The Help (Kings of Linwood Academy 1)

“Ugh. Nissan, please.” The truck isn’t even that big, but I still cringe at the idea of trying to navigate my way through traffic in that thing.

“Deal.” She fishes her keys out of her pocket, closes and locks the front door of the house, and then hands the key ring to me. “You know where we’re stopping, right? In case we get separated.”

I roll my eyes. “Yup, I know, Mom. And I’ve got GPS on my phone. I’ll be fine.”

We’re heading down the walk toward the beat-up Nissan Versa and the moving truck parked by the curb when the door to the house across the street opens. Before I can get a word out, a tiny blonde figure barrels across the street and throws herself at me. I stagger back from the impact, wrapping my arms around Hunter in a hug as I chuckle sardonically.

“Didn’t we say no more goodbyes?”

“Yeah, we did.” She releases me just as quickly as she grabbed me. Hunter always moves like she’s over the legal limit of caffeine in her bloodstream. “But I lied, so there.”

“Why am I not surprised?” I huff another laugh as I see my mom give a small wave and hop into the truck. She knows I’ll be right behind her, and I think she wants to let me say goodbye to my best friend in private.

I may be shorter than my mom, but I’m a fucking giant compared to Hunter. On the surface, the two of us shouldn’t even be friends at all. She’s four-foot-ten of exuberant energy, talkative and outgoing. I’m… not. But then again, maybe that’s why we’re friends. On the day her family moved in five years ago, she marched over and introduced herself, and we’ve been close ever since.

She’s the only real reason I’m sad to leave Bayard behind. Everything else, I could pretty much take or leave.

We watch my mom pull the truck away and head down the street, and I twirl the key ring around one finger. When the large U-Haul disappears around a corner, Hunter turns to face me.

“So when do you start at your new richy-rich school?”

I shrug. “I dunno. About a week, I think?”

“I can’t believe she got you enrolled in some private school as part of her contract. These people must be richer than fucking God.”

&nbs

p; “Yeah, I think they are.” I scrunch up my nose. “But I’ll have to work for it too. I’m basically gonna be my mom’s assistant. I won’t work full-time because of classes, but it’s not like I’ll be lounging around eating bon-bons or anything.”

We’re just making lame conversation at this point, delaying the inevitable. I only found out I was leaving two weeks ago, and everything has moved so fast since then it almost gives me whiplash. Hunter and I did our tearful goodbye early, the day I told her I was leaving. Every day since then, it’s started to seem a little more real, and now we both just feel resigned.

“Oh, hey!” She perks up suddenly, digging into her back pocket. “I almost forgot. This is for you.” She grabs my hand and presses a worn poker chip into my palm, then folds my fingers around it. “For good luck.”

Fuck. I thought I was done crying, but tears prick at the corners of my eyes as my fist closes around the chip. It just reminds me how well Hunter knows me, which reminds me how damn much I’m going to miss her.

I don’t say anything, just wrap my arms around her in another hug, still clutching the poker chip in my hand. She hugs me back, and I hear her voice whisper from somewhere near my armpit, “Gonna miss the fuck out of you, Low.”

“You too, Dummy.”

She finally pulls away, pursing her lips and blinking hard. Then she punches me lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t fall in love with any rich boys. They’re trouble.”

A grin tilts my lips, and it feels way better than crying. “Yeah, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“You never know. They’re sneaky.”

I laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

If I don’t hurry up, Mom’s probably going to circle back around the block to make sure she didn’t lose me, so I head to the car. Hunter remains on the sidewalk, hands on her hips and eyes squinted against the Arizona sun.

“And don’t accept rides from strangers!”

“Thanks, Mother.”

“Look both ways before crossing the street!”

I climb into the car and roll down the passenger window, ducking my head to peer out at her. “Get it all out while you still can.”

She grins at me, her pixie face lighting up. “Don’t eat yellow snow!”