Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz [8]
“Yeah, it’s cool. I mean, school’s school. Right?”
“Well, do you think you’ll be joining any of the clubs? We’re looking for volunteers for Halloween Movie Night in a few weeks,” he asked pointedly, playing with his tie which, I noticed, was dotted with a small pattern of the school’s insignia.
“No, I don’t think so,” I said, smiling apologetically. “The only thing I really like to do is…run.” Thanks to my aunt’s location, I was close to Central Park, and could just get in there and run…and run. All my thoughts melted away, and I just focused on the pavement as it kissed my feet.
Austin seized on the opportunity. “We don’t really have a track team. It’s more like a club, but you should join anyway. The athletics at this school aren’t one of the biggest priorities—that would be academics, of course—” He would have continued prattling on if something from across the cafeteria hadn’t caught our attention—and the attention of everyone else in the room.
Amid the chatter in the room, two voices got discernibly louder, until one of the voices—belonging to the same black-haired guy that sat in front of me in English—stood up and flung his empty lunch tray across the table with enough force that it slid off and fell. He slammed his chair into the table, almost hitting the blond guy sitting next to him. The booming crack it made caused everyone to turn and stare. He grabbed a gray messenger bag and stomped out as the chair wobbled and fell to the floor with a loud clacking sound. The blond guy was seething as he turned around—and immediately locked eyes with me. It was Anthony, and he caught me staring at the confrontation. I blushed and looked down—not quite sure why I was embarrassed to be caught looking, since everyone else was staring too.
“So yeah, the athletics at this school, well, they’re not that great, but they’re getting better. I’m on the student council, and one of the things I’m trying to do—” Austin continued, unfazed.
“Wait!” I stammered. “What—what the hell was that all about?”
“What?” He looked dumbfounded.
“That!” I waved my left hand toward the source of the commotion.
“Oh, that. The basketball team,” Austin said. “Dumb jocks, you know how they are. They might actually win a championship if some players didn’t get kicked out so much for fighting. Especially that one. Him and his temper.” He gestured toward where my mystery rock-star boy had stormed out. “Who?”
“Brendan. Brendan Salinger.” He pouted as he said the name.
“Oh.” At least I had a name. Hot and a hothead. I returned to picking at my sandwich—chicken salad, gross!—when I realized that our conversation had caught the attention of Kristin, who sneered under her breath, “So Emma’s going after Anthony and Brendan? What a slut.” I just rolled my eyes. I had zero interest in Anthony. But Brendan…he was intriguing.
“So Austin.” I turned, putting on my brightest smile. “What’s his deal? You don’t seem to like him too much.”
“He’s okay. It’s just annoying that Salinger gets away with everything. He never does anything for the school unless he’s forced into it,” Austin huffed, then changed the subject, trying to wrangle me into volunteering for the winter dance. I was still curious about Brendan, but was drawn into the chatter in the lunchroom and did my best to keep up. I didn’t want to lose this lunch seat and have to sit alone or worse—go eat in the library like I had during those last painful weeks at Keansburg High, when I scarfed down peanut butter sandwiches while standing in the dusty stacks in the Applied Science section, where no one ever went. It was less painful than answering questions from curious students masquerading as concerned friends. Is your stepfather going to jail? Did he always drink? Why is your arm bandaged? Are you going to eat the rest of your fries? It was better to put my headphones on and try to block it all out, alone.
After lunch, I picked up my ID, not even bothering to look at it as I raced to chemistry class. I walked in hesitantly, not sure what to do about a lab partner. I scanned the room