Read Scattered Colors Online

Authors: Jessica Prince

Scattered Colors (6 page)

BOOK: Scattered Colors
6.72Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“They don’t look much like exes to me,” I said, turning my full attention to Stella and trying my hardest to ignore their table.

“Yeah, you’d think that…except for the fact he that can’t seem to take his eyes off you.” She gave me a little wink as a huge smile spread across her face. I let out a scoffing laugh in an effort to ignore the heat setting my face on fire. “Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself.”

Against my better judgment, my head moved back in the direction of Parker’s table. Sure enough, his eyes hadn’t moved an inch, only it was no longer just him who was focused on me. The look on Cassidy’s face was full of animosity as she glared at me. Brynn leaned over and whispered something in her ear before they both looked back at me, their lips tilted down in twin expressions that let me knew I wasn’t going to be making friends with them any time soon. Parker seemed oblivious to the laser beams his girlfriend—or
ex
-girlfriend—was shooting at me, but one thing was for sure. If those were the types of people he chose to associate with, then Parker Owens wasn’t someone I needed to be spending any time around.

The bell dismissing school finally rang and I let out a sigh of relief, thankful for the day to be over. But as soon as I stepped through the door, that relief was replaced with frustration. Rain was pouring down in sheets as the wind blew fiercely. We were in the middle of a decent storm, and I was without a car or an umbrella.

I sucked in a deep breath, stepped out from under the awning that covered the front door of the school and began my trek home. The rain beat down on me as I started up the road leading to my house. I was surprised by just how cold each frigid drop felt against my skin as it fell from the sky. I hadn’t dressed appropriately for such a drastic temperature drop. I’d barely made it halfway home when my teeth began chattering. My soaked t-shirt and jeans did nothing to ward off the chill that had my body trembling. I hugged my arms around my waist, trying to get any semblance of warmth I could, but it was useless. My feet were numb, my fingers were tingling, and I was pretty sure my lips had turned blue.

This sucks!
I was really starting to despise Sommerspoint.

When I heard the sound of a truck approaching from behind me, I stepped to the side of the road as best I could so it could pass, trying not to slip and slide along the soft shoulder.

I kept my head down, embarrassment heating my cheeks as I silently prayed that whoever was passing wouldn’t recognize me. ‘Drowned rat’ wasn’t really a good look for me. I listened closely to the sound of the tires on the road and to the shift of the engine, hoping the driver of the truck would just keep going, but of course I couldn’t have been that lucky.

“Freya?” The chill that ran down my spine just then wasn’t from the cold. I kept walking, thinking that if I didn’t acknowledge Parker, he’d just move along. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what he’d had in mind. I could see his truck in my peripheral vision, creeping along next to me as I kept walking. “Freya, get in the truck. Let me give you a ride home.”

Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? Out of everyone who had to drive by as I walked home in the rain, why did it have to be the strange boy who seemed to evoke emotions in me that I’d been trying desperately to ignore?

“I’m f…f…fine,” I stuttered as I tried to suppress a shiver.

“You’re not fine. You’re freezing. Just let me take you home.”

“I s…said I’m f…fine.”

“Your lips are purple, Freya. Stop being so difficult. If you don’t get in the truck, I’ll just keep driving alongside you. Imagine how much fun that’ll be. All those pissed-off drivers trailing behind me, honking their horns, all because you’re being stubborn.”

Damn it. He had me there. It was as if he knew how much I hated drawing attention to myself and he was using that against me. My eyes were narrowed into slits as I made my way around the hood of the truck, scowling at him the entire time. I jerked the passenger door open and climbed in, slamming it closed more forcefully than necessary.

“You know,” Parker started as he put the truck into gear and began driving. “You have a real messed-up way of showing appreciation.”

I kept my focus pointed out the passenger window as the heat in the cab of the truck finally began to ward off the worst of the chill. A twinge of guilt at how rude I’d just been kept me from making eye contact. With the exception of his behavior at the beach and his cockiness at school, he hadn’t really done much else to deserve my bad attitude. I wasn’t typically a rude person. It was just that with everything I had going on in my life, coupled with the strong, unwanted reaction I seemed to have to Parker, I felt like I was losing control. The grip I had on my life was shaky enough. Each time Parker looked at me with those expressive eyes, I felt like it was slipping further from my hands.

“Sorry,” I murmured. The warmth of my breath as I spoke hit the passenger window, causing it to fog up. I kept my gaze on the abstract pattern as it grew smaller and smaller before finally disappearing.

“Wow,” he replied dryly. “Your enthusiasm just brought a tear to my eye.”

At his sarcasm, I finally turned my body toward him and threw my hands up. “Jeez, I said I was sorry. What more do you want?”

