Freeing Katie

Ch. 2 New School

CHASE POV

Fuck, I hate waking up so early.  Especially when it’s this cold.  The bed is just too tempting to want to climb out of.  The damn alarm jerks my head off the pillow again.  I’ve already hit snooze five times, so I really need to get moving before I’m late for first class.

I quickly get dressed- glad that I took a shower last night.  I throw a cap on, knowing I’m not going to want to f**k with my hair, and grab my backpack.  Once downstairs, I want to laugh at my old man who’s crashed out on the couch.  He must’ve just gotten in not even a couple hours ago.  His leftover dinner looks about half eaten and the TV is still on.  I turn off the tv, grab his food and cover it- putting it back in the fridge- then grab a package of pop-tarts for myself.

With one halfway shoved in my mouth, I step out of the house, then swear as a gust of glacial cold wind hits me.  I turn to lock the door, and out of the corner of my eye, I see my new neighbor coming out of her house.  I laugh to myself, seeing her curse loudly as the cold hits her too.

I swallow down the mouthful of sugary goodness and cross over to her yard.  She’s still wearing black on black with her hair pulled up.  Those glasses are still way too big on her face, but in a way, they look cute.  Nerdy goth maybe?   

“Katie, right?”

She startles for a second, but then puts a smile on.  “Yea, Chase?”

I nod… and then there’s that awkward silence.  “Ready for the first day of school?” I finally say.  “What year are you?” 

She lets out a humorless chuckle.  “As ready as you can be going in half way.  I’m a junior.”

“Awesome, me too!”  Another gust of wind makes us both curl up into our hoodies.  “Well, if you need any help, just ask around.  I was raised here and know mostly everyone.”

Her smile is sincere as she says thanks, then I turn around so we can both get to school on time. 

*

It felt weird having her drive behind me the whole way here, but as soon as we got to the parking lot, she turned in another direction.  I don’t know why I expected her to park near me so we could talk more. 

Once inside, I head to my locker and shrug out of my hoodie.  A couple of my buddies come by and we shoot the s**t about the party from last Friday.  Bethany comes by and gives me a hug, whispering in my ear about her parents wouldn’t be home tonight, and I laugh, trying not to roll my eyes.  I probably need to make things more clear to her.  I don’t like stringing girls along, making her think there could be more to us than what we’ve been doing.  I’m not an asshole like that.

Everything flows as normal.  Typical boring Monday.  That is, until 4th period.  Walking into my least favorite class, English, became more interesting when I spot my neighbor sitting towards the back.  She looks like she would rather be anywhere else, so I hope we share common ground with this terrible subject.  “Well, well, well.  Fancy meeting you here.”  I shrug off my back pack and pick the desk next to hers.  Thank god we don’t have assigned seating in here.

“Hey Chase,” she says with little enthusiasm.  Now, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but it’s rare that girls say hello to me with that little of interest.  A little bruise to my ego?  Yeah, maybe.

“First day not going good?”

She shrugs her shoulders with indifference.  “It’s a typical day.  People trying to access the new girl- figuring out if they want to talk to me or not.”

“Might be the whole black thing throwing them off.”  I didn’t mean it like it sounded, but based on the glare she’s giving me, means I probably sounded like an asshole.  People around here are just more ‘prep’ when it comes to style, especially the girls.  “I didn’t mean-“

“No one asked you,” she snips, pulling out a book and clearly dismissing me. 

Shit.  If we knew each other better, I would yank the book out of her hands and get my point across, but she seems jumpy, and I don’t want to piss her off further.

I don’t know why it was getting to me, but the longer class droned on, the more I couldn’t help but feel guilty.  I’m the fun guy- the one that is chill with everyone.  I don’t like having her think that I was being an asshole.  As our teacher was writing our homework assignment on the board, I put my stuff in my bag.  “Katie, I’m s-“

The bell f*****g rings.  Katie glances at me, but then picks up her stuff and heads out.  I groan to myself.  Way to go Chase.

*

*

KATIE POV

I know I’m being a b***h, but was still feeling butt hurt from my social studies class.

At my last school, there was a more integrated fashion sense, so my black attire meant for hiding, didn’t really go noticed.  At this school, there seems to be more care in what you wear.  So, when I overheard a few girls laughing under their breath and calling me goth without getting to know me yet, yea, my feelings were hurt.

I had to grow up fast, and I know I’m more mature than some of my peers, but I’m still a teen too dammit.  So yea, when Chase made that comment, I just threw my guard up like I always do.  It’s just easier that way. 

