Class - Cecily Von Ziegesar [18]
Adam crossed and recrossed his legs. He kicked his sister’s flip-flops across the room. He pulled a string out of the weary gray sofa. His mind paced restlessly. Tomorrow he would register for courses at Dexter, and the day after that classes would begin. Shouldn’t I be doing something to prepare? I don’t even know what college is for, he thought morosely. But at least it was something.
Tragedy ran up to her room and came back downstairs with a small blue teddy bear stuffed into the front pocket of the apron and a pair of sweatpants pulled on over her bikini bottom. She retrieved a Yankees cap from the hall closet and put it on. “What am I now?” she asked, standing in front of Adam with her hands on her hips.
Adam just scowled at her.
“I’m a baseball mom from Florida, although it really should be a Marlins cap. Or maybe I’m the head chef for the Yankees.” She stuffed her feet back into the clogs.
Adam didn’t respond.
“I guess you’re not playing anymore.” She bounced onto the sofa next to him and picked up her Rubik’s cube. “Bet you I can do all the yellow and all the green before the next commercial.”
The country road was deserted. There weren’t any streetlights. There weren’t even any cows. The van plowed through a four-way stop and eased down a hill.
“How do you know where you’re going?” Eliza demanded. She crouched between the two front seats, gazing anxiously out the windshield like the family dog. Tom sat in the passenger seat. He kept turning up the volume on the radio and then turning it down again.
Nick knelt sideways in the backseat, clutching the door handle. “I knew this was a bad idea,” he complained.
“I’m sure if we keep driving we’ll come upon a town eventually,” Shipley mused. She wasn’t driving very fast. The van’s steering column was out of alignment and she could barely reach the pedals. It felt scary topping twenty.
Off in the distance a blue light glowed on the tip of a tall church spire. All of a sudden the road wasn’t deserted anymore. A white shingled farmhouse loomed up ahead, its windows blazing with cheery light. Puffs of gray smoke rose from the chimney, and a yellow rocking chair stood on the porch. Behind the house was a red barn, and behind that a white-painted fence surrounded a hilly pasture dotted with fluffy white sheep. It looked like Santa and Mrs. Claus’s summer home.
“Let’s stop there,” Tom suggested. “I’ll ask someone for directions.”
“Just be careful,” Eliza warned. The countryside was beginning to creep her out. Axe murderers and serial killers lurked behind every tree.
“Watch out!” Nick cried as Shipley steered the van toward the house. She ignored the driveway entirely, veering off the road and into the yard.
A yellow light flashed through the window. The twin beams of a car’s headlights bounced across the yard toward the front porch.
“Hello, psycho drivers?” Tragedy rushed into the kitchen and threw open the screen door. “Hey, slow down!” she shouted, waving her arms. “There are kittens around here! Kittens and lambs!”
Adam followed his sister, throat dry and knees stiff. Nothing truly exciting ever happened in Home, but he was pretty sure something was about to.
A maroon van pulled up directly in front of the steps leading up to the porch. Adam could just make out the Dexter College pine tree logo printed on the side. A blond girl in white shorts got out from behind the wheel. Her pale blue eyes seemed to glow in the dark.
“Yowza!” Tragedy exclaimed. “Holy guacamole!”
Adam gripped the screen door’s dinky metal handle. The passenger door opened and a huge, muscular guy emerged. He wore preppy Bermuda shorts and a bright yellow belt. Behind him tumbled a tough-looking girl with black bangs. The back door slid open and a guy wearing a wool earflap hat poked his head out, like a groundhog checking to see if spring had sprung. All they were missing was a big, slobbery Great Dane.
“Hey.” The guy in the hat jumped