Confidential (10 page)

"Phoenix."

"Hmmm." I listened to the noise our feet made as they hit the pavement, nice and steady. "Well you don't have to worry about anything here. This place is pretty quiet. And it's pretty. I mean, we don't have mountains, but we do have…" He paused trying to think of something.

"Rain." You could hear the smile in my voice.

He turned his head to look at me. "Yeah" He laughed, "We definitely get that. Lots of snow too; so look forward to that."

"Oh hell no." I ran a little faster to keep up, "Its cold enough outside already."

"You don't like snow?" He ran backwards so he could face me. "You're joking."

"I'm really not. I hate it. It's uncomfortable. And cold." A part of me really wished he would run next to me again, so I wouldn't have to try so hard at not staring at him. He was really athletic. His muscles flexed as he ran backwards, from his toned arms, all the way down to what I imagined was a very, very nice stomach.

"I think it's just because you don't know enough about snow," He smirked playfully, giving me another grin that won me over.

"Oh really?" I smiled. But it quickly left. Had I lived any other place but Phoenix? I technically wasn't Heidi Van Dauson right now.

"Have you ever even lived someplace where there was snow?" He interjected.

"You're going to trip on something. And I'm not going to feel bad for you at all." I shot back at him, not having anything else to say.

"Hey, hey. No need to be harsh." Camdon was too nice. But he turned around and ran normally anyway, whether to please me, or because he wanted to, I didn't know.

We stopped in front of my house, having gotten there already. I was going to make the only person I knew in this entire town hate me if I kept acting this way.

I turned back to him. "Um. Thanks for running with me."

"No problem." He said, I could see confusion cross his face from my mood swing. "And don't forget to find me on Monday!"

Monday…. "What day is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"Saturday." He replied, grinning at me as I let out a groan.

"School… is in two days?" I said more to myself out of disbelief than anything.

"You don't like school either?" He looked at me in shock, "Our school is great, you'll like it, there's so much to do, and all the people are pretty cool. We're a welcoming crowd."

This did not reassure me at all, that's exactly why I hated it, who wanted to do all that work? And deal with all those people
?.
I started walking up the path to the front door. "I've never met anyone in my life whose actually enjoyed school." I called over my shoulder.

"Well I do, and you will too, I promise." Camdon grinned as he ran to the other end of the street towards his house.

I walked into the house, and Anna had made breakfast for us.

"I made pancakes!" She smiled. "There's blueberry, chocolate chip, and regular. I wasn't sure which ones you would like."

I slid into a seat and took one of each. "Thanks. Where did we even get food?"

Anna rolled her eyes, looking a little cross. "Patrick does too much. I can handle this assignment on my own, I don't need to be babied."

I was a little surprised. I didn't even think Anna had any emotions but pure happiness and delight. It kind of made me feel better; I was afraid I would have to live with the most peppy overgrown sorority girl I've ever met.

"Whose Patrick?" I asked curiously.

"Sorry, I forgot. You know him, Detective O'Connor." She waved her hand as if it was nothing.

"Anna…" I looked at her pointedly. "Can you think of no reason why he would baby you?"

She put her glass down on the table with a little more force than necessary. "Did he tell you?" She was flustered and a little exasperated. "That is none of your business to know, it doesn't compromise my ability to protect you at all-"

"Whoa, Anna. I was talking about his major crush on you."

"What?" She was puzzled. "So you don't know about…."

"No. But I would like too." I flashed my best smile.

Glaring at me, she went back to picking at her one, single, pancake. I looked down at my own mess of
butter
, syrup and carbs.

"Are you excited for school?" Anna asked, casually trying to change the subject.

"No." It automatically came out of my mouth, before I even had a chance to take it back, because Anna gave me a look of pity. "Relax. It's not because I'm in Iowa. It's because school is boring."

"How about I do your hair and help you pick out your outfit for your first day of school?" She offered hopefully.

I consented. Only because I realized that she was just as unfamiliar with this place as I was. She was the real actress here, not me. She was starting a job that she had no qualifications for. She was used to doing whatever it is she does for the police, and definitely did not want to be babysitting me for an unpredictable period of time. The least I could do was let her play with my hair.

Saturday and Sunday came and went much too fast. Before I knew it, Anna woke me up an hour earlier than I had intended, and yanked the doors to my closet open.

My closet was overflowing with the clothes I had; dresses, skirts, tops, shoes, pants, all found a way to hang up or get shoved ever so neatly into the little cubby under the rack bursting with clothes.

I was not, however, going to be persuaded by this bubbly blonde creature standing in front of my closet.

"Your clothes are amazing! Heidi!" She squealed. How does she work for the police? Or fight crime? If I was a criminal, I don't think I would be very intimidated.

