Chapter 3

The purple and grey eyes of Freya Collins and the mysterious guy were imprinted in my mind for the rest of the day, from the moment I left the school’s parking lot to the time when I slipped underneath my covers at night, they were there in the back of my mind.

It took a while for me to fully fall asleep, with my mind running and my worries about starting a new school going unvoiced, I felt like my brain was running its own track marathon. When my brain finally shut down and I was able to close my eyes, I felt myself float easily into dreamland.

Waking up the next morning, everything seemed normal. The mysterious pair of eyes was no longer at the forefront of my mind, and I was able to get up feeling everything but exhausted. Deciding to skip my routine morning run, I took a quick shower, pulling my hair up into a messy bun, and brushing my teeth before opening my closet in search of an outfit for the day.

I wasn’t a super girly girl when it came to clothes, as I was just as comfortable in a pair of jeans as I was in a baggy pair of jeans. Pulling on a cozy jumper and a pair of black leggings after a second of hesitation, I applied the tiniest bit of makeup before heading downstairs for breakfast.

“Hey dad,” I greeted as I walked into the kitchen and saw my dad in front of the stove, cooking away. “What are you still doing here?”

He turned his attention from the stove to me for a moment and smiled. “Good morning Jill,” he said in return before replying to my question. “And because it’s my first day on the job, I only have a quick introductory meeting at ten with my new boss and a few other colleagues before I actually start work tomorrow.”

Nodding along as he spoke, I walked over to him and peaked over his shoulder to see what he was cooking. “So, you’re saying you have time to make me breakfast?” I asked, seeing pancakes frying in the pan on the stove.

“Are chocolate chip pancakes a good enough breakfast for you?” he asked teasingly as he sprinkled a handful of chocolate chips onto of the pancakes before flipping them over.

Letting loose a fairly embarrassing squeal, I gave my dad a quick kiss on the cheek as he laughed at my excitement.

Almost skipping over to the fridge, I started to gather the other things we needed for breakfast: the orange juice, the milk, the butter, and the syrup. By the time I had set the table with plates and utensils, my dad was sliding a finished stack of pancakes onto the table as I slid into my chair across from him.

“This smells so good,” I commented randomly, piling three pancakes onto my plate as the scent wafted off of them and into the kitchen.

My dad chuckled as he sat down across from me. “And they probably taste good too.”

Rolling my eyes, I simply smiled at my dad and bit into my pancakes. We sat there in silence as we ate. It wasn’t often that I got to eat breakfast with my dad, as he worked so often and had to leave early in the mornings, but when I did I appreciated it because he really was the only family I had left.

Breakfast was over all too fast and my nerves about starting a new school came back full force. Placing my dirty dishes in the sink, my dad saw that I was shaking and came over to comfort me.

“Don’t worry about it sweetie,” he said in a loving tone, kissing the top of my head as his arms were wrapped tightly around me. Leaning my head against his chest, I was grateful that my dad was here to comfort me today, on a day when I really needed it. “Everything will be just fine once you get there. You’ll meet new people and you’ll be the smart and talented girl that you always are.”

Pulling back, I took in a deep breath and nodded, not wanting to speak as I got my thoughts straight.

“You’ll do great kiddo.” he said encouragingly, rubbing my shoulder before letting his hand drop. “Now get going, you don’t want to be late.”

“Thanks dad,” I said gratefully before leaving the kitchen to get my stuff together for school.

Once my backpack was hanging off my shoulder and my feet were stuck in my shoes, I grabbed my keys from their hook near the front door and headed outside to greet the day.

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The chilly morning air of October nipped at my skin as I stepped out of my car in front of Freedyn High. My nerves, which had woven their way back into my mind the closer I got to the school, were minimal at the moment as I walked slowly towards the building.

I could feel the odd eye on me, the students wondering who I was and what I was doing here, but I kept my head ducked slightly as I scurried my way up the front steps of the school and into the building that I now belonged to.

Finding my locker with only a little bit of trouble, I was able to transfer a couple of my spare notebooks onto the shelves before a bell rang overhead.

Snapping out of my nerves for a second, the small fear of being late for class covered it as I realized I didn’t know what class I had first period. Reaching into my bag, I shuffled through a couple of loose papers until finding my schedule.

