Chapter 6

Sunday passed by in the blink of an eye, as I was stuck inside for a majority of the day trying to catch up with school and finish my homework, however, I did make time for a quick run around lunch time to let loose and forget about all the work I had piled up in my bedroom.

As I woke up Monday morning to the blaring sound of my alarm clock, I dressed quickly for my morning jog and headed out on my usual morning path. After making my way through my usual streets and neighbourhoods, I came across the entrance to the pond, and unlike Saturday, I turned and headed down the trail.

It was still spectacular to see how at peace the whole environment seemed to be, tucked away from civilization, as if it was its own little piece of the town that only a select few had the privilege to see.

Approaching the pond, I looked to my side quickly, and as I suspected, Parker was seated in his usual spot with a sketch book in his lap, but he had headphones in his ears, blocking out the serenity of his surroundings.

Deciding not to slow down and say hi, as I would see him soon enough in school, I continued on with my jog, going with the wind and heading right back onto the streets.

Heading into school later that morning I felt just shy of confident. It was looking to be a good morning as the hours slowly started to pass, as I finally started to understand and catch up in Calculus and find my way around the school without any help from Saige or random passersby.

As biology started to dwindle to a close however, my mind started to go awry as it decided that I had had enough happiness for the day. It was though I could suddenly feel the confidence flowing out of me. Thoughts suddenly started to appear in my head about Parker and how today’s tutor session would go.

Would he be nice and explain everything to me? Would it be completely awkward and I’d immediately regret asking him for help? Would he act as though he wanted to be anywhere else than with me? Would I act like a complete idiot with a babbling mouth? What would happen?

It was though I was completely zoned out as a scenario started to play out in my head.

I envisioned Parker trying to explain the events that led up to World War I, and as he spoke, the names, dates, and events just got jumbled in my head. I kept trying to concentrate, but I just couldn’t, and I would be too afraid to speak up. Then he would call my name and I would look like a weirdo as I came out of my own little world.

“Jillian.”

And now I could hear his voice in my head. ‘This couldn’t be good,’ I thought.

Suddenly something poked me in the side and I snapped right out of the dazed state I was in, whipping my head in surprise towards Saige, whom I immediately noticed was holding a pencil in my direction.

Eyes wide, I silently asked her what the hell she thought she was doing, but when she nodded towards the front of the room, where the biology teacher stood looking at me with an unimpressed look on his face, I suddenly realized that she wasn’t the only one that realized I had been submersed into my own little world. In fact, as I looked around the classroom, most of the class had their eyes on me, smirking or laughing at me with their friends.

Flushing in embarrassment, I shyly faced Mr. Taver and waited for him to speak.

“So,” he asked, “Do you have an answer for us Miss. Thomas?”

“Umm, can you repeat the question?” I mumbled shyly, my skin flushing a deeper shade of red as I heard a couple more chuckles escape my classmates.

His unimpressed facial expression hinted at amusement, however, he replied with a subtle eye roll. “I asked if you knew the difference between DNA and RNA.”

“Well, umm…” I stammered, before recalling the answer, “Deoxyribonucleic acid are double stranded molecules that contain genetic information used for the development and functioning of all livings organisms, while ribonucleic acid molecules are single stranded and are involved in protein synthesis. Also, DNA replicates on its own, while RNA is synthesized from DNA molecules when it is needed.”

Mr. Taver smiled at me and nodded. “That’s correct.” he said. “But even if you do understand the material, I’d appreciate it, if in the future, you didn’t zone out in the middle of my class.” he continued with his eyebrow raised. “Do you understand?”

“Yes sir.” I replied, sinking down slightly in the chair of my desk, as if the lower I got, the more invisible I would become.

He nodded in acceptance before he carried on teaching the class, I on the other hand, slouched lower in my seat as I sat through the rest of class slightly mortified from embarrassment.

It felt like hours, but when the bell to signal lunch finally rang minutes later, I quickly packed my books into my bag and scurried out the classroom without a look back.

I probably looked like a crazy person, moving quickly through the halls as I zigzagged my way through throngs of people heading towards the cafeteria as I headed towards my locker.

Spinning the dial of my locker quickly, I shoved my bag inside and sighed, as if letting go of my bag would somehow make my embarrassment evaporate into thin air.

Resting my head against the locker next to mine, I tried to block the hustle and bustle of the hallway out, however, I was brought out of my calm state of mind as I heard Saige calling my name down the hallway.

