The Disappearance Of Sloane Sullivan. Gia Cribbs
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get back to my plan of lying low. You can do this. But first, I needed something to eat.
I grabbed a tray and followed the familiar scent of cafeteria food to the open area at the back of the room where lunch ladies with hairnets were serving the day’s options. The pizza looked surprisingly good, but it had a line at least fifty people deep. My stomach rumbled, protesting the wait. I went to the other end of the counter and thanked the lunch lady for a plate of what appeared to be roasted chicken, salad and a glop of orange mush. I wrinkled my nose.
Someone chuckled. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
Startled, I turned to find the tall a cappella guy standing next to me. I stared for a second, mesmerized by his piercing green eyes. Then I quickly peered back at the orange goop. “What is it?”
“Mashed sweet potatoes.”
I wrinkled my nose again.
He laughed, flashing two dimples. “I’m glad I came over. Now I have something else to call you.”
I tilted my head in confusion.
“I’ve been referring to you as New Girl in my head all morning,” he clarified. “But now I can add Hater of Sweet Potatoes to the list.”
“Ah.” I took a step closer to him to avoid the line forming for the chicken, glancing around at the same time. No one seemed to be paying any attention to us. “And what should I call you?” I pointed at his empty hands. “Disrespecter of Lunch Trays?”
He grinned. “I already bought my lunch. I came over just to talk to you.”
A wave of apprehension flowed through me. This better not be some kind of prank on the new girl.
“I saw your collision this morning and just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said with a shrug. “I thought maybe you could use a friend who isn’t trying to body slam you.”
Okay, not what I was expecting at all. “You saw that, huh?”
“You know, maybe I should call you Receiver of a Completely Uncalled-For Hallway Football Smackdown. Believe it or not, that’s not the way most of us welcome a new student.”
A tiny smile formed on my lips. “Maybe I should be Creator of the Full-Contact First-Day Meet and Greet. Guaranteed to get you up close and personal with your new classmates.”
He bit back his own smile. “Actually, I was hoping you’d be Needer of a Place to Sit?” He nodded at a table over his shoulder that was surprisingly empty.
My reply was interrupted by a husky voice shouting, “There you are!” over the cafeteria chatter. I turned and saw Sawyer rushing over.
Sawyer placed his hands on my shoulders. “Livie was afraid you got lost. Come on, you can pay over here and then I’ll show you to our table.” He nodded at the a cappella guy and muttered, “Hey, man,” before steering me away.
I peeked back over my shoulder.
“Watch out for flying sports equipment!” the guy called after me.
I grinned until I spotted a girl with a short black pixie haircut glaring at me from a nearby table full of girls now watching me. I knew what that glare meant: Mr. Welcoming Committee probably once belonged at that table and according to its current occupants, he was off-limits. The smile disappeared from my face.
“What do you want to drink?” Sawyer asked, drawing my attention back to him. “Water, juice, milk?”
“Water.” I pressed my lips together, annoyed at myself for forgetting I was in ground zero of high school social cliques. I already had Jason to deal with. I didn’t need any other complications.
Sawyer placed a bottle of water on my tray and took the tray out of my hands. “Let me pay for this.”
“What? Sawyer, no.” I tried unsuccessfully to pry the tray away from him.
He pulled a card out of his pocket and held it against a scanner by the cashier. “Already done.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” I protested as I followed him across the cafeteria.
“I was the one who convinced Jason to play football this morning. This is my way of apologizing.” He shrugged, but his expression showed he considered it something more than an apology.
I hoped he wasn’t considering it a date.
Sawyer led me to the end of a table where Jason and Livie were already sitting next to each other. Livie slipped her hand out of Jason’s and waved when she saw us.
“So.” Sawyer settled into the seat next to me, across from Jason and Livie, and slid my tray over. “Are you from Tennessee?”
My heart skipped a beat. I had lived in Tennessee. Granted, it had only been for two months, but it hadn’t even been a year since we’d left. Please don’t tell me I have to worry about someone in addition to Jason recognizing me.
“Because you’re the only ten I see,” Sawyer continued without giving me the chance to reply.
I let out a shaky laugh. I could’ve hugged the person who created such a corny joke right then.
Livie groaned. “At least let her eat before you pile on the pickup lines. They’re hard to take on an empty stomach.”
Sawyer reached over and snatched a piece of pepperoni off Livie’s pizza. “You’re just jealous I found someone new to pick up. Plus, I think Sloane likes them.”
“I think you’re delusional,” Livie fired back. “And I’m actually thrilled you’ve found someone else to practice on.”
Jason leaned across the table toward me, a half smile playing on his lips. “They argue like this all the time. You’ll get used to it.”
It was a look I remembered now too, like the smirk. The one that always made it seem like he was letting me in on a secret.
Jason popped a tomato from his salad into his mouth. “So where are you really from?”
I hesitated, instinct warning me to tell him as little as possible. But this was why Mark created fictional backstories every time we moved.
“Pierre, South Dakota,” I lied.
“Wow,” Livie said. “What’s it like there?”
I bit back a grin. “Cold.” I’d never actually been to South Dakota, but I had lived in four of the six states that bordered it and that much I knew well. I peeked at Jason. “I lived there my whole life though, so I got used to it.”
“You probably didn’t get to see much water,” Sawyer guessed.
I furrowed my eyebrows. “It’s on the Missouri River. And there’s a large lake nearby.” Thank you, internet research.
Sawyer’s light brown eyes brightened. “But have you seen the ocean yet? The beach is so close. Maybe I can show you.”
I glanced down at my plate. I grew up in the Atlantic Ocean, like all the other kids who lived in my beach town on the Jersey Shore. But I hadn’t seen it since I left; I hadn’t even been back to the East Coast since I left. And I wasn’t ready to see it again. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Are you a senior?” Livie asked.
I nodded.
She frowned. “It must’ve been really hard to move this close to graduation. I moved here at the beginning of the school year and it sucked starting my senior year someplace new, even with the First Day Buddy I got.”
“It’s not that bad. My dad got a new job and he had to start right away.”
“But what about your mom?” Livie continued. “I mean, couldn’t you two have stayed in South Dakota for a few more weeks until you graduated and then met your dad out here?”