Latter Days

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

          Two weeks later was the first day of school. I hadn't caught sight of Jack since our first meeting, and to tell you the truth, I was relieved. I already had enough people in my life looking down on me, and  I definitely didn't need another. Especially some Jesus-loving church boy. 

          It wasn't particularly warm outside, so I pulled on a pair of jeans and a purple Hemlock High sweatshirt. I headed downstairs toward the kitchen and was planning on grabbing a muffin, when my mother stopped me. 

          "Annalie," she said. I hated when people used my first name. Most people I knew referred to me by my last name, Tucker. "Please, please try to stay out of trouble today." Since the police had never been called on me for the crimes Nate and I had committed, my mother didn't know the severity of the trouble I was usually into. She did have a feeling, however, that Nate wasn't a good kid, which I guess was a correct assumption. What she didn't know, what that  I wasn't a very good one either. 

          "I'll be fine, Mom. It's just school. I'm a senior now--I've done the first day routine a few times now." 

          "I just don't want to receive a phone call today. I've gotten enough of them over the years, okay?" I rolled my eyes at that. 

          "Mom, please just be happy that I'm out of the house now. You've had to spend time with me the last three months, but now I'm headed back to school. And in nine months, I'll be out for good, alright? I'm gonna be late." 

          With that, I grabbed my muffin and started for the door. 

          "Annalie. Don't do anything you might regret. Try to make friends this year. Friends that aren't that Nathan boy. Friends that may be able to show you what good being nice can be. Just, be good, okay? That's all I ask." I looked at her. She seemed to be pleading with me. 

          "Okay. I'll try." I left for school. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

          Hemlock High. Home of the Hemlock Hawks. I've never known why the school was called Hemlock, but Nate and I always just suspected that the school board just really thought the hawk was a cool, hip mascot, and Hemlock sounded best in front of it. The school was small, only about 1,600 students attending, and it was literally in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure half the people in our town drive past it every day and don't even realize it's there. It's one of two high schools. The other being St. Petersburg Prep. St. Petersburg Prep was where the rich kids went. And not only were they rich; they were better at everything. Academics, sports, you name it. At Hemlock, we focused more on staying out of prison. Which, in the school's past experience, wasn't a very realistic goal. 

          I pulled up to the school and sighed. One more year, I thought. One more year and I was headed for sunny, beautiful California. The furthest I could get from Massachusetts without making it too obvious. I wasn't about to blow all my savings on a university in China, as appealing as that may sound. The school sent out our class schedules online over the summer, but we were required to pick up an extra copy on the first day from the front office, just to "make sure there were no mistakes". I got out of the car and started in that direction.

          "Excuse me, can you help me find the main office? I'm new here, and don't know anything about the school." I turned around slowly. I knew that voice. 

          "Jack," I said. 

          "Oh hey! Tucker, yeah? I think that's what I heard your friend call you. I don't think I ever actually got your first name. Wait, that's not your first name, is it? Anyway, thanks for not burning down the Temple. Or whatever it was that you were gonna do," Note to self: stay away from this kid. He was a rambler.

          "No, it's not my first name. But it doesn't matter, because we're not going to become friends. So yeah, just call me Tucker, I guess. And I was not going to burn down your stupid Temple, okay? I wasn't gonna do anything, so just drop it." 

          "Do you do that a lot? Break into places, I mean? Because that's not super good for your karma, I'd imagine." He had fallen into step beside me, and I hadn't even noticed. 

          "Not anymore, no. Look, the main office is that way, alright?" I said, pointing in the same direction I was going. 

           "But isn't that where you're going? It sure looks that way," he asked, innocently.

          "Yes, that's where I'm going. I need my schedule."

          "Me too! Let's just walk there together, yeah? I need a friend, and without me, you'd be waiting alone in line, so you could use a friend too." 

          "Hey, I have friends. Who are probably waiting for me in the line. You are not my friend, so please don't act like you are. As far as walking to the office together.... whatever."

          "Cool!" He said, way too enthusiastically. Thankfully, he remained silent for the rest of the walk. We reached the main office shortly after. The line was massive.

          "Jesus Christ, the line," I moaned. 

          "Woah woah woah, leave him out of this. It's not his fault, okay?" It took me a second to realize that 1: he was talking about Jesus and 2: he was dead serious. I gave him a funny look. He shrugged. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just not used to people taking His name in vain like that. I've been  homeschooled since sixth grade, you know." 

          "Ha. I never would have guessed." I replied, dryly. We waited in line for about fifteen minutes, which was a sufficient amount of time for Jack to tell me his entire life story. He was from Nebraska, and had just moved to Massachusetts a month ago. He was raised Mormon, which I already knew, and had eight (eight!) younger siblings. Six girls, and the two youngest were twin boys.

           "Hey, Jack?" 

          "Yeah?" He stopped mid-sentence to answer. 

          "Do you think this is interesting? I know you were homeschooled until literally just this second, and haven't had a lot of teenagers in your life besides your church friends, but do you honestly think this is the type of thing I wanted to spend my morning doing? Talking to you about your siblings whom I'll never ever meet?" 

          "Um. No, I guess not. I'm sorry. I'll just grab my schedule and leave you alone, then."

          "Thank you," I said to him, grabbing my schedule. His story had sped up the line process, I'll give him that. "Maybe I'll see you later, okay?"

           "Most likely," he replied, taking his schedule next and glancing over at mine. "We have four classes together."

            "Shit." 

          "No. Shoot," he corrected me. God, he was annoying. "See you first period, Annalie." I guessed he had gotten my first name off the top of my schedule. He walked toward our first class.

            Damn it, I thought. He's not going to leave me alone. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~