Page 19 of Before We’re More Than Friends (When We Faced the Music #1)
Dallas
F or what had to be the third morning in a row, I wiped dog slobber off my face, holding back a gag. I shot a glare at Houston, who sat on the floor innocently, his paws crossed.
I grabbed a towel I’d left on the floor and wiped my hand. Apparently, Houston had used the towel because now my hand was covered in black fur. I grunted and wiped my hand on the sheets. “Am I going to have to start locking you out?”
He let out a low bark. Sure, if you want me to cry at the door all night .
I pulled the sheets over my head. Already not off to a great start for my first day at April Springs High. As if ending up at the same school as Chloe—the girl I’d been terrified to be more than friends with for years—wouldn’t be hard enough.
If only my parents would fall for the fake-sick trick.
After throwing on a plain blue shirt, my signature green jacket, and some jeans, I went downstairs. My family was already at the kitchen table, eating our favorite cereal combination—a Lucky Charms and Frosted Flakes blend .
“Good morning, Dallas,” Dad said with a smile, his dimples present. “Your cereal is on the counter.”
“Thanks.” I finished preparing my cereal and joined my family at the table.
While Mom and Dad were wide awake, Kami was face-down on the table. I rubbed her shoulder, and she shot up. Dark bags were under her eyes as her mouth hung open. “Huh?”
“I’m guessing I don’t need to ask how you slept,” I said before taking a bite of my cereal. “What the hell happened?”
“Watch your language, Dallas,” Mom warned.
“But what the hell happened?” Dad asked Kami as he ate his donut.
“Gerald.” Mom sighed.
“I don’t know.” Kami’s eyelids were already fluttering shut again. “I guess . . . I didn’t sleep well.” She shook her head and got up from the table. “I just need some coffee.”
“Oh, Kameron.” Mom gave a sympathetic frown. “You can stay home if you need to.”
Dad nodded as he sipped his own coffee. “There’s no point in sending you to school if you can’t pay attention.”
“Says the guy who made me go to school with a fever last year,” Kami muttered, sitting back down at the table with the coffee Dad had made.
Mom narrowed her eyes at Dad. “You said she had a mild cold.”
“Um, I’m not a doctor like you.” Dad let out an awkward laugh. “Dallas, how are you feeling?”
“Anxious,” I said, eating my marshmallows. “It’s nice that I already have friends, but everything is still new to me.” From the impression I’d gotten at the Saturn Frenzy, April Springs High was livelier than what I was used to.
“You’ll be all right,” Dad said. “Just maintain your B average, don’t drink or do drugs, and be careful of the people you hang around. Especially when you start dating.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “Gosh, please don’t start one of your stories about your high school exes.”
“I wasn’t going to talk about it out of respect for you.” Dad held Mom’s hand. “But gems like you aren’t easy to find.”
Mom’s cheeks flushed. I rolled my eyes, but my insides warmed from the two of them being so affectionate. This was the best they’d gotten along in weeks.
Kami shifted in her seat, staring into her coffee cup.
Dad got up from the table. “I’m heading to the office now.”
“You have milk in your beard,” Mom said.
Dad wiped the milk off his brown beard with a napkin. “There we go.” He gave Kami and me kisses on the forehead. “Have a great first day. I love you.”
“Love you, too.” I smiled and gave him a small hug.
“It’s about time you guys should get to school as well,” Mom said. “Make sure that Dallas drives because no way will you make it to school if Kami is behind the wheel.”
Kami frowned. “Dallas hates driving.”
“I really do,” I said. I rarely drove the car we shared, but being behind the wheel with so many crappy drivers on the road would be enough to make me avoid it anyway. “But I hate getting in car accidents even more.”
Kami rolled her eyes and burped.
Mom giggled. “That’s my girl.”
After I took one last bite of cereal, I went upstairs to brush my teeth and use the bathroom. When I was done, I grabbed my backpack and went back downstairs, where Kami was waiting with the keys. She looked more alert now, her eyes wide open. She even had a little lip gloss and eyeliner on.
“I thought you’re not driving,” I told her as I put my shoes on. “We can’t get in a wreck on our first day. ”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, but the yawn she let out said otherwise.
I snatched the keys from her. “I’m driving.”
She scoffed. “Like that will lessen our chance of getting in a wreck.”
“Hey, at least I passed my driver’s test the first try.”
“They put the cones in the wrong place.”
“Sure.”
Houston sat down at my feet, and I gave him a head scratch and a kiss. “Be a good boy while I’m gone,” I whispered into his fur.
He licked my cheek. Don’t crash and burn .
It was only first period, and I’d already entered the wrong classroom. The last time I’d checked, there weren’t posters about human reproductive parts in any English classes.
