Page 34 of Resurrection
"Burn, Pratt," another voice murmured.
"No one cares about that bullshit anymore," Lachlan gritted out. "It’s ancient history."
"Ancient history for you, sure. Not for me, asshole."
If my mother had heard me then, she would’ve grounded me for a week. There would’ve been lectures on language too. But my mother wasn’t in that cafeteria. Ty was. He was by my side all of a sudden, helping Decker up.
"Who the hell are you to talk to me like this?" Lachlan moved toward me,the distance between us becoming uncomfortable. Plus, he was much taller, and it was intimidating.
"If you take one more step, I’ll turn you into dirt," Ty said, placing himself right in front of Lachlan.
"Get out of my way, fresh meat."
"We’ll see who the fresh meat is next time I see you outside," Ty supplied.
Just then, a teacher appeared, and everyone dispersed silently.
The bell had just rung, signaling the start of the last period of the day. Students were slowly filing into the classroom, chatting animatedly with their friends as they found their seats.
Britney and I made our way to our usual desks near the front. I was unpacking my books when I heard Shauna from behind me.
"Okay, spill!" she demanded, leaning forward in her chair. "I saw you with the new guy at lunch. What's the deal?"
Brittney nodded eagerly. "He's so cute! You have to introduce us."
I felt a flush creep up my cheeks. "W-well, his family just moved in next door."
"Seriously?" Shauna’s eyes sparkled.
Brittney arched one perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "Come on, give us the details! What's his name? Where's he from? Does he have a girlfriend?"
Shauna giggled, unable to contain her excitement. "He looked so good in those jeans. Do you think he'd go out with one of us?"
I held up my hands, laughing nervously. "Whoa, slow down, you guys! I don't know that much about him. He just moved here from Lone Palm. His dad has a construction company. That's all I've learned so far."
Brittney pouted dramatically. "Well, you better find out more. We need the inside scoop!"
Shauna nodded in agreement. "Definitely. I call dibs, though."
The two of them immediately dissolved into a fit of giggles, drawing a few curious glances from the other students near us. I just shook my head and spun back around, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.
"Wait." Brittney leaned in. "Why are you so quiet, Naomi? Or did you already call dibs?"
I turned my head and stuck my tongue out at her. "None of your business."
Saturdays were the unofficial family business days—school year or not—in the Medina household. During the summer, both Adri and I helped at TheGobbler. But during football season, my brother would always find an excuse not to show up. Football practice, blah, blah, blah. So I ended up being the one helping customers and scrubbing the truck each evening.
I knew he wasn’t really practicing half the time. That talentless goon of a brother was less than a year away from his eighteenth birthday and had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.
In some ways, football was probably a roundabout method of postponing the inevitable—the actual adulthood.
And maybe, just maybe, I felt a little sorry for my older brother as I was handling onions that September morning when Ty strutted into view outside The Gobbler. All brooding swag and that bad-boy attitude.
The food truck was parked where it always was during the busiest weekends—in its designated spot in the town center. It was a hot metal box bursting with smells and noise and more life than anything else in the area. We’d been open for a couple of hours now, and my arms hurt from all the prep I’d had to do because the girl who worked for us had come down with something and called in sick.
We were short-staffed, with Mom currently in the corner, wrestling with tortillas and yelling at Adri over the phone toget his ass to the town center.
Dad worked the grill, and his laughter was loud and infectious. Even when we were slammed, he always smiled and talked to the customers like they were his friends.
