A Broken Smile

Chapter Three: Long Car Rides and Cute Guys

It was a friday when I left for St.John's-whoops, St.Mary's. ;). It was raining and the angrystorm clouds would not let up. This was obviously not to be taken as a good sign.

I was dragging my over-sized luggage behind me as i struggled with my huge duffle-bag. I was seriously out of shape in the whole "lifting-weights" department. I groaned as I finally managed to throw my luggage and huge goddamn bag into my dad's trunk.

"You really don't have to drive me there.", I pointed out, still annoyed with my dad for picking that woman over me. To completely understand the situation, you have to understand this...Roxi was a full on whore. No lie. a) she had already tried to "see" my dad when my mom was still alive. b) she snagged him away the second my mom tragically died, like nothing happened. c) she treated me like complete and utter crap. d) she was young enough to be my sister.

Needless to say, this woman was bad news. She had dissappeared for a while, but obviously, she was back, probably after my father's hard-earned assets. Too bad he was too blind to see it himself.

"Honey, you know I love you. This car ride will allow us to bond, just like we could've on the vacation."

"Yeah. Cause that makes perfect sense.", I added sarcastically.

"Drop the tude, or I'll drop it for you.", my dad added sharply.

"Sorry if i'm just a little pissed off that you chose that dumb excuse-of-a-woman over me. I know you're only shipping me away because you want to have her around when you don't even fully understand what's behind those beady little eyes of hers. Sorry if I can't handle the fact that you're basically forgetting everything about mom. Sorry if I'm coming off a little "strong", dad.", I quietly thought to myself, "Oh but don't worry, the term's being used very loosely. You're obviously not deserving of the title."

My dad looked up with a hurt expression splattered across his face. Not hurt enough to take me home, though. "Tess, I'm sorry. I promise this will all make sense someday. For now, can we just put everything behind us?"

"Don't even try and play the guilt-card on me, it'll never work.", I finished the conversation bitterly and slammed the car door.

"Satisfied?", my dad questioned, getting into the car.

"Very." I answered smugly. But not satisfied enough.

It was a few hours later when we had finally arrived. I scurried out of the car as quick as I possibly could to avoid whatever my stupid dad had to say. I grabbed my luggage and duffel bags, saluted my dad, and ran in the direction of St.Mary's until I heard my father finally pull out and drive away.

Sighing with relief, I jumped and began running in the oppisite direction. St.John's,ready or not, here I come.

Before entering the huge orientation building, I made a quick detour to the nearest bathroom. Luckily, all guy schools still had female teachers. Female teachers=female restrooms. I subtly side-stepped quickly into the bathroom and locked the door. I pushed up a chair against the knob and dropped my luggage. I opened my duffle-bag and pulled out my materials.

Within an hour, I had mastered the art of looking like a man. Bald cap and wig in place, I had begun to work on my face. I grabbed my make-it-work-5-O'clock shadow in a jar (bronzer dumped into some dark liquid foundation) and rubbed it all over my upper lip and dabbed a little around my mouth and chin to make it look realistic. I wiped off all traces of makeup and put on some glasses that allowed me to hide my eyes, but manage to see clearly, at the same time. I threw my tweezers in the trash. After a few more touches here and there, I finally looked the part. I looked like a man. I was about to give myself a onceover when I looked down.

Crap, my chest. I scolded myself for almost forgetting to hide those. I grabbed the saran-wrap that I had stolen from the kitchen and began to cover myself. Slowly, but painfully, my boobs began to dissappear. After I had finished "wrapping", I realized that my boobs weren't completely just going to go away, so i gave up and decided not to dwell. I then put on my baggy sweats and a big sweatshirt and muttered a few words..."Bye bye Tessa."

I grabbed all my stuff and headed out to the orientation center.

The second I stepped inside, someone tapped my shoulder. "What.", I snapped, swiveling around.

A broad-shouldered security-guard-looking man grunted at me. "Name."

"Tes-AH-T-umm-t-t-teeeeee-y-TYLER. Tyler Ford, sir.", I stated, dropping the pitch of my voice a few octaves.

The man eyed me suspiciously, giving me the once-over. I could've even sworn I caught his eyes lingering on my supposedly non-existant chest.  Crap, I was so busted.

"Tyler, uh-Ford, you're late. and not on the list, but I'm sure that's just a glitch. Carry on. Oh and uh, don't forget your-er-um-luggage and carry-ons."

"What's so-", I began.

Crap. Suddenly realizing the letters TESSA FORD had been monogrammed across my duffle-bag, I turned away quickly. "It's the lil-sis's bag. HA! You know how it is, always beating up on those little-uh-runts. We love em', but gotta get to them, ya know buddy?", I chuckled in a throaty voice and punched him on the arm. Only to realize my palm was throbbing with pain afterwards.

"Catch ya later, bro!", I ran away, flailing my arm around, pleading for the pain to go away.

To my dismay, it didn't. I had ran straight into some guy and we both fell over.

"Watch where you're goin!", the guy chuckled and punched me lightly, laughing. Unfortunately, this happened to be a one-sided thing, considering he had punched me right in the chest and that what guys consider a "light punch", happened to be a very hard blow.

I had to make friends at some point. Might as well do it now. "Hi. I'm-uh-Tyler. Call me Ty.", I tried to mimick his deep voice.

"Jerahmy.", he smiled. I melted inside and felt a little week at the knees. Oh lord, he was hot. His hair was a dark brown-ish black color. His eyes were ice-y blue-grey. He had one of those crooked-half-boy smiles that girls died for and had a perfect tan. He towered over me (at least 7 inches...) and held out a hand. An oh-so-very strong hand at that. I grabbed onto it and got up.

"Can I ask you something?", Jerehmy questioned.

"O'Course. We're buds now.", I spoke, trying not to sound cheesy.

"Great haha. So you won't mind me asking why you have umm-nail-polish on your wicked soft hands?" Jerehmy smiled.

CRAP.CRAPCRAPCRAP. I HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT MY NAIL POLISH. THIS WAS IT. MY COVER HAD BEEN BLOWN.

"Uh, my little sister pulled a prank on me. So THAT's why I stole her bag.", I motioned to the duffel bag, beaming and screaming with joy inside. Brilliant, I told myself silently.

"Oh I get it. So wanna come meet some of my friends?", he smiled with his beautiful boyish charm.

"Sure. If they are as-", I cut myself off. I was about to say "dreamy." What.An.Idiot. I had also suddenly realized I was twirling one of my short locks of hair. I pulled my hand away, meeting Jerehmy's gaze, nervously.

"What?"

"Oh, I was gonna say, only if they're as cool as you are.", I mumbled, kicking myself.

"Oh. Ha, for a second there I coulda sworn you were twirling your -uhh- nevermind. Haha it's stupid. Let's go." He beckoned to me and we started trotting down the hall.

Something suddenly hit me. A wave of realization. I had already almost blown my cover 3 times in the past 20 minutes. How the hell was I supposed to focus on my "schoolwork" for the rest of the year, let alone deal with rooming with a couple of these guys? I was starting to have second thoughts. But the words "too late" were ringing loudly in my head.

Trouble was calling out my name, and it didn't sound too inviting.