Chapter 3

My senior year was off to a spectacular start. I had Beelzebub as a Calculus teacher, half of my classes came with first day homework, and the new guy had managed to completely disrupt my peaceful, structured world. I was so distracted by the time I got home, I didn’t notice the boy sleeping in my bed until I almost sat on him.

Charlie Hagan isn’t handsome in the classic sense - his features are a little too sharp and his lips a little too full - but he was unmistakably attractive. It’s not so much his physical appearance as his personality. Although, his athletic body, piercing green eyes, and curly hair with natural high-lights aren’t to be ignored.

I wanted to go lie down next to him. I wanted to feel his arms wrapped around me and discover what his lips taste like. I wanted to tell him I had been secretly in love with him since I was two years old. So, I did the only thing I could do. I hit him in the head with Guido, my sock monkey.

“Ow, Scout.” He yawned and stretched out, causing the bottom of his T-shirt to ride up and reveal a sliver of bare stomach.

I seriously considered passing out.

“Charlie, what are you doing in my bed?”

“Jase’s room smells funky and Angel’s room is too pink. Your bed, on the other hand, is just right.”

Well, if he felt that way about it...

No, Scout. Bad. Think of something else.

“Shouldn’t you be home packing?”

Charlie was Jase’s best friend and paternal cousin. He lived with the rest of the Hagan clan near the Army Base, but spent as much time at our house as possible. On Friday, he was going to break my heart by moving three hundred miles away.

“Pack, shmack. I’ll do it later. I wanted to see how your first day of school went.”

I plopped down on the bed. Although my heart accelerated slightly at being so close to Charlie, I knew that he thought nothing of it. To him I was just like a sister. Or, at least, a cousin.

“School sucks. I’m dropping out and becoming a truck stop waitress. I think I’ll change my name to Flo and get a really bad perm. Flo the truck stop waitress with a bad perm doesn’t need high school. She lives off the knowledge of life.”

Charlie reached over and put a consoling arm around my shoulders. I had trouble hearing his words over my pounding heart. “Was it Goat Girl? Do you need me to kick her ass for you? I mean, I don’t normally like the idea of hitting girls, but I’ll make an exception.”

Goat Girl was what Charlie and I called Ashley Johnson. It was because when you actually took the time to look at her face, she really did look like a goat with her little mouth, long face, and oddly placed eyes.

“No,” I grumbled. “She’s not the problem. Although, having two classes plus lunch with her doesn’t add up to happy, happy fun.”

“Then what is the problem?”

Before I could answer, my bedroom door swung open and in marched the very definition of a little girl: pink skirt, pink top, pink sandals, and a pink bow keeping her bouncy, blond curls pulled back from her little, round face.

“Found him!” Angel yelled at the top of her lungs. “He’s in bed with Scout!”

My parents adore my six year old sister, positive that she is the most perfect child to have ever been born. Jase and I mostly just manage not to kill her.

“Why are you in bed together?” Angel asked, shooting Charlie and me a disapproving look.

“Because it’s the most comfortable place in the room to sit,” I explained, refusing to feel guilty.

“Why is his arm around you?”

“Because my first day of school sucked.”

“You shouldn’t say ‘sucked’. It’s a bad word.”

“I’m seventeen. I will say ‘sucked’ if I want to.”

“I’m gonna tell Mom.”

“Go ahead. See if I care.” These little talks with my sister always brought out the best in me. We could have gone on for hours, but Jase came into the room with a plate of Oreos and a glass of milk.

“Good work, Munchkin,” he said, handing the snack over to Angel. “Here’s your reward. Now, why don’t you go eat it in your room?”

She looked like she was going to protest, but saw something on Jase’s face that made her comply. Maybe it was the dried blood.

“What happened to you?” Charlie asked, surveying the damage. Jase’s face was starting to swell around his nose, and the area around his eyes was turning purple.

“Wasn’t paying attention in gym. A football hit me in the face.”

“That’s pretty good. Excellent delivery. Your parents are sure to buy it. Now, tell me what really happened.”

“Scout’s new boyfriend punched me.”

All of the zen-like calm Charlie’s presence had created immediately vanished. “He’s not my boyfriend, and you swung first.”

It was the ultimate in high school drama. When Alex and I got outside, I had tried to shrug him off.

“Well, Jase is parked over by the gym, so I’ll see you later.”

It was stupid of me to think he would let me off that easy. The boy couldn’t seem to take a hint.

“That’s where I’m parked too,” he had said with his ever-present smile before walking with me towards Jase, who was leaned against our little Mazda, engaging in some slightly embarrassing PDA with Nikki Anderson. We were still about three cars away when Jase pulled back from Nikki.

“What are you doing here?” Jase asked Alex as rudely as possible.

“Well, I was walking to my car.” Alex motioned towards an old red Toyota in the next row.

“I meant here at this school, in this town.”

In retrospect, Alex must have been purposefully trying to provoke Jase. Maybe he was more like his brother than I thought.

“We thought it would be a nice place to settle down.” One corner of Alex’s mouth pulled up as his eyes locked with mine. “I had no idea it would be this nice.”

The next series of events went so quickly I can’t be exactly sure what happened. Jase took a swing at Alex, but it didn’t connect. I don’t know if Alex managed to duck out of the way, or if Jase’s aim was just really off. I do know he meant business because it really hurt when my shoulder accidentally got in the way and I fell to the ground.

The next thing I knew, Tyler Burkeen and Seth Roberts were holding Alex’s arms, and Jase’s nose was dripping blood.