Safe Landing (6 page)

Tucked at the very back was a stack of yellowed letters. I reached in and pulled them out. They were tied with a black piece of string.  The top one was addressed to a girl named Emily living here in Pelican Bay. It was stamped RETURN TO SENDER. Apparently the letter never reached her.

The bathroom door burst open, and I could hear the boys run down the hall to their room. The letters would have to wait or I would be late for another wonderful day at my new school.

My bottom locker gave me a rather interesting perspective of my new schoolmates. There were the oversized, untied skater shoes inhabited by guys who thought they were too awesome to walk like normal people so they shuffled in lose shoes. The Birkenstock and sandal people always had a light, Mother Nature is grand, sort of gait as they carried their binders covered with PETA stickers to class. The heavy, black army boots looked depressed and tortured as they clumped down the gum-covered cement path. I recognized Seth’s running shoes immediately as I balled myself into a cramped, crouched position to find my science book and pencil. But this time there were funky black ankle boots next to him. A flirty giggle rained down on my head.

“Gina, stop doing that. It tickles,” Seth said.

“I know. That’s why I’m doing it,” Gina giggled again.

“You really nailed Hank yesterday.”

I glanced up to see that Seth was talking to me. His girlfriend, who was apparently named Gina, had also shifted her attention to me. She had big hazel eyes that were heavily lined in thick black make-up and a tiny nose with freckles. Anyone who could still be that cute under such heavy mascara and eyeliner would not easily win my approval. I stood.

“He walked out of here with a bright red face,” Seth said. “What’s a gazillion, anyway?

I shrugged. “I think it’s a one with a bazillion zeros after it.”

Seth laughed. Gina wrapped her arms around his and pressed against him.

“This is Gina.”

Gina smiled at me. “I’m his girlfriend.” Of course the tongue in his ear the day before had pretty much already sealed that fact for me.

“A bunch of us are meeting after school at Bill’s Burgers today. We hang out and annoy the management. Why don’t you come with us?”

“Yeah, you should come.” Gina pretended to be enthusiastic about the idea. It was a pathetic attempt.

“I’m not sure. I’ll let you know at the end of the day.” Meeting new people did not fit in to my freshly constructed world of being unsocial and friendless.

 “I could give you a ride,” Seth added. Gina smiled weakly at me as they left.

Hank’s giant, square head towered over the flock of students heading my way. It was time to scoot to class. After yesterday’s insult, the boob would either be extra mean to me or even more sleazy after convincing himself that I was playing hard to get.

Julie caught up to me at lunch. Although she’d lived here in Pelican Bay all her life, she didn’t seem to have many friends, but she knew about everyone. She had a habit of constantly smoothing down the stubborn wave in her hair. Her curls were obviously a source of discontent. Today she was overdressed in a straight off the mannequin look with matching purple skirt and t-shirt. She reminded me a little of Christy, chatty and shallow but sweet.

“See that tall girl under the tree over there in the cheerleading uniform.” Julie motioned to our left with her eyes as she peered over her can of orange soda.

I glanced in the direction of the tree. Six cheerleaders were draped around a bench in their spring uniforms. “I see a lot of uniforms.”

“The tallest one with the green headband.”

“Yes, I see her.” I hoped this was going somewhere interesting, but with Julie I had my doubts.

She took a loud sip of her soda before lowering the can. “During our sophomore year, she left the squad and school for nine months before returning with bigger boobs. Rumors had swirled between pregnancy and a boob job. I’m going with the pregnancy story.”

I nodded. “The nine month thing makes that theory your safest bet.”

Julie smiled confidently. That was another trait she shared with Christy, sarcasm flew right over her head.

Seth and Gina weren’t in the quad for lunch. I assumed she’d dragged him into some utility closet to make out. She seemed to be a very hands-on kind of girlfriend. “How long have Seth and Gina been together?” I don’t know why I wanted to torture myself, but I figured Julie would know.

She grabbed my wrist and squeezed it. “Isn’t he the hottest guy ever?” I glanced around to see if anyone had heard the outburst, but apparently, Julie was the type of person people generally ignored.

“He’s definitely cute, but she seems rather attached to him.”

Julie let go of my wrist and rolled her eyes. “Gina does not let him out of her sight.” She stuffed a corn chip into her mouth. “But can you blame her? They’ve been together for a year and a half. She’s a total skank though. I don’t know what he sees in her.” Julie looked past my shoulder. “Speaking of Seth, there’s his mortal enemy, Hank.”

I shrank down hoping to become invisible. “He’s not coming this way, is he?”

“No, he’s headed to the cheer squad table. Why? Do you know him?”

“His locker is right above mine, and I sort of blew him off yesterday.”

Julie lifted her hand for a high-five which I felt compelled to return. “I wish I’d been there for that. He’s a total jerk. One day he slammed into me in the hallway and sent me flying back on my butt. He walked right by without even a sorry or a hand up.”

“Neanderthals aren’t known for chivalry.”

Julie blinked a couple of times like she was trying to decipher my comment.

“Never mind,” I said.

Chapter 7

Either I was in the mood to punish myself or my willpower to remain an island in my new school was crumbling. It may have even been the excruciatingly dull day at school that led me to the decision. Whatever the reason, I decided to join Seth and his friends at the burger place.

“We can pile into my car,” Seth said, Gina holding tightly onto his hand. Clingy, little thing.

Bill’s Burgers looked like a place surfers would have hung out in the 1950s. A sort of Beach Boys meets the cast of Grease décor. Seth headed straight to an already crowded booth at the back. Two of his friends had Mohawks. Rather unoriginal. Although one guy did have his in pink and black stripes, which gave him a flamingo crossed with zebra look that was pretty tight. A girl with bleached blonde, frizzy hair that looked like it hadn’t seen a bottle of shampoo since Christmas sat between the Mohawk guys.

