Chapter 4

The minute that Saige said that Parker was her cousin, a million questions started to swarm around inside my head.

How were they related? What happened to him that made him so aloof? What happened to Freya? Why does everyone hate you because of him?

However, before I could utter a single word, I saw the pained look that had suddenly appeared on Saige’s face. Biting my tongue, I pushed any curiosity to the back of my mind, deciding to keep quiet and just continue to lunch as if nothing had happened. I had only known her for a couple of hours, and although it seemed that we’d be close friends in the future, I didn’t want to push her to admit something that she didn’t feel like sharing at the moment.

The week passed quite easily after that. I had gotten quite familiar with my classes, as well as learnt my way around the town for the most part. I sometimes found myself missing my old classmates and friends, but as the days started to pass, I realized that I had to just accept it and think about the present, and not get stuck in the past. Saige and I had become close, and I was glad that I had somebody to talk to and rely on in this town. I hadn’t touched the subject of Parker again since that first day in the halls, but from time to time I’d see him wandering the halls between classes and wonder what his story really was. It was one of those things that constantly picked at the back of your brain, bothering you at the most random times of day.

On top of school, I had attended my first track practice after school on Wednesday, and although I had been fairly intimidated at first from what Saige had told me, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I ended up being the fastest one on the team, but with some of the looks that were being sent my way, I definitely became aware of my jealous teammates.

I didn’t want to write off all of my teammates as jerks yet, because I knew that a lot of athletes didn’t immediately warm up to a new team mate, but I figured that maybe after a couple of weeks that would change. If it didn’t, I’d have to find a way to shrug it off and just focusing on running my best at the meets.

Because of the fact that I wanted to get used to the town and memorize my route to school, I hadn’t gone running in the morning for the past couple of days, and I was actually saddened by it as I loved waking my body up with exercise. As the hours of Thursday started to dwindle, I slipped into my pyjamas before climbing into bed. However, before closing my eyes, I set my alarm for an early hour, determined to have enough time for a morning jog.

With my alarm set and my eye lids drooping, I laid back in bed and let a wave of sleep wash over me.

It seemed as though seconds later a monotonous beeping was sounding in my ears as my alarm woke me from my sleep. Groaning, I rolled over to stop the alarm and saw that it was already six in the morning. Sighing, I stayed wrapped up in the warmness of my bed for another minute or two before getting up and slipping into a pair of workout clothes.

Dressed in a pair of leggings and a loose fitting t-shirt, I quickly grabbed a hold of my running shoes and my headphones before barreling out of my room and downstairs.

Opening the front door, I was greeted with a gust of chilly morning air. The sun was just starting to rise, and although the darkness was still prevalent, I didn’t mind much as I started to stretch out my muscles.

Jogging down the driveway minutes later, I started off with a slow pace as I didn’t want to waste all my energy within the first couple blocks. As my body started to awaken, my muscles working harder and the morning aches in my bones diminishing, I slowly sped up as I took the same route I had my first time around the neighbourhood.

I felt the familiar rush in my body as my feet hit the sidewalk in a routinely fashion and my heart started to pump faster as my speed increased. The thrill that running gave me would never get old, and I was glad that I was able to do what I loved on a daily basis.

Even with the small amount of light that was shining this early in the morning, I was still able to locate that turn-off to the path I had ran through just days before. I found myself slowing down as I turned onto it, once again admiring the scenery that started to surround me. The trees were still the same, their colourful leaves swaying back and forth in the wind, and the pond still looked crystal clear, as if nothing could touch it.

What surprised me was the fact that even though it was a quarter after six in the morning, and the sun hadn’t even fully risen yet, was that I wasn’t alone.

Parker was seated in front of the very same tree I had first seen him at, and as I stopped and squinted in his direction, I could see the outline of both a pencil and sketch book in his hands as he drew whatever his heart desired.

