Tear (Seaside 1)

Evan peeled the banana and took a huge bite. “Please. Any guy would be putty in your hands, Nat. You’re freaking hot.”

I rolled my eyes, as I did whenever I got a compliment, and was relieved when the teacher told us to take our seats.

“Now, as you all know, this school is part of an exchange student program with other schools around the world.” Mr. Meservy cleared his throat and continued, “Because of this program—Evan! Throw that banana peel elsewhere, perhaps the trash can? Not the floor, or I’m going to make you scrub it with a toothbrush.”

Evan threw up his hands and made a giant show of throwing the banana into the trash can and returned to his seat. The chair squeaking against the floor.

“You may continue, sir.” Evan saluted and winked.

I rolled my eyes and turned back around to face Mr. Meservy. He wasn’t my favorite teacher, probably because he was freakishly young and reminded me somewhat of my dad. Weird comparison, I know. In all honesty he looked exactly like pictures of my father when he was young. I only know this because upon seeing him for the first time my mom nearly had a heart attack.

But that’s beside the point. Teachers aren’t supposed to be only a few years older than students. It’s just not right. He had to fight twice as hard to earn the respect due than all the rest of the teachers, even though he was three times as good and brilliant to match.

Mr. Meservy shook his head. “As I was saying…” He gave Evan a pointed glare. “Our school is part of an exchange program, and although we’ve never had any students utilize this wonderful opportunity, there are two students originally from British Columbia that have taken our school up on this offer.”

Two students? Were those the boys I saw this morning? Were they brothers or just friends? They looked like polar opposites. I bit my lip and began tapping my pen against my desk.

“Let’s all give them a warm welcome, and please try to be civil, people. We don’t want to scare them into thinking Seaside is filled with druggies and gang bangers.” You’d think Mr. Meservy was welcoming the president or something with all the warnings he was giving us, but then again, nothing exciting ever happened here so it kind of made sense.

A sudden knock at the door interrupted his speech.

Every head in the room turned.

The two guys from the hallway walked in. Alec, the brooding one, looked like he’d rather be run over with a car then be in the classroom. And Demetri had his perma-smile pasted across his mouth as if it was the most fun he’d had in years.

“Welcome, welcome.” Okay why was Mr. Meservy bowing to them? He clasped his hands in front of him as if he was in the presence of George Clooney and bowed. Yes, our very lame teacher from Seaside, Oregon just bowed to the exchange students. I could have died.

Shocked, I could only watch as Demetri smirked in my direction then returned Mr. Meservy’s bow with one of his own. Alec, however, was motionless. His eyes seemed to darken even more as he looked at every person in the room but me. I know because I was waiting for it. Stupid, but I wanted him to look at me. And again, I blame TV. I liked his brooding attitude even though I knew it was just a sign of his immaturity and lack of personality. I couldn’t help it.

Demetri winked at me then looked at Mr. Meservy and pumped his hand. “Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I also don’t think I’ve been on the receiving end of a bow since I played Prince Charming in first grade.”

Mr. Meservy blushed to the roots of his hair, probably just now realizing that yes, he had indeed bowed to the Canadians. “Well…” He cleared his throat. “Again, welcome to Seaside High.”

Demetri nodded and made his way to the back of the class. Alec trailed behind, but not before stopping at my desk. Our eyes met, and I couldn’t pull my gaze away. He was staring through me, uncomfortably so. I opened my mouth to speak but wasn’t really sure what to say. Finally, after what was most likely an awkward silence for everyone else in the room but us, Alec spoke.

“I think you dropped this.” He placed a pink pen on my desk and continued to his seat in the back. My heart thumped wildly in my chest. Mouth still hanging slightly ajar, I quickly clenched the pen and willed myself to look back at the front of the room.

It was as if nobody had seen the intense exchange between us.

Except five minutes later, I realized I was still clenching the pen and hadn’t yet opened my book. It was like I had spaced out or something.

“Geez, Nat, it’s just a pen,” Evan mumbled behind me. I laughed right along with him even though my heart was still hammering in my chest. The two new kids were gorgeous, that much was obvious, but a small part of me seemed to find them familiar. As if I’d seen them before?

I stole a peek behind me, irritated that Evan tried to block my view. Alec looked away but Demetri flashed me another heart-stopping smile.

And then it hit me.

I knew exactly who those boys were.

Unfortunately, my realization came at the same time as every other girl in the classroom.

The whispering grew louder and then some of the girls shrieked. I looked back at Evan who seemed to be slowly trying to figure out the same thing. He looked at me, then back at the boys, then back at me.

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone careful not to let my teacher see. I was so not going to give him ten dollars just because my friend was painfully disconnected from the world enough not to know who those guys were.

I searched AD2 on my phone and held it up to Evan.