Scattered Colors (10 page)

“What are you two giggling about?” Parker leaned in and breathed against my neck.

“Lean back,” I hissed, both thrilled and anxious at his close proximity. My stomach felt like a million hummingbirds had taken flight in it. Despite my earlier revelation that being friends with Parker was a good thing, I wasn’t quite capable of handling the nervous energy I felt around him. I didn’t
want
to be attracted to him; I wanted to think of him strictly in a platonic sense. But he just had to go and be so damn cute. The jerk.

“What’s the matter, gorgeous?” I could hear the smile in Parker’s voice as he spoke. “Does me being close make you feel all tingly?” I grabbed my pen and turned just far enough around to pop him on the head with it.

“Ow! Dammit! What was that for?”

“You’re gonna get us both in trouble.” I tried to make it sound as though I was concerned about the teacher catching us talking during class. The truth was it was the prying eyes of the other students around us that had a ball of apprehension tightening my chest.

“You know, if we weren’t besties, my feelings might be a little hurt right now.” Stella giggled from beside me, and God help me but I couldn’t hold back my own laugh. Parker just made it too easy to forget all the difficult things.

“Just so you know,” he leaned in and whispered against my ear again, sending a thrill up my spine. “You smell really,
really
good this morning.” My stomach did a massive somersault. Oh, Lord. That boy was going to be the death of me

Going into Biology later that morning, I made sure to walk at a fast clip past Parker’s table, only offering a limp wave in acknowledgement. I should have known that wasn’t going to satisfy his appetite for attention. As soon as my books were on the table, his large shadow was looming over me. I looked up to see him standing on the other side across from me, his signature smirk firmly in place.

“What, no hug hello?” he asked cheekily.

A low groan rumbled in my chest. “You’re insufferable, you know that?”

“Ooh, nice SAT word, gorgeous. I’m impressed.”

There was no way I could let Parker or anyone else in the room see just how much he was affecting me, especially with Seth looking back at us with a confused expression, so I did my best to play up my annoyance.

“Will you please go back to your table? It’s not even lunch time and you’re already bugging the crap out of me.”

“All perks of our friendship, Freya. You’ll get used to it.” He smiled genuinely and I felt my heart skip a beat or two. Parker cut his eyes over to where Michael was sitting next to me, watching on in rapt fascination.

“You’re Michael Pavlock, right?”

“Uh, y-yeah,” Michael stuttered, obviously unsure why Parker was speaking to him. If I had to guess, I would have been willing to lay money on the fact that Michael was another one of the kids Parker hadn’t bothered talking to until right at that moment.

What Parker said next floored me. “Keep your hands off my girl or I’ll break your arm.”

My eyes shot to his as I let out a startled laugh. His lips were tilted up in a smirk but there was no laughter in his dark brown eyes. I couldn’t help but feel that, while he tried to brush it off as a joke, there was a definite underlying seriousness to his threat toward Michael. It led me to question what I’d gotten myself into by agreeing to become friends with my mysterious neighbor.

“Go away, Parker,” I ground out between clenched teeth.

He returned his gaze to mine, his eyes smiling at me even though he’d just been slightly terrifying. “See ya later, sweetheart.”

He walked away, leaving me reeling from his new endearment. First it was
gorgeous
, then
sweetheart.
I knew I was in a whole mess of trouble when I wasn’t able to tamp down the giddiness building up inside of me.

“So, are you two dating now or something?” Michael asked in a hushed voice as he watched Parker walk back to his own table.

“No, we’re just friends. He just likes to be an asshole sometimes.”

“Oh, okay. Good.” Michael sat in contemplative silence for several seconds before turning back to me. “Do you think he meant it? You know, the whole breaking my arm part?”

I laughed nervously. “Of course not.” The truth was I couldn’t get a read on Parker well enough to know whether or not he’d been joking. God, I
really
hoped he’d been joking.

“’Cause, I mean, he doesn’t have anything to worry about. Not that you aren’t pretty!” he rushed to add, ratcheting the discomfort at our table up tenfold. “I mean you are…pretty, that is. But, um…I kind of like someone else.”

“Oh. Well…that’s good.” Thanks to Parker, Biology was going to be a complete disaster. On one hand, I had a tablemate so keyed up I was afraid a loud noise might cause him to wet himself. On the other hand, I couldn’t quit playing Parker calling me ‘his girl’ over and over in my head. I liked that way more than I should have.

“You know Stella, right?” Michael cut in, interrupting my internal musings. “Aren’t you two friends?”

“Uh, yeah. We’re friends.”

“Do you…” he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?”

At his question, my face split into a grin so wide my cheeks began to ache. “As a matter of fact, I have it on good authority that she’s
very
single.”

The excitement on his face was just too cute. I had a feeling I was going to enjoy playing matchmaker.

The moment I walked into the cafeteria, the whispers and sideways glances started same as every other day. I was really starting to despise being the new girl, and I knew a part of the fascination was my newfound friendship with Parker. My cheeks heated and the tips of my ears burned as I tried to ignore everyone around me while I made my way through the line. I kept my focus trained on the lunch lady as she piled mystery meat onto my tray, feigning calm collectiveness even though my heart felt like it was about to beat right out of my chest. The worst thing that could ever happen to someone as uncomfortable with attention as me was to move her to a small town where gossips ran rampant.

“Ew! What are you eating?” Stella scrunched her nose as I slid my tray onto the table and took a seat in front of her.