Now it seemed strange to me that a teenage boy would have nothing better to do in the morning, which included sleep, that he would visit a deserted pond at the crack of dawn. However, with the minimal knowledge that I had on Parker Collins, I could already tell that he wasn’t like any other teenage boy.

I realized once again that I was staring at him as his eyes met mine, however, this time instead of freezing under his intimidating gaze, I raised my hand timidly and waved, hoping he would see my gesture as friendly instead of petty.

As the seconds passed and I was left without a response, my cheeks started to heat up slightly as I thought of how stupid my wave must’ve seen. Just before I turned away however, my eyes widened slightly in surprise as I saw the guy across the pond lift his hand the smallest amount and return the wave with what looked like the vague outline of a smile. My cheeks flamed even brighter at his actions, and instead of acting like a regular civilized human, I simply turned on my heel quickly and jogged my way down the path. It didn’t matter to me in the moment that I probably looked like a complete and utter idiot, but I didn’t look back as I disappeared into a space of path covered solely by trees.

Slowing back down to my normal pace, my breathing started to return to normal and as I emerged back to the sidewalks of Byrendale, I pushed my idiotic actions to the back of my mind as I continued my run.

Minutes later I was jogging up my driveway, having already been outside for approximately half an hour, and the small line of sweat that was running down my forehead added proof to the fact that I was more than fully awake.

Stepping inside, I slipped off my shoes in an instant before heading quickly up the stairs, not stopping until I reached my bathroom.

As I stepped under the warm and soothing spray of my showerhead, any randoms thoughts I had stored in my mind started to slowly disappear, however, one thing stuck out as vibrant as a pink sweater. I had the way I had run away from Parker stuck in my mind, and the scene just kept replaying as I thought about it.

“Dammit!” I screamed to myself, scolding myself for running away from somebody I wanted to know.

In that second, I realized that I wanted to get to know Parker Collins.

People had pushed away Saige for even being related to him, yet she was turning out to be a great friend to me… so what was stopping me from being friends with Parker as well?

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Pulling up to Freedyn High more than an hour later, I was feeling a little less embarrassed about what had happened this morning, which basically meant I was no longer beating myself up for my stupid actions.

I had arrived earlier to school this morning with hopes to talk to Coach Trevor before classes.

After track practice on Wednesday, he had pulled me aside and told informed me of the cost that went with being on the team, as well as the dates of the upcoming meets and when I would be travelling a little out of state to run. When I returned home that night, I had told my dad that I needed $250 for the track season, and when I walked into the kitchen this morning, although my dad had already left for work while I was in the shower, there was a note on the table and the exact cash laying beneath it.

Throwing my bag over my shoulder, I slipped my keys into my pocket as I stepped out of the car and headed towards the school.

Heading straight for the gym, I turned right just before the double doors and knocked on the single wooden door that stood in the nearly abandoned hallway.

It was strange to me, that there were no jocks or cheerleaders roaming around the gyms and change rooms, but those random thoughts quickly vanished as I brought my hand up once again to knock on the Coach’s door.

Seconds later, just when I was about to give up waiting and head to my locker before my first class, I heard footsteps growing louder on the other side of the door before the door was pulled open quickly, revealing Coach Trevor on the other side.

“Jillian?” he asked in a surprised voice. “What brings you here before class?”

“Well,” I started shyly, digging my hand into my bag to find the money I owed him, “I wanted to give you this money before the week ended so I didn’t forget about it, and I didn’t think you’d be busy with anything this early.”

Handing him the money as I finished speaking, he took it easily and nodded. “Okay, thanks Jillian.” he said before turning around and heading back into his office.

Slightly stunned by his quick reply, I was about to shrug it off and head to my locker when he reappeared, this time minus the money, but with the addition of a bag in his hand.

“There you go Jillian, your official welcome to the Freedyn track team.” he stated as he extended the bag towards me.

Taking it curiously, I peeked inside of it to see a rolled up jacket and track pants that looked to be part of a track warm-up, as well as a cotton hoodie peeking out from beneath them.

