Promise to Keep (6 page)

CHAP
TER SIX

June 2003

Eighteen Years Old

CHLOE

I waved Jackson down as I saw him searching the crowd for me outside of the high school auditorium. When our eyes met, his face lit up and he immediately walked over to where I stood with Aunt Betty, Uncle Tom, and my cousin, Charlie.

“That was a great graduation speech, Jackson.” Uncle Tom patted Jackson on the back when he came over.

“Harvard’s going to be lucky to have you going to school there,” Aunt Betty chimed in as she pulled Jackson in for a warm hug.

Jackson smiled, beaming with pride. “Thanks. I’m excited to finally graduate high school and start college.”

He then glanced over at me with his familiar boyish grin and winked. “Congrats, Clo.”

“Congrats, Jax.” I smiled back. “Uncle Tom’s right. That was a great speech, Mr. Valedictorian. You made me cry.”

“But you cry about everything,” he teased.

I punched him in the arm, harder than normal this time. “I do not. Ass.”

He laughed. “I’m going to miss your daily physical abuse when I’m at Harvard and you’re at Penn.”

“Me too.” We shared a meaningful gaze and I wondered if we’d always be best friends like this.

“Congratulations, man.” My cousin Charlie shook Jackson’s hand. Charlie then smiled over at me. “Who knew Chloe would have a genius for a best friend?”

I laughed. “I’m pretty sure I should take that as an insult, Charlie.” I made a face at him.

“Hey, you know I’m just teasing.” Charlie laughed sheepishly and pulled me into his arms for a bear hug. “You got into Penn, kiddo. That’s a pretty good indication that you’re pretty much a genius yourself. You know I’m super proud of you.”

I giggled as I pulled away from him. “It’s so good to see you, Charlie. Thanks for coming to my graduation. It means so much to me.”

Charlie was Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom’s son. He had just turned twenty-nine recently and had been working as an attorney at a prestigious law firm in Chicago for about a year now. Before that, he went to UCLA in California for law school for three years. But even though he had a busy life, he’d always made time to fly back home to visit his parents and to see me. I always loved it when he visited. Not only was he funny and easy to talk to, I loved having him around the house. The love he shared with Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom was how I’d always pictured the perfect family to be. So it always made me smile when I got the chance to see them interact together as a family unit.

We all laughed and talked excitedly for several minutes about the graduation ceremony and our plans for college. Then Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom went to go talk to some of the teachers and Charlie went to the restroom. Jackson used this opportunity to pull me aside to talk.

“Clo, I have something for you. Are you free in an hour?”

“What is it?”

“Just a little something I think you’ll like,” he answered vaguely.

I looked at him suspiciously. “I thought we’d agreed not to do gift exchanges for graduation?”

He snickered. “Who said anything about it being a graduation gift?”

I rolled my eyes. “What is it?”

“It’s a surprise. Meet me out at our spot in an hour?”

I faked an annoyed look. “Fine. I guess you do always seem to get what you want,” I teased.

He chuckled. “Sometimes.” Then he paused briefly. “But not everything.” He looked at me in a way that made my heart pound faster against my chest, and I wondered why he had this effect on me.

Before I could ask him what he’d meant by his last comment or work through what I was feeling, someone came around from behind Jackson and interrupted us.

“Great speech, Mr. Hotshot. Can you sign my graduation program so I can have it before you become famous?” Amber joked as she excitedly swung her arm around Jackson’s shoulder.

The moment I saw Amber, I felt my happy mood disappear.

“Thanks, Amber.” Jackson flashed her a smile but took a deliberate step away from her.

I saw a flicker in Amber’s eyes as she smiled over at Jackson, and I knew that I wasn’t the only one who had noticed Jackson’s subtle movement. While forcing myself to keep a straight face, I felt a small surge of triumph flow through me, and at that moment, I had an intense urge to throw my arms around Jackson and give him a big hug.