Pulling it out, I saw that my first class was Calculus, and luckily the room number listed on my timetable was one that the principal had shown me the day before. Shutting my locker quickly, I stuffed my schedule back into my bag and made my way to class.

Standing outside the door to my classroom, I stood still for a second , taking a deep breath to calm the nerves that still wandered through my body, until I finally stepped through the classroom door seconds later.

Since class hadn’t officially started yet, as the school had both a warning bell and an actual bell, I walked into a class of unimpressed teenagers who would rather be anywhere else than parked in a school desk on an early Monday morning.

Some of the kids were talking to their friends while others were scrambling to finish, what looked like, the homework that they had left to the last second. However, most of them were finding ways to sneak weird looks in my direction as I headed towards the teacher’s desk.

The teacher, who didn’t appear to be to mean, looked up as I approached her desk and smiled kindly at me. “What can I do for you dear?” she asked, speaking to me as though she thought I was another mindless face in this school.

“Umm, I was told to give you this.” I replied, pulling out one of the slips that the principal had handed me yesterday. Apparently it was some sort of admit slip, essentially used to tell the teacher that I was a new student that would be joining the class.

After taking a look at it quickly, she nodded at me and pointed to the few chairs that were still vacant. “Just take a seat, and class will start in a minute.” she said, before going back to what she was focused on before I interrupted her.

“Okay than,” I muttered to myself as I turned to look at the classroom quickly.

Zeroing in on a spare desk, I headed towards a desk in the centre row of near the left side and sank down slowly into the chair as the final bell rang for the morning and the last few students stumbled into the classroom tardy.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the girl beside me said, and after looking around, I realized she was directing her comment towards me.

“Wait,” I said, looking absolutely confused, “What are you talking about?”

“I wouldn’t sit there if I was you,” she continued, nodding to the desk I was at.

My eyes widened slightly as I looked around for another spare desk quickly, but as the teacher stood up at the front of the room, I realized all the other desks had been taken and there was nowhere for me to go.

“Why?” I asked her worriedly in a hushed voice, not wanting to get in trouble for talking during the first hour at this school.

She shrugged, her face looking emotionless as she spoke. “Usually nobody wants to sit by me, so I just thought I’d warn you to stay away while you have the chance.”

Looking at her, I was confused as to why she claimed to not have friends. Her light brown hair fell down naturally past her shoulder, her clothes looked relaxing but at the same time stylish, and with the small amount of makeup she seemed to be wearing, she wasn’t unattractive at all. Her personality didn’t seem too bad, but yet she was fine sitting alone.

“I think I’ll take the chance in sitting here,” I replied cautiously, reaching into my bag to take out a notebook and pen as the teacher began to write on the board.

“Look, you’re new here and you have the chance to be anyone you want to be,” she replied, still keeping her voice hushed as she talked. “I’m just encouraging you to find some friends that won’t bring you down. I’m just the school’s freak whose cousin is the guy that the whole town has learned to hate over the last couple of years.”

Picking up my pen, I gave a short reply. “Well you seem just fine to me.”

As I started to copy down the notes from the front board, I peeked beside me and saw the girl smile to herself at my words. Proud of myself for making at least one person smile today, I concentrated on what the teacher was saying for the rest of class.

Although I was enrolled in the same classes here as I was at my old school, it seemed that this school was a little bit ahead in terms of material, so as the class ended with the sound of a bell, the rest of the class filed out the door while I stayed behind.

“Hi Mrs.” I said hesitantly as I walked up to her desk, “I was wondering if I could possibly meet you here after school for a couple of minutes to catch up on some of the work I’ve missed.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Jillian,” she apologized kindly, “I guess I didn’t realize that you might be behind since your transcripts say your marks were exceptional at your old school, but I’m guessing you haven’t learnt any of this yet?”

In reply to her question, I shook my head shyly, a tad bit embarrassed that I was behind in class.

“We were learning a couple of lessons back I think, because I learnt the basics of this already, but I don’t fully understand what you’re teaching,” I explained, nodding slightly to the blackboard behind her.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be here after school finishes today and tomorrow if you want to come in for maybe half an hour and I can explain to you the past couple of lessons.” she suggested.

