After skinny-dipping and an uneventful game of spin the bottle, Jill, Lorylyn, and Hilton danced on the patio for a long time, reveling in their last weekend night of the summer.
Later they went to join Landon and Brady, who were drinking beers at the picnic table. Hilton and Lorylyn sat on Landon’s and Brady’s laps, and Jill sat on the table between the two couples. She was relieved when Todd and Bennett approached them; she hated feeling like a fifth wheel.
“Anyone wanna come with me to get another beer?” Todd asked.
“I’ll go,” Jill said quickly, hopping off the table and brushing off her butt.
As they walked up to the patio where the coolers were, Todd slung his arm around Jill’s shoulders, and the thrill raced through her body that she got every time he touched her. She put her arm around his waist.
“It’s been a pretty fun summer, huh?” Todd asked as they walked along companionably. Jill couldn’t tell how drunk he was.
“Yeah, it’s been awesome.”
“Yeah, it’s been pretty good. California was fun. We hung out a lot this summer, didn’t we? And I’m all buff now too.” He flexed the arm that wasn’t around Jill, and she laughed and hit him lightly in the stomach. The hardness of it gave her a little thrill. He really had gotten buff. She could tell now that he was pretty wasted.
“Yeah, I guess we did hang out a lot.”
“Yeah. It was cool. That was pretty funny in LA when people thought I was your boyfriend.”
“Oh my gosh! You embarrassed me so bad!”
Todd grinned and laughed. “Yeah, that was pretty cool.”
“Yeah, it was fabulous,” Jill said sarcastically.
“Oh, whatever, don’t even tell me you didn’t have a good time. I hope you had a good time, anyway. ‘Cause I have a lot of fun hangin’ out with you, Jilly. You’re my bestest girl friend.”
Jill grinned at the ground as they approached the coolers. She’d been dying to hear him say that ever since the first time she saw Dawson’s Creek last winter and became obsessed with the idea of having a best friend who was a guy.
“Am I your bestest guy friend?” Todd asked as he bent down and grabbed two beers. He offered one to Jill, and she took it.
“Of course,” she said, twisting the cap off in her shirt.
“Good.” Todd slung his arm around her again as they started back toward the picnic table. “I hope I am. ‘Cause you’re really my best girl friend. And you’re the only one who knows about my parents.”
“I know. Thanks for telling me. I’m glad you trust me.” She looked up at him.
“I do trust you. I love you, Jilly.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head, and Jill’s felt a warmth flow through her body.
These were the moments she waited for...the ones just like this. Being with Todd, and him being flirty and touching her and saying he loved her in a way that she knew he meant it, even if it wasn’t the same way she loved him. She loved his playful flirtatiousness, and she loved when he acted more vulnerable and showed his emotions, and tonight it was a mixture of both. At that moment, as they rejoined the group at the picnic table and she gazed at his long blond-brown hair and chocolate eyes and newly toned body and replayed everything he’d just said, she thought she was more in love with him than ever.
sophomore year
1998-1999
so caught up in all the sweet stuff
chapter 1) back in the habit
When Tuesday arrived, Jill was up early and eager to go to school. She knew she’d probably be dead tired by the end of the week, but for now she was excited. She loved starting new classes and seeing who was in them, and she knew she had lots of classes with her friends. She was a little nervous about geography and mythology today, since she didn’t know of anyone in either class, but at least she started the day in English with Hilton and Todd and ended it in Algebra II with Lorylyn. She could definitely get used to seeing Todd first hour. It’d be a good way to start the day.
She’d spent an hour picking out her outfit last night. Her mom had taken her shopping at the mall in Logan last week to get a bunch of new clothes for school, and Jill couldn’t choose what to wear for the first day. Finally she’d picked out a new pair of jean shorts and a short-sleeved navy blue Abercrombie and Fitch shirt. Logan’s mall had just gotten Abercrombie over the summer, and it was a huge deal. Brinkley’s mall didn’t have it yet, so Jill had begged her mom to take her to Logan, and she’d bought as much stuff there as her mom would let her, which had included two pairs of jeans, two short-sleeved shirts, and two long-sleeved shirts. She couldn’t wait to show off her new wardrobe at school.
