When the game reached her, Whitney fought to remain cool in the radiating heat.
“My name is Whitney
I just moved here
I grew up in the bay area of California
I play basketball
I like to ride horses
I have one sister
My favorite food is pizza
My favorite dessert is ice cream
My favorite movie is Friends with Benefits
My favorite subject is math
I like the beach
I like little kids
I want to be a pediatrician when I grow up and go back to Africa where my family went last year and set up a clinic to help the kids there. (It just came out. That wasn’t the number 13 she’d rehearsed. It was just supposed to be the pediatrician part. Now they all stared like she was an alien. Something normal. Say something normal)
I’m a freshman (shoot, that didn’t help. Freshman weren’t cool)
I like lemons (what? Lemons? This was a plane crash)
And sushi, I like sushi
I have a pool.”
Instinctively she glanced towards Leif; He grinned and one dimple appeared on his perfect cheek.
Mortified, Whitney snapped her head towards the front of the room and squeezed her caramel brown eyes shut. Leif’s dimpled grin shone on the blackness of her eyelids and she shook her head trying to remove the image. She felt the redness creeping up her freckle covered face and willed it to stop. From the corner of her eye she could see Leif and his friends whispering cheerfully between glances her way. She bit the inside of her lip and stared at the carvings in the wooden seatback in front of her, yet neither distracted her from the stares and whispers.
Everley (the quirky girl) went next and while she appeared upset about her number of M&Ms before, she clearly felt much more comfortable with the crowd and quickly listed off her 43 facts.
“My name is Everley, my middle name is Ripple, my other middle name is Lumiere. I have four siblings. Their names are Kodiak, Olive, Soul and Juliet. I live in the country. I play volleyball. I play basketball. I am Freshman class president. My grandparents live in Kentucky. I went there this summer. There are 27 cousins in my family. I like to do yoga. And take walks around our property. I’m in a band with my brother and some other kids. I like to draw. I didn’t eat breakfast today. Thus why I took 43 M&M’s. I like to shop at thrift stores. I like fish and soup and grilled cheese and mac and cheese. I’ve never eaten at McDonalds. I do not have a smart phone. Thus I do not have a snapchat. Or a twitter. I have an Instagram but I have to steal my best friend Ivy’s phone to post on it. I always lose my phone. We don’t have cable. We have a composting toilet. My favorite class is drama. My favorite movie is The Princess Bride. I want to be a travel writer when I grow up. I do not have a pool.”
Everley’s facts flowed like a fast moving river captivating everyone with her honest confidence. Whitney liked her. It seemed like everyone liked her, except maybe herself.
Whitney didn’t hear the last few introductions, her focus continually shifting to the upperclassmen across the room. She watched them with unrealistic yearning, like she did Keeping Up With the Kardashians. When the bell finally rang it startled Whitney, bringing the reality show quickly to an end.
◆◆◆
After a rather long and lonely lunch, Whitney wandered to math, nearly used to the glances. Nervously glancing around the room, she found only three other kids and quickly regretted moving towards class as soon as the bell rang, until she spotted Everley sitting at a quad of desks on the other side of the room.
“Hey! You’re in here too? That’s great. I was sure I’d be the only freshman,” Everley said waving Whitney over. Whitney breathed a sigh of relief as she moved to join Everley’s group of desks.
The other two desks in their pod remained empty all the way up to the ringing of the tardy bell. Whitney didn’t know if she should be relieved they didn’t have weird people with them or offended that no one wanted to sit with them. Before she could decide, the door swung open and two boys slid in. The first guy was new, but the second was none other than Leif. They shot a quick apology at Mrs. White while making their way to the only open seats left.
“Oh Ev, you saved me a seat. How sweet of you,” Leif whispered as he gave Everley’s pony tail a tug and took his seat.
Everley just smiled as Whitney scanned the minute amount of info she had on Leif and Everley for a connection with no luck.
Mrs. White ran through the standards, rules and expectations, shooting the boys an evil eye when she reached the tardy policy, before handing out pre-tests. Whitney flew through hers trying to ignore the nagging feeling of Leif staring at her paper the whole time and the phenomenal scent of good cologne that kept wafting from his direction.