“There’s the daydreamer,” she commented with teasing intent as she reached me and leaned against the row of lockers. “So, were you dreaming about having some extra sleep, or was it a little steamier, about a guy perhaps?”

I shook my head in amusement at her questioning, resisting the urge to snort or roll my eyes. “You know me,” I replied sarcastically, reaching into my locker to grab my bag once more. Switching out my calculus and biology books for my history books and lunch, I looked to Saige with a silly face as I continued. “Always dreaming about the hottest guy in the classroom.”

“I so knew it.” she remarked, before we both laughed as I shut the door to my locker.

Our laughter died down quickly, and Saige took the advantage of the silence to voice her curiosity once more. “So, what really brought you into the land of the daydreamers?”

I turned my head slowly from where I stood beside her, a sheepish smile adorning my face as I spoke. “I might have been thinking about Parker.”

Shock flashed in her eyes, but it was gone quickly, as though it was never there at all. “Oh really?” she asked, as though my reply hadn’t helped her curiosity, but made it much more prevalent. “Why? Does somebody have the makings of a crush?”

“No,” I replied with an eye roll, and even though I may have found Parker a little bit over average in the looks category, that didn’t mean she had to know. At least not right this second. “I’m just nervous about how this tutoring session is going to go.”

My honesty stunned her, and I can immediately see her teasing comments fly out of her mind as she shrugged simply. “I wouldn’t worry about it.” Saige said, standing up from her place on the lockers as she headed down the hallway.

Scurrying to catch up with her, I fell into stride as I spoke. “So you think it’ll be fine?”

Saige flashed me a smile as we continued to walk. “I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” she said. “I mean, he’s really good in history and it’s not like he’s a jerk that’s out to get you or something. He’s not going to teach you the wrong stuff or anything.”

For some reason, for the first time since I met her, I felt like Saige was lying to me (and I wasn’t counting any information she was withholding about Parker’s past). “Now tell me how you really feel?” I asked, grabbing her arm lightly as I pulled her to a stop.

She sighed as she looked at me and shook her head. “Look,” she started, “I still don’t really understand why Parker agreed to tutor you to be honest. It’s just a little bit weird to me.”

The nerves that were still whirling around in the pit of my stomach grew bigger as I listened to Saige talk.

“What do you mean?” I asked timidly. “Do you, umm, think something is going to happen or something?”

My nerves were at an all-time high for the day as silence enveloped us for a couple seconds.

“Look,” Saige sighed, “I’m not saying that he lied about wanting to tutor you or that you’re not smart to ask him, somebody who’s really good at history, for help. All I’m saying is that I think it’s weird. He’s known for being the black sheep and the anti-social boy who lost his sister a couple of years ago, so I just don’t know exactly how you’re tutoring session is going to turn out.”

“Well, now that you’ve managed to make me think that this might not be such a great idea after all,” I said, trying to take deep breaths that weren’t too noticeable as Saige flashed me a smile of apology. “I’m off to meet Parker.”

“Sorry about that,” she apologized, “But hopefully it goes well and you prove me wrong.”

Nodding, I said a quick goodbye to her, telling her that I’d see her at the end of the day before heading off to the art room where Parker agreed to meet up.

Stopping outside the door, I peeked through the window and saw that Parker was indeed there, seated a desk with his sketchbook open, just like I expected him to be. However, when I pulled back slightly and looked at the door in front of me, it was as though I stepped into a different world. The door didn’t look like a simple entryway to an art room, but it looked like a menacing black hole that would lead to the unknown. It was as if four black walls were building up slowly around me as I stood still and the seconds ticked by, but as I closed my eyes and took one deep, calming breath, everything disappeared.

I opened my eyes and I was back in the school hallways, my hand hesitating in mid-air, as if it was afraid to touch the doorknob.

Shaking myself out of it, I reached forward and pulled the door open, stepping inside without an ounce of hesitation.

Parker’s head snapped up at the sound of the door hinges squeaking, acknowledging me before going back to his drawing.

“Umm, hey.”

Parker looked up again, and once again, it looked as though he wanted to smile, but for some reason, it was impossible for him to do so. “Hey,” he said in return. “You’re a little bit late.”

“Sorry,” I said, the skin of my cheeks flushing ever so slightly as I walked towards the desks and took a seat in the one next to his. “I was talking to Saige.”

Although he absorbed my words and acknowledged that he heard me, he didn’t show any other emotion than the one that had already been plastered on his face, which if I had to describe it, the word would be bland.

“So, did you bring your work that you needed help with?” he asked, pushing his sketchbook and materials to the side of his desk as he faced me.

