A New Beginning (Second Chance #1) (26 page)

            
 
As soon as Karla woke up the next morning she saw a text on her phone. When she opened it she smiled. It was from Conner and he’d sent her a winky face in response to her message. She sent him a smiley face back and then sent Callie and Rylee both a text letting them know she was awake. By the time she was dressed and downstairs they’d both answered and said they’d be over in a few. Conner also texted her and told her he was coming with Callie.

              She was smiling as she fixed herself a bowl of cereal and was still smiling when the doorbell rang a few minutes later. “I have a boyfriend.” She said out loud to herself, testing the words to see how they sounded. When she opened the door for her friends her smile was so big it looked like her face would crack. Conner’s matched hers and Callie’s was almost as big.

              “Hey.” Karla said to them both as she stepped aside for them to come inside.

              “Hey yourself.” Callie said with a small laugh. “Nope, this isn’t awkward at all. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

              “Ha ha sis. You’re hilarious.” Conner said sarcastically, but before anyone could comment back the doorbell rang again and Callie opened it to let Rylee in.

              “Hey everyone. How’s it going?” Rylee asked them.

              “Oh it’s going good isn’t it Karla and Conner?” Callie’s tone was slightly annoyed.

              “Okay, what’s going on here?” Rylee asked, confused by Callie’s tone.

              “Callie what’s wrong? Are you mad at me about last night?” Karla asked. She didn’t understand what was wrong.

              “I’m not mad at you Karla. I am slightly upset that neither you nor Conner mentioned anything about what he asked you last night though.”

              “WHAT!?” Rylee said in shock.

              “Last night before you all came running out of the gym Conner asked me to be his girlfriend. I didn’t answer him at that time though because of everything else that happened. When he and Callie got out of the car last night Conner whispered to me that he’d be waiting for my answer to his question. After I got home and took a shower I sent him a text saying yes and I immediately fell asleep. I haven’t even told Leslie yet.” Karla explained, hoping they’d understand.

              “That’s understandable. Callie, with everything that was going on last night I don’t know how you think they could have told us. I mean she didn’t even answer him until after we were all home and in bed.” Rylee scolded Callie.

              Conner looked at his sister and frowned. “I told you as soon as you got up this morning sis. What’s your problem?”

              “One of my best friends and my brother are officially boyfriend and girlfriend and I didn’t know about it. I was a little peeved that neither of you told me anything about it.”

              “Callie, I was going to shout it to the entire gym full of people last night if she’d said yes when I first asked her, but then we were interrupted by Kevin’s fight and she didn’t get the chance to even answer.” Conner tried to explain again. “Honestly, you’d think we tried to hide it the way you’re acting.”

              “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’ve just been waiting for you two to be together since we first met Karla. You two are perfect together. Can you forgive me Karla?”

              “Of course I can Callie. You’re one of my best friends and I’m sorry I didn’t text you last night. I just wanted Conner to know first.” Karla hugged Callie then turned toward Conner. “How’s Kevin?”

              Conner grinned at her and put his arm around her. “He’s fine. He needed a couple stitches in his forehead, but other than that he’s okay.”

              “Good. Now have you all had breakfast? I hear Leslie in the kitchen and I bet we can get her to make waffles for Rylee’s birthday.” They all laughed at Karla’s expression and followed her into the kitchen.

              “Leslie can you make waffles for us please?” Conner asked as soon as they walked into the kitchen.

              “Do you three ever eat before you come over?” Leslie asked in a teasing voice. She loved cooking for them and they all knew it.

              “Nope. We wait until we’re here so we don’t have to fight the hordes of people in our own houses.” Conner responded with a grin.

              “You’re silly Conner, but I’ll make waffles for all of you anyway. Just because I love you and because it’s Rylee’s birthday.” Leslie grinned as she pulled out the waffle iron and waffle mix. “Do you want chocolate chips in them?”

              “Don’t we always?” Rylee asked and laughed when Leslie blew out a breath of false irritation.

              “Okay. Fine. Karla, get everyone some milk, Conner get the plates down, Callie get forks and Rylee get the syrup out. If I’m going to cook for you then you’re all going to help too.” Leslie told them and they all cracked up at her tone, but did what she’d asked them to do.

              A little while later they were all sitting at the table eating chocolate chip waffles when Karla looked up. “Oh Leslie, with everything going on I forgot to tell you something.”

              “What’s that honey?”

              “Conner asked me to be his girlfriend last night and I said yes.”

              Leslie’s face broke into a huge smile. “Well it’s about time. Now eat your waffles before they get cold.”

              Everyone laughed at that then finished eating. When they were finished Leslie told them she’d clean up the kitchen so they went upstairs. The rest of the day was filled with laughter and fun as they watched movies, played games, ate the cupcakes Leslie baked and just hung out together. When Mrs. Newberry got there to pick up Callie and Conner, Callie hugged Karla and Rylee and walked out to the car. Conner hugged Rylee then turned to Karla and hugged her too. Before he let her go he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Then he walked to the car and they left.

