Bait a Hook Ch. 03

Chapter 3: Back to School

Labor Day in Virginia is pretty much the last day of summer. Most public schools go back the following day. This sleepy little town had a final summer celebration with a concert and vendors downtown. The few local businesses were all decked out and ready for the last of the few tourists that came through. The stage was set up a couple blocks from the beach; Main Street was roped off so no traffic could interrupt the celebration. Emily yelled at me to hurry up so we could head out and partake in the last hurrah of the season. I put on some board shorts, a tight fitting, but not too small t-shirt, grabbed my sunglasses and headed down the stairs. Emily and I walked chatting on the way to the festival. She spotted a group of girls she seemed to recognize.

"Do you mind if I go hang out with them, Lindsay, our neighbor, is going to be in my grade and I want to make some friends. You should go make friends too, don't want to be sitting at the lunch table alone do you?" She asked as she started sliding away.

"No problem, I'll meet you later." I waved as she skipped over to the group.

I could hear the music as I got closer; the band was singing a Beach Boys song. I shook my head and chuckled to myself as I made my way into the small crowd of people. I saw my mom and dad eating soft-shell crab sandwiches and waved to them as I walked by. They smelled good, but I didn't want to stop where my parents were, so I kept walking down the street.

I came across a little booth that had a long line. The banner hanging above the line read 'crab muffins,' I headed towards the end of the line and the elderly gentleman in front of me looked up at me and declared "These are the best crab muffins in the state, well worth the wait young man." I nodded and he turned around to talk to who I assumed was his wife. The line moved very quickly and I jerked my head up at the sound of familiar girls giggling. At the front of line and near the condiments was a familiar group of teens. I caught sight of the short cropped brown head as he turned around and took a bite of his crab muffin, a look of pure delight on his face as he headed down the road with the rest of his pack. I was gently nudged forward and out of my stupor when the man behind the counter shouted "Next!"

I now understood the look of delight on the guys' face as I bit into the crab muffin. It was fantastic. The older man and his wife looked at me knowingly and grinned as we all took another bite. I kept my eye out following behind the group of teens heading towards the stage. Emily came up behind me and startled me as I watched the group disappear on the other side of the crowd. I slowed down and stopped to talk to her. She was with two girls her age. Introductions were exchanged and they moved closer to the band that was now doing a terrible rendition of Billy Ray Cyrus' 'Achy Breaky Heart.'

Having lost sight of the group, or really the guy I was fascinated with, I decided to head around the stage and walk on the beach. There was a nice breeze blowing and the beach was empty with everyone on Main Street listening to the questionable music and enjoying delicious food. I had wandered a little way down the beach when I accidently stumbled across the group of teens. They were sitting in a circle around a cooler drinking out of red Solo cups. I wanted to go over there, but was nervous with my newly found fascination, that had me almost dizzy and drooling every time I saw him. One of the girls leaned against him and had her arm around his waist. I winced and cursed to myself for being so stupid. He would probably kick my ass if he saw the lusty look in my eyes. I turned around and made my way back to the stage to listen to some more cover songs before heading back home.

I was the first one back so had plenty of time to think. My old school and city were fairly conservative; I could only imagine how this small farming and fishing town was. 'You've made it this far,' I thought to myself, 'you can make it through another year maintaining the status quo.

The alarm rang way too early as I was just tossing and turning all night. I quickly showered and got dressed in an outfit that I wanted to look good, but not that I was trying, so I settled on khaki cargo shorts and a tight light emerald green Polo shirt. I slid my feet in my leather flip flops and grabbed my keys. Emily was at the table eating scrambled eggs mom had made as a nodded towards the door.

"Bobby, you need to eat before you go to school." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Mom I'm not hungry, I'll eat lunch at school, and I'll be fine." I replied.

"Fine but you're eating breakfast tomorrow." she declared. "Have a good first day of school you two."

We waved and headed out the door to my Jeep. The town was so small that there was only one high school in the entire county. We made the fifteen minute trek up the county in comfortable silence, both of us nervous of our new lives. Reaching the parking lot I thought about how small the school was. Coming from a school where I had 300 kids in my grade, to this school that looked like it held 300 kids total, it was going to be different.

We checked in the office and picked up our schedules and locker assignments. "I'll meet you at the car to go home." Emily nodded and walked off to find her locker in the sophomore hall. I made my way down the hall to find my locker. I got there and looked at my slip of paper for the combo and was twisting the last number when I heard an annoyingly sweet giggle. I turned around and to my right was one of the giggle girls opening her locker. She smiled at me as I put my sunglasses in the top of my empty locker, just so I wouldn't look weird opening and closing my locker for no reason. I smiled and headed off to find my first period Honors English class.

I found the room as the bell was ringing. I was apparently the last one in the room as all of the seats, except for the one right in front of the teacher's desk were occupied. I hastily mumbled an apology to the teacher as I tried to reach my seat with as little embarrassment as possible as all of the kids stopped chatting and stared at me. Right before I sat down I caught a glimpse of eyes that looked remarkably the same color as my green shirt a row to the left and two seats behind me. I tossed my backpack under my desk and sat down.

"Robert Thompson." The teacher spoke and I nodded adding, "I go by Bobby."

"It's nice to meet you Bobby; I hope you will enjoy your new school."