Even though, personally, Jackson thought I was overreacting and holding a childhood grudge, he knew I didn’t like Amber and stood by my side. I knew deep down that I’d been holding a grudge against Amber, but I also knew that sometimes the embarrassment and hurt a person experienced when they were younger could leave permanent marks and would never truly go away. That was how I felt about Amber. She was the girl who had made fun of the cigarette burns my mom had accidentally made on my overalls on my first day of school in first grade after I’d moved in with Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom. She had then pretended to be nice to me and invited me to eat lunch with her and her friends, but then had called me dirty and made fun of my clothes. She was the girl who had gotten the entire cafeteria to laugh at me that day. And ever since that very first day we’d met, she’d never been nice to me. Sometimes she’d pretend to be, like when Jackson was around, but I knew she was faking it. I think she’d always blamed me for the way Jackson had treated her that day in front of the entire school when he’d come to my rescue after I fell on the cafeteria floor.

“Hi, Chloe.” Amber flashed me a bright smile, showing off her perfect pearly whites.

I snapped out of my thoughts in time to force myself to return a polite smile. “Hey, Amber.”

“Congrats on graduating. I never thought we’d all make it to this day, did you?” she asked with a giggle. There was a smirk on her face as she eyed me up and down.

I felt my blood start to boil at what I knew she was trying to imply with her words. Since we were in first grade, she had always thought she was better than me and was never shy about voicing that opinion to me in her subtle, condescending way.

I wanted to respond and put her in her place, but Jackson stopped me and spoke up first. “Congrats on also getting into Harvard, Amber. I had no idea you had applied or that they accepted applications after the first of January.” I could tell from the tone in his voice that he was mocking her.

“They don’t, actually. I missed the deadline by a few months. But it was the least Harvard could do, seeing as my dad’s an alumnus and was one of their top financial donors last year.” Amber shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.

I smiled to myself just then. I knew immediately why Jackson had made his comment. In his own way, he had been defending me against Amber’s comments by forcing Amber to admit to her own failures. But his attempt was lost on Amber as she seemed to freely and unabashedly admit to not getting into Harvard on her merits alone.

Then she turned to me and frowned. “Too bad you can’t also join us at Harvard, Chloe. That would have been so much fun!”

The sheer lack of sincerity in her voice grated against my patience. But before I could say anything, Jackson stopped me again.

“Hey, Clo. There’re my parents waving us down. Let’s go say hi.” He grabbed my hand in a rush and pulled me away from Amber. “See ya later, Amber,” he said quickly with a wave.

“See you at Harvard, Jackson,” she called after us in a singsong voice. Even with my back turned to her as Jackson ushered me away, I could picture the smug smirk across Amber’s face as she watched us leave.

“Why did you keep interrupting me, Jax?” I felt annoyed that I didn’t get a chance to vent my anger out on that bitch.

“Clo, I could tell you were getting upset, and really, it’s not worth it.”

“It sure feels worth it to me,” I retorted in disagreement as I imagined how much better I’d feel if I’d said something mean to Amber. Maybe if she came back with more of her bitchiness, I would have even punched her in the face.

“Come on, Clo. It’s our graduation. It’s not worth causing a scene in front of everyone or wasting your time on her. We’re both about to move away for college. Let’s make the best of our free time before we start school.”

I huffed out a sigh of frustration. I always hated when Jackson was right, especially when I wanted so badly for him to be wrong.

“Besides,” he continued, “Amber’s harmless. I know she rubs you the wrong way. She definitely has a strong personality. But really she’s not all that bad. I think you two just got off on the wrong foot from the very beginning. She’s not as bad as she used to be.”

I rolled my eyes, annoyed that Jackson was defending the closest thing I had to a nemesis. “Jax, how can you say that? She’s just as bad if not worse than she was when we were in first grade. She’s just more subtle about it and she acts different when you’re around. But she’s always giving me her condescending bitchy look.”