Nodding in reply, I smiled. “That would be great, thanks Mrs.”

“It’s Mrs. Sawyer, and if I were you Jillian, I’d be getting to your next class before somebody thinks you’ve gotten lost.” she stated kindly.

Looking at the time, I realized that second period was about to start and I still didn’t know what classroom I was headed to. “Well thanks again Mrs. Sawyer.” I said before heading out into the hallway.

Expecting to see an empty hallway, I was surprised to see that the girl who had sat beside me was waiting up against some of the lockers.

“Oh, um, hello,” I greeted shyly, still slightly in shock as to why she had waited for me.

“Hi,” she replied, seeming a bit shy herself as she continued. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about the little scene I made in there at the beginning of class. I guess I just wasn’t used to people being nice to me or talking to me in general.”

“It’s fine, I was just a little surprised that’s all,” I replied honestly. “By the way, my name’s Jillian.”

“Saige,” she replied with a small smile. “So Jillian, where are you headed next?”

“Umm,” I said, stalling as I reached into my bag to grab my schedule. “Biology with Mr. Taver.”

Surprise flashed in her eyes as a small smile made its way onto her face. “I’m in the class too,” she stated, nodding down the hallway as she continued. “Come on, I’ll show you the way.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

After following her down two hallways to where our class was supposedly located, I was grateful that I had somebody to show me the way because I definitely didn’t remember being shown this part of the school the day before.

“So here we are,” Saige announced, seeming a little more upbeat than she had this morning. “Mr. Taver’s biology lab.”

Pushing open the door, Saige strolled into the class with me on her heels. Right away, I noticed the stares from the kids in the class as we both barged in late, but what I realized soon after was that the teacher didn’t look mad, instead he seemed amused.

“Now Miss. Morgan, I thought we spoke about you being late to class to many times already.” he commented, a teasing smirk on his face.

To my surprise, Mr. Taver wasn’t as old as I expected him to be. My old teacher had been in his late forties and had issues dealing with his students, but this teacher seemed to be in his mid-thirties and enjoyed teaching a class full of teenagers.

Saige shrugged her shoulders as a grin appeared on her face. “We did, but this time I have a reason,” she replied before gesturing to me as I stood relatively still behind her. “I was showing Jillian the way to class.”

Mr. Taver, who seemed to have just noticed me, moved his eyes over to me as they widened slightly. “That’s right, Jillian Thomas correct?” he asked as he took a peek at a paper on his desk. “You’re the new student?”

“Umm, yes.” I replied sheepishly, not knowing what kind of answer he wanted.

“Well it’s a pleasure to have you here at Freedyn High Jillian, would you like to introduce yourself to the class?” he asked, gesturing to the class full of strangers.

Whereas I liked not having to introduce myself in the last class, I bit my lip in anticipation as everybody stared at me, waiting for me to slip up or embarrass myself. “Umm, hi,” I greeted, lifting my hand up in a small wave. “I’m Jillian, and I just moved here because my dad got a new job.”

A few mumbles of acknowledgement could be heard, but other than that, my classmates just kept silent as I stood there looking like a fish out of water.

“That’s about all you’re going to get.” Mr. Taver muttered to me, as I nodded and made my way back to the empty seat beside Saige.

“That was so embarrassing,” I said in a hushed tone as I pulled out another notebook from my bag.

Saige smiled at me, looking like she wanted to laugh at my misery. “At least you didn’t tell them that they all looked like idiots waiting around for something exciting to happen.” she replied jokingly, trying to make me feel better.

Just like it was meant to, her remark made a smile appear on my face as the teacher started explaining what today’s lesson was. Luckily for me, I realized after a couple of minutes that this class was actually a lesson or two behind my old school, and I didn’t have to worry about catching up with notes or concepts.

Letting my gaze drift off to the clock that hung on the wall, I saw that it was already ten thirty, which meant that lunch was just around the corner and I couldn’t wait to see what kind of food they sold in the cafeteria. Whereas my old school sold disgusting and inedible food, I was hopeful to have the selection of something edible and delicious for a change.

Waiting in anticipation, I was sucked out of my food fantasies by a loud buzzing coming from the intercom.

