Walrus Chain (Walrus Hut Series Book 3)

Chapter 1 (Mitchell)

I wake up to the delicious smell of pancakes. I open my eyes. I'm still at my desk, and I was using the keyboard of my computer as a pillow. Argh! I fell asleep doing homework! Well, it doesn't matter because tomorrow is my last day of high school, and then I get the summer off and no more school. Wait, yes, there is. College. I groan and slam my head into the keyboard.

"YOU'RE MISSING BREAKFAST!" My younger sister yells into my ear.

"Okay," I say.

"And there's the foreign exchange student who arrived last night." She adds.

"What's he like?" I ask; I didn't get home until everyone was asleep.

"He's okay; he hasn't really talked to me."

"Does he have a British accent?"

"Of course he does! He's from England!"

"Okay, I'll be out in a few minutes," I tell her.

After a few minutes, I casually walk out into the kitchen.

"There you are, Mitchell!" My mom says happily, and she turns to the new guy. I forgot his name.

"Liam, this is my son. You didn't meet him last night because he went to a midnight premiere of that new Superman movie."

"Nice to meet you," says Liam. He looks like someone...

"You too- how many pancakes can I have?"

"I don't care as long you leave on time. Liam will go with you and Evening." My mom replies.
                                                                                 

                                                                                 ***

Evening graciously lets Liam have her seat in the passenger side of my car.

"So, how far is the school?" He asks us.

"Like two or three minutes," I say, "we always pass the time by listening to music. Right Evening?"

"Turn it up!" She responds.

I put "Sugar" by Maroon 5 on. Evening and I do our usual loud singing. Liam doesn't join in. Too bad for him; that's the best way to bond with us. I pull into my parking spot.

"Bye, guys!" Evening's gone.

"Where's the washroom?" Asks Liam as we walk over to my locker.

"It's uh, um. Let me show you," I lead him over there, and my cousin Jason exits the restroom as Liam goes in.

"Why does your exchange student look like Peter from Narnia?" Jason asks me. That's who he looks like!

"NERDS!" Says this dumb kid named Riley.

"Go away," says Jason.

"Don't have to. I'm going to be related to you guys in a few years."

"No, you aren't; your brother is," Jason replies. Unfortunately, my older sister, Chloe, made her commitment to her boyfriend known all over social media. While they aren't engaged yet, it's pretty obvious that they're planning to get married. And the guy she picked is Riley's older brother, Chris. I've known them since kindergarten.

I've avoided Riley since he stole my cupcake when we were five and Spencer had brought treats to class. Chris is annoying, too, but he isn't as bad as Riley. He also looks suspiciously like Chris Pine.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't want to be related to someone with a girl's name," I add—wrong thing to say. Riley shoves me against the lockers. Jason starts laughing. What happened to family sticking up for each other? Someone yanks Riley off of me, and it isn't Jason.

It's John, my favorite security guard. The warning bell rings. Why is Liam taking so long? Ryan walks out of the bathroom.

"Mitch, some new guy is doing his hair in there." He gestures to the men's room, chuckling.

"That's probably Liam," I say and stomp in there. "Hurry up; I'm going to be late for class."

"You can't rush this," Liam responds, not taking his eyes away from the mirror.

"I'm in room 411, bye." I hurry to my class and slide into my seat right as Mr. Dunley speaks.

"I'm dating Beyonce," says Cole, who's next to me.

"Gross," I reply.

"Am I invited to your sister's wedding?" He asks, and Journey turns around.

"Listen up, guys, I am not getting in trouble on almost the last day of school, so stop talking!"

"Miss Kerr, talking again, are we? I'll see you after class," says Mr. Dunley.

"I'll get you for this!" She tells us. We didn't even do anything!