STOP. She told her mind after she finished and it unconsciously shifted to thinking only about the insanely handsome junior next to her. His short blonde hair stuck up in just the right unkempt way and he kept biting at his lower lip, which sent Whitney’s mind to all the places his lips could go.
No. No. No. No. She told herself, forcing her gaze downward. No you will not fall head over heels for this upperclassman. You don’t even know him. He could have a girlfriend. He probably has a girlfriend. He could be evil or one of those guys that drive the huge ozone-depleting trucks. He could be a rapist or an ax-murderer. Well that may be a little much, but he may treat his girlfriend horribly. He pulled Everley’s hair. That’s obviously a sign that he’s abusive. Or that he’s fun and has a good sense of humor. That grin can’t be evil. No. No. Nothing is good about him. Except that smell, and smile, and blue eyes. NO!
Back and forth she went until the bell rang and those who were still working on their tests groaned in frustration.
“What class do you have next?” Everley asked.
“Honors language arts, with-”
“Mr. Jeffreys. Me too! I hear he’s awesome.”
Whitney followed Everley to language arts trying, unsuccessfully, to absorb some of her confidence. Everley moved directly towards the back of the room and took a seat next to Ivy and Brynley from first period.
Whitney slid in on Everley’s far side as Ivy said hi and Brynley gave a small wave.
“This is Whitney,” Everley said.
“Yeah, she was in our social studies class this morning,” Brynley said. Her tone hid if that was a good thing or not.
Language arts flowed much like the other classes. Syllabus, pretest. There were no name games or chances for Whitney to make a fool of herself, which she found relaxing.
Whitney soon realized that Ivy, Everley and Brynley were a trio, the three cute boys from first period were their fan club and they all constituted the popular crew. In the ten minutes that Mr. Jefferys left them at the end of the period Whitney learned that the boys were Will, James and Jesse.
James was the most vocal. He was also the most athletically built and seemed the most attractive, until he started talking. He had made it onto the varsity football team (Whitney would later learn that he was actually just swinging up from JV occasionally) and he was dating Brynley.
Jesse was the quietest. He was smaller than the other two but still cute. Longer dirty blonde hair swept across his forehead just above his sweet brown eyes that were regularly fixed on Will and James.
Will was Asian, Korean Whitney guessed. It stood out since he was the only one she’d seen in the whole school. He was taller than Jesse yet also very quiet, speaking only intermediately and always with certainty or sarcasm. He was obviously interested in Everley, but whether she knew that was still to be determined. Whitney was learning that Everley wasn’t the most observant of the crew.
“So, tell us about yourself?” Brynley said to Whitney as class wound down.
Whitney looked around to see the whole group staring at her. “Umm, I’m really not that interesting,” she said. “I play basketball.”
“That’s awesome. We do too,” Ever
ley exclaimed motioning towards Brynley.
Whitney lit up. “Oh really? Are you on a fall team?”
“No. Pretty much everyone is playing a different sport right now,” Brynley said.
“That probably explains why I couldn’t find a team around here to join. I’ve always played year-round. It’s odd to not be spending all my weekends in hotels covered in sweat.”
They all stared at her, their faces a mix of confusion and disgust. “Do you play other sports?” Everley asked.
“No,” Whitney said. “Just basketball. Well I used to do lots of horse shows, but just basketball recently.”
“Horse shows?” Brynley said. “Like a rodeo?”
“No. Like a horse show. Dressage and jumping and showmanship.” Whitney had never even been to a rodeo, but by the looks on these kid’s faces she guessed they’d never been to a real horse show.
“So, all that basketball. You must be good?” James said after a round of knowing looks between the Millersburg crew.
Whitney nodded slightly, “Yeah, pretty good.”
“Brynley’s the best freshman,” James said as the bell rang.
Whitney just nodded while they all filed out.
Waiting outside for the bus, another foreign aspect of small town life, Whitney pulled her long brown hair up in a ponytail and let out a sigh. At least she’d escaped alive.
