Free Welcome To Hickville High (Hickville High Series Book 1) by Mary Karlik Page A

and sure enough, most of the guys and a couple of girls wore the tie. “But why would they kick him out of school?”
    “For having a little fun.” Jack moved to stand around the table with the girls.
    Aunt Susan dismissed Jack with a flick of her hand. “You know you were making fun of Mr. Deaver.” She shook her head. “He taught Economics. Always wore a bow tie, bless his heart.”
    “He was a hundred years old and dyed his hair with cheap dye. When he got nervous brown sweat would roll down his forehead.” Uncle Jack could barely get the story out before he broke out laughing.
    He had one of those infectious laughs that made everybody else spontaneously join in.
    Aunt Susan shook her head. “Still, ya’ll shouldn’t have made fun of him.”
    Kelsey watched her Uncle throw his head back and laugh. Dad laughed too, but it looked unnatural on his face. They were as different as brothers could be. As different as she and Ryan. Did they fight like she and Ryan too? They seemed to get along now.
    Mackenzie leaned further over the book. “Where are you, Aunt Susan?”
    “Look under Susan Blakely.”
    Kelsey let Mackenzie turn the pages until they found the picture of their aunt. Kelsey could tell she was one of the popular girls. She was beautiful, with long hair parted down the middle and a heart-shaped face. She wore an expression of confidence, like she owned the school. Kelsey knew the look; it was the one she wore in last year’s St. Monica’s yearbook. The one taken before Dad lost his job, before Ryan shamed the family.
    Hurt and anger flooded back, and the room seemed about two sizes too small. Tears threatened to show themselves and she wasn’t about to let that happen. She excused herself from the table and headed down the hall to find the bathroom.
    Once safely behind the closed door, she choked back the urge to cry. If she let loose she wouldn’t be able to stop before her eyes swelled and turned red.
    Once she tamped down her emotions, she took a couple of deep breaths and tried to plaster a smile on her face—but she just couldn’t make it stick.
    This was her year, damn it. Her senior year. She probably would have been valedictorian, was friends with pretty much everyone, had planned to run for senior class president. She should own St. Monica’s this year. Damn Ryan for screwing it up. Damn Dad for screwing it up. And damn Drew for having fun in Italy.
    She was being unfair. It’s not like she expected him to stay home because she’d been exiled to Texas. Her heart ached for him. Where was his heart? Did he miss her? She yanked her cell from her hip pocket and punched in:
    Kelsey: Do u miss me?
    She stared at the message waiting to be sent. Did he love her? She re-typed.
    Kelsey: Do u love me?
    The blue cursor blinked at her, waiting impatiently for her to hit Send. Should she? She’d never been brave enough to ask Drew about his feelings. If he said no she would be left with nothing. No boyfriend to talk about, to dream about. No reason to go to college in the East. No reason to escape Hickville.
    But if he answered yes, what would that mean? He loved her and she’d still be stuck in Texas without him.
    She looked at the cursor again. It seemed to blink, “Come on, Kelsey, you know what you want to do. Hit Send.”
    She took a deep breath. Her thumb hovered over the icon. Her heart pounded in her chest, pushing heat to her face. She was about to do it when her mother tapped on the door.
    “Are you all right in there, honey?”
    She let her breath out slowly. “Mom, could you be more embarrassing?”
    “Well hurry up. Dad is ready to go.”
    Kelsey pressed her thumb on the green square labeled Send, shoved the phone in her pocket and headed out of the bathroom. The phone dinged a reply before she reached the foyer. She wanted to read it right then, but Uncle Jack and Aunt Susan were making the rounds giving hugs so she figured she could wait until she was in the car.
    Dad took the truck