A Place In This Life

Chapter 7

Starting school was the most excruciating experience. How could I be expected to feel concerned with reading, writing, arithmetic and my P.E. uniform, when I knew what Todd was about to go through? On Monday, I had no choice but to throw on some clothes, grab my dumb red notebook and head off to school with Cara, who was lucky enough to get a car for her birthday that summer. It was a nice little blue Civic Hybrid. Her uncle, also a doctor, presented it to her just before I left for Catalina, and it was my intent to be jealous during the whole trip... until I met Todd, which took my mind off my silly intention.

It was nice to not have to ride the bus anymore, or be stuck in the car with one parent or another, especially my father. While he would abstain from smoking in the vehicle if one of my friends was present, it would nevertheless reek like a Las Vegas hotel room, leaving all occupants smelling of smoke, which in turn would cause some teachers to give the evil eye.

After finding a parking spot, Cara and I headed to the gym for our classroom and locker assignments. I prayed that we'd have at least two classes together, but only had one — English. There were a few unfamiliar names under my Teachers list, but one really caught my eye.

"What the hell? Mr. Stankey? Are you kidding me? Cara, look at this guy's name!" I showed her my assignment. Her eyes got really big.

"You have Mr. Stinky for Chemistry! Ha ha. I bet he got shit for that as a kid. Just be nice, Natalie," she quipped.

"Just as well if his name was Stinky, Stankey, or whatever, cause I know I'll stink in Chemistry," I moaned as we set out for our classes.

First period History came and went. As each class went by, my backpack grew heavier and I knew I'd have to make a locker stop. Because the school was overcrowded, we were required to share a locker with two other students. It would be an adventure to see who my locker mates were this year. Of course, my locker was in Never-Never-Land, but my shoulders couldn't struggle any more under the book weight, so I had to make the trek. When I approached the locker, I saw the door already open, its first tenant standing in front of it.

He made me speechless before I even had a chance to say anything. At least 6 feet tall, with long dark hair, dark eyebrows and pale skin, he looked like a Jonas Brother, dressed in black with motorcycle boots and leather jacket. His healthy, angular face turned to look my way as I approached. I nearly died.

"Are we sharing a locker?" he asked, a look of curiosity on his face that seemed so high in the clouds, above my head. He was definitely a "kissing on tiptoe" guy on my dating potential height scale.

"I guess so," I said, pretending to study my locker assignment sheet for good measure. "Three-forty C... I don't know how they expect us to fit all our books in there at the same time," I said, faking a squint into the metal box. He did not step away when I made the final approach toward the locker.

The sweet smell of smoky musk swirled around my nose, and I inhaled as deeply as I could without making it obvious that I was imprinting on my new locker mate.

"I usually carry as many in my bag as possible, but sometimes I need to just put things somewhere. Unless we get a third locker buddy, this should be manageable," he smiled. He was very friendly, especially for someone so damn pretty.

"Well, cool beans. Mind if I put some of these in here now?" I asked, holding up a handful of books that might as well been lead weights.

"No prob. I'm Alex Bruno, by the way. And you are?"

"Natalie Miller. Nice to meet you, Alex. Are you a junior or senior?"

"This is it for me, thank God," he said, looking at his watch. "I gotta run. See you around, Natalie." He slung his backpack over his broad shoulders and turned on his heels.