I glanced down at my plate. “Uh…meatloaf?”

She leaned in closer to get a better look. “I think that’s supposed to be Salisbury steak, but I can’t tell with all that goopy stuff on it.”

“Really?” It was my turn to scrunch my nose as I pushed the tray away. She lifted her hands to take a bite of her sandwich. A turkey sandwich had never looked so good. I was starving, and there was no way I was eating that glob of meat-like substance in front of me.

“Yeah,” Stella started when she caught me staring. “I’ve been telling you, you need to start bringing your lunch. When are you gonna listen to me?” Luckily, she took pity on me and tore her sandwich apart, offering me a half.

“Thank you,” I said around a mouthful.

“You’re welcome,” Stella said with a little giggle. We ate in silence for a few minutes before she placed her half of the sandwich down and leaned closer to me, whispering, “Everyone’s still staring at you.”

“I noticed,” I responded dryly. “They stare every damn day. Seriously, this town needs to get some better entertainment. Having a new girl can’t possibly be that interesting.”

I noticed her eyes widen slightly as her eyes cut up and over my shoulder. “I don’t think that’s why.”

Just as I took another bite of my proffered meal, a tray dropped down onto the table right next to me, ringing loudly through the cafeteria and startling a jump from me. My head shot sideways just as Parker pulled out the chair at my side and plopped down.

“Hey there, gorgeous,” he said with a devilish grin, that lip ring of his shining from the florescent lights above us.

“What are you doing?” I asked in a hushed voice as I glanced around to notice our little table had garnered even more attention.

“Eating lunch. What’s it look like? Hey, Stella, how’s it going?”

“Uh…” was all she could come up with.

Parker began digging into his meal, not the slightest bit uncomfortable with everyone staring and whispering or the fact that he was ingesting something that might actually sprout and grow in his stomach.

“You don’t like the enchiladas?” he asked me around a mouthful of food.

“That’s what that is?!” Stella squeaked.

Parker shrugged casually as he shoveled another bite into his mouth. He seemed oblivious to the intense anxiety slowly starting to creep up in my chest, threatening to suffocate me. I needed everyone to stop staring.

“Parker,” I hissed. “You can’t sit here.”

He paused momentarily in his chewing, looking at me with wide eyes. “You going
Mean Girls
on me, sweetheart?”

“No,” I huffed with a roll of my eyes. He grinned again and took another bite. “I just don’t like all the attention.” I twisted to face him head-on and spoke quietly. “Every single person in here is staring. Can you just go back to the table you usually sit at so everyone will mind their own damn business?”

“Who cares what people think?”

I grumbled angrily. “I don’t care what they
think
. I just don’t like them all whispering about me. It’s…unnerving. Like they’re just waiting to pounce or something.”

He scoffed. “A little melodramatic, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know about that,” Stella stated, twisting her little fingers together nervously. “Cassidy looks like her head’s about to pop.”

Fantastic
. “Just great. Are you
trying
to get my butt kicked, Parker?”

“Cassidy’s an idiot,” he mumbled between bites. “You don’t need to worry about her.”

“Well, that idiot’s walking over here right now with her minions in tow,” Stella told us. My back shot straight as the little hairs on my arms stood on end. I’d never been in a fight in my life. I felt confident enough that I could at least hold my own against
one
girl, but add in her posse and all bets were off. I wiped my sweaty palms on the legs of my jeans as they approached. I couldn’t bring myself to turn around as the sound of shuffling feet came to a stop right behind me.

“Hey, Parker,” a high-pitched voice said. I could only guess it belonged to Cassidy. “Why aren’t you sitting with us like you always do?” Her tone was whiny, and I struggled to suppress an eye roll.

“Didn’t feel like it,” Parker answered blandly, not bothering to turn around to address the group crowding our table.

“Who’s your friend?” I could hear the venom laced through her words but decided that maybe, if I were to be polite, she wouldn’t have a reason to target me for the rest of the year.

I spun around in my seat and got my first glance at the beautiful blonde standing there. Her icy smile didn’t hold an ounce of kindness.

“Hi, I’m Freya.” I extended my hand for her to shake. She stared down at it like it was carrying some sort of flesh-eating disease.

“Cassidy,” she responded curtly.

It seemed pointless, but I continued trying to kill her with kindness nonetheless. “You’re the captain of the Sassettes, right?” I tried hard not to choke on that god-awful name. She just stood there scowling at me, like I was something she’d scraped off the bottom of her shoe before turning back to Parker.

“Are you coming over tonight, Park?” Her fingers reached out and began running through his thick hair before he jerked away from her. “My parents are still out of town. We have the house to ourselves all night, baby.”

There was no misunderstanding what she was getting at, and the bottom fell out of my stomach as I studied the glob of food on the plate in front of me. Parker turned around and glared at her with such intensity that, if it had been me on the receiving end of that look, I’d have run back to my table. “I’m not coming over tonight or any other night, Cass. We’re done. You need to get that through your damn head.”

Cassidy’s flirty demeanor disappeared completely, replaced by what I could only guess was white-hot rage. “That hasn’t stopped you from jumping in my bed every other day, has it? What? Is your new little toy already giving it up to you?” Before I had the chance to formulate a response to her insult, she spun to me and leaned in. “Wow, I have to hand it to you. You spread your legs a lot faster than anyone I know. Don’t think putting out so fast will actually make him stick around.”