It took a couple more minutes before I gained enough consciousness to drag myself from my bed, and I stood next to Anna, while she pulled out this and that, holding it up to me while chatting lightly about all the neighbors that had come and visited us this weekend, all bringing baked goods.

But one neighbor in particular I couldn't help thinking about. Camdon, with his blue eyes and dimpled smile. I've never met a guy like him before. I had only just met him of course, so he was probably putting on an act. This whole weekend, I considered the possibilities of what kind of guy he really was.

No one, especially not a guy, was that good hearted. Right?

"Heidi…" Anna waved a hand in front of my face. I snapped back to reality and stared at her. "What about this one?" She grinned.

It was a dress I got from urban outfitters, one I forgot I owned, but I definitely loved it. I reached out to the strapless dress, which was a purple and yellow floral print.

"And here," Anna grabbed a gray cardigan to wear for the chilliness I wasn't used to, that worked well with the dress, and I grabbed some strappy sandals.

I admired her style. And appreciated that she was doing all this for me, I wasn't really in the mood for thinking, I just didn't have the same drive to gussy myself up in the morning.

Anna proceeded to blow dry my now blonde hair, and let my loose waves fall lightly themselves. She put some product in, and braided a small piece of hair to clip away from my face, and smiled, proud of herself. I looked good, really good. I couldn't have done it better myself. Which was saying a lot, because I usually don't let people dress me.

"Just let me get dressed really quick and I'll drive you to school." She smiled brightly before going to her room, only to reappear moments later, with
a
high waisted black pencil skirt and a flowing blouse.

"You look so hot." I commented. She blushed, and I laughed. "I'm serious, I can appreciate a pretty person when I see one."

I was ushered out of the car once we reached school while saying, "I know a lot of your co-workers are going to be hitting on you and all, but just remember Patrick will always love you, even without your push-up bra." I slammed the door before I could see her face or hear her protests, giggling to myself.

I walked up to my new school and noticed several differences from my old school: there were a lot more white people, it was cleaner, and very small. There was one long main building, a cafeteria, and another building, with a little courtyard in between. In Phoenix everything is more open and outside, because it hardly rains and never gets too cold.

At my old high school, everything was all hustle and bustle, no one paid any attention to you, they were all too busy in their own worlds. But not here, the minute I walked out of the car all eyes were on me, like I was some type of intruder on their perfectly harmonized community.

Most people just watched me, some gave a smile, but I guess this small community wasn't used to change.

I got my schedule and went about my day, I was introduced in every class, and did everything right. I've switched schools several times before, I know how to make a good impression, and for some reason George Washington High School didn't care what I did. I was an outsider.

I've never lived in a town as small as this, but schools couldn't be that different, could it? I had never experienced such outward dislike. I was going to bitch out Camdon for lying to me about his school before I realized that if I was treated the way Camdon was, I would want to stay in high school forever.

Camdon could not pass a person without getting complimented, invited somewhere, or flooded with hugs or bro handshakes. It was almost disgusting. What could this kid have done that made everyone love him so much? Teachers adored him, girls had no shame, and every guy tried to be around him.

I had really liked him before, but seeing Camdon so showered with love, I felt as if it was my job to ignore him. Someone had to.

So when lunch rolled around and I had no where to sit, I walked right past Camdon's table and what I assumed to be his entourage, and plopped down next to the first person I saw.

"Hey." I nodded down the table where all the heads leaned in to get a look at who dared disrupt their exclusive social order.

A couple of them shifted uncomfortably, especially the nerdy boy I happened to sit next to. He was tall, lanky, awkward, and extremely jittery. He hardly kept eye contact while he mumbled a hello. I could feel a long school day coming on.

"I'm Heidi." I smiled to everyone, then, when I received no
replies
, waved my hand in front of the boys face rudely.

He flushed a deep pink. "Dylan."

"Greatttt." I drawled out sarcastically, I turned towards the person in front of me. "And you are?" I raised my eyebrows expectedly, if not a little too forcefully.

"Marcus." He pulled out his phone and began texting. I raised an eyebrow to myself, sitting in my seat fuming. I was not to be defeated however, because I loudly dropped a heavy schoolbook at the table, if only to get everyone's attention.

"How long is this school going to ignore me? Seriously?" I stared at them in disbelief. "I go here now." The group looked at me with blank faces, and blinked in shock. They seemed like the quiet type, that stuck together, for, if nothing else, protection from being alone. I felt a little guilty for acting like such
a
bitch.

Marcus looked up from his phone. "We've haven't had a new student since the 4th grade. Everyone has their own friends. What are we supposed to do with you?" He had a buzzed head, which I found interesting, and a bored expression.

"Uh… try talking." I answered, "Like normal people do."

Normally, people bend to my attitude. They cave, and answer my question, or acknowledge my presence, but Marcus held his own.

"How can we do that when you're acting like such a bitch?"