The students looked up at me like I’d walked in at an inappropriate moment while the teacher cleared her throat. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“Sorry, I thought this was English with Mrs. Huff.” I looked down at my sheet. Room 106. Shoot, this was in Room 406. Not even in the same floor or building. “Oh, I see where I messed up.”
The teacher shrugged. “It happens.”
I scurried out of the room, not only hearing but feeling the students whisper about me. Why was I acting like I’d never been in a school before?
A guy around my height crashed into me, practically breaking my shoulder. He shot me a dirty look, his nose scrunching and his eyebrows furrowing. “Ow.”
Ow? What was he, a baby? I glared back at him and kept walking. After what happened on Saturday, I was not in the mood to get into another fight.
I went downstairs and left the building, my teeth chattering as the chilly air hit me square in the face. It seemed like years before I made it to the next building and found my class. I was able to step in as soon as the first-period bell rang.
The teacher, a woman with red hair wrapped in a bun, sat up from the desk as if she’d been waiting for me. “You must be Dallas Friar.” She smiled. “I’m Mrs. Huff. Hayden has been saving your seat.”
Hayden raised his hand and flashed a smile at me. I smiled back, relieved that he had me covered.
“Everyone, this is Dallas Friar,” Mrs. Huff announced to the class. “Anything you want to share, Dallas?”
Great, I thought teachers only asked that in elementary school. I mustered a smile for the class, but I avoided eye contact and only focused on Hayden. “Well, um, I’m from Dallas, Texas?—”
“Dallas from Dallas?” a guy with dark hair, who looked like he was still on the first chapter of puberty, asked. “Is that really your name?”
I swallowed. “My parents thought it would be funny at family events.”
“So you’re a family joke?”
A few of the students laughed.
Can someone chuck me out the window already?
“Oh, shut up, Zane,” Hayden grumbled. “Dallas, come over here so we can start the class already.” He smiled as I walked to the desk behind him, every pair of eyes beating down on me. “I’m a sucker for literature.”
“Me too,” I said, putting my backpack next to my chair.
He gave me a fist bump before turning toward the front. “Start the class, ma’am! ”
“Thank you, Hayden.” Mrs. Huff gritted her teeth, irritation flicking on her face.
The majority of the class was a recap of things I’d already learned at my old school. During the last twenty minutes, she handed out worksheets for us to turn in by the end of class.
Hayden turned around and faced me. “Do you have any plans for lunch today?”
“No.” I doubted that sitting by yourself and eating the sandwiches your mom made for you counted as lunch plans. “I haven’t been in the cafeteria yet.”
“Oh, the cafeteria is horrible. I’m positive dead bodies are hidden under the tables. Eating with the guys outside is much better.” He grinned. “You’re more than welcome to join us.”
“Thank you.” I beamed. This day wouldn’t be as bad as I thought.
When Hayden had said eating outside was better than eating inside, I didn’t know his ideal lunch spot was in the school’s back lot, near the dumpsters.
“I know you guys are weird,” I said to Hayden as he sat on the ground with Caleb and Oliver. “But you’re actually able to eat here? And keep it down?”
“We never promised to keep food down,” Caleb said as he opened his lunch box.
Hayden twisted his juice cap open. “Come on, this is a great spot.”
I looked around us, the stench of the trash across from us burning my nose hairs. “It’s the back lot . . . With literal trash. There are probably more dead bodies in there than under the tables in the cafeteria.”
“There aren’t dead bodies,” Oliver promised. “In a video my mom showed me, a bear jumped out at a school principal who was opening the dumpster.”
Caleb groaned. “Great, now he really won’t be convinced.”
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks now,” Hayden said, waving a hand. “He’ll soon figure out that he’s wrong.”
“I don’t think I will.” Scrunching my face, I sat beside Hayden. “What’s so great about sitting back here anyway, other than being away from the crowd?”
“That’s it,” Hayden said, pointing at me with his sandwich. “Being away from the ruckus and absorbing the ambiance of traffic.”
“And the smell of trash.”
“Don’t think about it,” Oliver said. “Just feel.”
I closed my eyes and took in a breath. “I feel . . . someone searching through my food.”
“Caleb!” Hayden exclaimed, and I opened my eyes to see Caleb reaching over him to dig through my lunch box.
“What?” Caleb held up his hand. “I wanted to see if he had anything good.”
“You can have some.” I laughed. “But not the pudding. If you even touch the pudding, I’ll beat you up.”
“Are you sure? Because I forgot to pack mine?—”
“Caleb, don’t mess with his pudding,” Hayden warned. “That’s like the equivalent of stealing his girl or crashing his car in bro lunch code.”