In Your Arms Read online

  Neither moved. He had fallen flat on his back. She had landed on top of him, cushioning her fall with his body. They were face to face, body to body. They couldn't see each other, but the intensity of being so physically close made her catch her breath.

  For a moment, Sam was lost in the moment, but finally managed to regain her composure and get back on her feet. “Yeah, I'm okay.”

  “You have Pre-calculus with Mr. Stevens, right?” Phillip asked as they approached the door leading to the hallway.

  “Yeah, how do you know that?” Sam couldn’t believe Phillip knew what class she had first period.

  “Tracy. You two are in the same classes,” he said.

  That was it, she realized, deflated. He’d only noticed because he’d seen her when he’d been with Tracy.

  She cleared her throat, feeling like an idiot. “Oh, um, how am I going to sneak into class without him noticing?”

  “Just follow my lead,” Phillip said as he opened the door and motioned for Sam to follow him. They were in one of the school corridors not too far from her classroom, only a couple of rooms down the hall. They managed to sneak past the other classrooms without being seen.

  “Ok, now sneak through the back while I distract Mr. Stevens,” he told her in a whisper as they reached the door.

  Sam headed toward the back door to the classroom, and then turned around to face Phillip. “Thanks, Phillip. You saved my butt back there. It was also fun.”

  “No problem, Sam. I had fun too. We’ll have to do it again, when we’re, um, late again, I mean.”

  Sam smiled, waiting for Phillip to distract Mr. Stevens. Perhaps he did like her a little bit.

  “Mr. Stevens?” Phillip asked as he stepped into the classroom.

  Mr. Stevens was writing out the answers to the previous night’s homework on the chalkboard.

  “Mr. Corinodi, what a pleasure. What do you need?” the teacher asked as he walked over to Phillip, who turned his back to the chalkboard so Mr. Steven’s back was facing the back of the class.

  Once Mr. Steven’s was distracted—who knew what Phillip was talking about—she quietly made her way into the classroom unnoticed.

  Phillip glanced back to make sure she'd made it. “Well, that was about it, Mr. Stevens,” he said.

  “I’m glad you came to talk to me, Phillip. I’ll be glad to help, but next time, ask me after class.”

  “Sorry,” he said. Phillip left the classroom, giving Sam a wink on the way out.

  Sam’s heart did a couple of flips as Mr. Stevens turned back to the class. She couldn’t believe Phillip had made himself late so that she could sneak into her class. She knew that he was just being nice, that he was still with Tracy, but she couldn’t help being blown away by what he’d done. As Mr. Stevens continued his lecture, Sam started texting Alex.

  Sam, why were you late? ~AB

  I woke up late. Barely got here without being noticed. ~SB

  How did you get in without Ms. Kelly seeing you? She patrols those halls with her life. And do you know why Phillip was here? He winked at you, don’t deny it, I saw it! ~AB

  Well, Phillip caught me in the parking lot and got me in, undetected. That’s why he was here, creating a distraction for me to get to my seat. And yes, I think he winked at me. Did he? I mean, what do you think that means? ~SB

  Sam, he’s winking at you. That has to mean something, right? ~AB

  I mean, I don’t even know if we’re friends. We just talked once in detention, and this morning he held my hand and we kind of had an intimate moment but, other than that, we haven’t talked since junior high! ~SB

  He held your hand!!! What?! Sam, I’d definitely classify that as at least friend status. He held your hand. Why? ~AB

  Oh, we took a short cut and the room was dark and he guided me through it. So you’d say we’re friends? Oh, shoot, Mr. Stevens wants us to pass in our homework. Talk to you after class. ~SB

  Chapter Three

  In the hall, after class, Alex rushed up to Sam with a delighted squeal. “There’s definitely something up, Sam. You can’t just sneak someone into class without being friends. I mean, you wouldn’t do that for Tracy, would you? Well, she’s not the best example, but you wouldn’t do it for, say, Melvin, would you?”

  “Melvin? Why should I care whether Melvin gets caught or not? I mean, come on, Alex, he picks his nose and wipes it on the desk. Eww, I wouldn’t guide him through a dark room even if you paid me,” Alex said with a laugh.

