I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock going off. I
smacked the snooze button with my hand and pulled the covers over my head. Just a
couple more minutes of sleep…
“Jeff! Get your lazy butt out of bed!” Mom called through
the door.
That was one of the annoying
things about living on a ranch; my parents were always up at the crack of dawn
so my chances of sleeping in were nil.
Not that I really minded living on a ranch or even in our small town of
Appaloosa Plains. I had no intention of ever leaving, except for college.
“Come on Mom! Just five more minutes!” I pleaded with her.
“Jefferson Allen Hobble, either you get up or I’ll make
you.” I knew she was serious.
One time
my older brother Charlie decided to call her bluff and she came in with a bucket
of cold water and dumped it on him. He
and I used to share this room but since he was four years older than me, he had
long ago moved out. He and his wife
still lived on the ranch, since he helped dad with the running of our horse
ranch, but it wasn’t even close to being the same.
“All right! I’m up! I’ll be downstairs in a minute.” I got
out of bed and walked into the bathroom. As I showered I thought about how this
was like any other day.
I didn’t really
care that it was the first day of my senior year. I never knew why people got
so excited about such things. I mean, sure, it was nice to see your friends
that you didn’t see much during the summer, but it was school. Besides being on
the debate team and student council, I could have cared less about high school.
I had my eyes set on a bigger prize and high school was just a stepping block I
had to climb to get to my ultimate goal.
I finished showering, changed and headed downstairs for
breakfast. That was a benefit of living
on a ranch, since Mom was up so early, she usually cooked breakfast for
everyone. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a plate of pancakes.
As I sat down at the dining room table, Charlie started
talking to me.
“Hey dude! Trying to sleep in late on the first day of your
senior year? You can’t tell me you’re not excited about that?!”
My siblings always seemed surprised that I was so laid back
about things. Yes, I could not be excited. “You know me, not an exciting type
of guy.”
“Charlie, leave him alone.” Kate tried to get Charlie off my
back.
Kate, Charlie and Bridge, Charlie’s twin and my older sister, had
grown up together and been friends all their life. Sometime during their senior year, Kate and
Charlie started dating and soon after high school got married. I watched as Kate put their son, Charles in his
high chair to eat. It was weird to me to
be an uncle and only be a senior in high school; almost as weird as being a
brother to a five year old sister. I looked back and forth between my little sister
and my nephew.
They were basically going to grow up like bother and sister but they were
really aunt and nephew. Crazy.
Just then I heard the front door open. “Hello? Good
Morning!”
I had heard that voice almost every day of my life. It was
the voice of my best friend Star. Star
lived next door and was Kate’s sister. Just like Charlie, Kate, and Bridge,
Star and I were born the same year and had been friends since either of us
could remember. She walked into the
dining room and mom told her to help herself to some breakfast. This was the
normal morning routine for our house; wake up, get ready, sit down for
breakfast, Star comes over, we all eat breakfast together and then we would
either hangout, help on the ranch or go over to her mom’s house to help her with
household stuff. Star’s mom, Honey, and her dad John had gotten divorced a
couple years prior so if Miss Honey needed any work done to her house, our
family usually helped. I was actually
surprised that Miss Honey wasn’t with Star since she usually ate breakfast with
us.
“Where’s your mom?” I asked her as she sat down to eat.
“Oh she was emotional this morning with it being the
beginning of my senior year. Something about how one child was grown and out of
the house and her baby now has one foot out the door. You know how she is, over
emotional sometimes.” That was one
reason Star and I got a long so well. She didn’t over complicate things with
her emotions.
“Oh dear! I should go over there and see if she’s okay.” Mom
exclaimed. “Chuck, can you make sure Scarlett gets on the bus okay?”
“Sure, sweetheart.” He stood up and walked over to give her
a kiss.
Most of us groaned. I have to
admit though, it was nice to see that after 21 years of marriage, Mom and Dad
still loved each other. I watched as Mom
walked towards the front door and then left to go next door.
“Hey, earth to Jeff!” My Dad called to me. “Don’t you think
you all should be heading out the door to school?”
“I guess, you about ready Star?”
“Yep. Let’s get’er done.”
We walked into the kitchen and cleaned our plated before
leaving.
“Later guys!” I called back to everyone as we left.
Star didn’t have a car so I offered to drive us to
school. I have to admit that I had a
pretty sweet ride.