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “How about a little sincerity? You know, I didn’t have to pull over and give you a ride. I could have just let you freeze to death.”

“If I remember correctly, I didn’t
ask
for a ride in the first place. You basically bullied me into your truck.”

“Unbelievable,” he grumbled under his voice. “Are you always such a ray of freaking sunshine?”

“Nope.” I crossed my arms over my chest and smiled sardonically. “Just with you.”

I could see the muscle in his jaw ticking as he glared out the windshield. “Lovely.”

We remained silent for the rest of the drive. A few minutes later, Parker pulled up to my house and shut off the engine. “You really don’t like me, do you?”

I pulled the strap of my bag over my shoulder and took a deep breath, prepared to give him the God’s honest truth. I could only hope it would be enough to get him to back off. “Look, I appreciate the ride, really, and I’m sorry if I acted like a bitch. Don’t take this personally, but I’m not looking to make any friends, okay? I didn’t even want to move to this stupid town. I just want to get through this year and get the hell out here. I’m not looking to make any connections along the way. I’m perfectly fine on my own.”

His dark eyes narrowed as he studied me again, sending a disconcerting shiver down my spine. I hated how he could do that. It felt like with just one look, he saw every one of my secrets.

“You didn’t seem to have a problem getting to know that redhead in our English class.”

It was my turn to narrow my eyes, only I did it in disgust. “That
redhead
is Stella. You’ve know her since you were little kids. You’d probably remember her if you pulled your head out of your ass long enough to bother thinking about someone other than yourself or one of your followers. You’re missing out; she’s a pretty awesome person.” I shoved the door open and stepped out, delivering one last parting shot before slamming it shut on him. “Thanks for the ride, Parker, but do me a favor. Next time you see me walking along the side of the road, just keep driving.”

I didn’t bother to look back at him as I ran through the rain up to my house.

My cellphone rang as I climbed from my truck to collect the mail. It was something I made sure to do every day after I got home from school. I’d grab the mail and rifle through, making sure there was nothing in there that could possibly set my mom off. After crumpling the pamphlet for a local swim camp and shoving it below my seat, I grabbed my phone and checked to see who had just called. A groan of annoyance rumbled up my throat at Cassidy’s name on the screen. That girl was really starting to become a problem. No matter how many times I told her we were never going to be a couple, she still refused to get it, even after I pulled her aside after lunch and told her to keep her hands to herself in public. It was long past time to end our little friends-with-benefits arrangement. It wasn’t working for me anymore.

I tossed my phone into my backpack and threw my truck into drive, heading up the driveway to my house. I said a quick prayer as I pushed the front door open, hoping that today would be a good day.

“Mom, I’m home,” I called as I dropped my stuff by the door and headed for the living room. She was laying on her side, stretched out on the couch with the TV on mute. She didn’t move as I slowly walked around the side. Her red-rimmed eyes were focused on the silent television set as she sniffled and wiped at the tears on her cheeks. At least it looked like she’d managed to shower.

“You okay?” I asked softly as I knelt down in front of her, moving her dark hair off her forehead. She pushed herself up and gave me a small smile.

“Yeah, honey. I’m okay. Just a little emotional.”

My brow quirked skeptically as I studied her. “You sure?”

She stood from the couch and attempted to brush the wrinkles from her clothes. “Yeah, baby. I’ll be fine. Today was an okay day. You need to stop worrying about me. I’m going to start dinner. Why don’t you go get washed up?” She walked from the room, leaving me with no other option than to do as she said. She wasn’t great, but I’d seen her much worse. Over the past few years I’d learned to take what I could get, and if Mom insisted she was all right, then I was going to leave her be.

As I headed for my room, Freya’s earlier words came back to me. The memory of her looking at me with such distaste, like I was the king of all assholes felt like a lead weight sitting at the bottom of my stomach. She had no problem calling me out on my less-than-stellar behavior, and I was ashamed to admit it, but she was right. I’d allowed myself to get so lost in the lives of the people around me that I’d lost a part of myself along the way—the part that made me a decent human-being. I didn’t want to live like I had been for the past three years. I was done. But more than that, I wanted to prove Freya wrong. I wanted her to see that I wasn’t the person she thought I was.

A smirk spread across my face as I fell back onto my bed and began forming a plan in my head. Proving Freya wrong was going to be a lot of fun.

BOOK: Scattered Colors
6.72Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Reel Murder by Mary Kennedy
The Karma Beat by Alexander, Juli
The Reversal by Michael Connelly
Seasons Greetings by Chrissy Munder
Cold Harbour by Jack-Higgins
Sweet Life by Linda Biasotto
The King of Shanghai by Ian Hamilton
Be My Prince by Julianne MacLean
Someone to Watch Over Me by Yrsa Sigurdardottir