Smiling as I let the bag hang from my hand, I looked up to Coach and thanked him.

“It’s not a problem Jillian, every member gets them once they pay their competition fee.” he replied. “Now get going, I have a homeroom that I have to get going to.”

Nodding in response, I said a quick goodbye before heading off to my locker to drop my bags off and pick up my books for my first class, Calculus.

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“How do you even keep up with the work in all your classes?” Saige asked as we headed towards our lockers once the lunch bell had rung. “I mean you just got here and you already got 100% on our biology quiz.”

Hiding a grin, I flipped over the quiz we had written the day before in biology which now had a bright red 100 on the top of it.

“I had already learned the few things on this quiz back in my old school, so I was really only having a review when I got here.” I replied with a shrug. “But don’t get me wrong, just because I’m caught up in biology, doesn’t mean I’m caught up in my other classes. I’m still a lesson behind in Calculus and then I wasn’t even taking History in my old town, so I’m more than a month behind.”

“Yikes.” she commented with a funny look on her face. “But you could always get a tutor and scrape a good mark out of it.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Well while you’re thinking about which lucky soul in this school gets the honour of tutoring you, I’m just gonna head to the cafeteria quickly to buy my lunch and I’ll meet you in there.”

Nodding, I smiled at her as she reversed her steps and headed towards the cafeteria.

Continuing towards my locker, I passed a few students that were just skipping out on lunch or on their way to meetings for the majority of the hour. Ignoring their loud outbursts and manic laughs, I reached my locker, which was luckily surrounded by not a single soul.

Stuffing my books into my locker, I slipped my quiz into my biology binder and grabbed the lunch that I had made for myself this morning and made my way towards the cafeteria.

Although some of the halls in the school were still unfamiliar to me, I knew that the cafeteria was located down the hall from the gym, and was accessible from almost any hallway on the bottom floor.

Realizing quickly that I was taking an alternate route to the cafeteria, I slowed down in steps as I passed a couple of unknown classrooms that, I assumed, were empty at this hour.

However, just as I was about to turn off and continue heading to meet Saige, I heard the faint sound of music coming from one of the lit up classrooms. Moving closer to the doors, I passed two empty classrooms before coming across what I was looking for.

Through the glass part of the door, I could clearly see the familiar body of Parker Collins hunched over a desk as a phone beside him let out the lyrics of a song that I had only heard once or twice before on an alternative radio station.

I don’t know what propelled me to do so, but without a second thought, I pulled my cellphone out from my jean pockets and sent a quick text message to Saige.

I’m just checking up on something, I’ll be a couple minutes :)

Not waiting for a reply, I opened the door to the classroom slowly and quietly, but what I didn’t realize was that the slower I was moving the door, the more of a squeak the hinges made.

Immediately my skin flushed of colour as Parker looked up in surprise, almost as if he was stunned that somebody was there, which now that I thought about it, he probably was.

“Umm hey, sorry about the noise and stuff, I umm, just wanted to say hey I guess.” I babbled nervously as I stepped into the classroom and the door squeaked close.

Fidgeting where I stood, I let my eyes wander around the classroom as a wave of silence made its way around the room. With the paintings pinned up on the wall, the sketches piled onto the desk and the shelves full of art supplies at the back of the classroom, it didn’t take me long to realize that we were in the school’s art room.

“Hey.”

My eyes widened slightly as I looked back to Parker, who had obviously just spoken, but was now more focused on what he was working on than anything else. His voice was slightly deeper than I expected it to be, but as I looked at him focused on his sketching, I could see that it kind of suited him.

‘And now I look like a creep,” I processed as my head shook those thoughts from my mind.

From where I was standing, it looked like he was sketching a city landscape, but I couldn’t be sure, all I knew was that it looked pretty intricate in its own way from the angle I was looking from.

“Umm… hey,” I replied nervously.

