SENIOR YEAR
By: Sarah Wartman
PART SIX
I took my earrings out and cleaned out the pockets of my khakis before changing into my pajamas. I pulled out the slip of paper with Joey’s phone number and I smiled. I placed it on my bulletin board, next to Mrs. Bass’s number.
I got in bed and started thinking. ‘Maybe it won’t be so bad here, as long as I see more of those guys,’ I thought as I drifted to sleep.
*****
“Hey Nicki!”
“Hey girl! What’s up? You look extremely happy today.” She told me.
“I am. Last night I met and hung out with some awesome guys,” I told her, shutting my locker. I leaned against it as I talked to her.
Nicki shut her locker and looked at me. “Were they cute?”
“Oh my gosh, yes, all of them were!” I told her, laughing.
“Cool! You can tell me all about it at lunch, okay? Find me, I wanna hear all about it! But for now, gym class is calling,” she said.
“Have fun,” I said as I picked up my backpack and headed to first period.
*****
The bell was about to ring to end third hour when I heard the PA system click on. “Could the following people please report to the office….” I looked up as I heard my name. ‘What? It’s my second day here and I already have to go to the office?’ I thought as I picked up my backpack.
I walked into an almost empty office and saw a lady behind a desk in the corner.
“Yeah, hi, my name is Sarah Wartman. I was just called in here,” I told her.
She searched her desk and handed me an envelope. “Someone brought this in for you,” she said and went back to her paperwork.
“Wonder who,” I said as I opened the envelope. I smiled as I read the words inside:
PART SEVEN
I sat down on the curb and waited. I pulled my knees to my chest and took a deep breath. ‘How cool is this?’ I thought. ‘I have made friends with five cute, cool guys my first day here’. I squealed as a Jeep pulled up beside me.
“Hey good looking,” Joey said after whistling out the window. “Need a ride?” he asked me.
I stood up and smiled. “You offering?” He got out and opened the door for me. I winked at him as I got up front between him and JC, who was driving.
“Hey JC,” I said as he started pulling away from the school.
“Hey you,” he said.
I turned around to see Chris, Justin and Lance squished in the back. I laughed. “Hey guys,” I said.
“Hey,” they said. “How’s school?” Chris asked me.
“Boring,” I told him.
“Made lots of friends?” JC asked.
I turned around. “Not really. Just a girl named Nicki who has a locker next to me. The only person who’s bothered to speak to me since I got here.”
“Hey!” Joey said, obviously offended.
“At school, you nerd,” I told him, punching him in the arm.
We were driving down a busy highway and all of a sudden this funky song came over the radio and all the guys started singing loudly and jamming to it. It was so funny, I couldn’t help but laugh.
‘You’re all I ever wanted,
You’re all I ever needed.
So tell me what to do now,
When I want….you….back.’
“Wow, guys,” I said as my laughing subsided. “I take it you like that song?”
“Yeah,” Justin said. “The group that sings it is pretty cool, too….” He said, right before Chris hit him upside the head.
“Who’s the group? Who sings it?” I asked, looking at them.
PART EIGHT
“Oh, here, Sarah,” JC said, pulling up to the school. “You better hurry or you’ll be late!” he said before anyone could answer my question.
I put my backpack over my shoulder and ran towards the door, wearing a huge smile. I heard the Jeep pull away and I stopped dead in my tracks. ‘I told Nicki I’d eat lunch with her.’ I thought as I raced to my locker, hoping she’d be there.
She looked up as I raced towards her. “Nicki!”
She shut her locker and turned towards me. “Where were you? I looked for you at lunch and couldn’t find you.”
“I know, I’m sorry, I wasn’t here,” I told her. I couldn’t control the smile that came across my face thinking about it, which caused her to smile in return.
She tilted her head. “What?” she asked me, grinning.
“Oh nothing. They had me excused for lunch,” I told her, opening my locker.
“Ohhh….how cool! When do I get to meet them?”
“Oh but, that means I’d have to share them!” I said, giggling. “You want to meet them?”
“Duh, of course!”
“Well, okay. I’ll ask them to do something this weekend and I’ll call you,” I told her.
*****
It was a Thursday evening and I was finishing up my English homework. I closed my textbook as my phone rang. ‘Thank God tomorrow’s Friday.’ I thought as I reached for my phone.
“Hello?” I asked, as I started putting my books in my backpack.
"Hey you.”
I smiled. “Hey, Joey.”
“What’s up girl?” he asked me.
“Not much, just finished some homework,” I told him.
“Man, is that all you ever do? Study?” he asked me, laughing.
I laughed. “Well, if I want to get into a good college….” I said, reaching for my TV remote.
“Oh well, guess you have a point there. So, anything new? Made lots of new friends?”
“Not really. A few, I guess. This girl who has a locker by me is really cool, her name is Nicki. She’s a sweetheart.” I said, sitting down on my bed.
“That’s cool, I guess. Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Shoot,” I said, flipping through the channels.
“Got any plans for tomorrow night?”
“No, why?”