  “My point exactly. Phillip wouldn’t have helped you unless he considered you something to him.”

  “Hey, Sam!”

  Sam turned around at the mention of her name, thinking it was Phillip again, only to be disappointed. “Oh, hey, Michael,” she said dejectedly. “I thought you were… Oh, never mind. What’s up?”

  “Nothing,” Michael replied, seeming a bit bummed by her response. “I was just wondering if I could walk with you guys. I’m kind of lost.”

  “Sure,” Sam said, feeling guilty. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier to help you around, I woke up late.”

  “I know. I saw you walk into class late. Lucky that guy was there to distract Mr. Stevens.”

  “Did you make it to class without any trouble though?” Sam asked, feeling doubly guilty now.

  “Yeah, actually Alex helped me. She recognized me and offered to help,” he assured her.

  Sam looked over at her friend, who was smiling broadly. “Well, that was nice of her,” Sam remarked. “So we have English next with—”

  “Mrs. Minor, right?” Michael confirmed.

  “Yeah, in room 112.” As Sam and Alex led Michael to their next class, she couldn’t help but smile at the thought of her friend actually liking this guy. Yeah, he was cute, but he was also book smart. Alex didn’t go too much for the smart guys.

  Thinking about Alex and Michael together made her mind wander to Phillip. He had helped her sneak into class with their shared moment through the secret doorway, held her hand, and winked at her. Those three things normally would have made her ecstatic, but the more Sam thought about it, the more it made her question his real reason for helping her. Why had he suddenly started talking to her? Why hadn’t he talked to her in the past? They were friends before he entered high school.

  Sam had always thought Phillip was just too cool to talk to her since he was a year older, and she’d had to stay behind in middle school. But then, when she’d become a freshman, he’d started dating Tracy, who was a freshman too.

  Now she had to wonder if this was some cruel joke he was playing on her? Had he been put up to this by his cronies, or by Tracy, to humiliate her in front of the whole school? She'd heard about it happening to others, but that wasn’t going to happen to her. She was far too smart to be taken in by gorgeous blue eyes, wasn’t she?

  Trying to make up her mind, she walked into English class with her head held high and Alex and Michael at her side. Sam took her usual seat, in the back row. Michael and Alex sat down next to her and waited for Mrs. Minor to enter the classroom.

  Just then, Phillip and Tracy walked up to the back door of the class, which was just a few feet from Sam, and she couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.

  “Phil, I could’ve sworn you were running away from me yesterday afternoon, after school,” Tracy said sweetly.

  “Of course not, Trace,” Phillip replied, sounding annoyed. “I was just meeting up with one of the guys, you know.”

  “Well, why weren’t you here to greet me this morning? Why were you late? You know I always wait by my locker.”

  “I was just late, okay? You saw me there this morning, talking to Mr. Stevens,” Phillip said.

  “I know. And that freak, Sam, made use of your distraction.”

  “She’s not a freak, Trace,” Phillip said. “Now that you’re at your next class, I really have to get to mine, before I’m late again.”

  “All right, but one thing before you go,” Tracy said, leaning toward him
. “A kiss goodbye.”

  Phillip’s eyes suddenly met Sam’s and she could have sworn he hesitated, looking embarrassed, perhaps even angry, as Tracy planted a huge kiss on his lips. He stepped quickly away and Tracy gave Sam a smug look as she hurried into class and shut the door behind her.

  Sam didn’t have time to react to what she had just witnessed—nothing unusual, but still something that made her stomach lurch—because Mrs. Minor chose that moment to enter the classroom.

  “Good morning, class,” Mrs. Minor said, bright and cheerful. “I trust you all did the homework last night. If you wouldn’t mind passing it to the front of the class, I’ll collect it then pass out the pop quiz.”

  Her students groaned as they took quick last-minute glances at their homework.

  “Mrs. Minor?” Sam raised her hand.

  “Yes, Sam.”

  “We have a new student in class today, Michael Richman.”

