Early June 1998
Sweet Haven, Tennessee
"Darn, it! Don't leave yet Olly!" I cry out as I whiz past the cherry blossoms that line the dirt road that connects my family's farm to our small town. I'm pedaling as fast as my skinny legs can go, my rusty old bike working as hard as me.
I am always running late. It's not my fault this time, though. Mama insisted I wait for the apple cobbler. She acted like sending Olly off to his dad's without it would kill him or something. I never heard of death from a road trip minus cobbler, but Oliver Stone is my very best friend; not gonna risk it. Besides, the cobbler is a tradition, I can't miss him before he leaves. I just hope Olly's uncle is running late like usual.
The dirt road ends, and I reach the first tarred road. One side is a big, plowed field that'll grow corn in a few short months, and the other is an old empty field with overgrown dried-out grass.
Finally, I make it to Main Street, where Sweet Haven's downtown is located, it's tiny but bustling with life. The street is lined with cars that are parked alongside the curb. The bike rack is full of bikes, which is located right outside, Betty-Jo's, the diner all the high school kids come to hang at. Aside from the restaurant, our town has several little shops lining the road in their red brick buildings, many with apartments above them. My favorite, well, our favorite, Olly and mine, is the bookstore.
I remember the cobbler in my basket and make sure it's secure as I breeze down Main Street; Olly lives in a duplex, a hop, skip and jump away from the town, as his mom likes to say. The street Olly's house on is rundown, as are the duplexes. Both the yellow one he lives in and the two on each side of his. One has a moving van out front; Olly's mom had mentioned someone was moving in.
Across the street sits the public beach, where most other junior high kids spend the summer, not us. Olly and I are the outcasts in town. Me, because I live on a rundown farm, my clothes are all a little worn out, and I hate wearing shoes. Mama says I'm pretty, but I don't see it. I'm skinny with knobby knees, straggly hair that's not quite blonde but not quite brown either, and don't even get me started on my annoying overbite. It's gonna take a lot of money to fix it, but hopefully someday I can. Until then, I try my best not to smile because they call me bucky whenever I do.
"Ignore them, and they'll get bored," my mama says. "They're just jealous of your natural beauty."
What a fat lie. No would be jealous of me, and they never get bored either.
I roll my bike up the driveway just in time to see Oliver walking out of his house, he's got his backpack stuffed to the brim over one shoulder, and he's dragging a duffel bag. Both large bags overwhelm his short and slender frame. His spiky blonde hair sticks up every which way thanks to his cowlicks, and his big glasses keep slipping off his face. Olly is nearly blind, so he has thick glasses that magnify his eyes and make them look bigger. The kids at school are constantly calling him bug eyes and four eyes. If any of them ever looked closer, they'd see his glasses magnify the warmest and friendliest brown eyes ever. But they're all blinder than Olly, as far as I see it.
Olly's mom Kris is walking him out, and she smiles big when she sees me. She's super pretty with strawberry blonde hair and sparking blue eyes; she always wears tight jeans that make her legs look a million miles long.
"Hi, sweet girl, just in time. Joey called he said he's running late."
Olly goes to stay with his dad Jimmy in Floridia for three weeks every summer. His dad's brother Joey picks him up and meets Olly's dad about halfway. It's a long trip made even longer when his uncle is always late.
I see the irritated look in Olly's soft brown eyes, but he quickly hides it as Kris pulls him in for a hug.
"I got to run to the bar for my shift, Kinsey, you'll wait with Olly, right?
"Of course!"
"Good girl, but make sure you bike back before dark," she warns. "If starts to get too late head on home."
"Got it," I lie. No way would I leave before Olly's uncle gets here.
She turns to kiss Oliver on the head as he grimaces. "Mom!"
"Stop that. I won't see you for three weeks!" She pulls him in, forces a hug, and then kisses his forehead. I glance over and am relieved the beach is empty of the kids so far. He'd never live that down.
"I'll see you soon; love you, Olly! Be good for your dad and his-Ellen." She says as she parts, she then ruffles my hair as she walks past. When she reaches the street, she takes off in a hurry; she always walks to the bar since it's so close. Oliver's mom and dad divorced when he was really little, and his dad moved to Florida right after that. He remarried just recently, though.
I climb off my bike but take the cobbler out of the basket, before I let the bike fall into his driveway.
"Yum! It's still warm; did she just make this!" Oliver's eyes light up as he takes the dessert.
"Why I'm so late," I confirm as I grab his duffel and drag it to the curb, where we plop down. "How many books you got in here?"