“Umm, yea.” I said, as I dug a hand into my bag and pulled out my history binder and textbook, along with a snack from my lunch.

As I flipped open my binder, I showed him the notes I had taken last week and where I had started from, before letting him take a look for himself.

“Okay, well these look pretty detailed.” he said as he skimmed over the few pages of notes I had stored in my binder. “So what do you need help with?”

I pulled a diffident smile at his question. “Everything before that.” I admitted, slightly ashamed of my answer. “I guess they just finished up World War I last week, so I have a note on how it ended and who won, but everything before that is a complete mess.”

“So, basically you need me to explain the entirety of World War I to you?” he asked in disbelief, obviously not thinking that I was that far behind when he agreed to help me.

“Umm, yes.”

“Well then,” he said, moving his desk over to meet mine before placing the hefty history textbook in the middle. “We’d better get started.”

“So, the first thing you have to know is that the war started…”

For the next ten minutes it was as though Parker had been asked to let loose about a topic of his choice, and his choice was the start of World War I. He wasn’t even looking at the textbook, but he was reciting dates, names and places that, when I glanced at the pages in front of me, were correct. I could instantly see that he had a passion for history and that he loved it, and if not that he must’ve had a photographic memory, because he sure knew his facts.

The only problem was that although I was trying to listening to everything he was saying and understand it, I wasn’t writing anything down and, with the words and complicated sentences he was using, barely any of the information was sticking in my brain.

I had the year 1914 memorized from the amount of times he had said it, and I knew that it was the year in which the war started, but that’s about all. I could tell you the date and month, but it’d be a wild guess.

A minute or two later, Parker must’ve noticed a look of confusion and bewilderment on my face because he stopped short in the middle of a sentence and gave me a strange look.

“Now, how much of that did you actually retain?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he awaited my reply.

“1914.”

“Huh?” he asked, confused by my reply.

“That’s the only thing I can actually remember about what you just said.” I explained timidly. “The war started in 1914.”

“Seriously?” he asked in disbelief, as though he was angry at me.

“I’m sorry,” I stammered out, “I mean, you were just talking really fast and I couldn’t really understand what you were saying because it sounded really complicated and I didn’t want to stop you because I thought you’d get mad or something…”

I trailed off at the end of my sentence quietly, and by the look on Parker’s face, he didn’t look too impressed with me.

“I wouldn’t have been mad if you asked me to stop talking,” he replied stressfully, “But I’m kind of mad I just wasted almost fifteen minutes going over something and the only thing you got out of it was a year.”

“Sorry.” I mumbled shyly.

He shook his head. “Look, let’s just try this a different way.” he suggested, pushing the textbook towards me. “How about you read the textbook and take notes, and if you have any trouble understanding anything just let me know.” he said, a little calmer than he had been before.

“Umm, okay.” I replied, shyly.

As he re-opened his sketchpad and moved his desk away from me, my mood deflated even more, and my nerves were chanting in victory, for they had won today’s round.

Sitting at the desk beside Parker, I was more or less silent as my eyes skimmed over the words I had tried to understand more than a few times in the seven days. Risking a peek at Parker, I saw him immersed in his drawing, and I was a little too intimidated to tell him that I’ve tried reading the textbook before and it had gotten me nowhere.

Slumping silently, I opened my granola bar that had been sitting on my desk the whole time and took a bite as I glanced up at the clock. Lunch was more than half over, and maybe if I sat here long enough with my eyes glued to the pages of my textbook, I could absorb something.

All I knew for sure as I looked down at my textbook was that it looked like this tutoring thing was going downhill… and fast.

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I tried going back to the art room on Tuesday and Wednesday at lunch for some extra help, hoping that, somehow, Parker would help me understand the conundrum that was history, or that I would gain the courage to ask him to explain the work to me, but it was no use.

Our tutoring sessions were like a plane about to crash, spiraling downwards until it finally blew up.

I, however, didn’t wait for the blow up that was bound to happen, because after Parker refused to show up on Thursday, even though he really didn’t need to, I decided that it would be a waste of my time on Friday to try at it again. Instead, I decided to go out for soup and salad with Saige, making the most of the lunch hour. I didn’t even feel bad that while I was shoveling a Greek salad into my mouth, that Parker was possibly enjoying yet another lunch alone in the art room. Nope, not one thought was given.

Okay, so maybe my mind was flashing back to him every couple of minutes, but I didn’t let my lunch with Saige suffer because of it.

