Instafamous Page 11

  Cox, get it? As in cocks? Come on, it’s hilarious.

  I got up from my chair, and Copper Top immediately tensed up. He straightened his back, rubbed his hands, and eyed me nervously as I casually strolled across the room. He relaxed a little—only a little—when he realized I wasn’t coming for him but made my way to the water cooler. I put myself at an angle to it, and as I bent forward to pull a paper cup from the dispenser and fill it up, I basically put my rear end right in Copper Top’s face. From the corner of my eye, I could see his desperate yet futile attempt to ignore my butt in front of his nose. He was clearly not comfortable with this degree of in-his-face closeness. I had a few swigs of water, then I turned to him and said, “Want some?”

  He looked at me, his eyes wide open in shock, and said, “What?”

  I pointed at the water cooler. “Would you like some water?”

  His eyes torn back and forth between my face and my crotch, he said, “Uh, sure.”

  I emptied my cup and threw it in the waste bin. Then I picked a fresh cup, filled it up and handed it to him.

  “Thanks.”

  “Any time,” I said and turned around. I was halfway back to my chair when I heard him spurt water through his nose, followed by a medium-sized coughing fit. By the time I sat back down, his mother was leaning in to him, patting his back with one hand and handing him a handkerchief with the other.

  “Oh dear,” I said sympathetically.

  He returned a nervous smile. Meanwhile, his face was glowing bright red like a fire hydrant, but I wasn’t sure if that was because of his coughing fit or the Cox print on my T-shirt that had prompted it. I watched him as he finished cleaning himself up, and then, finally, he cast me a brief glance and I could swear I saw the faintest shadow of a smile flicker across his face before he remembered how shy he was and averted his gaze again like an intimidated little puppy.

  I gave him a few seconds to collect himself, then I said, “New kid?”

  Startled, his fight or flight instinct on high alert once more, he looked at me nervously and said, “What?”

  “I’ve never seen you around here,” I said. “First day?”

  He opened his mouth, but his mother beat him to it. “Brad has been ill,” she said, leaning forward and nodding, “so he has been home schooled for a while.”

  “Karen!” Brad whispered, clearly not appreciating having his personal issues discussed with random strangers, yet at the same time inadvertently revealing a curious detail about their relationship. I’d only ever once known someone who addressed their parents by their first names. They were old-school hippie parents where the mother had short and the dad long hair and both were stoners. Karen had long hair and didn’t look like a stoner, so I wondered what was going on here.

  “But he’s doing much better now,” she added. “He’s excited to be back in school.”

  “I can see that,” I said, glancing at Brad who looked as if he wanted to crawl into a hole. “I’m Taylor, by the way. Taylor Young.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Taylor,” Karen said with a polite nod. Meanwhile, Brad kept staring at the floor, looking for that hole.

  “So, are you a senior?”

  Scratching his elbow and trying hard not to look at me, he nodded.

  “Good,” I said. “Maybe one year won’t be enough for them to break your spirit.”

  As Brad looked even more miserable than before, his mother laughed nervously, putting one hand on Brad’s arm while dismissively waving the other at me. “Don’t worry, darling. He’s only joking.” She cast a begging glance at me, clearly hoping I would laugh along and confirm that yes, indeed, I was only joking.

  “I’m sure you’re gonna be doing great,” I said in Brad’s direction.

  Donning a half-hearted smile, Brad nodded. His second smile within a few moments. I was on a roll here.

  “See?” Karen said. “I told you.”

  “So where do you live?”

  The question was directed at Brad, but it was once again his mother who replied on his behalf. “We live uptown, on Elkwood.”

  “Hey,” I said, still looking at Brad, “that’s just a few blocks from where I live. Perhaps we can hang out some time, if you like.”

  Karen nodded at me gratefully, her face brightening up. “Oh, that would be nice, wouldn’t it?” She put her hand on Brad’s arm again and leaned in to him. “See, you’ve already made a friend.”

  Brad’s head was glowing. He nodded with little enthusiasm and avoided my gaze. As for me, I’m not gonna deny it, I was intrigued. Silent waters run deep, as they say, and I was convinced that under the right set of circumstances, I could awaken Brad’s slumbering passions and unleash them from their awkward but pretty shell.

  The noise of Turnbull’s door opening tore me out of my dreamy thoughts before they had a chance to turn naughty. I got up from my chair. As my parents stepped out of the office, my mom, knowing Turnbull behind her, rolled her eyes at me and smirked.

  “Well,” Turnbull said, “thanks for coming by anyway. Let’s see how it’ll go from here on out.”

  “Good bye,” Dad said, shaking Turnbull’s hand.

  Turnbull turned to Karen and Brad. “Mrs. Carson, Bradley, I’m so sorry to keep you waiting—” He cast a side glance at me. “—but I had some … urgent business to deal with. My apologies.”

  “That’s all right,” Karen said, waving her hand. “We had a very nice conversation with Taylor here. I’m glad Brad already made a new friend.”

  “Oh,” Turnbull said, casting me another glance as he shook Karen’s hand. He cleared his throat. “Well, all right. But please, let’s talk in my office.”

  As he walked past me, I patted Brad’s shoulder and said, “Welcome to Winfield Northrop. I’ll see you around.” Brad’s shoulder felt bony, and he flinched ever so slightly when I touched it. Then he tensed up again, looked at the floor and nodded before he entered Turnbull’s office. Before Turnbull shut the door, glaring at me, Brad turned around and cast one last bashful glance at me, and I couldn’t help but return a broad, cocky grin to both of them, knowing for sure there was no way I was going to leave high school before my time was up.

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