I unzip it to see for myself as Olly carefully sets down his cobbler so he can eat it later on the road. He told me he likes to wait until they're getting close to Florida and wants to be reminded of home.
"Whoa! You got The Wasteland series! You've been wanting this forever." I pull one of the beautiful books from the bag and admire it. "In hardcover too?"
"Not mine, borrowing them from one of my mom's regulars at the bar, so be careful!"
I will never live down spilling cherry Kool-Aid on his copy of The Land Before Time. Still, I carefully tuck the book back into the bag. He also has a handful of Dean Koontz books and the latest Harry Potter. My eyes light up as I see a tattered familiar-looking book.
"A Little Princess? This is my favorite book."
"I know I took it from your room last week," he confessed. "When I miss you like crazy. I want to read your favorite book."
Olly is the sweetest. I feel my eyes burn and my stomach tighten. I'm already starting to miss him. "Even this girly one?"
"I read the Secret Garden, didn't I?"
"You secretly liked that one." I tease.
"I almost grabbed that," he says with a sheepish grin. "But, A Little Princess is your favorite, so that's the one."
"Then I guess I'm reading Frankenstein, again."
"You know where I keep it." He smiles, and I return it despite my stupid buck teeth.
"Nerd alert!" Billy Benson hollers across the street, and a handful of kids laugh with him.
Billy is the most popular boy in the sixth grade and is a huge jerk about it. Most girls in town think he's cute with his boyish smile and chestnut hair; he wears it straight and down to his cheekbones, parted in the middle, just like Rider Strong. He is always surrounded by a bunch of other boys and usually a girl or two. Today there's just a small handful of boys with him and Brandi, his twin sister, who is as bad as him.
"Bucky and Four-Eyes sitting in a tree!" Brandi taunts as she makes a deal about flipping her long chestnut braid over her shoulder.
"Ignore them," I whisper, even as my cheeks flame red.
"I hate them so much." Oliver balls his hands into fists, but we both know we can't do anything. Billy and his stupid friends run this town.
"Look, the raggedy farm girl has shoes on today!" A gleeful boy joins in on the fun.
"Bet they had to sell a lot of apples for those!"
"How many apples did those cost ya?" Someone else yells out.
"Shut up," I mutter.
They start to make their way across the street, growing closer to us and I feel my heart start to pick up, and I sense Olly getting nervous.
"You got something to say, Bucky?" Billy sneers.
"No," I mutter as my eyes drop down to my lap. I wish I was brave enough to tell him off, but my brain always waits till they're gone to come up with comebacks.
"Just go away," Olly says in a shaky voice, causing Billy to laugh cruelly.
"Oh, isn't that cute? He's sticking up for his little ragdoll," Brandi laughs.
"Hardly, couldn't even hear him. Speak up, Olly," Billy says menacingly.
"I said go away," Oliver says slightly louder I can sense the nerves coming off him in waves. Billy has pushed Olly around before and even threw him in a dumpster once. I always get worried how far he will go.
"Whatcha gonna do if we don't?" Billy taunts. "Huh? Stand up Four Eyes."
Oliver is starting to tremble, and Billy leans in like a shark with an evil grin and a twinkle in his eyes.
"Leave them alone." A new voice startles all of us, and we all look as the guy attached to the voice steps over, from where the moving van is next door.
"What do you care?" Billy scoffs, but I sense a bit of fear in his voice.
He should be scared! This kid looks way bigger than Billy, at least a foot taller. His inky black hair is long almost to his chin and hanging slightly in his eyes, the bluest eyes I have ever seen.
He looks tough, too; he's wearing a black tee shirt with a skull on it and a pair of baggy jeans with a chain hanging down from the side. I glance over to see Brandi gaping at him, and... whoa, I guess I am too... He catches my gaze just as I close my mouth, his lips twist into something of a grin before he shifts his attention back to Billy.
"Takes a real loser to go bullying younger kids and girls too?" Those blue eyes of his darken as they narrow in on Billy. "You want to push someone around? Why don't you come try me?"
"Whoa," Billy takes a step back, his brows furrowing. "Look, dude, you're new here. These two are the losers in this town."
"Yeah, Kinsey doesn't even wear shoes half the time!" Brandi jumps in quickly.
My heart drops. Here we go he'll join up with them now and it'll be even worse.
"So what? I don't always wear shoes either" He shrugs as he looks at me and I'm so stunned my stupid mouth drops open again.