Hilton picked Jill up for school since it was on her way into Brinkley anyway, and it was a whole different experience to park in the front parking lot and come in those doors. Last year, one of Jill’s parents had always dropped her off at the side door where there was a spot to pull up by the sidewalk. As they walked through the front doors and headed for their lockers in the sophomore hallways, Jill felt so much older, like she ruled a little piece of the school now. It was a great feeling.
She and Hilton went to each other’s lockers and deposited their bags for cheerleading practice. They had come in Thursday between their morning and afternoon practices to decorate their lockers, and Jill’s had pictures of the Friends and Dawson’s Creek casts, cut-out blue and green letters spelling her name, and a mirror in the shape of a megaphone with BCHS Cheerleader painted in green and gold around the edges. She’d also cut out some random words from magazines and taped them up, such as love, boys, friends, laugh, fun, party, and sophomore. She checked her appearance quickly in the mirror and smoothed down her hair.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she said to Hilton, slamming her locker shut.
They went to find Lorylyn. She was standing in the commons outside the cafeteria with Brady and Landon, who were sitting on the counter of the coat check room that was used for dances and other school events. The room was closed now, but it had one of those slide-up screens like concession stands had, and Brady and Landon were sitting on the part of the counter that was outside the screen.
“Hey, guys!” Hilton said as she and Jill approached.
As they stood and talked, Jill looked at everyone passing by. Lots of freshmen she didn’t know, but lots of familiar faces too. She hadn’t seen Todd yet. This was really fun, she decided, hanging out here like this in the morning. She hoped it’d become an every-morning thing, because she felt cool here with this group, and it was a good place to people-watch.
Their group lingered after the five-minute warning bell rang, and finally, with only a couple minutes till the final bell, they headed their separate ways. When Hilton and Jill entered English class, the room was nearly full, and they took two seats on the far side by the window.
“Hi, Jilly!” Todd yelled over the noisy room, waving at her from the opposite corner where he sat with a few guys. One was Nick Castle, the teacher’s son. He’d gone to BJ, Jill’s junior high, and had been on Homecoming Court last year with Paige Largo, his girlfriend since fifth grade.
Jill smiled and waved back at Todd, wishing she and Hilton had gotten here earlier so she could’ve sat by him. She hoped they didn’t get stuck in the seats they were in now.
As it turned out, Mrs. Castle sat them alphabetically. Jill rolled her eyes. How annoying. Her last name was at the end of the alphabet, Hilton’s was in the middle, and Todd’s was at the beginning. But Mrs. Castle promised it’d only be for a couple weeks, and she said she usually gave a new seating chart about every three weeks after that.
That was good at least, Jill thought, because she’d probably at least get to sit by Todd or Hilton sometime this year. Jill had heard Mrs. Castle was pretty cool, and a lot better than Mr. Grayson, her English teacher last year. So hopefully this would be a pretty good class.
***
Jill spent the whole eight-minute passing period after English walking with and talking to Hilton. She wasn??
?t at all excited about going to geography. She hoped there’d at least be someone she was sort of friends with in there.
Finally, when the one-minute bell rang, Jill hurried to the social studies hallway and slipped in the door just as the bell rang. She slid into a seat in the back row and dropped her bag beside her desk, doing her best to look bored. She was imitating the way she’d seen Brooke slide into her cafeteria seat last year, because Brooke always exuded confidence and self-assurance. Jill was actually nervous about being in what could be a mostly freshman class and being the odd one out.
Their teacher walked in the room just then, carrying a clipboard. It was Mr. Leverett, the baseball coach.
“All right, hey, everybody, I’m Coach Leverett. Most of my players just call me Coach Lever, so you can too if you want. So I’ve made up a little seating chart, so I’m gonna go ahead and read that off so I can see who everybody is and take attendance. So over here in the front we have...”
Jill sighed and got ready to pick up her backpack and move. Coach Lever read off a few names. No one Jill knew.
“Jill Sherer.”
