Page 10 of Happy Harbor
“I will. Goodbye.”
“Bye, sweetie.”
As she hung up, Josie sat down on the sofa and let the tears fall. She missed her nana. Her North Star. Her only cheerleader. But did she miss her enough to go home and face her demons? That was a hard question to answer.
CHAPTERTHREE
Kendra sat at the lunch table alone, as she did most days. A table full of blond cheerleader types sat diagonally from her. She tried not to look up or make eye contact because she knew they were staring at her. She could hear the giggling—more like snickering—and it was taking everything in her not to stand up and throw her tray full of spaghetti at them.
Instead, she stared down at her food. She felt like a leper at this school. Everybody had tons of money, drove nice cars, and had the latest designer clothing. Her clothes were decent enough, but nothing she owned had a designer tag, and she certainly didn’t have a fancy car. She didn’t have a car at all.
It wasn’t that her mother was poor, but they certainly weren’t rolling dough. That fact made her a target at school, and she spent every day passing the time, waiting for the next bell to ring.
At her old school, she’d had a best friend for a time. Her name was Angie, and the two of them had been like peas in a pod. That was, until Angie’s dad got transferred across the country for work, and Kendra suddenly found herself alone. All the little cliques of friends had been formed as they headed into high school, and Kendra was left out completely. Moving had made everything even worse, and now she hated school.
The sad part of it all was she felt like she was pretty smart. Maybe even smart enough to get into college. But did she want to put herself through the misery of school for another four years after she escaped the prison of high school?
“Can I sit here?” She knew the girl standing in front of her from gym class because she wore all black. Her clothes were black. Her gym clothes were black. Her hair was black. Her lipstick was black. Kendra’s mom would’ve called her “goth.”
“Whatever,” Kendra said, looking back down at her food.
“I’m Slash. What’s your name?” Her voice was low and growly, like some kind of punk-rock icon. Kendra found herself wishing for a cooler voice.
“Kendra. Is Slash really your name?”
The girl stared at her for a minute. “It’s real in that I won’t answer if you call me something else.”
“Got it.” Kendra looked back down at her food.
“You wanna do something with me later?”
“You mean like hang out after school? Can’t. I’m in big trouble with my mom.”
Slash shook her head. “No, I mean after lunch.”
“I can’t skip school again. My mom would kill me. Like literally.”
“No skipping required. Look, I hate this place. These morons think they’re so cool, but they’re just a bunch of tools. I figure the only way to get out of here is to get kicked out since my stupid parents won’t let me quit.”
“You’re trying to get kicked out?”
“Yep. I can’t even take another day in this wasteland of a school.”
“What are you proposing?”
“I totally hate the TA in our math class. I have to get out of his class pronto.”
“You mean Mr. Tryton?”
“The dude is a freak. What’s with that long ponytail?”
“I guess he thinks it’s cool.”
“Well, it’s not.”
Kendra didn’t really have a problem with it, but she wasn’t going to argue with a girl who called herself Slash. Plus, she was the closest chance at a friend Kendra’d had at this school.
“So, I have an idea...” Slash leaned over and whispered the rest.