But then, I had two more classes with him, making it more awkward.  Thank god for anal teachers and seating charts by last name.  I could feel his gaze on me from time to time, but I refused to look back.  I could tell that it threw him off with the way I acted, but it’ll blow over by itself… at least, I hope it will. 

By the time last bell rang, I was thankful for the day to be over with.  Just thinking about the amount of homework I have to catch up on is going to be the death of me.

Jason text me and said he was riding the bus and didn’t want me to pick him up.  I guess he made friends today that would be on the same route, so good for him. 

Once home, I went upstairs and tossed all my materials on my bed.  I got out a notebook to get organized with everything I needed to get done by the end of the week- one of the tools counseling has helped me with over the years.  As exhausting as it was to see that list get longer, I know it would be a good distraction from any negative thinking.  Minus the girls from the social study class, everything else went alright, so I really can’t complain on the ‘normalcy’ of teen life.

I let my hair down to relax my scalp, then decide to get a drink and snack, knowing I’ll be in my room until dinner time, at least.  Just as I get to the bottom of the stairs, the doorbell rings.  I roll my eyes, just knowing Jason forgot his house keys.

As I swing the door open to start yelling at him to be more responsible, I raise my eyes from what should have been my brother’s height, to Chase’s deep blue gaze.  “Chase?  W-what are you doing here?”

His hesitant smile makes me hate how good looking he is.  “Just wanted to say sorry for earlier.  I didn’t mean what I said, to sound the way it did.”

I let out a sigh and run my hand over my brow.  “I know.  I just let a couple of girls get to me, so I was angry at them.  You didn’t do anything wrong.”  I give him a smile to prove my point. 

“Who was it?” he says in an annoyed voice, but I just wave it off.

“I’m not sure their names, but it doesn’t matter.  But I do own clothes that aren’t black, just FYI.”

“I really don’t care about the colors of your clothes, Katie,” he says honestly, and I think my stomach did a dip.

We just stand there awkwardly, but then I see the school bus drive by and my brother walking up the sidewalk, being just dropped off.  Once he notices there’s a guy on the porch, his lips thin, thinking he has to go into protective brother mode.  I just smile.  “Jason, this is our neighbor, Chase.  I go to school with him.”

“What’s up man?” Chase says with a genuine smile.  Jason seems to loosen up some and gives him a tentative ‘hi’.

“Good day at school?”

“Yea, but I got a lot of homework,” he says with a groan. 

“Join the club kiddo,” I laugh/groan with him.  He walks past me and heads to the stairs.  “Want me to make you a snack?” I yell after him. 

“Nah, I’m good.”  Then I hear his door shut. 

I turn and see Chase still in front of me, and I rub my arms from the cold air.  “Is that all you needed?”

He puts a smirk on, that I’m sure gets him into a lot of girl’s panties.  I definitely didn’t miss the googley eyes in class the girls were sending his way.  “Trying to get rid of me?”

I laugh, shaking my head.  “More like I don’t know what to do with you…”  Did I just flirt?  Seeing his smile broaden, I’m guessing he thinks I did.  Ugh, no.  “I just have a lot of homework to do, and I’m sure you have other things going on….”

“Speaking of homework, can you tell me the assignment from English?  Someone got upset with me, and I couldn’t focus.”

We both let out a laugh.  “For you, it’s to read the next two chapters.  I have to play catch up and read half the book by the end of the week.  She also wanted us to answer the questions from our notes by Wednesday.”

“Questions?” He seriously looks confused, and I roll my eyes.

“You really didn’t pay attention, did you?”  I turn around and start walking.  “Come on, I’ll give you my notes and you can give them back to me tomorrow.”  I hear the door shut behind me, and one open as I get to the top of the stairs.  Jason pokes his head out and I send him a reassuring wink.  He opens his door wide and goes back to his video game as I walk into my room.  Glad that I organized my stuff earlier, it’s easy to find my English notes.  I turn around to see Chase looking around my room.  I still have some things to hang, so the room is basically bare.  “Expecting black walls and curtains?  Sad music that pours out my teenage angst?”

He laughs and takes the notebook from my hand.  “Black walls, maybe.  But music?  You look more like the scream-o type.”

“Classical rock actually,” I smile out. 

I walk him back to the front door.  “Thanks again for the notes.”

“Don’t make it become a habit.”

“No promises,” he smiles, but then takes a second too long for my liking, staring at my face.

“What?”

He snaps out of his stupor and shaking his head.  “Sorry.  You should wear your hair down more.”

“Huh?”

Instead of answering, he just keeps up with that cheeky smile and walks off.  I shut the door and grab a hold of my hair.  Why would he say that?