Yes! she thought. Back row. She smiled as she moved over to her new seat. That was a plus, at least! And she knew this class would be a blow-off too.
Coach Lever moved and pointed at the desk next to Jill’s in the back row. “Detter Colby.”
Jill looked up in surprise. Detter stood up from a desk in the front corner and walked over to his new seat.
He smiled shyly when he saw Jill watching him. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey! How’s it goin’?”
“Um, pretty good, I guess.”
“How’s your first day of school?”
“Not too bad.”
“What’d you have first period?”
“Um...English.”
“Oh, do you have Grayson?” Jill asked eagerly.
Detter gave her a dubious look and nodded.
“Oh no! That sucks. He’s awful. Well, I guess it’s not that bad. It’s actually kinda a blow-off. But he assigns all this reading and then doesn’t even go over all of it, but sometimes there’s pop quizzes. So you, like, never know what you need to read and stuff.”
“Oh, that sucks.”
“Yeah.” Jill glanced around the room, not knowing what else to say. She was excited though. Detter was cute, and now she wasn’t all by herself in geography.
***
Hilton and Hillary and Lorylyn all had A lunch, so Jill knew they would be going right to the cafeteria after second period. Jill walked slowly to mythology, which was kind of between the social studies and English hallways. The only other person she knew who had B lunch with her was Todd. She was really hoping she’d get to sit with him, and she was trying to figure out how fast she needed to get to the cafeteria. She wanted him to already be there so that he’d invite her over to sit with him, but she couldn’t get there so late that his table would already be full. Her timing would have to be perfect. She was already nervous; lunch was in half an hour, in the middle of mythology.
She walked into the nearly empty classroom and chose a desk along the wall by the door. Todd had Algebra II this period, so he’d be a little closer to the cafeteria than her, but coming from the other direction. Maybe if she walked fast, she could actually meet up with him in the commons right outside...but then if she went too fast and missed him, she might get to the cafeteria before him...
“Hey, Jill!”
She blinked and turned at the sound of her name. Brooke was flashing her a grin as she sat down next to her. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m good,” Jill said, surprised. She couldn’t believe Brooke was sitting by her, after all that had happened last year with Lorylyn.
“Good. Are you having fun in cheerleading this year?”
“Yeah. I like not being the youngest.”
“Hell yeah,” Brooke said, nodding and grinning again. “It’s awesome being a sophomore. I had a great time last year.”
Yeah you did, Jill thought sarcastically. Ruining Lorylyn’s life. But then Jill remembered what Hilton had said about Brooke getting played by Brady, and she felt a little sorry for her again. “So how’s Matt?” she asked, trying to make conversation.
“He’s good. We’re officially together now. He asked me at Hilton’s birthday party.” Brooke smiled, and Jill thought she looked truly happy.
Good, Jill thought. I hope she is, ‘cause that means she’s definitely over Brady. “Aww, that’s awesome! Congratulations,” she said aloud.
“Thanks!”
Class started then, and they got to keep the seats they were in. Ms. Kirkwood didn’t even say anything about a seating chart, and Jill could tell right away she was going to love both Ms. Kirkwood and the class. She didn’t know much about mythology but had always found it fascinating, and as Ms. Kirkwood briefly went over the syllabus and the things they would cover, Jill was already caught up in the subject. Ms. Kirkwood was young, probably mid-twenties, with shoulder-length reddish-brown hair. She was really pretty, and she seemed so laid-back and fun. So far, this was definitely the best class of the day in terms of the curriculum.
When the bell rang for lunch, Jill hurried for the door, then decided she needed to slow down a little to make sure Todd beat her.
“Hey,” Brooke said. “Do you wanna sit with us? I know Ashley and Amy are in this lunch, and we’re gonna sit with Kayley and Madison and Shelly.” Ashley and Amy were juniors, both cheerleaders Jill knew from last year. Amy was also on the gymnastics team. Kayley, Madison, and Shelly were senior cheerleaders. Jill knew who they were but didn’t really know them; they’d been on varsity last year and she’d never really cheered with them.