              “Wow that was sweet.” Rylee said after Conner walked away. “Dominic doesn’t do stuff like that, ever.”

              “Dominic is more of a tough guy, whereas Conner is a gentleman.” Karla said with a laugh.

              “You’re probably right.” Rylee grinned. Her mom pulled into the driveway just then so she hugged Karla and left.

              The rest of the evening passed quickly. Karla had a Skype chat with Manuel and Kiara and she told them about the events of the past few days then after dinner she went up to her room, showered and went to bed. It’d been an eventful past few days and she was exhausted.

            
 
The next couple of months passed quickly. Karla and her friends hung out and studied together. Conner was the perfect gentleman and never did anything other than hold Karla’s hand and kiss her forehead. Albert was expelled from school because of the things he’d said, but that didn’t stop the rumors from happening. Karla was handling them though. She knew they’d go away over summer break and when school started next year everything would be great.

              Two weeks before finals Karla, Rylee, Callie and Conner were approached by one of the captains of the Academic Decathlon team during lunch. “Can I talk to you four about something?” She asked tentatively.

              “Ummm..sure.” Karla answered her.

              “My name’s Vanessa and I’m co-captain on the Academic Decathlon team and we’re losing four members after graduation, my co-captain, I and another member are graduating this year, and one of the junior captains is moving.”

              “What does that have to do with us?” Callie asked her.

              “Well we’ve been going around asking the teachers and Mr. Johnson who we could recruit to replace everyone and your names kept coming up. You four have the highest GPA’s in the freshman class and most of the teachers said that if they could give higher grades then you four would be getting them.”

              “So are you trying to ask us if we want to join the team?” Rylee asked her.

              “Yes. That’s what I’m trying to ask. We need four really strong members if we want to win regionals and state next year and keep our winning streak going. We’ve discussed it with our coaches and they agree that you four can help the team achieve that goal.”

              “Oh wow. This is awesome.” Rylee said with a grin.

              “So what all would we have to do?” Conner asked. He was interested, but he was curious about how much time would be involved.

              “We start meeting in July and practice every Tuesday and Thursday from ten until noon until school starts then its Tuesdays and Thursdays from three to five. We have competitions on Saturdays starting in September and they go through March. There are only one or two competitions a month so it’s not every Saturday.”

              “That doesn’t sound so bad. What do you think?” Karla said and looked around at her friends.

              “I think it sounds like fun.” Rylee grinned. “I’m in.”

              “Me too.” Callie responded quickly. “What do you say Con? You in too?”

              “Karla? Think you could get past your nervousness and do this with us?” Conner asked her.

              Karla took a deep breath and slid her hand into Conner’s. “As long as I’m with you three I can do anything. I’m in.”

              Vanessa smiled broadly “Awesome. I’ll let everyone know. I’m sure they’ll want to meet you before school’s out. We have an organizational meeting Friday afternoon if you all want to stop by and meet everyone.”

              “We can do that can’t we?” Callie asked them.

              “Yes. I have to tutor Friday, but that’s not until five so it should be fine.” Conner told them.

              “It’s all set then. We’re meeting from three until four so you should be good. If anyone needs a ride home after the meeting I can give you one.” Vanessa told them.

              “Sounds great.” Callie said. “We’ll be there and thank you for this opportunity.”

              “Thank you all for agreeing to be part of the team. With you four we’ll continue to rise to the top in the academic community.” She turned and walked away before any of them could say anything else.

              “Wow. What an honor.” Chase said and kissed Callie’s cheek. “Congrats babe.”

              “Thanks Chase. Are you okay with me doing this?”

              “Of course. It’ll look great on your college applications. I’m proud of you.” He kissed her cheek again and she smiled.

              “I wish Dominic was here.” Rylee pouted.

              “He’ll be back soon Ry. I’m glad he isn’t here. I really don’t want to catch his strep throat.” Conner told her and hugged her.

              “Neither do I.” Karla agreed.

              When the lunch bell rang they threw away their trash and headed to class. The rest of the day passed quickly and when they all got to Karla’s house that afternoon they told Leslie about the Academic Decathlon team then started studying for finals. School may come easy for all of them, but if they wanted to keep the highest GPA’s in their grade then they still needed to study.

              On Friday when the dismissal bell rang they all walked to the meeting together. When they walked in Vanessa walked to them and led them to the front of the room. “Thanks for coming everyone. I’d like you all to meet Rylee McNabb, Karla Hall and Conner and Callie Newberry. They’ve agreed to fill the four spots that will be vacant at the end of the school year. As you all know they have the highest GPA’s in the freshman class and Karla is the top student in the freshman class. She has a one hundred percent grade and has a memory that will be invaluable to the team. Conner has a ninety nine point nine percent grade and has the science skills to bring that from our weakest subject to one of our strongest. Callie has a ninety nine point eight nine five percent grade and is a math genius. She can solve equations faster than anyone I’ve ever met. Rylee also has a ninety nine point eight nine five percent grade and is strong in math, science and grammar.”

              “So you’re saying that you found four freshman that will be able to keep us at the top?” A boy asked from the back.

