Chapter 3-2
922 Words
Just as Judd starts down the hall of West Beach High, the end-of-class tone sounds, followed by the low rumble of hundreds of students grabbing their gear, jumping up, and storming the classroom doors.
A moment later, the doors fly open, and the low rumble becomes crashing thunder. Teenagers pour into the gleaming hallway like herds of buffalo...buffalo chewing gum and chattering and laughing and texting each other on smartphones.
Judd strides through them like a king, grinning and nodding and tossing off way-cool handshakes...
(How many handshakes does he know, anyway?)
"Hey, Judd!" A short kid with brown hair and a bad case of acne pops up in front of him. "Thanks again, man!"
"You got it." Judd can't remember the kid's name or what he's thanking him for, but he gives him a big smile and a fist-bump just the same.
Seconds later, a shy-looking girl with long black hair stumbles into his path. She jolts to a stop and meets his gaze searchingly, hopefully.
Judd's seen her before. He's pretty sure she's in his grade. "How ya doin'?" He shoots her a great big Prince Charming smile.
Her eyes flutter, she smiles back, and he moves on, feeling like he's done a good deed.
(You know he made her day! She's already texting like a lunatic!)
As Judd continues through the hall, he keeps grinning and waving and shaking hands. The whole time, his eyes are darting left-right, right-left, searching for someone in particular. It's gotta be Eva, right? The one who sent him the text.
But wait just a cotton-pickin' minute! He sees Eva in the doorway of Mrs. Pomeroy's room, her sleek blonde hair flouncing as she giggles at a girlfriend's joke...and he deliberately veers away!
(But she's hot! What is he thinking?)
Instead, he swoops to the opposite side of the hall and hangs a sharp louie. He shoots down an intersecting corridor with a definite plan in mind, still grinning and nodding...
(Is there anyone he doesn't say hi to?)
...all the while searching the crowd with those sparkling blue eyes of his. He scans every face, every locker, every doorway, looking for the one person he wants to see more than anyone else in the whole school.
(At least at that moment.)
Then, suddenly, someone jumps up behind him and shouts. "Yahhh!" Her fingers lunge at his sides, tickling his ribs with flickering movements. "Haahhh!"
Judd can't help squirming and laughing. The girl caught him totally by surprise...
(Which is usually his trick.)
...but he turns the tables fast. Spinning, he grabs her arms, stopping the tickling, and jerks her toward him. "Gotcha!"
The girl smirks up at him. Her blazing red shoulder-length hair suits her devilish expression.
(Also her hotness. Eva the blonde texter better look out!)
"You got nothin'!" The smirking girl snaps the words in his face. "I got tired of waiting and broke up with you!"
"We already were broken up," says Judd. "So you just broke back in."
She pushes away. She's wearing a cheerleader uniform featuring the school's colors--purple and orange. "That isn't how it works! You're crazy! You've lost touch with reality."
Judd reels her in closer. "If I'm crazy, what does that make you?"
"The sane one." The girl narrows her eyes and c***s her head at him. "What color is the sky in your world, Judd?
"Red." He runs his hand over her fiery hair. "All I see is red, Kaela."
Kaela Sheridan doesn't wait one more second to hop up on her tiptoes and kiss him on the lips. She lets it fly right there, in the middle of the hall, in front of who-knows-and-who-cares...
(And it's a loooong one...)
...and kids are watching and pointing...
(...almost long enough to break the no-making-out-in-the-halls rule and get them both detention.)
...and then some of the kids even start clapping, which is when Kaela finally breaks off the liplock. "Show's over, folks. No more vicarious action for your viewing pleasure."
The kids keep applauding as they flock past. They're on their way somewhere--not class, too early for lunch--and Judd doesn't know where they're going.
Not that it matters when he's busy whispering in Kaela's left ear. Her hair smells so good, like a bouquet of roses, he can barely stand it. "What are you doing after school?"
"Cheering you up." Kaela whispers the words in his right ear. "You're gonna need it after you miss your own pep rally."
Judd freezes. Adrenaline burns through his bloodstream like a trail of gasoline touched by a lit match. Every muscle galvanizes, every sense ramps up to eleven on a scale of one to ten.
(Talk about brain farts.)
He'd forgotten. The kids were all headed for the pep rally. It was going to start in...
(He looks up and checks the digital clock hanging from the ceiling.)
...three minutes! He'd totally spaced!
Not that he's going to tell her that. "You can cheer me up if you want to." He keeps his grin as cool-looking as possible, like he hasn't slipped up. "But I would never miss a pep rally." He glances up at the clock.
(Two minutes!)
"Not if I get to see you dancing around in that sexy outfit of yours." With that, he plants a gentle kiss on her full red lips, lingering for just an instant.
And then, he spins away from her and glides down the hall, as cool as can be, toward the gym. Just as he turns the corner and sees the big open doorway ahead, the school marching band strikes up the fight song.
Judd grins to himself and straightens his collar. "No worries." He says it for his own benefit, because he's feeling awesome...
(As usual!)
...and then he jogs the rest of the way to the pep rally.
- Writer