Mom and Dad had surprised me on my sixteenth birthday with it. As we drove down the streets of Appaloosa I
looked over at Star.
Her hair was
blowing in the wind and her cheeks were slightly flushed. I had always thought Star was pretty but up
until a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have even entertained the idea of
dating her; she was like a sister to me.
Then there was the summer that things changed.
Three summers ago, the summer before our freshman year, my
feelings for her became stronger. Before
that, it wasn’t a huge deal since I’ve always been able to keep my emotions in
check. But the night that Scarlett was born brought my feelings for Star to the
surface. That night we weren’t sure if
Mom was going to live. There had been some complications during childbirth. As us kids waited for news in the waiting
room, Star had tried to comfort me.
We arrived at the school and started walking up to the
building. And that’s when the comments
started.
“Hey look! It’s Jeff and Star; maybe they’ve finally started
dating since they arrived together.” I looked over at Star and she cringed.
I called over to the people “Yeah, cause that’s exactly what
happened last year when we rode to school together…” That got them to stop
pestering us.
I always tried to downplay
it so no one would suspect that underneath, I really did have feelings for her,
especially since the idea seemed to not be a pleasant idea to Star.
We walked into the building and headed over to the locker
area; our normal hanging spot before school. Peter was already waiting for
us.
I had met Peter in middle school and
he and I became friends while being on the debate team together. We both enjoyed being on student council and
I usually ended up being president and him vice president.
“Hey guys! Ready to start our senior year?” Peter and I got along but we were definitely opposites.
He was a much more spirited kind of guy.
“I suppose. Just means there’s one less year between us and
graduation.”
“Oh come on, Jeff! Get a little excited!” He said while
punching me in the arm.
We stood there talking for a minute when I heard a musical
voice behind me,
“Well, Jefferson Hobble, I’m so glad I ran into you. . . “ I
knew who it was before even turning around. It was Rosamund Carter.
****Star****
Oh yay. It’s Rosamund! I thought sarcastically to myself.
She was always trying to flirt
with Jeff. Half the girls in the school tried to flirt with him, but he
never seemed to notice. Rosamund was always particularly annoying about her
flirting though. No shame in flaunting herself. Doesn’t she realize how desperate it makes her look?
“Oh hey Rosamund. How was your summer?” I heard Jeff
ask.
Why do that Jeff! Now she’s going to
stand here and talk to us. It was
just part of what Jeff did; like he was always running for office. Always being
nice to everyone.
“Oh you know the usual, laid out by the pool in my bikini
while sipping on some iced tea. I tried to call you a couple of times to see if
you wanted to come over and swim.”
Yeah,
swim, I’m sure that’s what you had in mind.
“I was real busy this summer working on the ranch between
that and helping Star’s mom, Star and I didn’t have much time for anything
else.” At the sound of him saying my name Rosamund finally turned to
acknowledge me.
“Oh, hi Star! I didn’t see you standing there. Of course
where else would you be besides standing next to Jeff.” She always sounded. .
.jealous; like she resented me
somehow. I usually tried to brush it
off.
“Hi Rosamund. Nice to see you.” I replied civilly.
“Jefferson, what class do you have first?”
She was always
calling him Jefferson too. No one called him that. I always envisioned taking
my hand and hitting her between the eyes to beat it into her. “It’s Jeff! Not
Jefferson!” I wanted to scream at her. I never did it, but it was fun to imagine.
“I’ve got English.” He replied.
“Well, how about that! So do I! Want to walk together?” Oh puke! If she lays it on any thicker I’m
going to have to find a toilet.
“Sure. Guess we should head that way since it’s almost time
for class. Later guys.” I watched them turn and walk toward their class. As
they were walking I saw Rosamund slip her arm through Jeff’s and laugh at
something he said. Something I was sure wasn’t as funny as she was pretending
it was but that’s what Rosamund was, a pretender.
I looked over at Peter and he was staring after them.
“Hellllloooo Peter! Are you there?”
He snapped out of it. “Yeah, man she’s so pretty.”
“Who, Rosemund?” He nodded.
I scolfed.
“Better get going to class Peter, don’t want to be late on
your first day.”
“You’re always so good to us, Star. Always looking out for
us. Thanks!”
With that Peter closed his locker and ran to his first
class. Yep, always looking out for you
guys. Something told me I’d be doing that later with Jeff. Since he seemed
so oblivious to Miss Pretender, I needed to warn him about her.
