Flustered by his attention, I accidently bumped into a girl’s desk that sat directly in front of Rebecca. “Oops, sorry,” I mumbled, picking up her pencil I had knocked to the floor.
I glanced at Rebecca as I sat down and was startled to see that her friendly smile from earlier was absent and had been replaced with a pinched smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
With a sinking heart, I instantly understood that I had committed some kind of faux pas. Following her gaze, I saw she was watching Max’s back wishfully. Unease slowly crept through me as I realized I had been flirting with the guy that my new friend was crushing on. What the heck was I thinking anyway? My plan for this move was to make friends and fit in for the short time I’d figured we’d be here. It was insanity to even consider the idea of starting up a relationship that didn’t have a chance of going anywhere.
The last hour of class dragged as I sat next to a now silent Rebecca. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Mr. Graves dismissed us since the school didn’t seem to use a bell system. I slung my purse over my shoulder and gathered my school books together as Rebecca did the same.
“Thanks for all your help today,” I said, testing the water.
“No problem, I had fun today,” she said, shooting me a regular smile this time.
I let out a pent-up breath, relieved she didn’t seem to be holding a grudge. “I did too,” I said, speaking the truth. Except for the latter part of the day, I couldn’t help thinking.
Glancing around, I saw Max was trying to break away from his group of buddies to get over to me. Not wanting to stir the coals, I threw a hurried good-bye at Rebecca and Alicia as I darted out the door before Max could intercept me.
Chapter 4
Kevin met me at the halfway point of the hallway with a huge smile plastered across his face.
“Hey punk, how was your day?” I asked, even though it was written all over his face.
“It was the best first day ever, Katelyn! I already made a friend,” he said, proud of himself.
My heart swelled at his words. Making friends was always difficult for him, being quiet and small for his age. His insecurities about his size always made him clam up and only after a few months would he finally begin to emerge from his shell. Usually, this transformation would occur just when Lucinda decided to uproot us again.
“Yay! Good job, pal. I told you this would be a good place,” I said, nudging him with my hip as we descended the front steps of the school.
“Yeah right, you weren’t saying that yesterday when you found out we'd be in the same school,” he joked.
“That’s true," I laughed. "But I guess it’s not that bad.”
“Ugh, there’s Mom and Jim,” Kevin said, pointing to Lucinda who was parked directly in front of our school. “She could've at least tried to hide the car a little,” he added, since we both could hear the car idling loudly by the curb.
I grimaced in agreement at his words. Our string of crappy vehicles had been an embarrassment for me for years, but Kevin had only recently become aware that the rust, bald tires and bad exhaust weren’t virtues when you were being dropped off near your peers. I was at least thankful that the rusted hole in the back floorboard wasn’t visible from the outside. It may have been cool for the Flintsto
nes to drive a floorless car, but not so much for us.
“Well, let’s hurry before Jim does something that'll really embarrass us, like pick his nose or something,” I said, shooting a grin at Kevin.
He smiled back. Jim definitely wasn’t the brightest stepdad we’ve had over the years. His obsessive habit of picking at every surface on his body was enough to make us gag. Kevin was only two years old when Lucinda left his dad, and Jim is stepdad number seven since then. She never legally married any of the guys she hooked up with, she just liked to refer to each one as her spouse. I was pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that she had never officially divorced my dad. The only time she played the single mom card was when she was in the welfare office. Then it paid to be single. She was the queen of finding loopholes in the system and played the “woe is me card” perfectly. This time her system-manipulation had paid off, giving us the roof over our heads. Eventually though, she'll get sick of Jim just like she had with all the others and we will have to deal with a huge blowout of a fight. Usually afterwards, she plays up the battered woman role, even though most of the time, she does the majority of the beating. I once saw her bury a pair of scissors in stepdad number four’s thigh when he tried to walk past her. When the cops arrived at the scene, she had convinced herself she did it because she feared for her life. The cops took one look at the trashed motel room we were staying in and of course took her word for it. They hauled number four away, and we never saw him again. The motel then, not so graciously, escorted us off the premises after that.
“True dat,” Kevin said, using a phrase he had picked up on TV.
The car door groaned loudly in protest as I pried it open with all my strength. I glanced around, hoping the noise had gone unnoticed. My mouth dropped open in shock as I saw Max climbing into the black SUV Kevin had admired that morning.
Max’s eyes appraisingly met mine just before I ducked down to climb into the vehicle before Kevin. I tried to analyze his look as Lucinda slowly pulled our noisy Chevy through the rest of the parent loop. He had definitely seen me climb in an old beat-up car, he knew we were on food stamps and lived in a trailer park and yet, by the way he had been looking at me, none of that seemed to matter to him.
I felt my crush on him beginning to grow as we pulled away. We had a long forty-five minute drive to the city, giving me time to think, but unfortunately, time for doubt to creep in also. Was he only being nice because he was under the impression I was easy or something? Why else would he be interested in someone like me when he had girls like Rebecca waiting in the wings.
By the time we finally pulled up to The Salvation Army thrift shop in Bozeman, I had convinced myself that Max and I could never be together. I felt sick, knowing I would have to immediately put a stop to his advances. If living with Lucinda had taught me anything, it was that I didn't want to be like her. I wasn't going to rush into any relationship with a guy.
“You think you'd be happier about getting new stuff,” Lucinda said sarcastically as we piled out of the car.
“Oh, I am,” I answered quickly, not wanting to stir anything up. “I was just thinking about an assignment I need to do later tonight,” I lied.
“What? They gave you homework on your first day? I could've predicted that when we walked onto their prissy-ass campus this morning. Well, I wouldn’t knock myself out doing it,” she muttered as she flicked her cigarette butt onto the sidewalk, even though there was a receptacle can right by the front door.
“I won’t, Mom,” I fibbed. Lucinda was not a fan of formal education, and had tried on more than one occasion to get away with the whole homeschooling idea, but Kevin and I always balked at the idea. Thankfully, most of the time when we got into government housing, it was a prerequisite that she enroll us in school.