CHAPTER ONE #2
Tim’s handsome face turned pink, and he looked away.
For one breathless moment, I thought he was going to say they were for me.
I had no idea how I would feel about that.
Tim? Liking me? Even though we were best friends, we were in very different social groups at school.
Tim was the most popular guy in our class, but he wasn’t an ass like a lot of the popular kids were.
He was handsome, funny, quirky in the best way, smart, and kind.
He was also the tallest, most athletic kid in our grade.
Everyone wanted to be around Tim. He was nice to everyone.
The Summers family was like that, apparently.
Sadie, who was in high school, was gorgeous and a cheerleader.
But she was the nicest person you’d ever meet.
Wyn was the same, it seemed. The jury was still out on Alexis.
She was the one Summers kid who had let her good looks go to her head.
She was beautiful, funny, smart, and everything else the other kids were.
But she was also… kind of mean. She was a couple of grades under us and was the queen bee of her class for sure.
Tim could’ve been that way, too. But he wasn’t.
I was nerdy, skinny, awkward, and weird.
I knew it. I would never have fit in with the popular kids if it wasn’t for Tim.
As it was, I knew they only tolerated me because of him.
They didn’t actually like me, but they knew Tim would flip out if any of them treated me badly.
Still, I couldn’t imagine that he thought of me as someone he’d give flowers to.
And I was right.
He turned to me, his blue eyes full of nerves. “Annika Hansen. Do you think she’ll like them?”
Annika Hansen. I should have known. Talk about a queen bee. She ruled over the eighth-grade girls for sure. She smiled and talked to me whenever Tim was around, but as soon as he was out of sight, she ignored me. I didn’t mind; she did a lot worse to other girls.
She was beautiful, though. She had this long, thick, curly blonde hair, and eyes as blue and cold as a Nordic sky. She was tall, too, and had already started to develop curves while the rest of the girls looked, well, like little girls.
“She’ll like them.” It was common knowledge she was ‘in love’ with Tim, though I’d always thought he had better sense than to like her in a romantic way.
He smiled and looked relieved. Then he changed the subject and we talked about other things on the way to the middle school.
We hung out until the teacher told us to sit in our seats.
We had to sit alphabetically to go across the stage just like a regular graduation.
At least we didn’t have to wear robes, and we were only in the school gym.
Not at the football stadium like the high school graduates were.
“Nice dress,” Annika brushed past me on my way to my seat.
She said it in a low tone only meant for my ears.
Her mean smile was the kind boys don’t ever seem to understand.
Every girl in our class could’ve interpreted the smile on her face correctly.
But the guys? No way. Every one of them would just see a smile and think Annika was sweet.
God. Boys were stupid.
As we got ready for the ceremony to start, my hands started to get sweaty.
I was ridiculously nervous. They had combined graduation with our awards day ceremony, so when each kid went across the stage, they announced their honors at that time.
I felt bad for kids who didn’t have any; it seemed kind of mean.
But I felt worse for myself. I was the ‘valedictorian’ of the eighth-grade class, had all A’s, and I was getting several other awards that I knew of.
I hated it. I had told Lynne it was almost enough to make me tank my GPA on purpose. Like maybe get zeroes on tests for a couple of weeks or something. She’d convinced not to do that, though, so I’d just have to deal with the public praise I didn’t even want.
When they called my name, I closed my eyes for a minute.
I wished with all of my heart my mom could be here.
She would’ve helped me through this. As I stood up there, enduring the extremely extended moment I was in the spotlight, I looked between Lynne, Pete, and Tim.
They got me through it, and Tim even made me laugh.
I had to hold it in, of course, or the principal would get upset.
I would just try to think about the party the Summers were having after the ceremony. The entire class was invited, so it was a good thing they had a huge backyard. I knew it would be fun and the food would be delicious.
After the ceremony, I stood and talked with my only other friends. We were all members of the school’s scholars bowl team. I wasn’t really close with any of them, but I enjoyed hearing about their summer plans.
“What about you, Nat?” Imani Ross asked.
I shrugged. I never had anything good to share. “Um… I’m not doing much. I’ll probably hang out at the Summers’ house most of the summer.”
Imani sighed. “You’re so lucky.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “I’m so lucky? Did you or did you not just say you were going to London in July?”
“Yeah. But you’ll be with Tim.” She practically swooned just saying his name, and the other girls all sighed in agreement.
I gave them all a look. “I’m not sure y’all would feel this way about him if you’d grown up with him the way I have.”
“Ugh. I’m glad you feel that way. Look who he’s with right now,” Imani said.
I looked over my shoulder and saw Tim smiling down at Annika as he gave her the big bouquet of flowers he’d had with him in the van.
My stomach gave a weird lurch, and my heart felt funny.
I watched as he laughed and talked with her.
I tried not to notice how perfect they looked together.
He was unquestionably the best-looking guy in our grade.
She was one of the prettiest girls. Together they looked like they should be on the cover of a magazine.
From the look on his face, it was obvious he liked her.
Even though girls had always been following him around, he’d never seemed to notice or care.
Annika was the first person he’d shown any romantic interest in, and watching them together gave me a slight sense of foreboding.
If Tim had a girlfriend, especially one as two-faced and mean as Annika, there was a good chance my importance in his life would change.
Significantly.
I watched them for a moment or two before turning back to my friends.
I was careful to hide how I was really feeling.
I knew I was good at it, too, because I’d had to develop that skill after Mom died.
People always wanted to pry, and I’d learned the best way to avoid that was by covering up my emotions.
The therapist in Halliwell had said that wasn’t a great coping mechanism, but I was pretty sure she hadn’t listened to one of her parents slowly die while she was in elementary school.
“Earth to Natalie,” Imani said, waving a hand in front of my face.
I shook the dark thoughts away, smiled, and told my scholars bowl friends to text me pictures of all the fabulous places they were going to go over the summer.
Then I walked to the Summers’ van, trying not to notice how long Tim was spending with Annika.
“My God,” Alexis said as we drove back to their house after graduation, “I swear we’d have been out of there fifteen minutes ago if it weren’t for your honors, Nat.
” She rolled her eyes as I unloaded all the cords, medals, and certificates on Lynne’s lap before heading back to sit with Tim.
I just shrugged at Alexis. I had no defense.
“You just wish you’d have gotten even one honor at your school’s awards day,” Tim retorted, kicking the back of her seat.
She turned around and started to say something nasty, but Sadie cut it off.
“Maybe,” she said, “if you were a little nicer to everyone, you’d be more likely to earn something.
You were definitely the best cheerleader and tennis player this year, but you didn’t get awards because you weren’t nice to your teammates. ”
Alexis turned the color of a plum. She worshipped her older sister and hated letting her down in any way.
“I have something for you,” Tim said, as we rode back to his house.
“What is it?”
“It’s a surprise,” he said giving me a gentle shove. “But you’ll like it, I swear.”
I grinned. I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be flowers like the bouquet he gave Annika. The thought did something weird to my heart. What was going on?’
I’d never had a crush on a guy. Was I starting to feel that way about Tim?
We all piled out of the van, and Tim practically dragged me inside.