Page 51 of Just Like Home

They were whispering—sort of—but she could still hear them.

“Who is that?” the other guy hissed.

“That’s the one who hit my car,” Cole said.

Charlotte’s heart sank. They were talking abouther.

“That’sher?” the other guy asked. “You didn’t say she was hot.”

“See ya tomorrow, Bilby.” Cole appeared in the doorway and Charlotte found his eyes. “Ready?”

They walked in silence through the hallways, and Charlotte took her time looking in every classroom window. Rows of lockers lined the hallways of the old building, and she could practically hear the sound of teenagers filling the building with chatter.

“You coming?” Cole asked, having moved significantly faster than Charlotte toward the door. “I parked in the back lot.”

“I’ve just never been in a high school before.”

He waited for her to catch up, and not impatiently, which she appreciated.

After a pause, he asked, “Do you want to see the rest of it?”

“Like a tour?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Sure.”

They were standing near the main entrance, which he pointed out, then turned his attention to the doors behind them. “This is the main office. If you were coming here on a school day, you’d have to check in here.”

“Can we go in?”

He hesitated.

She glanced in the window and caught the eye of a pudgy, plainish woman with dark hair cut into a short bob.

“Did she see you?”

She glanced at Cole and nodded. He groaned. Seconds later, the office door opened.

“I thought I heard voices out here.” The middle-aged woman smiled and her eyes nearly disappeared. Her cheeks were plump and pink and her giggle reminded Charlotte of an adorable cartoon character.

“Morning, Joni,” Cole said. “Joni, this is Charlotte. She’s, uh, new in town.”

“Nice to meet you, Charlotte,” she said, still wearing her smile. She quickly turned her attention back to Cole. “Been awful quiet around here lately. You should stop in and say hello more often, Coach. Gets kind of lonely in this big old place during the summer.”

Was she . . . flirting?

Cole took a step away from the older woman and motioned for Charlotte to follow him. “We’ll see ya later, Joni.”

Charlotte fell into step beside him, doing her best to stifle a giggle of her own. “Was she . . .”

“Don’t say a word.”

She snapped her jaw shut. Why she found it amusing that school secretary Joni was flirting with much younger, much less friendly Cole, she didn’t know. Maybe it was the way it made him squirm.

Clearly, he did not appreciate being the center of attention.

Toward the end of the hall, he stopped outside an open door. “This is my room.”

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