              “Daniel, what I’m saying is that with these four the team could go further than we’ve ever gone before. We’ve never been able to win Nationals and with them on our team I think we could.” Vanessa told him with a smile.

              “Wow. Are they really that smart?” Someone else asked.

              “Look, the other captains and I have evaluated every freshman, sophomore, and junior in the school and with the help of Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Wright and several teachers we determined that Karla, Rylee, Conner and Callie were the ones the team needed to go all the way.” One of the other captains said. He turned to them and grinned. “I’m Jake by the way. I’ll be your head captain next year.”

              “Nice to meet you Jake. Can you answer a question for me?” Conner asked him.

              “Sure. What do you need to know?” Jake asked him.

              “How did you get access to our transcripts?”

              “Mr. Johnson. We went to him and asked for his advice and he told us about you four. We didn’t actually see your transcripts, but he told us your GPA’s and grade percentiles. He’s very pleased to have you four in school here, especially Karla. I don’t know why, but he was very hush-hush about her test scores.”

              “I know why. It’s a promise he made me before school started. I’m glad he’s keeping it.” Karla spoke up.

              “Well we’ll respect your privacy and not ask. We’re glad you’re all here and won’t risk ostracizing any of you by asking questions you don’t want to answer.” Jake told her with a wink.

              “Thank you. I’ll tell you all though. Conner, Callie and Rylee already know so I may as well let everyone else know too. On my eighth grade exams, the ones that evaluate where you are before you go into high school, my scores were college level. I had the option to skip high school, work with a private tutor for a year, take my college entrance exams and go into college at fifteen, but I wanted the high school experience so I didn’t take that option. I’ll never regret that decision.” She grabbed Conner’s hand and looked at him.

              He was smiling at her. “I’m glad you didn’t take that option.”

              “We are, too.” Jake told her. “Now if you four will take a seat we have a few things to discuss and then we can get out of here.”

              The rest of the meeting passed quickly. Jake told them when the first training meeting was going to be and what was expected from the members of the team. When the meeting ended Conner stood up and pulled Karla to her feet. “Mom is probably waiting for us. We should get out of here. I have to tutor Jennifer in an hour for her bio final. When I’m finished I’ll be over. We still have some studying to do.”

              “Sounds good. We won’t go over anything new until you get there.” Karla told him with a smile.

              Mrs. Newberry dropped Karla, Callie, Rylee, Chase and Dominic off at Karla’s house and took Conner home. Jennifer was coming over there so he could work with her on her bio. Before Karla got out of the SUV she kissed Conner on the cheek “I’ll see you in about an hour.” Then she got out and walked into her house.

              When Conner got home Jennifer was already there waiting for him. “Why don’t you go into the kitchen and I’ll be right there. I’m just going to run up and grab my bio notebook from last semester.” He didn’t wait for her answer before he went upstairs. He left his bedroom door open and went to his desk to get his notebook. He wanted to get this over with so he could get back to Karla. When he grabbed his notebook and turned around Jennifer was standing in his door.

              “I thought we could study up here in your room.” She said suggestively. “I want to get to know you better Conner.”

              “Jennifer I don’t know what you think this is, but I only agreed to tutor you so you could pass bio. I have a girlfriend and I would never do anything that would cause me to lose her.”

              “Oh come on Conner. You know as well as I do that you agreed to tutor me ‘cause you want me.” Jennifer said as she started to unbutton her shirt.

              “Jennifer, I am totally and completely committed to Karla. She’s the only girl I want.”

              “Yeah, you and every other guy in school. Since she moved here every guy has been drooling over her and she eats it up. You know what she did with James don’t you?”

              “I don’t know what you’ve heard Jennifer, but whatever it was is a lie. Karla and James never did anything.”

              “So she says. I heard from James that she offered to do things to him in the theater if he’d go out with her then when he agreed to go with her she backed out. That’s why he was so mad.”

              “Jennifer I think it’d be best if you found yourself a different tutor. I can’t help anyone who spreads lies about my girlfriend.”

              “You’ll regret turning me away Conner Newberry. You’ll see what kind of girl Karla is and then you’ll come begging to take me up on my offer, but I won’t be there anymore.”

              “You disgust me. Get out of my house and find someone else to tutor you.” Conner was so mad he was shaking. He wanted to find James and throttle him, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good. The lies had already been spread and apparently some people were believing them.

              “Fine I’ll go, but before I do.” She stopped talking, walked to Conner and kissed him hard on the mouth. Before he could push her away he heard a phone camera click and she broke away and ran out of the room. As she ran down the steps she yelled back to him; “Let’s see how your precious Karla reacts when this picture hits her phone.” Then she darted out the front door, ran down the street and jumped into a black car. When the car passed Conner he saw that Albert Greene was driving it.

              “I should have known.” Conner said out loud to himself. Then he walked back into the house, grabbed his backpack off the couch and shouted to his mom. “Jennifer’s gone. I’m going to Karla’s.” He ran all the way to Karla’s, but by the time he got there he was too late. Callie and Rylee met him on the front porch.