Free Ink by Holly Hood Page A

extended his hand. I placed mine in it and his fingers closed around them.
    “ I swear I’m harmless. Don’t believe all the hype. Is it wrong to turn someone down? Because that’s what I did. And now some of them are out for blood.”
    I thought about this. “No, it’s not wrong. It would be wrong to lead girls on though.”
    “ That I don’t do. If I like you, I’ll say I do. If I don’t, I’ll say get away from me.” He hopped down from the table, pulling me down, and then he finally let go of my hand.
    “ Welcome to Ashwilder, Hope,” he said, going back out the door. As we headed back down the hallway I was starting to feel better about the whole school scenario.
    “ Look, before we go back in,” he grabbed my arm, stopping me. “Your grandma is going to ask if I invited you out, so I really want to do the right thing. Hope, do you want to go out for some ice cream?”
    I crossed my arms, a bit disturbed. “Um, not if you’re doing it out of pity because of Nona.”
    Tucker laughed, “You’re funny. That’s a really great quality in a girl. I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t interested myself. My mom and your Nona were right, you’re something else.”
    I blushed, giving him a nod of agreement. “Fine, then we can go, but as friends, okay?”
    He brought his hand to his heart. “Friends.”
     
     
     
     

First day
     
     
     
     
    I banged on the bathroom door. It was almost seven and Easton was taking his good old time getting ready for school. “Hurry up, I still have to blow dry my hair!”
    Dad shuffled out of his room half asleep, any other day I would have been sorry for waking him, but not today. Today I hoped he could take the door off the hinges and give Easton a good lashing.
    “ Easton Andrew, Hope is going to have a heart attack out in this hallway if you don’t let her finish getting ready for school,” Dad warned, not taking it seriously. This was typical Dad behavior.
    “ It’s not funny, Dad,” I grumbled, giving the door one last kick before I went back to my room. I slammed my door shut, tapping my feet anxiously, waiting to hear the door creak open. But Easton was doing his best to make me late for my first day.
    I dropped to my knees, pulling out my makeup bag. I would have to make do with what I had. I was no girl scout, but I would figure something out. There was no way I was going to school looking like a wet dog. I patted Crawford’s head at the thought of it.
    I did my best to dry my hair with my mini blow dryer that was bought at one of those rest stops on the way here. It was the best I could do right now. I flung my head upside down, drying the under part of my hair.
    “ Hope, you have a guest!” Dad yelled from the hallway.
    I flipped my hair back over my head, totally confused. Who was here before school? I wasn’t even dressed. I grabbed my dark blue jean shorts from my bed, pulling off my pajama pants. This morning was going to be the death of me, I thought, ripping my wife beater over my head.
    The door suddenly flew open. I screamed, covering myself with both hands. Tucker apologized, covering his eyes with his hand. “I didn’t know you would be getting dressed, Hope. I’m sorry.” He shut the door quickly, leaving me completely mortified and as red as a beet.
    I was going to kill Dad for letting Tucker past the kitchen. And I was going to kill him for making my morning that much worse. Now Tucker had seen my buds, as Nona would put it, and I could only imagine what he thought. I was sure he’d seen much more impressive boobs in his life. If anything, he was probably vowing to steer clear of me now.
    I grabbed my backpack from my bed, completely defeated. This would just have to do. I buttoned the last button on my pale yellow top and smoothed out my shorts. My hair was only half dry and I didn’t care anymore.
    Dad tried to comfort me in the hallway. “I’m sorry, doll, I thought you were just blow drying your hair.”
    I shot an evil