  “Ah, yes. I remember getting the memo. Welcome to my English class, Michael. Since you weren’t here in class yesterday, I won’t count this quiz, but I would like for you to take it so I know where you are at.” She finished passing out the quizzes and silently everyone began scribbling, matching the correct poetry term to its definition.

  “All right,” Mrs. Minor said, ten minutes later. “Pencils down. Please pass your quiz to the front of the class and begin reading page 315 in the text. Michael, here is a copy of our text book.”

  Once again, everyone fell silent and began flipping through their books.

  After class had ended, Sam, Alex and Michael walked to Mr. Kellner’s classroom. “Here you are,” Alex said to Michael. “Physics.”

  “Thanks, guys. See you at lunch?” he asked before entering the classroom.

  “Yeah, we’ll save you a seat.” Alex smiled and Sam laughed and shook her head.

  * * *

  Sam and Alex were already sitting at the lunch table when Michael walked into the cafeteria.

  “Michael, over here!” Alex yelled, waving her hand.

  “Do you have to scream and wave your hand like a maniac? It’s bad enough we sit at the outcast table, do we have to give them anymore reason to jeer at us?” Sam said as Michael made his way over.

  “Excuse me Miss-Wanna-Hang-With-The-Popular-Group,” Alex said.

  “All right, all right, sorry I said anything.” Sam stared down at her sandwich, wishing that she could be just a little less of a freak. She really didn’t want to hang out with the popular kids, but she did want Phillip to be able to hang out with her, if he wanted to. If he did that now, he’d be committing social suicide.

  “Hey, Sam, Alex.” Michael sat down with a smile.

  “So how was Physics with Mr. Kellner?” Sam asked.

  “You were right, he is a really good teacher,” he said.

  “So do you like Birchwood Academy so far?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome, nothing like home school.”

  “I’d say so. Birchwood can be pretty hectic sometimes, pretty crowded.” Alex said.

  “Well, it does include junior high as well as high school. There are a lot of people here.” Michael seemed happy about that, and Sam wondered how boring home school would be, with no one to talk to but your mom.

  “Not as many as in the public schools. There are only four private high schools around here, but they only have a fraction of the students who attend public school,” Sam said.

  “Oh, hey, Sam, do you know that guy who came to Pre-cal this morning?” he asked, suddenly changing the subject.

  “Does she?” Alex said.

  “Shut up,” Sam mumbled to Alex.

  “Well, he’s in my physics class,” Michael informed her, like she didn’t know.

  “Oh, so that’s how you knew Mr. Kellner was a good teacher.” Alex smiled wickedly.

  “No, Alex, it’s not like Phillip has talked to me about his classes. We were only talking yesterday in detention, nothing about Mr. Kellner or Physics. My brother was the one who told me Mr. Kellner was a good teacher. Rather, I overheard him talking with my parents,” Sam said, wanting to kill Alex because she knew her cheeks were flaming.

  “Oh, sorry, Sam. I didn’t mean it like that. I was just joking.” Alex gave her a cautious smile.

  “I know, I didn’t mean it to sound all bitchy Alex. I just—”

  “Phillip, that’s his name,” Michael interrupted. “I came into the classroom, and he acted like he knew me. He sat next to me, and he told Mr. Kellner he’d help me get adjusted.”

  “Really? Wow, that’s amazing,” Sam said, dazed.

  “Well, it’s only your first day of school, and already you have three people who are helping you get situated,” Alex commented.

  “Yeah, well, I only asked if you knew him because he was giving me a bit of the third degree, asking me how I knew you, and asking me if I was into you. If you ask me, I think he saw me with you this morning and was a bit jealous,” Michael said, giving Sam a long, measuring look.

  Sam knew her face must really be red now. “Well, I don’t know why he’d be asking those kind of questions,” she said, shaking her head. “He has a girlfriend.”

  Seeming to understand that Sam was at her limit as far as Phillip was concerned, Alex steered the conversation back to school, upcoming events, and most importantly, where they stood within the high school hierarchy.

  “So as of right now, I’m at the bottom?” Michael joked.