"Thank you." Was all I could get out before she started handing out syllabi and talking about what she wanted us to accomplish this year. I wanted desperately to turn around and catch a glimpse of the guy who I couldn't wash off of my mind. I got my chance when a stack of papers landed on my desk and I turned around to pass them back. I grinned when he smiled at me and faced forward as I felt heat rushing to my face and I knew I would be blushing.

Nothing eventful happened in second or third period, as he wasn't in either of those classes. Forth period I had elected to take gym, because I didn't want to take another year of French, and that was the only thing that would fit in my schedule. I headed to the locker rooms which were smaller than I was used to, and changed into my gym shorts and t-shirt. There were only 12 or so guys in the locker room so I figured this must be a small class. I kept my head down, but almost let out an audible gasp when I saw him pulling off his shirt and replacing it with a t-shirt. I tried not to look but it was like my gaze was drawn to him as he pulled down his shorts exposing his gorgeous thighs and as he turned around I got a glorious view of a mouth-watering bubble butt trapped beneath black tight boxer briefs. I knew I had to get out of the locker room before I got caught staring. I headed out into the gym; I would tie my shoes once I got there.

The gym teacher was an older man with a slight gut in his mid 50's. He had probably been in good shape when he was younger. There were another eight or so girls in the class and he said we were going outside to run on the track today. I was in good shape, but I was a swimmer, not a runner. I was disappointed to hear that this school didn't have a swim team, let alone a pool. Guess I was going to be pretty free this year without a sport to keep me occupied.

I ran around the track at a decent clip, only a handful of kids passed me and I assumed they were on the track team, or just liked running. The whistle sounded and we headed back to the locker room to shower and change. I had worked a healthy sweat running around in the 85 degree humid weather. I walked slower than everyone else on the way back to the gym. When I got to the locker room most of the guys were already in the shower and I stripped down and grabbed my towel and headed in. The guys were loud and laughing around, I went to the back corner away from most of the commotion and showered as quickly as I could, not daring to turn around and notice the firm round buttocks and the nicely toned bodies of some of the guys. Most of the guys had headed back into the locker room and were mostly changed when I came out. Mystery man was sitting on a bench with the towel around his waist looking in this locker. I took one last mental photograph of that gorgeous face, chest, and those arms before I forced myself to get dressed before I popped a boner and got the crap kicked out of me.

I guess the tradition for first day back in the cafeteria was pizza. The kids were pretty excited as we waited in line to be served. One of the cafeteria monitors came up to me in the back of the line and asked if I was a senior. I nodded and she said that I was allowed to go up front with the rest of the seniors and not wait in line. I thanked her and walked to where she directed. I grabbed my slice of pizza and chocolate milk and headed to the tables looking for a seat. I went to the end of an empty table and was about to sit down when I group of guys, probably offensive or defensive lineman on the football team, walked up and one grumbled "Seats taken."

"Sorry I didn't know," I muttered as I turned to the next table. I sat down and began opening my milk when one of the guys turned around and pointed at me. "You can't sit there either." I didn't want to get into a fight on my first day in a new school, but I wasn't going to be pushed around either. "Why the hell not?" I bristled in response.

"Cause we don't want your kind sitting near." He answered. I started to panic; did someone catch me staring in the locker room? Oh crap here I was getting called out on my first day of school. I took a breath and forced myself to speak, "What do you mean my kind?"

"A damn yankee," was his response and I chuckled in relief. "I'm from northern Virginia, which last time I checked was south of the Mason-Dixon Line."

"Well you're close enough to it yank" he said as he stood up and got a little too close for comfort.

"Sit your ass down Chuck and leave him alone, it's not like he's from mars." Chuck was nudged back into his seat by the green eyed creature that has been haunting me since I moved here. My savior sat down across from me and held out his hand. "Sorry about them, they can be dicks. Names Rob, nice to meet you."

"Thanks for that," I smiled and he nodded, "I'm Bobby." He chuckled and said he knew as he was in my English class first period. I pretended I didn't notice him there, but in reality he had been all I was thinking about. A couple of his friends came and sat by us, introductions were made and I smiled and nodded as the once empty table filled in. We ate and made small talk before the bell rang signaling the start of AP History. I said bye to the group and headed off to class which was only a couple doors down from the cafeteria, so I found it pretty easily and was one of the first there. I had my pick of seats and chose one in the back row. I was pleasantly surprised when Rob walked through the door with a strut in his step and sat down right in front of me grinning. "Ok smarty pants Bobby, I bet you're in all of the honors and AP classes aren't you?"

I admired the ease in which he spoke to me and replied, "Yeah, I guess I am. You must be pretty smart yourself to be in English and history."

"I do alright in English in history; I don't like math and science though. He shrugged but kept a light-hearted smile on his face.

"I'm not looking forward to calculus next period." I admitted and that got a chuckle as he turned around and the teacher got us ready for class.

The rest of the day trudged along until finally the dismissal bell sounded and I headed out to my locker. I left the books in which I didn't have any assignment and put my sunglasses on the top of my head. Closing my locker I was greeted by the smiling face of giggle girl. "How was your first day? I'm Becky by the way."

"Nice to meet you Becky, it went pretty well, no complaints."

"Well I'll see you around new guy." She grinned at her nickname and I saw her walk over to Rob and wrap her arm around his waist. I felt a tinge of jealousy and turned to head out of the school. Emily was already at my Jeep and I grinned when Rob peeled Becky's arm from him and jumped in his truck.

*The story continues in Chapter 4*