“Mr. Taver?” the voice asked.

“Yes?” he replied, waiting for the reason of this interruption.

“Do you have Jillian Thomas there?”

My eyes widened slightly as I heard my name, and I suddenly noticed that a majority of the class was looking my way, including Mr. Taver.

“I do.”

“Could you please send her to the office? Thank you.” the voice over the intercom stated before another buzz signaled the line had been cut off.

“Well, you heard the man Jillian,” Mr. Taver said, nodding towards the door, “Up you go.”

Closing my notebook and slipping it quickly into my bag as he turned around to continue his lesson, I looked over at Saige in fear as I settled my bag on my shoulder.

“Please tell me that all new students get called to the office on their first day.” I begged quietly as I stood up.

“I would say yes,” Saige commented in reply, “But I’d be lying.”

Gulping slightly, I nodded at her worriedly before heading out the classroom and into the lonely hallway.

I knew that the office was at the front of the school, so, I took the same way I had come from my last class before heading over to where I thought the office was located.

Luckily I didn’t get lost on my way there as I found the office in little-to-no time, but that didn’t mean my nerves had awoken as I wondered why I had been called down.

The other new students didn’t get called to the office, so what made me so special?

Entering the office I saw a woman sitting at the front desk, presumably the secretary, who looked up as she heard footsteps approach.

“Hi, what can I do for you?” she asked.

“Umm, I was told to come to the office…” I trailed off shyly.

The secretary’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Are you Jillian Thomas?”

Nodding, I kept silent as she buzzed the principal to let her know that I was here.

“Okay, send her in.” the principal replied, and if I hadn’t already met her the day before, I would’ve thought she sounded very professional and a little intimidating.

“Just go down that short hallway and it’s the last door on the left,” the secretary said, directing me to the corridor to her right.

Mumbling a quick thank you, I clutched at my bag tightly as I approached the principal’s office. I knew that after being here for only a couple of hours, I couldn’t have done anything wrong or out of order, but it was just the overall feeling that loomed around the principal’s office that made me nervous. Besides meeting my principal the first day of freshman year in my old town, I had never had a reason to have a run in with him again, and although this principal appeared to be much nicer, a slight chill of nerves went down my spine as I stood outside her door.

Knocking three times softly, I immediately heard her voice telling me to come in.

I opened the door easily, wincing at the creaking noise it made, and saw Mrs. Praden sitting at her desk with a middle-aged man standing beside him.

“Umm, you wanted to see me Mrs. Praden,” I said as I stepped into her office and let the door close behind me.

“Yes, take a seat dear,” she said kindly, nodding to the plush seat positioned in front of me.

Taking a seat, I tried hard to conceal the nerves as I fidgeted slightly. “So, am I in trouble or something?”

Both Mrs. Praden, and the man behind her, let loose laughter at my question as I simply flushed in embarrassment and ducked my head.

“No, no dear,” she replied, calming down from laughing, “You’re not in trouble in the slightest.”

“Umm, then why am I here exactly?” I asked, my nerves still seeping through in my voice.

“It’s come to our attention that you are quite an accomplished athlete Miss. Thomas.” Mrs. Praden said, looking at me as if she knew everything about my past.

Flushing, I bit my lip. “Umm, not really.”

“Oh, so you’re not the same Jillian Thomas who has won countless medals in track and field?”  the man standing behind Mrs. Praden asked. “And it’s not you who’s gone to both regionals and nationals since their sophomore year?”

I didn’t know how to reply, but it turned out that I didn’t have to because suddenly the television in the corner of the room turned on, and on it was a video of me. It was my track performance at last year’s nationals. I had finished tenth place in my main event and a respectable twelfth and fifteenth in my other two races.

As I saw myself pushing myself and running with everything I had in me, passing two girls along the way, I crossed the finish line in mid stride before starting to slow down.

My dad and my coach had been so proud of me when I received my ribbons after the races, and I had been proud of myself. I always run because I enjoyed it, but getting tenth place in a race that included students from across the country was overwhelming and a huge accomplishment for me.

“That girl on the screen looks very similar to you Jillian,” the man stated, raising an eyebrow in hopes that I would admit it was me.

