Chapter 2

The bus ride was fast, like it always was. There were only two more stops after ours, before the bus would finally head towards the school. In the mornings, the school parking lot and unloading zones were always busy, crowded with buses and parents dropping off all the kids who didn’t have cars, yet. Being one of the last stops on the way to school was great, but that also meant we were one of the very last when it came time to get dropped off as well because the bus route was for all intents and purposes a big loop.

I followed Sara off the bus. She always got off before me. When she stepped foot on the ground, she turned to me. “Are you finally going to come with me today?” Sara asked, she was obviously unsure of how I would answer. “Come on, the girls are going to love you.”

“Sara...” I groaned.

“Come on Sam!” Sara grabbed my hand. “I promise it will be fine.”

“But—”

“No buts, just trust me.” Sara cut me off before I could tell her no.

I nodded my acceptance and Sara smiled like it was Christmas morning. She pulled me along by the hand as she moved to catch up with her little posse of high school girls. I knew this was a bad idea, I just knew it. My heart was racing, pounding in my chest. I was more comfortable with girls now than I was two summers ago, but I was still awkward and shy. The crazy thing was, if I was naked, I seemed more comfortable than when I was wearing clothes. If you can figure that out, you would be doing better than I was managing.

We didn’t have to walk far to meet up with Sara’s friends. She had the same group of four friends for years. They almost never came to our house, except on Sara’s birthday, even then that was rare. Stephanie was the easiest to spot, seeing how she was over six feet tall. With her height and lean build, she was sought out to play sports for school. Both the volleyball coaches and basketball coaches wanted her to try out as a freshman. She towered over the girls two and three years older than her. Stephanie was skinny, but not rail thin. She had a very subtle swell to her chest, but it was her butt that everyone stared at, along with her legs. With her wearing a sundress that would normally look long on most girls, was just past mid-thigh on her. It did an incredible job of showing off her long, lean, muscular legs.

Then there was Laura, she was short, just over five feet tall, and shorter than me now. She was full figured, to say the least. Her boobs were big but fit her shape perfectly. No one would mistake her for skinny, but she wasn’t fat at all. Her long naturally curly blonde hair and blue eyes framed her slightly rounder face. She had the sweetest smile of anyone I had ever seen. The only thing better than her looks and shape, was her laugh. She giggled at everything, and her cheeks would flush and make the blue of her eyes stand out even more. She was the only one I might be comfortable talking to on my own. I just never would.

Next was Milly. She was of average build, average looks. She wore glasses that she was constantly pushing up her nose and holding books to her chest. She never wore anything revealing and her hair was never curled or pinned up in an attempt to show off or just look pretty. She just threw it in a ponytail down the middle of her back. Milly was smart, really smart. If she didn’t get an A on a quiz or test, she would panic and work like crazy for extra credit so she could maintain her perfect four-point-oh grade point average. She had always been the number one student in her class, and she worked hard to maintain that status, much to the pleasure and delight of her parents, who were both doctors in town.

Last, but not least, was Liz. Liz was a big girl. She always had a piece of cake, a bar of chocolate, or a bag of homemade cookies. She has been friends with Sara since first grade and only lived two blocks from us. Liz wasn’t cute, but she wasn’t horribly ugly either. She always used to pick on me when I was younger, telling me to go away, and that she and Sara didn’t like to be around little boys. That hadn’t stopped and I was pretty sure she was not happy that Sara was dragging me behind her. The glare she was giving me just confirmed it.

“I still don’t get why we have to hang out with your little brother,” Liz groaned.

“Oh stop,” Sara replied sharply. “What’s wrong with Sam hanging out with us a bit, Elizabeth?”

“Don’t call me that!” Liz snapped. “Only my parents call me by that name.”

“Fine, fine. Sorry,” Sara apologized.

“Hi Sam,” Laura said, her voice sweet and innocent.

“Um, hi.”

“Don’t be shy, we won’t bite.” Laura giggled and her eyes twinkled. “Unless you have cookies then watch out for Liz.”

“Hey!” Liz complained and took a quick step in Laura’s direction, trying to grab her.

“I’m just teasing, Liz,” Laura yelped and hurried to stand behind Stephanie.

I smiled at Laura dodging Liz’s attempts to grab her and keeping Stephanie between them for safety.

“You two need to knock it off, before I beat both of your butts,” Stephanie declared.

Both Laura and Liz froze and looked at Stephanie. They each took a step away from the taller girl warily.

“Truce?” Laura asked, keeping Stephanie between her and Liz.

“Fine,” Liz conceded.

“So, Sam, Sara convinced you to hang out with us?” Stephanie asked.

“Yeah, I don’t have to if it’s not okay,” I answered.

“No—” Liz started to complain but was cut off by Sara.

“Of course, it’s fine. We want you to, don’t we girls,” Sara sweetly. Stephanie nodded, and I think Milly did too, but she had to hurry up and push her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “See, I told you!”

“We can’t sit here all day,” Liz grumbled. “We will be late for first period if we don’t get going.”

“She’s right, let’s go,” Stephanie agreed.

The six of us went into the school. Thankfully, my locker wasn’t anywhere near theirs, so I didn’t have to stay with them once we got inside.

“Do you want to meet us for lunch?” Sara asked.

“Maybe, we’ll see,” I replied.

“Okay, you know where my locker is, so if you do, come find me.”

“Okay.”

My morning classes were boring. English, Government, and Math. It’s not that I didn’t like school. I was just bored. Learning those three subjects was like pulling teeth for me. I just didn’t care about them and when I don’t have any interest, I don’t want to be there. Today though, I was hoping for my last class before lunch, Math, to drag on and on, eventually running late. It never did, because a bell would ring to signal the end of each class period and the second that it rang, and sometimes before, people would be antsy, and a stampede would ensue in an attempt to leave the classroom as fast as possible. It was even worse for this class because it was right before lunch time, a short, forty-five-minute break in our day that we could go hang out with our friends ... that is if you had any.

Any other day, I would be just like the other kids in my class, in a rush to get to the cafeteria. Even though I didn’t really have any real friends, there was a group of kids I would eat lunch with most days. Today, I knew Sara was going to be waiting for me to come to her locker to have lunch with her. She and her friends were allowed to leave the school grounds and get fast food. Kids in my grade had to stay. No one really policed the rule though. Sure, there were teachers that would watch the parking lots, but as long as you walked like you belonged out there, no one stopped you.

I was watching the clock, and to my horror, it seemed to be moving faster than what was normally possible. Before I knew it, the bell rang. Everyone but me jumped up as if the bell were the starting gun for a one-hundred-meter dash. I groaned, but got up, put my textbook and spiral notebook in my backpack, and walked out into the now bustling hallway. I wove my way through the crowds and eventually got to my locker and found Sara standing there. Laura was leaning against my locker. When they saw me, they both smiled, and Laura moved so I could turn the combination Master lock and put my backpack inside.