2. Getting to hear people refer to their trousers as “pants.” 1. To see you. Yours, Henry
I felt a little squirm of pleasure in my stomach. Henry wanted to see me! Maybe it hadn’t just been a holiday fling after all! Okay, it was crazy to think that we could have a proper relationship living so far away from one another, and on different continents at that. But even so . . .he was thinking about me. And that was a very, very nice feeling. Especially after the sting of being so summarily rejected by Dex.
To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Subject: Greetings from Florida Hi Henry,
It may be sunny here, but trust me, I’d much rather be walking through St. James’s Park playing Top Three with you than sitting here in boring old Geek High.
Top Three Reasons You Should Visit America, in reverse order:
3. Hamburgers and onion rings at the Orange Cove Grill. 2. Going to the beach (have you ever surfed?). 1. I’m here. I read my e-mail over a few times before sending it, hoping it didn’t sound too dorky, and even then I felt a nervous flutter in my stomach as I hit the send button. We were flirting via e-mail! I’d never done that before. Then again, I’d hardly ever flirted before, even in person.
“Hey, world traveler,”a familiar voice said.
I looked up and saw Finn loping into class. He had his knapsack slung over one shoulder, his laptop tucked under his arm, and he was grinning at me. Finn was very tall, very thin, and very pale. He had shaggy brown hair that fell into his blue-gray eyes and a scar over his mouth from the surgery he had as a baby to correct a cleft lip.
“Hey!”I said. “I thought you were taking Environmental Science?”
“And miss out on Rocks for Jocks? Not a chance,”Finn said, swinging into the chair next to mine.
“Rocks for Jocks?”I asked, amused. Geek High isn’t exactly known for its jock population. In fact, the only sports teams the school fronted were golf and tennis. “You do know Mr. Douglass is teaching this class, don’t you?”
Finn paled. “Douglass? I thought Keegan was teaching it,”he said.
Mr. Douglass was the only teacher at Geek High that Finn feared. Well, maybe feared wasn’t the right word. . . . I don’t think Finn was actually afraid of Douglass. But the two of them had certainly never gotten along. Most of the Geek High faculty found Finn’s easy humor and good-natured antics charming, but not Douglass. He was an old grouch who lectured in a monotone and was always happy to hand out detentions to anyone not paying attention in his class. And Douglass detentions were the worst. Usually, getting a detention at Geek High just involved sitting in the teacher’s room after school, working quietly. And let’s face it—in a high school full of geeks, the opportunity for some quiet study time wasn’t that onerous of a punishment.
But Douglass made unruly students in his class spend their detention time cleaning out the cages of the snakes he kept as pets in his room. And Finn hated snakes.
“Nope. Keegan’s teaching Enviro Sci,”I said. “Didn’t you notice what classroom we’re in?”
“I wasn’t really paying attention. I wonder if it’s too late for me to transfer,”Finn muttered. He glanced nervously back at the long reptiles slithering around in their glass aquariums.
“It is,”Charlie said, walking in with a group of our classmates, and tossing her bag on the open desk next to me. “I checked, and the class is closed. Keegan’s only taking five students this semester, because of all of the field trips they’re going to be going on.”
“Charlie!”I said, grinning at her. “Hey!”
The last time I’d seen her, Charlie’s hair had been pink and spiky. In my absence, she’d colored it a rich, dark burgundy and had cut it in a short, choppy style that accentuated her large brown eyes and pale skin. She was wearing a Sex Pistols T-shirt with an artfully torn denim miniskirt and her clunky black
I felt a little squirm of pleasure in my stomach. Henry wanted to see me! Maybe it hadn’t just been a holiday fling after all! Okay, it was crazy to think that we could have a proper relationship living so far away from one another, and on different continents at that. But even so . . .he was thinking about me. And that was a very, very nice feeling. Especially after the sting of being so summarily rejected by Dex.
To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Subject: Greetings from Florida Hi Henry,
It may be sunny here, but trust me, I’d much rather be walking through St. James’s Park playing Top Three with you than sitting here in boring old Geek High.
Top Three Reasons You Should Visit America, in reverse order:
3. Hamburgers and onion rings at the Orange Cove Grill. 2. Going to the beach (have you ever surfed?). 1. I’m here. I read my e-mail over a few times before sending it, hoping it didn’t sound too dorky, and even then I felt a nervous flutter in my stomach as I hit the send button. We were flirting via e-mail! I’d never done that before. Then again, I’d hardly ever flirted before, even in person.
“Hey, world traveler,”a familiar voice said.
I looked up and saw Finn loping into class. He had his knapsack slung over one shoulder, his laptop tucked under his arm, and he was grinning at me. Finn was very tall, very thin, and very pale. He had shaggy brown hair that fell into his blue-gray eyes and a scar over his mouth from the surgery he had as a baby to correct a cleft lip.
“Hey!”I said. “I thought you were taking Environmental Science?”
“And miss out on Rocks for Jocks? Not a chance,”Finn said, swinging into the chair next to mine.
“Rocks for Jocks?”I asked, amused. Geek High isn’t exactly known for its jock population. In fact, the only sports teams the school fronted were golf and tennis. “You do know Mr. Douglass is teaching this class, don’t you?”
Finn paled. “Douglass? I thought Keegan was teaching it,”he said.
Mr. Douglass was the only teacher at Geek High that Finn feared. Well, maybe feared wasn’t the right word. . . . I don’t think Finn was actually afraid of Douglass. But the two of them had certainly never gotten along. Most of the Geek High faculty found Finn’s easy humor and good-natured antics charming, but not Douglass. He was an old grouch who lectured in a monotone and was always happy to hand out detentions to anyone not paying attention in his class. And Douglass detentions were the worst. Usually, getting a detention at Geek High just involved sitting in the teacher’s room after school, working quietly. And let’s face it—in a high school full of geeks, the opportunity for some quiet study time wasn’t that onerous of a punishment.
But Douglass made unruly students in his class spend their detention time cleaning out the cages of the snakes he kept as pets in his room. And Finn hated snakes.
“Nope. Keegan’s teaching Enviro Sci,”I said. “Didn’t you notice what classroom we’re in?”
“I wasn’t really paying attention. I wonder if it’s too late for me to transfer,”Finn muttered. He glanced nervously back at the long reptiles slithering around in their glass aquariums.
“It is,”Charlie said, walking in with a group of our classmates, and tossing her bag on the open desk next to me. “I checked, and the class is closed. Keegan’s only taking five students this semester, because of all of the field trips they’re going to be going on.”
“Charlie!”I said, grinning at her. “Hey!”
The last time I’d seen her, Charlie’s hair had been pink and spiky. In my absence, she’d colored it a rich, dark burgundy and had cut it in a short, choppy style that accentuated her large brown eyes and pale skin. She was wearing a Sex Pistols T-shirt with an artfully torn denim miniskirt and her clunky black
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