“Yea, she does,” I admitted shyly.

“You’re quite talented Jillian,” the principal commented, making my skin flush pink in response.

“Thanks,” I muttered with a small smile.

“This is Coach Trevor,” Mrs. Praden stated, gesturing to the mystery man that stood behind her, “He’s the gym teacher here, but he also runs sports like hockey, football, and track.”

Her eyes stared pointedly at me at the word track before she continued.

“I just wanted to see if you were interested in continuing with track at Freedyn,” Coach said, “I already know you’re a fantastic runner, and there’s definitely a spot on the team for you if you’re interested.”

Smiling at them, my insides warmed at the thought of being invited onto the track team. Just days ago I thought I would never run another track meet again, worrying about the fact that my new school wouldn’t have a track team or wouldn’t be holding tryouts for a new member.

But here I was, in the office the first day of school, being asked to join the Freedyn High track team.

“I’m interested,” I admitted shyly.

Both the principal and the coach smiled at my response.

“Welcome to the Freedyn High track team Jillian.”

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I hadn’t realized that half an hour had already passed until I walked out of the office and heard the lunch bell ring.

That had been a couple of minutes ago, and I was now at my locker, transferring all my books onto the shelves as I dug for money for lunch in the bottom pouches.

“So, did you get kicked out of school for being tardy for biology?”

I jumped at the sound of the voice, and when I turned around I saw Saige standing against the locker beside mine as she grinned at me.

Letting my heart rate calm down, I smiled at her and shook my head in amusement. “No surprisingly, it turns out that getting one tardy on your first day of school doesn’t constitute for expulsion.”

“Huh, who knew?” Saige commented, going along with the joke for a second before we both laughed. “So, why did you really get called to the office?”

I shrugged. “Apparently the coach found out about my past with track and field and wanted me to join the team.” I admitted. “He was giving me the details about when practice is and what meets I have to run in the next couple of weeks to be considered for regionals.”

She raised her eyebrow at this information, looking impressed. “So,” she started, “You’ve already been recruited for the team after just a few hours here. Girl, how good at track are you?”

“Umm, three top twenty finishes last year at nationals.” I admitted sheepishly.

“Holy shit Jill!” Saige exclaimed, “That’s awesome. This settles it; I’m definitely coming to watch one of your practices when you beat all the other judgemental boys and girls that run track at this school.”

Falling into a fit of giggles myself, Saige joined me after a couple seconds as she realized how ridiculous she just sounded.

As our laughter subdued, I caught my breath back as she spoke. “Well let’s head to the cafeteria,” she suggested, “I’ll show you what definitely not to get.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I smiled at my newly acquired friend.

Before we could walk even a few steps towards the cafeteria, the remaining students that surrounded us in the hallway all became eerily silent before whispering and pointing towards someone who was coming down the hallway.

It was the guy that I had seen near the pond yesterday when I was running – the boy who was still an alluring mystery to me.

Even as the students whispered about him, he just kept walking down the hallways as if none of the gossip bothered him. His eyes still looked emotionless, but as his gaze flickered to Saige and I as he passed us, I saw something flash in them. Whether it was recognition or something else, he didn’t stay still long enough for me to decipher it as he just kept strolling down the hallway, looking like he didn’t give two shits about anyone or anything at the moment.

As he disappeared around the corner, the whispers got louder until everybody had changed the subject and had gone back to talking about what they had been before mystery guys spectacular.

“Who was that?” I asked curiously, turning to Saige for a reply.

“That, would be the reason why I’m labeled as one of the school’s freaks,” she stated, leaving me confused for a second. “That’s my cousin, Parker Collins.”

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Dun dun dun! Another sort-of cliffhanger for this story!

I’m so glad that you guys are finding this story interesting so far. I’m aware that it is slightly darker and different than my other cutesy teen fiction stories, but I assure you that you’ll hopefully love it just as much, or even more than my other works :)

Also, just in case anybody was wondering, I’m always willing to accept banners/covers for this story, as well as my other stories. It’s an honour to see fans getting involved with the characters and with the story.

Remember to leave your opinions about this chapter in the comment section below, and thank you all again for getting me into top 100 for both humor and teen fiction already with this story! Keep up the support xx