  “Okay, see there are the seniors—the “cool kids”—which include the jocks, cheerleaders, Phillip and, of course, Tracy Gibbons. The “cool kids” are on the top. There are the ‘wanna be’s’—they are the ones who always try and get into the cool kid clique, but ultimately can’t pass the ‘snob’ test. Then there are the Goths, they can look pretty scary, but some of them are ok. Then there are the computer nerds, and then just the nerds. And then there’s us. We aren’t quite on the bottom, but we seem to be pretty far down there. So, if you ever want to move up, your chance is with Phillip. You see, there really is no way into their group except through association and since he’s already offered to help you with physics, you’ve become associated with the cool kids,” Alex explained.

  Michael looked over to the table where Phillip was sitting with the other “cool kids.” The spot Sam had been trying so hard to ignore. “But I don’t want to be part of the cool kids,” he said. “I like hanging out with you two.”

  Alex smiled. “Did you hear that, Sam?”

  The bell rang and Sam managed to smile at Alex. “Yeah, that’s cool.”

  Alex shook her head as she often did when Sam came back to reality. “We’d better get to class. US History is next, and Mr. Wright does not like anyone to be late.”

  * * *

  Study Hall was broken into sections, combining the junior and senior classes. Sam, Alex, and now Michael were in the same section with Tracy Gibbons and her posse, which included Phillip and some of the members of the football team.

  “Well, Michael, just grab a computer. Do you have a screen name?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah, let me write it down.” Michael wrote his screen name on a small piece of paper he tore from one of his notebooks. “Why do you want it now?”

  “Well, you see, in the wonderful world of Study Hall, here in the computer lab, we can use Instant Messenger, we can play games, or anything else your heart desires, well, not anything, but you probably know that. You can choose to study too, which means you can abandon a computer for a desk, but as you can see, most people choose the computers. Just grab one, and then go to Mrs. Gonzales, she can set you up with a user name and password. Don’t worry, she doesn’t mind anyone using the computers for fun, she just likes it to be quiet.”

  “Thanks, Sam. See you online.” Michael smiled.

  Sam walked over to an empty computer and sat down. After logging on to the computer, she logged onto her Instant Messenger screen name and added Michael’s name to her buddy list.

  Al
exiscool: Hey. Took you long enough. Did you really have to explain everything to him?

  SamIam: Yes, and you know it. No one else would, besides here’s his SN: msr1995.

  Alexiscool: Awesome. Has he sat at a computer yet?

  SamIam: Yeah, just logged on. Have fun talking with him, just remember to tell me later what you guys talked about.

  Alexiscool: Of course. I always do.

  Sam minimized her conversation with Alex because she knew that once Michael logged on, Alex would be too busy to talk with her. Sam opened a new window and began checking her mail when a new box flashed onto the screen.

  PhilyCheeseSteak: Hey.

  SamIam: Hey.

  Sam couldn’t believe Phillip was chatting to her. He never messaged her. What was going on? They had exchanged screen names in junior high, but had never talked online since the beginning of Phillip’s freshman year. Sam had noticed he’d never changed his screen name because occasionally she’d see him sign on at night and of course during Study Hall.

  PhilyCheeseSteak: So I just wanted to say thanks for this morning. I had a lot of fun.

  SamIam: Yeah, me too, it was invigorating. I can’t believe Mr. Stevens didn’t realize I was gone. Goes to show you what his attention is focused on.

  PhilyCheeseSteak: Hey, I saw you earlier today in Mrs. Minor’s classroom. That was the new kid Michael you were talking with, right?

  SamIam: Yeah. I heard you offered to help him with physics.

  PhilyCheeseSteak: Yeah, he’s really smart. I think he’ll be helping me out more than I thought I’d be helping him, but he’s a cool guy.

  SamIam: Yeah, he’s really awesome once you get to know him. He was home schooled growing up, but he doesn’t act like it.

  PhilyCheeseSteak: So you and he are friends then, I mean, you were hanging out with him at lunch too.

  SamIam: I’m showing him around, showing him the ropes, but yeah, I’d say we were friends.

  PhilyCheeseSteak: That’s good. It’s hard to start off at a new school with no one you know.

  SamIam: Yeah, well Alex and I are helping him out and now I suppose you are too.