unscathed. Mr. Lowe is a big jerk and when you are tardy for his class, he forces students to stand in front of the class and give a speech on the importance of time management. I don’t get it. The speech just takes up more of his time, but I suppose he thinks embarrassing us will make us be on time. Whatever.
I am headed to the cafeteria to get my crappy but free lunch. In warmer weather, Penny, Becks, and I normally sit outside on the bleachers at the football field. Now that it is too cold, we are forced inside the lunchroom with everyone else who can’t afford to leave school grounds for lunch. Becks and Penny could probably afford it, but they stay for me, I guess. Not that I’m not grateful for them. I just hate that they care for me so much. I will never be able to repay them for all that they have done for me. I am merely surviving.
I take my place in line and immediately my back stiffens when the familiar wave of expensive cologne hits my nose—Kai.