"Hey, where's Jamie," is the first thing Parker asks me the next day in class. I slump in my chair, exhausted from having stayed up all night trying to write down ideas for the art project.
I'm not going to lie. I kind of look a hot mess. Chester left my house around eleven after dinner, so it didn't leave me much time to think of ideas, so I was forced to stay up late.
"She had a doctors appointment. Just a regular check up," I answer Parker, so he doesn't have to worry anymore. Jamie hasn't told him about her situation yet and I know she's been trying her best to keep him at a distance, but still show that she likes him.
I know sometimes she gets really mad about what she has to go through, but I'm always there to cheer her up or just listen. Parker seems to be chill and probably thinks that Jamie just wants to take things slow, but sooner or later he's going to question her.
"Thanks for telling me," he says and breathes out a sigh. He seems like he has something on his chest, but he changes the subject quickly. "What's up with you? You look horrible."
"Thank you for pointing that out," I tell him sarcastically.
"Okay, maybe I was a bit harsh, but seriously what's wrong?"
"I was staying up late looking for ideas for my art project. I didn't get much sleep." I rub my sleepy eyes and shake my head fast to try and stay awake.
"Can I see your ideas," he asks me and I take out my sketch book for him to see. I watch him flip through my ideas with no excitement. His expression stays bluh and he doesn't seem interested in any of my sketches.
"It's that bad," I ask him, already feeling down in the dumps.
"They're not bad," he says, hesitating to finish his sentence. "They're just unoriginal. I've seen these designs before and they don't really match your style or personality." He sends me a sad smile when he sees that I'm sad.
"So, I stayed up late for nothing. Awesome."
"It's ok. You'll figure something out," Parker tells me and pats my head.
"Ew. Don't pat my head." I scrunch up my nose in disgust and push his hand away. He just laughs and our attention goes to the front of the class once our teacher starts talking.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"You still haven't seen Hope," I ask Sky in surprise as we take our seats at our lunch table.
"No and she hasn't been answering my calls," Sky says, wiping her sweaty hands.
"What are you guys freaking out about," Alexander asks, taking a seat next to me. Parker comes a few seconds after.
"Have either of you heard from Hope," I ask them. They both shrug, not really caring.
"I'm pretty sure she's fine. Maybe she just decided to stay home," Alexander says, eating an apple.
"After she came to school drunk yesterday, I don't think we should just brush this off," Sky tells them as Alexandra and Chester sits down at the table. Chester pushes Alexander over to sit next to me and pulls me close to him.
"Alexandra, where's Daniel," Parker asks.
"I don't know. I don't keep a tracker on him," she answers, rolling her eyes, but she smiles down at her phone when she gets a text message. Must be texting Naph.
"What's going on," Chester asks me, whispering in my ear.
"We're just trying to find out what's going on with Hope," I tell him, resting my head against his chest.
"No. I mean what's going on with you." He lifts my head so that I'm looking into his eyes. His gray eyes feel like their scanning through my head for the answer.
"I'm just a little tired that's all. I just want to make sure Hope is ok." My head is drawn up when I hear someone else taking a seat at the table. Daniel just got to the table, but he doesn't seem to know what's going on.
"Dude, have you talked to your sister," Alexander asks Daniel. He looks up from his phone to see all of our eyes on him.
"No. I figured she was on one of her social cleansing days or something. Girls are weird," he answers.
"No, she's not on one of her social cleansing days. She uses that as an excuse not to talk to you, but she still talks to everyone else, idiot. This is different. She's not answering anyone's calls," Alexandra tells Daniel.
He rolls his eyes at her and does something on his phone quickly.
"See. Nothing to worry about. She's at our grandparents house." He shows us the tracker on his phone. I guess they share locations with each other.
"Fine, we won't worry, for now, but if we don't hear from her in a couple of days, we're going over there," Sky says.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Hey, is it ok if we just go over to my house to talk about the project," I ask David who's been waiting for me by my locker.
"Sure. Whatever helps you look like less of a mess," he answers. I roll my eyes, but walk out of school with him.
"We'll just go up to my room," I tell him once we get there. I open the front door to a chaotic house. Nick is chasing Grant around the house, my mom's setting the dinner table, Jamie and Parker are running up to her room, and Frank is trying to get the boys to settle down.
"Hey, honey! How was school," my mom screams over the other noises in the house to ask me.
"Fine. I'm going upstair to do an art project with my partner." I go upstairs with David before she can say anything else.
"Your room is pretty bacis," David says, going around my room and picking things up and examining them.
"Thanks, Jerk. Forget about my room decor. Let's get started on some new ideas."I sit down on my furry carpet, but David doesn't follow my lead. Instead, he continues looking around my room, stopping at my art wall.
"I like this one," he says, pointing at the one I did in the cafeteria not too long ago. The girl on her knees in the forest.
"Thanks. Can we start now?" I didn't feel like talking about the drawing. I already feel drained and talking about one of my dark drawings will only make me feel worse.
"Alright." He takes a seat on the carpet and pulls out his sketchbook. " I was actually working on something last night and-" David is cut off when we hear yelling from the room next door.
"I'm sorry. I'll be right back." I walk out of my room and over to Jamie's room. I can hear her and Parker arguing all through the hallway.
"Parker, I don't know what you want me to tell you!" I can hear the frustration in Jamie's voice.
"Just talk to me. That's all I'm asking for."
"I talk to you everyday."
"You know that's not what I mean, Jamie. I feel like I'm missing something. You act like you want to be in this relationship, but you keep me far on a leash. You always push me away." I've never heard Parker this mad before.
"Parker, please." Jamie sounded on the verge of crying.
"No, Jamie. You come talk to me when your ready, but I'm done with you pulling me in and pushing me back away." Parker walks out of Jamie's room. He pauses when he sees me in the hallway. He seemed like he was about to cry, but he held it in, so I didn't have to see it.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Spencer." With that, he storms down the stairs and out of the house.