Mack didn’t think he looked like a creep, but to say so would sentence her to a life in teenage exile so she kept quiet.
At that moment the teacher arrived in the classroom and attention focused on work.
Mack kept her head down and said very little.
When they went to the cafeteria for lunch, this time she sat with Kennedy and her friends.
It was obvious that they were the golden group, the elites that others watched with envy.
They laughed loudly and were confident.
Mack saw a few kids sitting alone, and was relieved not to be one of them.
During break she sneaked a text to her mom.
Staying after school with friends. Home late.
The reply came moments later.
So proud of you joining a club and making friends so fast. Go you! xx
Mack felt a twinge of guilt but told herself it was just some lighthearted fun with a bunch of cool people.
What could go wrong?
During the drive to the beach she was squashed in the back seat between two girls she didn’t know and a boy who obviously thought it wasn’t cool to shower. There weren’t enough seat belts for all of them, but they’d joked that if they had an accident they’d be wedged too tightly to be thrown anywhere.
Mack laughed, too, although it took effort. Some of the roads on the island were single track and bumpy. She would have felt better having a seat belt.
Kennedy’s brother, Nick, was driving and during the general chat Mack discovered he was a senior and off to Harvard to study medicine in the fall.
Medicine. He was going to be a doctor. That had to make him sensible and responsible, didn’t it? Mack relaxed slightly. The feeling lasted until he parked at the beach, popped the trunk of his car and she saw the booze.
Panic lodged itself in her chest.
If there was one thing that freaked her mom out, it was underage drinking. The drinking laws were more lenient in the UK but that hadn’t helped her when she’d had her vodka moment.
The other kids all seemed so confident and comfortable, and she felt horribly out of place. She didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want to do this.
She watched as Nick tossed a beer to one of his friends and grabbed one for himself.
Her mom had drilled into her that she should never get into a car with someone who had been drinking, but to refuse a ride home would risk alienating her new friends. It would also mean she’d be stranded at the beach.
She had no idea how to get back to The Captain’s House from here and it would be dark soon.
It seemed she was stuck with her new friends.
She glanced desperately at Kennedy, but the other girl was busy laughing and flirting with one of the older boys.
“So, you’re Mack?” One of Nick’s friends strolled over to her. He was good-looking and his smile was friendly. “I’m Mitch, and you must be new. I haven’t seen you around.”
Mack relaxed slightly. “I just moved here from London.”
She allowed herself a small smile. Mack and Mitch? That was never going to work.
“London, England?” He took a swig of beer. “You ever see the queen?”
Definitely never going to work.