Read Online The New Guy by Amy Spalding - Free Book Online Page B

still don’t know why you think that means something romantic.”

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Alex is at my locker when I get to school on Monday morning, and even though we’re in a crowded hallway, we have the briefest kiss. And even though it happens in a flash, my heart still thuds just as heavily as it did on Saturday, when we didn’t have a time limit or an audience. I think about every overdramatic pop song I’ve ever heard about pounding hearts, and it turns out they aren’t actually overdramatic at all.
    As I open my locker, a bright blue slip of paper falls out, and when I lean over to pick it up, I see that this is happening to everyone around me too. TALON IS ALMOST HERE , it says, and it has the same eagle icon as last week’s flyers.
    “This is so weird,” I say, crumpling it up.
    “Maybe it’s something cool,” Alex says, and he does his cocked-eyebrow thing again. I want to try for another brief kiss, but already there are so many more people around, and also I’m turning it over in my head how something to do with a boy’s eyebrows could make me feel so weak. Another thingfrom songs that I’m now seeing as total reality. The weakness, that is, not specifically the eyebrows.
    “Guys, what is TALON?” Sadie is holding up the slip of paper as she walks over to us. “You know mysteries irritate me.”
    “Things don’t usually stay mysteries for too long,” Alex says, and I have the urge to correct him. Lots of mysteries, like Amelia Earhart and Stonehenge and what happened to the pea puree in that episode of
Top Chef
, have never been solved. But I guess TALON is probably not exactly at that level of mystery or importance.
    Sadie smirks in my direction. I notice that the tips of her purple hair are now hot pink. “So, what’s new, everyone?”
    “Your hair looks cool,” Alex tells her.
    “Thanks! The great Paige Sheraton wasn’t happy, of course.”
    Alex scrunches up his face in confusion. Even this expression makes me want to grab him and kiss him. “Why would Paige Sheraton care about your hair?”
    “She’s Sadie’s mom,” I explain. I want to add that, actually, Paige Sheraton doesn’t care about Sadie’s hair, but if she shows mild surprise at Sadie’s new hue, Sadie takes great offense.
    We split up in the directions of our classes, and even though I’ve told Sadie nearly everything on the phone, it’s strange to be in person with her and for her to possess all this knowledge.
    “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks as we walk into Ms. Cannon’s classroom. “It’s my hair, right? I was tryingfor this whole ombré thing, but I’m worried it didn’t come out like I wanted.”
    “Your hair looks fine,” I say, and then I feel bad because Sadie’s probably aiming for better than
fine
. “I figured you’d tease me about Alex. Sorry.”
    “TEASE YOU?”
    Everyone already seated stares at Sadie, even though they should be used to her volume by now.
    “Jules. We’re not in middle school. You’re falling in love with a dreamy guy. This is awesome, not tease-worthy, you weirdo.”
    Her volume’s still, well, up, which means everyone seated around us swivels to look. No one asks aloud, but it’s as if everyone’s asking with their eyes, and this is not what I want. I don’t even know how real it’s going to be. This is new and crazy and dreamlike, and people wake up from dreams or return to sanity or grow tired of new situations. For Alex and me, it could be any of those things. But also, maybe it won’t be.
    I expected senior year to be different, because of the
Crest
, and also because, well, senior year is just
supposed
to be different. And of course I’m already filling out practice applications and outlining my college entrance essays.
    But now there’s Alex.
    And my life, like the lunchroom table, seemed like it was already too full for him, but maybe things that I didn’t think had any flexibility actually do. And instead of the jittery sensation that