The hand that held his pencil stopped moving once again as his head moved slightly and his eyes focused on me. Under his gaze, I felt my cheeks flush once again in embarrassment, but as he lifted an eyebrow in curiosity, I relaxed slightly.

“You already said that,” he said with the smallest of smiles appearing on his face.

His smile was gone as quick as it appeared though, as my embarrassment came back in full force.

“Oh yeah…” I stammered quickly. “I just umm, saw you working in here and thought, umm, I’d say hi. I’m Jillian.”

Although I expected him to laugh at my word vomit, I was surprised when seconds had passed and not a sound could be heard.

“I know that,” he said, breaking the silence. “And you probably already know that I’m Parker.”

Ignoring the sound in his voice that sounded like humor, as though he wanted to laugh but couldn’t, I replied. “Well yea, I mean I’ve heard it around and…” I spoke, but my thoughts were cut off when I realized what he had said. “Wait, how do you know who I am?”

“Well,” he started, putting his pencil down on his sketchbook as he spoke, “first of all I can see the bracelet on your arm.” Looking down at my arm, I realized what he was talking about. I wore a small silver bracelet that my dad had given me for my birthday this past year that had my name engraved onto the front. Moving the bracelet out of view, I listened to him as he continued. “And second of all, I’ve heard Saige talk about you a couple of times this week.”

“Saige?” I questioned, wondering what she had to do with anything. I knew they were cousins, but I hadn’t known they were close or anything.

He nodded in response. “Yea, didn’t she tell you that I live with her?” he asked sceptically, his eyes searching mine as if he were analyzing me in silence.

“Not exactly,” I admitted timidly.

“Oh,” he said deflated, “Don’t worry about it, she usually doesn’t like to brag about the fact that she’s related to and lives with the town’s freak.”

“No, it’s not that!” I said in a rush. “I mean she told me that you guys were cousins, she just never mentioned that you lived together, but I never asked either.”

He didn’t reply to my statement, and as I thought this pointless conversation was next to over, I turned slightly to leave and meet up with Saige when Parker spoke once more.

“Thanks.”

Turning back to him, my eyebrows were scrunched in confusion at his voice. “Thanks?” I asked with as much confusion that was visible on my face. “Thanks for what?”

“For talking to Saige and being her friend.” he admitted, looking at me with something undetectable in his eyes. It looked like a mix of pride and hurt, but I didn’t dwell on it any longer as he continued to speak. “I know that being related to me has been hard on her the past couple of years, with umm, some circumstances, and well, I guess it’s nice to know that she has somebody to count on again.”

“It’s umm, not a problem,” I replied, and although I wanted to ask more about what exactly these circumstances were, I held my tongue.

He nodded in acceptance, and went back to sketching, which I took as my cue to leave.

Mid step however, I saw a textbook lying on the desk beside Parker. An AP History textbook.

“Is that yours?” I asked bluntly, the words spewing out of my mouth before I could stop them.

He looked up in surprise once again, and when his gaze moved to where I was pointing, he saw the textbook and I visibly saw his shoulders relax.

“Yes…” he trailed off, “Why?”

My mind was working without a gear or filter it seemed, because although I knew that something had gone on in the past couple years, and there was a very valid reason left unknown to me about why the whole town avoided the guy in front of me, I couldn’t think about that at the moment as my mouth started to move.

“Tutor me?”

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So… I am so very sorry about the three week gap between updates, and even though this isn’t a super long chapter, I hope you enjoy this!

Since my last update, my other novel UNTIL I MET YOU, was chosen as a finalist for the Watty Awards, which I really hope that all of you support because I am super excited about it!

Hopefully it won’t take me this long to update the next chapter, but I do know it may be two weeks before a new chapter is written and released because of the fact that the end of my semester is coming near.

I have the best fans in the world, and I’d like to hear your thoughts, once again, on how you think this chapter is and what you think of the kind of cliffhanger ending :)