by Jack Parker
"Yeah of course." Anna said in her sweet voice. "It's so nice to meet neighbors, and it's good for Heidi to know someone before school." She turned and stared at me pointedly. I frowned, as if to say 'what?' Her eyes narrowed, "Right Heidi?"
"Yeah totally." I said sarcastically, right before taking a bite of a cupcake.
As soon as Camdon left Anna raised an eyebrow at me. "He's trying to be nice, do you have to make things so uncomfortable for him?"
"No." I mumbled, and picked at the frosting of other cupcakes. That wasn't even intentional, I thought to myself. "I'm just not sure yet. You never know at a new school, sometimes they eat nice girls for lunch. I gotta make sure people know that I'm not a doormat."
"But that kid?" Anna sighed, as if I had made things awkward on purpose, which, on another occasion I might have, but not this one. She looked out the window at him, carrying his little sister. "He has to be the sweetest guy I've ever meet."
"Except Detective O'Connor." I added in sneakily
"What?" She asked totally confused.
"Detective O'Connor. He's one of the nicest persons I've ever met. He helped me so much through this ordeal. I mean, what a really classy guy." I picked up another cupcake. Damn these were addicting. And who said I wasn't nice? Detective O'Connor owes me, big time.
Anna's face immediately softened. "I'm sorry. I know how hard it must be for you to go through all this." Not what I was aiming at, but okay.
"I feel safer here, I don't know why they would bring themselves all the way out here."
She slid in a chair next to me. "They won't find you, and I may not look it, but I really am qualified, I can take care of you." She squeezed my hand while I resisted not pulling away.
I sighed. "I know." I could feel our conversation turn towards a more heartfelt area, and quickly moved away, "I hope you don't mind, but I'm pretty tired. I'm going to hit the hay." As I walked up the stairs, my heart ached again, the smell, the sounds, the people; everything about this house reminded me that wherever I went, it was only temporary. Sometimes it seemed as if I could never really have a home. When I reached my room, I went and laid back on the bed, I closed my eyes, letting my thoughts and dreams take me away.
Chapter 6
Even with the time change, I woke up early. I looked over at my clock, and it was 6:00 am. That's 3:00 am Phoenix time. But I couldn't sleep, and I was feeling rather restless, so I put on some spandex, a sports bra, and a T, leaving my ipod, I never took it running, afraid of being attacked when I was zoning out. Slipping on my running shoes, I was already excited.
Running was such a relief for me, I could feel any stress or worry I had melt away. I couldn't help but smile, and bounded down the stairs, and saw Anna in the kitchen, assembling a gun on the counter.
"Oh hi Heidi!" She beamed, as if it was totally normal to do that. We are so not meant for suburbia lifestyle.
"Um. Hey."
"You going running?" She asked, looking at it, and putting it on top of the fridge.
"Yeahhh… Hey. Is that loaded?"
She looked up, not quite understanding my question, like it was such a normal thing to do every morning that she didn't even realize. "Oh! The gun." Yes Anna, the gun. "Don't worry, I'm just keeping it here for protection. I have a couple stashed around the house, so don't be freaked if you find one." She pulled another one from her bag and began doing the same thing, "Have fun on your run!"
"Thanks Anna," I inched out of the kitchen to the door, happy to finally be outside.
I took a big breath in and closed my eyes. Air. No smog or pollution. Mmmmm. I shivered. But from the cold, or because of how nervous I got around the gun, I didn't know. I shook it off and began on my run, it was faster paced than normal, and I ran throughout the streets and past several cornfields and beanstalks, quite a change of scenery for me.
I was deep in thought, thinking about Mickey, and if the police were closer to catching her, and when the daunting day came that the truck would finally carry the solar panels and meth over the boarder.
My thoughts were spinning, and I was so wrapped in thought, I almost didn't notice the padding feet coming up behind me. My heart started thumping hard, and I picked up my pace a little bit more, only to hear the other runner do the same. My mind was going crazy, thinking of everything we could have done that led them here. I began sprinting as fast as I could, but wasn't fast enough, I could hear them gaining, and I was dying to know how they found me, we had been so careful.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I screamed, turning around and thrashing about in a strong grip, trying to hit them in as many places as I could.
"Heidi! Heidi!" I heard a voice say. "Stop! Its me, ITS CAMDON!"
I immediately stopped. He was blinking, and rubbing his face, I got him good.
I stared at him. I would have been embarrassed, but I was so relieved that it was just him, and not some one else, I broke out in a grin.
"It's just you." I smiled. I let out a large breath. "Oh thank goodness." I put a hand on my heart, trying to quiet it, before turning to glare at him.
"What were you thinking? Grabbing a person like that? And chasing them?"
He looked taken aback. "I-I-uh. I didn't mean it like that." He looked pretty uncomfortable. "I only wanted to catch up and talk." He shrugged.
He really was sweet. I sighed, and rubbed my temples, "I'm sorry, it's my fault." I looked up and tried to be friendly, "I live in a city, and I'm just paranoid, sometimes you have to be."
He nodded, slowly understanding. "I've never lived anywhere but here," he said lamely, gesturing to the surrounding empty road and fields.
I couldn't think of anything to do, I had made the situation so awkward. I groaned inwardly, alright: "Do you want to finish the run with me?" I offered weakly.
He smiled, and his face glowed. "Yeah! I'd like that. Your pretty fast, by the way." He winked.
Oh my god he winked at me, I found myself inwardly swooning. Swooning!
I mentally hit myself. I sound like a girl in junior high. My heart was still thumping hard, but that was no longer the product of getting scared.
We began jogging back towards our street, and I found my self becoming more relaxed again.
"I really am sorry about scaring you," He gave me a sheepish smile.
I looked up into his eyes again and tried to give him the most sincere smile I could, but it came out a little sad. "It's not your fault, I'm just a little jumpy."
"Where were you from again?"
"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 ha
d 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?"
"Maybe I wouldn't have to if you acted like a functional human being."
Before he could shoot back an answer, he immediately closed his mouth, and looked up at the figure that was standing next to me.
I did the same, "Hey guys!" Camdon's dimples showed as he graced the table with his smile.
