The Whisper Seekers

Jealousy, Jealousy

After the bell rings, we spot Derek waiting for me by the main doors surrounded by Mike Fincher and Aaron Lorne, his teammates and friends. He immediately notices Liam and his posture goes from cool and casual to cocky and confrontational.

"Who's this?" Derek snaps. He almost added "dirt" but he can't with how well Liam's dressed- which also agitates him.

"Derek this is Liam, he just transferred here," I clarify. "Mr. Anderson is making me show him around, so I thought he could come to lunch with us." I'm trying to remain neutral but I can already tell Derek feels threatened by Liam. We haven't had a good-looking transfer student since Derek came to our school. It's new territory for everyone. Liam holds his hand out to Derek's friends as Mike and Aaron introduce themselves. Derek takes one more look at him and loudly exhales, clearly showing he's annoyed we have to tote around the new kid. He turns around and starts out the door with us following right behind him.

As we are walking to Derek's car, Liam elbows me in the arm and points to Derek's waistline. He has a brown Louis Vuitton leather belt keeping up his khaki shorts and I look back to him confused. He then points to Derek's black Nike shoes and mouths, "Told you." I can't help but laugh. My hand flies up to my mouth to stifle it and luckily no one else notices the interaction. My eyes flit back to Liam and we are both grinning at the inside joke. Liam and I now have an inside joke and the thought makes me flutter for some reason. We climb into Derek's Jeep but he makes it a point that I sit up front.

Aaron and Mike talk to Liam while Derek drives in silence and there's too much chatter going on in the back for me to try and read what's going on in Derek's head. I realize I haven't heard anything from Liam yet and become determined to get into his head when we get to Derek's. How did I not notice anything when we were strolling down the quiet hallways? When we pull up to Derek's house, we all jump out of the car and onto the driveway.

The Atwaters live a block away from me in a gorgeous brick house with large white columns extending off the front porch that makes up the front of the house. His driveway is U-shaped with a colorful flower garden in the center. His dad lines up all of his antique cars on the side of the driveway to show off his collection when the weather isn't harmful to the paint job. Liam takes in both the house and the cars and looks pleased.

"Quite the house Derek. What do your parents do?" Liam asks in awe while Derek leads everyone up the steps and into the foyer.

"My dad is a drilling engineer for an oil company and my mom is a buyer for some boutique," Derek mumbles even though I know he loves answering this question. He wants people to think his parents are important people like the Atwaters did Highland Park a service by moving here.

We continue into the kitchen, where the sunshine from the bay window bounces off the white cabinets, creating a bright and cheery room. We all pull stools away from the large granite island in the center and dump our bags to the side of us. Aaron sits next to Liam and asks, "So Liam, you into any sports?" Derek gets all of us bottled water and I swivel on the bar stool already knowing Liam's response.

"Yeah I played football and lacrosse for my old school," he answers. "I won't miss tryouts for lacrosse in the spring like I did for football." An image of Liam hot and sweaty in a lacrosse uniform flashes across my mind which squeezes my insides. I try to shake the delicious image from my memory. Derek pulls a stool up next to Aaron and curiously asks, "What position did you play? In football."

"Uh quarterback actually," Liam replies. "I was hoping to get a scholarship out of it, but since I moved schools, it probably won't happen."

"Yeah and I'm actually the quarterback for Varsity, so you would have had to play a different position or sit warmly on the bench," Derek replies defensively before taking a sip out of his water bottle. I've never seen Derek act jealous before- I oddly kind of like it. I hop off the stool to rummage through his pantry as the boys talk football. I pinch my nose as I try and single out the whispers I'm hearing but I can't pick out Liam's. I quickly go back to rummaging so Derek doesn't think I have a headache coming on.

I am opening a package of dried fruit when I hear my name in the conversation. I spin around as I ask, " What did you guys just say about me?" Derek answers, "That you'll be cheering me on at the game Friday night." I look at Liam as he sits there with a smile playing on his lips and raised eyebrows not saying anything, like he's tempted to make fun of me.

"Yeah, I will. I'm the captain of the Varsity cheer squad so I have to be at all the games," I say with my chin a little in the air.

"Wow, class president, an honor student, and head cheerleader. You must be quite the popular one Ms. Adler," Liam responds and I feel like he's mocking me. His stare is like he is looking right through me. Like he's trying to tell me he's in on the joke, only I don't know what the joke is. I try to break into his head and it's like I'm hitting a brick wall. I'm now even more determined to get him alone again in a silent place so I can concentrate on his thoughts. Who is this new kid?

"Yep, I do what I can right?" I laugh a weird nervous laugh and Derek looks at me puzzled, almost embarrassed for me. What laugh was that? Why is she being weird? I wish I could reply back to his thoughts and say I don't know why I am acting weird, but instead, I walk behind Derek and put my arms over his shoulders. I kiss his cheek before looking at Liam.

"Well, I hope you end up liking it here." He stares right into my eyes and I can't look away when he replies, "You know I think I will Ellie. I really think I will." The boys go back to their conversation about sports and I eventually sit back on my bar stool.

I didn't realize I've tuned everyone out when I begin taking inventory of Liam's face. I notice how he almost has a permanent smirk playing on his lips at all times and he has a charming boyish giggle. I then start to wonder what Liam tastes like as I stare at his moving lips. They are a darker pink, but they look so soft and smooth. I notice he doesn't have tiny dents on his bottom lip, like I do from my nervous habit of chewing on my mine. I wonder what they would feel like against my lips and instinctively, I pull my fingers to my mouth to see if mine are chapped. Would he feel my tiny dents if our lips brushed? My eyes travel up his face and I see some stubble along his strong jawline. Derek doesn't really get facial hair and you can't really see it when he does because it's the same white blonde as his hair. The thought of Derek snaps me to the present and I shake all thoughts of Liam away. Even though Liam and I keep stealing glances at each other while everyone talks, we never say anything directly to each other. Every time I look at him, I feel like there is something about this boy that makes me nervous. I just need to figure out what it is and why.