Page 14 of My Life with the Walter Boys
“And you went to an all-girls’ school? Man, that must have been a sight. Schoolgirl outfits are hot.”
“Sorry?”
“You know, like Britney Spears?”
I gave Cole a pointed look. “Our skirts came down to our knees.”
“Shame,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “But, I bet you made it look cute.”
His compliment caught me off guard. “I—um,” I stammered.
“Coley!” someone squealed, saving me from my embarrassment. A small girl with chestnut hair and poison-green eyes flung her arms around Cole’s neck and slammed her lips into his. I looked away when I saw a flicker of tongue.
“Olivia,” Cole said, finally breaking away from their kiss, “what did I tell you about calling me that? It’s not manly.” He peeled Olivia’s arms off his neck, but stood next to her and slung an arm over her shoulder.
“Sorry,” she responded without an ounce of humiliation, “but you know how happy I get when I see you. Sometimes I can’t contain my excitement.”
“Yeah, I know, babe,” he said and guided her toward the front entrance. He was halfway across the parking lot when he swung back around. “Good luck today, New York!” he called.
“Typical Cole,” Nathan said as he shook his head.
“Is she his girlfriend?” I asked as I stared after them, unable to take my eyes off Olivia. It didn’t surprise me that Cole had a girl who looked like a supermodel. Together they were a picture-perfect couple.
Nathan snorted. “She wishes.”
“Huh?”
“Cole doesn’t date,” he explained as we started walking in. “He has lots of girls that he hooks up with, but never anything more.”
“The girls? They’re okay with that?”
“I guess,” Nathan said with a shrug.
I frowned as we climbed the steps to the school. “That’s disgusting.”
“The thing you need to know about Cole,” Nathan said, holding the door open for me when we reached the top, “is that he runs this school. All the girls want him, and all the guys want to be him.”
“But if all the girls want him, why doesn’t he just pick one?”
He shrugged. “Why pick one if he can get away with sampling every flavor?”
“Sampling every flavor?” I gasped. “I can’t believe you just said that!”
“Look, Jackie,” Nathan said, laughing. “I’m not saying I agree with how Cole behaves. I’m just trying to explain the way he thinks.”
We stepped inside, and I realized how very different attending a public school was going to be. Just thinking about it made my head spin. Did guys actually think like that? Maybe Boys 101 hadn’t been as informational as I thought.
“Fine,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief. “But I don’t understand how any girl would be okay with a guy treating her like that.”
“Trust me,” Nathan said as a bell overhead rang, “I ask myself that same question all the time. That was the first bell. Let’s head down to the office so you aren’t late.”
After helping me find the office so I could pick up my schedule, Nathan walked me to my first-period class, which happened to be anatomy.
“Here you go—Room 207,” he said, escorting me into the room. “Hey! Looks like you have a class with Alex.” Nathan pointed out his brother, who was hiding in the back corner of the room with his nose buried in a book. “Let’s go see if you can sit with him.”
“Wait, no,” I started to say, but Nathan was already strolling into the classroom. Sighing, I followed him.
“Hi, Alex,” Nathan said when he reached the back of the room.