“This is Brazil. She just moved here from Boston.” Seth waved me into the booth. He followed and his human armband tucked herself in next to him.

“Brazil? Did you make that name up?” the blonde asked. She had a tattoo on her neck, but it was hard to tell exactly what it was supposed to be. It may have been a vine of flowers or the face of a pirate with a rose in his teeth. Hopefully she didn’t shell out too much cash for that ink disaster.

“My mom made it up.”

“Was it a family name?” Seth asked.

“It’s a dull story.” I didn’t feel like going into a discussion about my dad or my name.  

“You kids need to order something if you’re going to take up a booth,” a man with a round tummy and Hawaiian shirt, possibly even Bill himself, said as he wiped his hands on a greasy white apron.

Gina scooted out and Seth followed. “We were just getting up to order something.” Seth looked at the group in the booth. “The usual?”

“Make sure the fries are well done this time,” the pink and black Mohawk guy said.

I started to slide out of the booth.

“I’ve got it. My treat. What do you want?” Seth asked.

I sat back. “Thanks. A diet coke.” Seth left with his girlfriend and an awkward silence followed. “So are you all in a band?” It was the first asinine thing to pop into my head.

They all looked slyly between each other like a group of friends who had been together for a long time and who shared a bunch of secrets. I no longer had that privilege. My past secrets and silent looks of communication between friends were back in Boston. 

The frizzy-haired blonde gave me a snippy look that made me want to bring up her very stupid tattoo. But I kept my mouth shut. “No, we just like to dress like we’re in one.”

Obviously, I had chosen to come because I was in the mood to punish myself, and I needed to take my beating in silence.

Seth and Gina returned with the trays, but I wasn’t relieved to see him. I really wanted to leave. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out.

“Hello.”
Silent pause.

“Hello.”

“Brazil, it’s me.” Blake’s voice came through my phone.

“What?”

“I need to talk to you, Zilly. About Jen and me.”

He was calling her Jen. How cute. “I can’t talk, Blake. I only have a thousand minutes on my phone plan, and I don’t want to waste any of them on you.” I really didn’t hate the guy. In fact, it occurred to me after hearing his voice that I had no feelings whatsoever about him. And I definitely didn’t want to sit through any dull, dim-witted explanation. I snapped the phone shut. The faces in the booth were all staring at me.

“That was harsh.” This coming from a guy with pink and black hair.

“He’s sleeping with my best friend and he’s apparently convinced himself that I care.” I took a sip of my drink.

The blonde grinned and nodded her approval at me. “They’re all assholes.”

“And that’s what you love best about us,” Seth said, with a tilted smile. It was only half a smile, but it had the same dangerous impact as the full thing. He picked my phone up off the table and turned it over in his hand. “Your phone has teeth marks in it.”

I shrugged. “Some dogs like rawhide. My mom’s dog craves technological devices. This time she cracked the display so I can’t tell who is calling. Otherwise I wouldn’t have answered it.”

“So he was your boyfriend?” Seth asked. He was awfully curious.

Deciding to be noncommittal, I shrugged. The more I’d thought about the whole Blake thing, the more I realized that I was really only hurt by Jen’s betrayal. Although it wasn’t all that much of a betrayal since I’d given the guy as much thought as a bag of potato chips these last few weeks. I hated to admit that Mom was right. I didn’t leave him a nasty comment that night because I didn’t think enough of him to bother.

Seth stared at me with his intense brown eyes but said nothing. Gina, apparently starved for his attention, took a bite of the fry he was holding his in fingers. He turned to smile at her. I wondered how much he liked her. Sometimes it seemed there was more admiration from her side but I might’ve just been hoping that.

My phone vibrated again. Shit. I ignored it but it went off again. If it was Mom, she would panic if I didn’t eventually pick it up, so I did.

“Hello?”

“Zilly, it’s Dad.”

Why the man thought he had to tell me like we were strangers and I wouldn’t recognize his voice made me want to scream. “What’s up, Dad?” I emphasized the word
dad
because I knew the others would no longer be interested in my conversation and could return to shoveling ketchup drenched fries into their mouths. I twisted to the side and stuck a finger in my ear to hear him.

“Are you able to make it this weekend after all?” I asked.

“No, sweetheart, I’ve still got plans. I’m going to New York to meet Cynthia’s parents.”

I wanted to snap the phone shut like I’d done to Blake.

“Zilly, are you still there? What’s all that noise in the background?”

I didn’t look up but I felt Seth’s eyes watching me. “I thought you were canceling because you had to work.” Anything, robbing a bank, having a heart transplant, flying to Mars, would have been better than the reason he just gave me. It was amazing how quickly a day’s rating could fall to a two.

“Have you been making new friends?” he asked.

I scanned the table looking at the strange faces around me. “You bet. I’ve got to go, Dad. It’s really hard to hear in here.”

“Brazil?”

“What?”

“I love you,” his voice was low and choppy.

“Safe landing, Dad.” I closed my phone and disconnected his call.

“That sounded heavy,” Seth said.

“Aren’t cell phones great?” I said weakly as I tossed my slightly chewed one around in my hand. “Now parents can pop in on your life at any time.” I picked up my coke. “I really need to get going, Seth. Thanks for the drink. I can walk home from here.”

“Are you sure? Where do you live?”

“The old house on the bay.”

All the spikes of hair leaned forward at attention. “Dude! You live in the haunted house?” the friend with the dull brown Mohawk asked.

“That’s me. The newest dweller of Hell House,” I said. “But the only thing scary in it is my mom’s cooking.” I had no intentions of telling this crowd about the creepy stuff I’d experienced in the house.

“I heard the guy drowned himself because he was insane with heartbreak,” the blonde said.