“Well, the guys wanted me to call and make sure you didn’t have any hot dates or anything.”
I laughed. “And why is that?”
“Well, because we have a surprise planned for you and we wanted to make sure you were free….”
PART NINE
It was last hour and I was so anxious for this school day to be over. I had just finished my homework when Mrs. Bass came up to me.
“Are you excited for tonight,” she asked me, smiling.
“What are they gonna do?” I begged her.
“I was sworn to secrecy, Sarah, sorry!” she said, before smiling and walking away.
The bell rang and I raced out of the room. I didn’t even go to my locker, just ran out of the building and into the Acura that was waiting for me in the parking lot.
“Hey guys,” I said after getting in the passenger side. Joey was driving and Chris was slumped in the back. They had baseball hats pulled down below their face, which I thought was kind of weird.
“How you doing, sunshine?” Chris asked me, leaning forward and kissing me on the cheek.
“I’m great,” I squealed, turning to face both of them. “So, spill it, already, I hate surprises!”
“No way,” Joey said, smiling at me.
“Oh, okay, fine then! Be that way!” I said and turned to Chris. “What’s the plan?”
“Well, we’re going straight to my house, unless you need to stop by yours first,” he told me.
“Yeah, we better. I need to leave my mom a note telling her where I’ll be and when I’ll be home, you know, all that good stuff,” I said. “Oh, and I want to get my camera.”
“Oh, yeah, better get that,” Joey added.
I ran inside and up to my room. I grabbed my camera and went over to my desk to find a sticky note. I wrote my mom a message and ran back down the stairs. Walking past the refrigerator, I found an empty magnet to use and left the message, then ran out the door and back to the car.
“Alright, ready,” I said, jumping in the car, totally out of breath. Chris and Joey just laughed.
We pulled into the driveway, right behind JC’s Jeep. I got out and smiled. Joey came around the other side of the car while Chris went inside.
“Ready?” he asked me. I smiled and nodded. He smiled back and held out his hand to me. I took it and he led me inside.
We walked in and the other four were watching ‘Jerry Springer’. I plopped down on the sofa next to Justin.
“So, Jerry Springer’s my surprise then?” I asked them.
“Okay, okay,” Chris said. All five stood up in front of me and suddenly started singing:
‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you,
Please don’t take my sunshine away.’
I put my hands up to cover my gaping mouth. They finished and I smiled.
“What is this all about?” I asked them, grinning.
“Well, we could tell you were kind of sad about being new here and not having many friends, so decided to adopt you.”
I laughed. “What?”
“Well, you are now our little sister, our little sunshine. We’re now you’re five big brothers, here at your service. You need a date to the movies, you call one of us. You need help on homework, you call one of us. You have boy problems, you definitely call one of us,” Chris told me, smiling.
I laughed. “Wow….well, I always wanted a big brother. Now, I guess I have five.”
“And to celebrate, we’re taking you to DisneyWorld tomorrow….” Lance told me.
PART TEN
I screamed and jumped up off the sofa. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope,” JC said. I ran to them and hugged them.
“Why are you guys being so nice to me? You barely know me.”
“Well, it’s not often we meet a nice girl just like you. We don’t have too many friends here….” JC answered.
“But you guys have been here a lot longer than me.” I told them. “You don’t have many friends?”
“Well, we’re not here much, because of our job,” Justin said. All the guys looked at him.
“What do you guys do, anyway?” I asked them.
“We travel a lot. We all work for the same company,” Chris said. They all looked away from me, giving me the hint to not ask any more questions about their job.
“Okay. Oh, I’m so excited! I’ve never been to DisneyWorld!”
“Even better!” Joey said, putting his arm around my waist, and pulling me unusually close to him.
“Do you guys mind if I ask Nicki to come along? She’s dying to meet theses guys that I’m always talking about….”
All the guys looked at each other for a while. They finally shrugged and JC said, “Sure.”
I ran over to the phone and dialed Nicki’s number. She wasn’t home, as I expected, so I left a message.
“Nicki? Hey, it’s Sarah. Just calling to tell you you’re coming to DisneyWorld tomorrow with me and my friends you’ve been dying to meet. I’ll call you later on tonight and talk to you about it. Bye.”
“So,” I said, hanging up the phone. “What are we doing tonight?”
“Anything you want,” Joey said, coming up beside me.
“Okay,” I said, thinking. “I know. I want a tour of Orlando.”
We hopped in the Jeep and the guys showed me the city. Joey pointed out all the good clubs and JC pointed out all the good museums. I had such a good time and I couldn’t WAIT until tomorrow!
*****
I switched on the TV and sighed. I went over to my vanity and sat down and started to take out my earrings and take out my contacts. I was so excited about tomorrow, I know I wouldn't get a wink of sleep tonight.
Suddenly a familiar song came over the TV and I smiled, remembering how the guys had gone crazy singing to this song.
‘It’s hard to say I’m sorry,
It’s hard to make the things I did, undone.
A lesson I’ve learned to well for sure.’
I turned around to watch the video and see who this group was and gasped in shock.
TO BE CONTINUED