Cheshire Girl

Ch. 5

Mr. Shaddock was like a grandpa; that's a good enough description, right?  He made me introduce myself, and I said that my dad worked for the CIA and that we were placed in Cheshire.  I also wasn't allowed to answer questions.

                No one I'd had before was in the class, so I wasn't bombarded with questions; everyone was exhausted by then?  What I mostly worried about was after class. 

                I was on the lookout for Cynthia.  I was glad that I'd park in one of the farthest spots, but that was a lot of ground to cover.  I didn't know if Cynthia drove, and I had the dreaded feeling she would block me in.

                I had to go by the office and drop off the slip.  Thankfully, no one was in there.  I followed everyone toward the gates.  Surprisingly, very few went to any cars, so most of those had to have belonged to the teachers.

                I spotted Cynthia and her friends… near my car.  One of them actually spotted me and Cynthia and one other girl started walking toward me.  I did not want to hear her cheery, patronizingly insulting voice.  Ladies and gentlemen (please, no boy would read this story) my own Regina George.

                Instinct took over and I immediately turned around to find some place to hide… going upstream, like Mr. Charles had said.

                A thousand students didn't feel like enough of people to hide through, so I ran into the nearest building.  I still felt that they would've seen me, so I walked along the hall and picked a door at random and went inside.

                It was an indoor pool.  The glow of the pool lights made everything blue and dark.  The door had a small little window to look through, and I moved out of the way as Cynthia and her sidekick walked past.  They hadn't seen me.

                Something splashed and I screamed.

                He laughed, his head bobbing in the water.  "Sorry.  I didn't mean to scare you."  He was young, a student….  Senior?  Reckless enough to be swimming in the school pool, which looked like no one was supposed to be in here.

                "Whatever.  Just be quiet."  I turned back to the window.  I couldn't see them, but I still didn't feel safe.

                "Who're you hiding from?"

                "Connor."

                "Ah."  He sounded like he got it.  "So she chased you in here?"

                "Sort of.  Yeah."

                "That's rough.  It has been five years since we had a new kid—a girl no less."

                I nodded, still looking out the window.  "You're talking about Charlie Jones?"  I saw Cynthia's friend walk by.

                "Yup.  She's the only person in Cheshire to give Cynthia Connor trouble.  She kicks her ass, like, once a year.  One of them always starts it, almost like a tradition."

                "Who kicks who's?" 

                "Charlie kicks her ass.  Duh.  Connor is all useless beauty-queen and formal-princess and all that."  He swam to the edge and hoisted himself up.

                Hothothothothothothothot…hot.  He was absolutely hot.  Absolutely… abs… abs-abs.  Hot.

                I got my head on straight before he noticed.  He smiled.  "We haven't formally met.  I'm Ethan Walker."  He offered a hand.  I glanced at it stupidly.  "Oh.  Sorry."  He'd placed a towel by the door and quickly dried his hands.  "I come in here to kill time after school."