"I think doing your own thing is cool," the new guy continues. He directs his gaze towards Brandi and Billy again. "The only losers I see here is you two."
Brandi's eyes widen, and her face turns scarlet red as she seems speechless for once and Billy makes a huffy noise under his breath.
Cool, this badass looking guy thinks I'm cool? No one ever stands up for us, I'm starting to wonder if I'm dreaming, maybe I should pinch Olly to see...
The new guy's eyes darken and narrow as he walks toward Billy. "What was that? You got something to say?"
Billy looks behind him but most of his friends have started to back up, it seems no one wants to mess with the new guy. I don't blame them! I glance over to see Olly grinning, enjoying seeing Billy on the other end.
"Speak up?" The guy mocks Billy's tone from earlier, I'm in awe of him he's so confident, so brave.
"Forget this. Let's go!" Billy storms off with Brandi behind him, the rest of his friends scatter, some follow them, and some go to the beach.
"He messes with you again; let me know," he speaks loudly so Billy can hear him.
"Thanks," Olly mutters.
"It's all good; I don't like seeing people pick on younger kids."
"I'm not younger," Olly looks embarrassed. "I'm thirteen, just like Kinsey here. I'm just too small for my age."
"Well, I'm thirteen and too big for my age, so I get it."
Olly smiles at that, and the guy returns it, the mood shifting quickly.
"I'm Hunter. It's nice to meet you, Kinsey and...?"
"Olly," he offers.
"So why are we sitting on the curb?" Hunter asks as he plops down on the other side of me.
"Waiting for my uncle," Olly explains. "My dad lives in Florida, and I go there for a while every summer. He drives me part of the way until we meet up with my dad."
"Oh, that's cool."
"Not really," Olly says wryly. "My dad's kind of a jerk, always trying to get me into sports, and stuff. Then he gets mad when I'm bad at it."
"Least you see him; mine took off when I was a baby."
"I'm sorry!" I frown at that, and Hunter smiles sadly but shrugs it off.
"His loss, well, that's what my ma says anyway," he laughs.
"I feel bad for whining now." Olly is cringing.
"Nah, don't." Hunter smiles, and Olly relaxes.
"You live in these duplexes too?" Hunter asks me, and I shake my head.
"No, I live on the Abbot farm right outside town." I brace myself but see no judgment in his eyes.
"By that apple orchard? We saw it driving in, and it was so cool!"
"Yeah," I beam proudly. "The apple orchard is ours; wait till fall when they're all ready for harvest; they are so good!"
"If you ever need help, I'm good at farm stuff; we lived on one for a few years."
"I'll let my dad know," I agree.
"I can wait with ya'll," Hunter offers.
"He might be a while. My uncle is always super late," Olly warns him.
"I don't mind; better than being in there." Hunter tilts his head toward the house. "Unpacking. and cleaning"
"Anything's better then that I bet," I agree.
"If it gets to late maybe you can bike with Kinsey back to the farm?" Olly asks and Hunter is nodding.
"Yeah, I will."
"Thanks," Olly sounds relieved. "I hate that she bikes home alone, but she won't ever leave till my uncle gets here."
"Then I won't either," Hunter says. "I'll watch out for Kinsey while you're gone."
Wait what? I don't need anyone to guard me, but the words don't leave my mouth, I'm too caught up on how serious they both look about this.
"Well, since you helped us with Billy, and it's your first day here, I think I ought to share this." Olly hands me the cobbler and the spoon my mama packed up with it. "Kinsey's mom makes the best apple cobbler in the world."
"I can't pass that up!" Hunter looks eager as I pass it to him, and indeed his eyes close, and he makes happy sounds as he takes a huge bite and then another.
"Don't eat it all!" I scold but teasingly.
Hunter passes it back to me, and I keep it in my lap as we all share.
This is odd, though; Olly eating the dessert now and sharing it too. He's always eaten it on the road, it's a little thing, but it doesn't feel so little. It was from my mama sure, but it was ours me and Olly's thing. There has never been anyone but me and Olly, we don't even have siblings, and we've never had other friends. I never thought we would.
But... as we sit here, me in the middle, eating cobbler and chatting, it feels like we've known Hunter all along and a new tradition started.
This is one of them days where something shifts and it all changes, just like that.
Good or bad, it'll never be the same.
I hope you like the start!
This will bounce between 2018 (which will be their present time) and will have flashback chaps from 1998-2003, spanning ages 13-18 included in with the main story. So, there is a lot of story to tell!!
So, I know they're just kiddos at this stage but......Hunter or Olly???