Dragonfly

Chapter 2

FairviewHigh School had about six hundred students total, and as I stood observing my fellow seniors squealing and embracing each other, again I felt the sting of loneliness. Not having Gabi here was like watching one of those rock band reunions without the original lead singer. Just wrong.

Rachel, a friend of Gabi’s who I’d sat behind last year in English, broke through my quiet despair, calling my name as she hurried to catch up with me. She wore a blue and white cheerleader uniform, and her perfectly straight blonde hair was smoothed back with a yellow grosgrain ribbon for a headband.

“You missed Open House Friday,” she said, perky as always.

“Yeah, I thought I had a stomach bug or something.”

It was a lie. I’d spent Friday drowning my depression in Chex Mix and root beer while I watched The Notebook for the thousandth time. Only it was first time without my best friend. Yep, pretty pathetic.

“Oh!” She jumped back almost a foot. “Were you puking or what?”

“I just had cramps. Maybe it was PMS?”

“Thank goodness!” She sighed dramatically. Then she bumped my arm. “Heard you made the school newsblog. Awesome.”

“Yeah,” I said, thinking how Rachel was a notorious gossip. “You should’ve tried out.”

“Ha! As if I have time for that.” She pushed her perfect hair behind her shoulder. “Besides, I can’t write worth a flip.”

“Oh, well, I was just thinking how you always have the scoop.”

I liked Rachel, we just had nothing in common. In addition to being head cheerleader, she’d dated her boyfriend Brad Brennan since middle school. Brad was the star of our high school football team, the Dolphins. Clichés had to start somewhere I guessed.

“Show me your schedule,” Rachel said, breaking my thoughts. She quickly scanned our class listings. “Hmm… no matches. But we have the same lunch period. See you then?”

“Okay,” I said, thinking how even though our future plans were vastly different, Rachel was still pretty decent, unlike some of the other cheerleaders. We might never be soul sisters, but she was at least a friend.

I ducked into English class, happy for the escape. I loved to read, and writing was my passion. Being tapped for the school newsblog was the icing on the cake, and I hoped it would make the time pass quickly.

My literature book was halfway out of my bag when I glanced up and almost dropped it on the floor. There he was. Again. Jack was standing in the doorway, totally hot and completely out of place in our required uniform khaki pants and white oxford shirt. I could swear he was still glowing. I couldn’t breathe.

I closed my mouth and tried not to stare as he made his way to the seat next to mine. What was he doing here?

Mrs. Bowman walked in and everyone got quiet. “Welcome back, students. I expect you to be in your seats with your mouths closed,” she said in her military monotone.

As she went down the list, I knew all the names from last year. We’d had to test to get in this class, and we’d earn college credit for taking it if we passed another test at the end of the year.

“John Kyser?” That was him—the only new name.

“It’s Jack,” he said in that voice that made me shiver.

He rose to hand her a slip of paper, and my mind filled with images of what he looked like under that uniform. I slid my hand up to cover my pink cheeks as he returned to his seat.