It was now Saturday afternoon, and keeping to last weekend’s plans, I was currently cruising towards the main part of town with Saige in the passenger seat.

“I just don’t get why he’s being so difficult.” I ranted to Saige as I circled yet another block in search of a free parking spot.

Saige shrugged as she leaned her elbow on the side of the car. “I told you that it was a strange idea to begin with,” she replied nonchalantly, “I mean, I just find it weird that he’d socialize with anybody, let alone somebody he’s barely met before. No offense.”

“Non-taken.” I replied, because honestly, it seemed as though it was strange for him to talk to me, even in private. In the halls he seemed like the stereotypical loner, listening to his headphones and ignoring the looks and inconspicuous whispers that were directed towards him. “But it doesn’t make sense,” I continued, “I know he’s good at history because of that ridiculous rant he went on at the beginning of our tutoring session on Monday, but after I said I wasn’t getting it, it was like something in him just shut down.”

“Did he go all silent and close up?” Saige questioned, suddenly interested in what I was saying. “Oh, and that car looks like it’s pulling out.”

True to her word, I glanced slightly to the right and saw that, about five cars ahead of me, a blue car about the same size as mine was pulling out of, what looked to be, the only available parking spot for miles. Slowing down as it left, I set up for a parallel park before replying.

“Yea why?” I asked as I slowly started to turn the wheel as I backed into the spot. “He kind of just got a little angry and then calm downed before he started drawing something in his sketchbook.”

“Wait, you’ve seen him draw?” she asked in surprise as I put the car in park, and I nodded, confused about why that would be so shocking. “Huh. Well as far as I know he doesn’t like people knowing about his drawings. I know he loves it, but it’s like since what happened three years ago, he got really self-conscious about his drawing and doesn’t really let anybody see his drawings.”

“I haven’t seen them or anything,” I replied, “I mean I’ve seen the outlines of some of them but I’ve never actually seen one of them finished.”

Nodding, Saige let the subject drop as she opened the passenger door to get out of the car. “Going back to your history problem,” she said, waiting until I stepped out as well to continue, “Maybe you could just drop out of the class and ask the principal to teach sophomores and juniors a thing about driving and parking, because you are seriously a master at parallel parking.”

“Ha. Ha.” I returned with sarcasm. “That’s really smart Saige; I wish I would’ve thought of it sooner.”

“Well there you go,” she said excitedly, going along with my joke. “Problem solved.”

Rolling my eyes, I made sure that my car doors were locked before tossing my keys into my purse as I fell into step with Saige as we strolled down the sidewalks.

“But honestly, even though Parker doesn’t always seem like the type of guy that would help somebody out, because trust me, he isn’t anymore, he used to be really nice before the accident.” Saige said honestly. “Before Freya died he used to look up to his sister, and as she was one of the smartest and most respected seniors at Freedyn High while we were just lowly freshman, he tried to follow in his footsteps. After she died though, it was like he completely shut down. He kept up with his grades and everything when he could, but with everything that transpired after, he just wasn’t the same.”

“Maybe you brought back the old Parker for a couple minutes, you know, before you messed everything up.” she suggested.

“Hey,” I exclaimed, taking slight offense to what she was saying. “Who said I was the one that messed everything up?”

“Didn’t you tell me that you weren’t taking notes, you weren’t really listening and you didn’t try to ask for help after he kind of iced you out?”

Biting my lip as she finished, I realized that maybe it was partially my fault that things had gone the way they did with Parker.

I had immediately thought that he was the bad guy and I was the victim. I was afraid to ask any questions because I thought he’d think my questions were stupid or I’d just bother him more than I already had.

But maybe that wasn’t true at all.

What Saige was saying was true; maybe I just didn’t try.

I didn’t even think about writing notes as he spoke, thinking I could just remember the information. I didn’t ask for him to slow down and explain it a little more concisely, and after making him seem completely useless to me after remembering a stupid year, that seemed to have already slipped my mind, I didn’t ask for any help.

I kept going back to see if maybe he would reach out again and help me, but maybe I was the one that had to reach out. Maybe I had to push my nerves and embarrassment aside and be strong enough to just talk to Parker.

And suddenly my goal for Monday was set… I’d reach out to Parker Collins.

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“See that wasn’t so bad was it?” Saige asked as we walked out of a local hole-in-the-wall diner.

It was now five ‘o’clock and less than an hour ago, when we stood outside it and I looked at the structure of the place, I thought there couldn’t be anything edible, much less delicious on the menu. However, it turns out that, just like books, you never judge something by the outside without looking at the inside first.