Chapter 3
The rest of week one went by in a blur, much like a foreign language film. Whitney found herself watching Leif too often to be normal. The same crew continually surrounded him, yet he often appeared disconnected from all of them. His varying levels of annoyance with Eva and Jasmine, playfulness with his buddies and pensive demeanor whenever he wasn’t engaged all fascinated Whitney. He wasn’t a jerk and Whitney appreciated that. Too many of the men in her life had been jerks. Everley had rapidly become her saving grace, and while she was still unsure what exactly the relationship between Everley and Leif was, she did determine it wasn’t romantic. They acted more like siblings, yet they weren’t. Either way, Eve shielded Whitney from Leif and his buddy Phillip’s comments daily in math and Whitney was eternally grateful.
Jesse, always entertaining and friendly, became Whitney’s other best friend, primarily because he stopped looking at her like an alien the fastest. On Wednesday she discovered their shared love for Orange is the New Black, they exchanged numbers and later spent a good two hours texting while watching the latest season. Finally, she felt like she had something in common with these people.
Each day Whitney felt a little more comfortable. Jesse complimented her on her new Nikes on Tuesday, Everley said she loved Whitney’s backpack on Wednesday and on Thursday Brynley saved her from a third depressing lunch alone by inviting her to go with the group. Despite always looking like a bitch, Brynley was turning out to be quite nice. At least to Whitney.
As language arts wound down on Thursday the conversation turned to the first home football game of the season. James was sure he was going to get some solid playing time, although he seemed to be the only one believing that. They talked about the opponent and how they anticipated the team to fare this year until the bell rang. Heading for the door Ivy turned to Whitney, “You’re coming with us aren’t you Whitney?”
The question came out as more of a statement making Whitney feel like the correct answer was yes. “I’ll have to ask my mom,” she said.
“You have to come. Everyone is going to be there and it’s our first high school game!” Christmas-like excitement covering Everley’s face.
“Yeah. I’ll ask,” Whitney said.
“The games actually are really fun. My brother is on the team so we went to all of the games last year. The student section gets crazy sometimes,” Jesse said wandering towards the busses with Whitney.
“What exactly is your idea of getting crazy? Should I expect a 49ers tailgate party before a regional playoff game, cause those got pretty crazy last year.”
Jesse just stared, his face covered in confusion. She’d quickly realized the life her father’s job had allowed them to live was something most of these kids only saw on TV.
“Well, the last NFL game I attended wasn’t a playoff so I can’t make a direct comparison, but I’m pretty sure it’s equal, just replace the beer with coffee and the BBQs with a concession stand selling bomb curly fries,” Jesse said returning Whitney’s sarcasm. She simply gave him a shove and a smile.
“Episode 4 tonight?” He asked as they parted ways to their separate buses.
“Yeah. After I finish my math. I’ll text you,” Whitney yelled.
◆◆◆
Whitney’s mom said yes to the game, and dropped Whitney off outside the field at 6:30. Whitney made her way towards the gate where Ivy and Brynley stood awkwardly unengaged. Everley was late, “as usual” Ivy noted. It had become clear Everley was the bond between these two and without her they seemed a little off balance. Brynley was the indisputable queen bee of the freshman class and tonight’s outfit was dictionary perfection of that title. She had on a cute sundress, white Vans and her long blonde hair was freshly curled. Her makeup was good, as it always was, and even her nails were done with adorable pink and white stripes. Ivy, alternately, wore cutoff jean shorts, which it appeared she had actually cut off herself; a graphic tank-top advertising the class of 2000 grad party, which looked like it might actually have been from 2000, and worn black Vans. Her hair looked like she hadn’t done so much as brush it following her post-cross country shower, and Ivy’s demeanor said she was okay with that. She somehow could achieve the naturally beautiful, fresh from the beach look everyone died for in California, but her withdrawn demeanor gave away that she didn’t have a clue how pretty she was. Whitney looked down and contemplated her linen shorts, long tank top, cardigan and birkenstocks. All were things she’d see others wear this week, but now they looked odd on her. Everything about her looked odd these days.
