Tara Kelly - Harmonic Feedback

Naomi narrowed her eyes at me. “Drea, it’s room 305. Top floor. Like it’s that hard to find.”

“I don’t want that Justin guy to see us.” I lowered my voice. “You invited him, remember?”

“Aw—he was a little preppy looking, but he seemed really sweet.” She nudged me. “And cute.”

I glanced back at the doors of the main building. A tall guy with dark hair and a white T-shirt put his hand over his eyes and looked in our direction. “Let’s get out of here.” I grabbed Naomi’s wrist and tried to pull her away from the fountain.

“Don’t be so mean.” She twisted out of my grip and nodded in his direction. “He sees us.”

“I’m leaving.” There was no way I could face him, not after what he saw and Roger’s comment.

Naomi grabbed my shoulders and pulled me backward. “Whoa, girl. Tell me why you’re freaking out.”

I tried to break free, but she held on tighter, laughing. “He saw my underwear—”

“He what ?” She punched my shoulder, her mouth hanging open. “You ho!” Her laughter sounded like it was going through a hundred-watt amplifier.

“No, not like—shut up, okay?” I glanced at the students around me. “He’ll hear you.”

“Relax, he’s too busy talking to Kari McBitch.” She nodded behind me with a sneer.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Justin talking to one of those common-denominator girls. Blond highlights were mixed in with her brown hair, and she was dressed like a mannequin at the mall. “She’s got really big boobs,” I said before I could stop myself.

“Yeah, it’s kind of funny how much they grew over the summer.” There was an odd edge to Naomi’s voice—one I’d never heard before. “So tell me, what happened with you and the new guy?” She poked me, all smiles.

I looked over my shoulder again. Justin was pointing at us. Not good. “Nothing. I fell, and my skirt flew up.”

She crinkled her brow at me. “So?”

“Well, Roger was—”

“Don’t tell me she’s coming over here,” Naomi said through her teeth, peering over my shoulder.

When I turned around, Justin was approaching us with that Kari girl in tow. He was smiling, but she definitely wasn’t.

“Hey, Justin,” Naomi said. “I was just about to split. But maybe I’ll see you later.” Naomi walked right into Kari, bumping her arm.

“Yeah, that’s right. Keep walking,” Kari said.

“See you at lunch, Drea!” Naomi called over her shoulder.

Justin raised his eyebrows at me, and I shrugged. Naomi really sucked for leaving me alone with him.

“Hi, I’m Kari.” Her dark eyes scanned my body until they reached my feet. “You’ve got dirt on the bottom of your skirt.”

“Oh.” Part of the hem was caught under my boot.

She smiled, flashing her white teeth. “It’s Drea, right?”

“Yeah.” That’s me. Drea with the grannie panties. I bet Justin didn’t waste any time telling her either.

“What classes did you get?” Justin asked, moving closer to me. His warm breath hit my cheek as he peered down at my schedule. “We’ve got the next one together. And I’m in the film class too.”

“Cool,” Kari said. “Guess we’re all going to the same place, then.”

I did my best to imitate a polite smile and walked ahead of them, hoping Kari would keep Justin occupied.

“What instrument do you play?” he asked, appearing alongside me.

I tried to walk faster, but he had much longer legs than I did. “Guitar mostly. But I’m more into production and sound design.”

He held the door to the main building open for Kari and me. “What do you use—Pro Tools, Logic?”

“Logic,” I said, surprised that he’d heard of either recording program. A lot of people assumed I used GarageBand—which was fine for beginners. But I was beyond the days of putting a bunch of premade loops together and calling myself a musician.

“You must do electronic music mostly, huh?”

“Yeah. Do you produce?” I asked.

“Nah. I laid down some piano tracks for a producer friend of mine in Chicago.”

“You play the piano?” Kari asked, moving to the other side of Justin.

He shrugged. “Yeah—started with ‘Jingle Bells’ when I was two and haven’t stopped since.”

“That’s so cute!” she said.

I let them go ahead of me on the stairs. “Why is it cute?”

Kari glanced over her shoulder and wrinkled her nose at me. “It just is.” She moved closer to Justin, nudging his ribs. “You should play for me sometime.”

He mumbled something I couldn’t hear as we reached the classroom. I nudged past them and scanned the class for an empty seat. Back row, corner desk. Perfect.

As I slid into the desk, I watched Kari pull Justin to a couple of desks on the other side of the room. He whispered something to her and she shrugged, flashing him a quick smile. My stomach did flip-flops as they headed for the two empty desks in front of me. I’d never had a guy take this much interest in me before. Part of me wondered if I was the butt of another joke.

“You’re a tough girl to keep up with.” Justin slid into the seat in front of me. “How am I supposed to keep Roger away?”

“I don’t see him here, do you?”

He glanced around the classroom and shrugged. “Guess not.” He kept his eyes on mine as if he was waiting for something.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He turned around and started talking to Kari, who was eagerly awaiting his attention.

A man with a red ’fro and a Hawaiian shirt walked into the classroom and tossed a black bag on the desk. “Hey, guys!” he called out just as the bell rang. “Welcome to English Eleven! I’m Mr. Duncan—some of you had me for English Nine.” Apparently Bozo was our teacher.

I looked out the window and zeroed in on a couple leaning against an evergreen tree. It took a few seconds to realize that it was Naomi and Roger, puffing on cigarettes. I wondered if they knew that people could see them from these windows, or if they even cared.

“So what I usually like to do the first day is get to know everyone. I remember faces, but I’m not so good with names.” Mr. Duncan chuckled. “I want you all to find a partner to interview. I’ve got the questions right here.” He wrestled a stack of papers out of his book bag.

Great. Two of my favorite things—partnering up with a stranger and speaking in front of a class. I’d only passed speech class because the teacher felt sorry for me.

Kari spun around and grabbed Justin’s wrist. “Will you be my partner again?”

“Okay, but don’t spill any iodine on me this time,” he said.

I glanced at the guy next to me, but he was already whispering to the girl in front of him. In fact, it seemed everyone but me had a partner. This meant the teacher would pair up with me, or he’d force me into a three-way. Either way, I’d end up the focal point of the class—the one nobody wanted to partner with.

Mr. Duncan handed some papers to the first person in our row. “When you guys are done, I want you to introduce your partner to the class. Clear enough?”

I kept hoping that one teacher out of the bunch would come up with a first-day activity I hadn’t done a zillion times before. Or at least one that had some purpose.

Justin turned around and handed me the last questionnaire, a smile flickering at his lips. “You need a partner, don’t you?”

I shrugged, not really knowing how to respond.

“Scoot your chair up,” he said. “The more the merrier.”

“Okay.”

“She doesn’t have a partner,” Justin said to Kari as I moved my desk next to his.

“Aw, sure—yeah, join us,” she said in a high voice. Too high. It sounded fake, even to me.