Free Wickford High 1 - The Revelation by Karen Fuller Page B

smiled up at him, and he stepped forward and draped his arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the school. “Welcome to Wickford High, Vicky.”
    She looked up to him as they walked. “Thanks, Luke. Is everyone around here as friendly as you are?”
    The smile left his face. “Uh . . . I might be the exception to that rule,” he said seriously.
    “Usually it takes awhile for an outsider to be accepted here.” He shook his head sadly. “I’ve lived here all my life, and I don’t understand it. It takes people awhile to take to new people. It’s like the others don’t trust ‘um. Please don’t take it personally.” He smiled at her again and squeezed her shoulders. “I like you already, Vicky. You can talk to me anytime.”
    They walked up the six steps leading to the front door, and Luke let go of her shoulders and ran ahead. “Here, let me get that door for you.”
    He opened the door and she grinned up at him as she entered the building. “Thank you again, Luke.”
    He grinned. “It’s my pleasure helping a pretty girl like you.”
    She rolled her eyes. “You’re going to spoil me. A girl could get used to this.”
    His grin grew larger. “You better get used to it then, because I plan on spoiling you.”
    She laughed. “Luke, do you flirt with all the new girls like this?” she joked.
    He rolled his eyes. “Of course I don’t. We haven’t had a new girl at this school in about ten years.”
    Vicky did a double take, and her mouth dropped open. She stopped dead in her tracks. “Did you just say ten years?”
    He grinned again and turned to face her. “Yep, we don’t normally get new families moving into the area. Our little town is in the middle of nowhere.” He shrugged. “If a new family makes it through the first few months here, they usually stay.”
    She shook her head in disbelief. “In Fort Lauderdale, we had people moving in and out of town all the time.”
    Luke’s eyes sparkled. “This is about the furthest thing from a big city that you’re likely to find. We don’t usually even get people just passing through.” Luke stepped up and draped his arm over her shoulders again. “Come on, or we’ll be late for class.” They took a few more steps and Luke stopped. “Well Vicky, this is the office.” He pointed inside the door. “That nun sitting behind the counter is Sister Phoebe, the office secretary. She’ll be the one to give you a schedule.
    I have to go to class. It was nice meeting you, and I hope to see you in some of my classes.”
    She smiled up at Luke. “Thanks, I’m really glad I met you. I hope we have some classes together too. See ya later.”
    Luke turned to hurry to class. “Bye, Vicky. I’m sure I’ll see ya around.” he said over his shoulder.
    Vicky squared her shoulders and turned to face the office again. She took a deep breath and charged into the office.
    Sitting behind the counter was a large robust nun with pudgy stern features. Her attention was centered on the large stack of papers in front of her. Vicky walked up to the counter and stood there. After a few seconds of being ignored, Vicky put her hand on the counter and drummed her fingers. She rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Sister Phoebe?”
    Sister Phoebe didn’t raise her eyes to acknowledge Vicky. “Students don’t speak until they are spoken to first,” she said sharply.
    Vicky’s mouth dropped open, and then the situation started to get on her nerves. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stand here all day.”

    Sister Phoebe’s eyes darted up from the stack of papers. “You’re new.”

    Vicky rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. “Yes, ma’am.”
    “You must be from the big city.” She looked her up and down. “You walk through these doors with a bad attitude. Well Missy, check the attitude at the door. We don’t tolerate that here at Wickford High,” she said sharply. Vicky blinked a few times and looked around. Surely, this woman couldn’t be