“Um...yeah, sure.” Jill felt bummed; she’d really been hoping to sit with Todd. But now at least she knew she had people to sit with, and that group of girls was way better than random people. Plus, if Todd invited her to sit with him, she still could...
When Jill and Brooke walked into the cafeteria, Kayley and Ashley waved them over from a round center table. It was right next to the table where Jill had sat first semester last year. As she followed Brooke, Jill’s eyes darted around the large room, looking for Todd. Suddenly she saw him; he’d been right in front of her the whole time. He was at a round table catty-cornered from the one where Kayley and Ashley sat. His table was already filled with baseball players, mostly older guys. Jill was glad she’d found somewhere else to sit. And at least they’d be close!
She tried to catch his eye, but he was busy talking. She sat down at her table and made some small talk with the other girls about the first day of classes, but she had a feeling she wouldn’t really talk much at this table. They were all on the varsity squad together, and they’d have all kinds of stories and things going on Jill wouldn’t know about. She glanced around to see if there was anyone else she knew. She saw a table of freshman girls with a few cheerleaders at it. She smiled and waved at them, and they waved back. They looked eager and big-eyed, probably excited and kind of overwhelmed by the first day of high school, just like Jill had been last year.
Much to Jill’s disappointment, her table and Todd’s weren’t dismissed to get their food at the same time. Her table did go at the same time as the freshman girls’ though, and Jill smiled at the girl next to her as they grabbed trays.
“Hey, Kels, how’s your first day?”
“It’s crazy!” Kelsey said, widening her eyes at Jill and smiling. She was only about 5’1 and had long blonde hair. Jill thought she was adorable, and at practice she reminded Jill a lot of herself a year ago. “I love it though!”
“Yeah, my first day last year was so awesome,” Jill said.
“Excuse me,” Todd said loudly and arrogantly from behind her, and before she could turn around he’d tripped into her, causing her to bend forward over her tray and almost smack her head on the dessert shelf above the main selections. “Oops, sorry,” he said, brushing his hair out of his eyes and not even looking at her. He
reached for a cookie on the dessert shelf.
“Todd! Thanks a lot, jeez!” Jill smacked him in the shoulder, laughing and secretly thrilled.
“Oh, Jilly! Hey! Didn’t even realize that was you.” Todd grinned mischievously at her now from underneath his long hair. “Here you go.” He placed his cookie on her tray.
Jill rolled her eyes at Kelsey, pretending to be annoyed. Kelsey grinned at her and raised her eyebrows. Jill just shook her head slightly and rolled her eyes again, but she loved that Todd was flirting with her in front of Kelsey, and she could tell Kelsey thought there was something going on between them.
Jill paid for her food, and as she and Kelsey were walking out, Todd called after her, “Hey, meet me at our normal spot at midnight tonight, okay?”
“Okay,” Jill said sarcastically.
“Oh my gosh!” Kelsey cried, turning to Jill with a disbelieving grin. “That guy’s so cute! What’s that all about?!”
“Nothing, it’s just a joke,” Jill said, but she was grinning as she sat back down at her table.
***
“So guess who’s in Brady’s Spanish class?” Lorylyn said in a mimicky voice the next morning as she dragged herself into French, sticking her tongue out and rolling her eyes up into her head. Then she giggled.
“Hmmm...Brooke?” Jill asked in a serious tone, giving Lorylyn an innocent, questioning look.
“Uh, how’d you guess?” Lorylyn said in the same mimicky voice, then rolled her eyes and giggled again. As she sat down in the empty desk Jill and Hillary and Hilton had saved for her, she switched to her normal tone. “She walked into the room while I was standing out there with him just now.”
“How fun.” Jill rolled her eyes and looked at Hilton. Hilton stuck her finger down her throat and then pretended to gag and throw up. All the girls giggled.
“Hey, Jill, guess what?” Hillary asked. “Dirk’s in our chem class too! And so him and Todd are gonna be lab partners, and then we can be partners. ‘Cause I heard we get to pick. Right, Hilton? You had it yesterday? So Dirk has weight training first hour, so we have to try and hurry over there and get two tables together. ‘Cause it’s just groups of two right, not four like last year?”