Jackson swung his arm around my shoulder and chuckled. “Are you sure it’s not just her Resting Bitch Face?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his question. “Yes, I’m sure, unless there’s a Resting Bitch Face Only When Chloe’s Around,” I joked back.

He laughed, even though we both knew how bad my attempt of a joke was. “Come on, looks like people are starting to leave. Come over and say hi to my parents before you head home.”

“Sure.” I smiled over at him, feeling happy that his arm was still around my shoulder as we walked over to his parents.

“Congratulations, son.” Mr. Pierce patted Jackson on the back and they exchanged an enthusiastic handshake.

“We’re so proud of you, Jackson!” Mrs. Pierce gave Jackson a hug and kiss. Then she turned to me with a bright smile. “Congratulations to you too, Chloe! It’s a wonderful accomplishment,” Mrs. Pierce exclaimed as she gave me a quick hug.

“Thanks, Mrs. Pierce.” I flashed her a wide smile. “That means a lot coming from you.” Mrs. Pierce worked so many hours as a partner at her law firm that I’d never really seen too much of her. I was glad that she made time to be here to see Jackson graduate and give his valedictorian speech. I knew Jackson would have been disappointed if she hadn’t made it.

“Definitely a great accomplishment you should be proud of, Chloe,” Mr. Pierce said as he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. “Penn is lucky to have you.”

I gave a friendly smile as I took a step back. “Thanks, Mr. Pierce. I really appreciate all your help with my college application to Penn.” No matter how many times Jackson’s father insisted that I call him by his first name, I always felt more comfortable addressing him as Mr. Pierce. It was what felt more natural to me. So when I heard myself call him by Mr. Pierce, I waited for his inevitable “Call me John” correction.

But to my surprise, he didn’t correct me this time.

“Kim and I are always more than happy to help Jackson’s friends whenever we can.” I watched him slip his hand around Mrs. Pierce’s waist and kissed her gently on the cheeks.

“Thank you. That’s so nice of you guys.” I smiled at them politely.

“College can be a bit daunting sometimes, Chloe. Don’t forget I’m a professor at Penn. So if you ever need any help or advice on anything, or you just need someone to talk to, my door is always open for you, okay?”

“Sure. Thanks, Mr. Pierce. That’s too generous of you.” I smiled at him with gratitude. I didn’t know why, but something told me that this was an offer I wouldn’t take him up on.

***

About an hour later, I met Jackson at “our spot”—the park with the small lake that was close to our houses.

I found him sitting on the lush, green grass looking out onto the lake when I arrived.

I quietly tiptoed over to him and covered his eyes with my hands from behind.

“Guess who?”

“Mmm, this is hard. I don’t seem to recognize this voice at all,” he responded thoughtfully.

I didn’t need to see the boyish grin on his face to know he was teasing.

“Ass,” I teased.

“Fine. Fine. Fine. You win.” He threw his hands up in the air like he was finally giving in after some pressure. “It’s Pippi Longstocking, isn’t it?” He grabbed my hands with his and pulled them off his eyes before spinning around to face me.

When he saw the pout on my face, he started to laugh uncontrollably.

“Yes!” he whooped in excitement. “I guessed right!”

“Har, har, har. Very funny.” I rolled my eyes. “I look nothing like Pippi Longstocking.”

“Really?” He sounded like he wasn’t convinced as he cocked his head and studied me. “Hmm. Okay, maybe you’re right. You are a little cuter than Pippi.” He paused. “Plus, your hair’s not braided in pigtails at the moment.”

I scoffed at his comment, but I felt my heart skip a beat when he said I was cuter.

“So why did you ask me to meet you here?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Come on, let’s walk around the park. It’s so nice out today. I’m really going to miss coming here with you.”

When he got up from the grass, he bent his arm to the side and offered it to me. I smiled and curled my arm around his, letting him lead us through the grass toward the paved pathway that went along the lake.

I looked around the park and drew in a deep breath of air through my nose and shut my eyes. “You’re right, Jax. I’m really going to miss it here.”