I sighed as I rubbed my stomach in satisfaction. “I think that was one of the best diners I’ve been to in a really long time.” I confessed.

Before the diner, Saige had shown me a couple of other cool places that the centre of Byrendale had to offer.

There was a cute little boutique where Saige confessed she bought a majority of her clothes, and it wasn’t hard to see why. After meeting the owner of the store, I realized that Saige worked there for the past couple of summers to help her aunt out with some of the bills, as well as for something to occupy her company when she wasn’t stuck in school. Apparently all the outfits were made by small-name designers that were just starting out, and after looking through the racks, I found myself with three new tops, a cute jumpsuit, and a pair of jeans in a shopping bag, which had been safely stashed in the safety of my car as soon as it exited the store.

Saige also showed me around the town library, an ice cream shop (which really did sell every flavour known to man), a pet store that was located beside the town’s vet, and a sushi joint that fried up anything you wanted right in front of your eyes.

“So, where to next?” I asked as I wondered what more this town could offer. I knew the mall wasn’t in this end of town and that I’d seen most of the things that a normal town would have, but it made me wonder if Byrendale had anything special to offer.

“Well, there is one more place that you might like, you know, besides the gym.” Saige replied.

“Just because I run track doesn’t mean I like the gym.” I countered with an eye roll. “In fact, I think I’ve stepped foot in a gym maybe twice at the most when I’ve been at hotels and had the spontaneous urge to run. We have a treadmill and workout equipment in the basement if I really want to use it, but usually I just prefer to jog outside.”

“Anyways,” Saige said, sticking her tongue out at me with her lack of response, “Here it is.” she finished as we rounded the corner of yet another busy street.

Ignoring the horns of the cars and the crowds of people circling the sidewalks, I saw what she was acknowledging. Right in between two shops, which looked to belong to a donut parlour and a bra retailer, was an arcade.

The lights of the sign above the building were flashing brightly, but it was as if the people walking by failed to notice the beauty of the dings and whistles that could faintly be heard from the inside.

“You guys have an arcade.” I said in awe as Saige opened the door and ushered me inside.

“Yea,” she said with a simple shrug. “The novelty wears off after a while, especially when most kids spend every weekend here when they’re parents let them, but I thought you’d enjoy the beauty that I Barry’s Arcade.”

“I love it.” I said as the sweet smell of defeat and game tokens wafted passed me.

In my old town there was never an arcade built, and even though kids throughout the city, along with parents, petitioned councils and entrepreneurs to open an arcade, but alas, it never happened.

Looking around the arcade now, I realized that maybe if my old town would’ve had an arcade I might’ve spent more time there then on the track, where my true passion lied. I could see a broken down pacman machine in the far corner, but other than that it looked like all the games were good to go and running smoothly.

I saw kids racing each other on pretend motorbikes, a group of girls hogging the dancing game, a pair of teenage boys shooting at a plastic screen, and even a group of guys that looked to be in their mid-twenties playing a game of pool near the back.

When my eyes landed on an open foosball table, my eyes flicked to Saige, to see that she was staring right at it.

As her eyes turned to me, and we both glanced back at the foosball table, she raised her eyebrow.

“Best two out of three?” she asked challengingly, as if I was no competition for her at all.

My eyes narrowed to slits as I pushed the arms of my sweater up in preparation. “You’re on.”

And even though we both ran to the foosball table like idiots before depositing a coin in, we were having fun, and that’s what teenagers were meant to do.

It didn’t matter that the afternoon started off with a long-winded rant from me about Parker, or that somehow along the way we had completely left that topic in the dusk and tried a bunch of amazing food at a small little diner, the day was coming to a perfect close as Saige dropped a token in the machine and the ball came popping out.

‘Oh yes,’ I thought as I scrunched down and got into perfect position, ‘The game was definitely on.’

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YET ANOTHER UPDATE OF DEFENDING PARKER!

Is my updating schedule actually getting followed for once? OMG! It must be a coincidence :P

I hope you all enjoyed this little chapter, and even though the ending is a little rushed and all over the place, I hope you don’t mind! Next chapter should come with a few things that a lot of you will like, and I hope you’ll stick around :)

ALSO, my other story Until I Met You, I currently in the Watty Awards and it would mean a great deal to me if you guys headed over and voted for it. It’ll just take a second and I would really appreciate it <3

p.s. if you suddenly notice that this has changed from the humor to the romance category, it’s because although the first couple chapters are humorous, the whole idea of the story really isn’t and I think it’d be better suited in the romance section xx