A few minutes later Everley rushed their way, her hair, purse and cardigan edges flying wildly behind her.
“Sorry! I couldn’t find my white vans.”
“They’re at my house,” Ivy said.
The girls moved towards the gate, everyone unaffected by Everley’s craziness; everyone but Whitney.
“That reminds me, I found your green toms and orange hoody in my room yesterday,” Brynley added.
“That’s where those are! I was looking for those Toms.”
“You left them after we went fishing that weekend and got wet wading in when you decided to try spear fishing,” Brynley said.
“Oh yeah!” Everley’s carefree laugh flowed from her beaming smile. “That was fun! We should try that again. I’ll make a better spear this time.
Whitney shook her head longing to be a part of this easy friendship, but fully aware that she had no idea how to fish, let alone spear fish. Maybe her dad could buy her lessons. How to live in the country 101.
While she wouldn’t call it “crazy” the game was fun. Everley had been right; everyone was at the game. Parents helped grandparents, barely able to walk, up the rickety bleachers while tiny children donning their baby bulldog outfits ran around reenacting each down in the end-zone. The whole town seemed to be hypnotized by the glowing field lights.
Whitney watched Leif himself more than the actual game, but Leif in football pants was impossible to ignore. Dang it, he was cute. When he wasn’t in, Whitney chatted and laughed with the girls. Everley screamed loudly with each play only to ask everyone to explain what happened afterwards. Ivy would glare at her, while a nice girl named Kathy patiently enlightened Everley. Brynley was way too concerned about everyone in the stands to notice the game or Everley’s questions, yet her comments were extra entertaining so Whitney mostly listened to her.
“What is Beth even wearing?” She stated out of the blue in the middle of the second quarter. Lost for a moment, unsure who Beth even was, Whitney scanned the crowd twice before noticing whom she could only guess Brynley was talking abo
ut. The average-built Hispanic girl stood with Eva and Jasmine from drama wearing cut-off jean shorts leaving way too little to the imagination, wedge sandals and a very oversized letterman’s jacket that said Winston on the back.
“Her and Ian got back together like three hours ago so she feels the need to flaunt it,” Ivy said.
Brynley gave Ivy a sideways glance, “Cause it make so much sense to wear no pants, and an oversized heavy jacket.”
Whitney smiled.
In the end Mike, Jesse’s brother, led the Bulldogs to a very impressive 24-7 win and everyone flooded onto the field to congratulate their favorite players. Unsure what else to do, Whitney followed the group into the masses. Brynley b-lined for James and gave him a big hug: both of them ignoring the fact that James hadn’t even played. Whitney watched as the couples embraced, desperate girls asked their favorite players for pictures and parents slapped their son’s on the back.
“Whitney!” Everley’s energy packed shout broke through the crowd. She turned to see Everley and Ivy already 20 yards away. Whitney quickly wove through the various clumps of people catching up only to immediately regret it. They had stopped right next to where Leif was, and so many things were wrong with the picture surrounding him.
Hanging from Leif, snapping a selfie with her perfect slender arm, was Eva. She was one of those girls you expected to be with the cookie cutter football player, the kind that people complement so often that they begin to believe they’re way prettier than they actually are, yet Leif so clearly wasn’t a cookie cutter football player.
Equally confusing was the way that Everley and Ivy were interacting with ease with all of the people immediately around Leif. Everley cheerfully struck up a conversation with two parents and Ivy had a small child crawling on her. Neither girl cared to introduce Whitney to anyone, leaving her standing there alone and exposed. She should have stayed with Brynley. Or Jesse. Where was Jesse? As she strained to see around the hundreds of people on the field in a search for Jesse she caught Leif’s eye and they exchanged a smile. Even covered in sweat and dirt he was perfect; albeit perfectly wrapped in Eva’s arms currently. Her phone beeped breaking her gaze and alerting her of her mom’s arrival. She told Everley she was leaving, waved towards Ivy and briefly glanced towards Leif, where this time she caught an evil glare from Eva. She spun and headed for the gates with purpose.
Being Whitney (Book one of the Being Series): A Young Adult Novel Page 2