WHERE WE ARE ; COLE WALTER

004

THE PAIR STOOD IN FRONT  of Katherine's old art room, looking inside the room, their expressions dark as they were once again reminded of the change in their daily lives that would come with Jackie Howard.

Veronica put on a brave smile, trying to still seem as welcoming to Jackie as she wanted to be and also, just trying to not show how she actually didn't like the change Jackie brought with her.

Beside her, Veronica could hear Cole mutter something along the lines of "now we don't even have a room to sneak into". She ignored him and went inside the room, placing the box on the bed, careful not to let it fall down.

Meanwhile, Cole didn't care much and just had to be dramatic, so he just let the box fall from his hands and land down on the floor with a loud thud.

"Will, are you gonna help? There's a ton of stuff to bring up," he told his older brother, though he looked at Veronica who made her way back over to him. She didn't want to stay in this room alone with Jackie. While the Summerhill girl liked making new friends, she knew that there were people who didn't want you to befriend them and she knew that Jackie was one of those people.

"I can do it," Jackie offered but her offer was quickly refused by both Will and Veronica, while Cole had already opened his mouth to accept her offer. Veronica knew what would be coming out of his mouth, so she took the initiative and slapped him on the ass.

"Ouch," the blond boy exclaimed, covering his behind with one hand as he looked over to Veronica who feigned innocence. "What was that for?"

Veronica shrugged innocently, "I don't know what you're talking about. Now come on and let's get more boxes."

Now Will jumped in, not liking the idea of her having to lift the boxes up the many stairs (his mother hadn't raised him and his brothers to be anything but a gentleman), "No, no. Cole and I, we carry the boxes and you two girls can talk about . . . girl stuff. And Jackie, make yourself at home here."

"Yeah, don't worry about it, New York," Cole told Jackie, lingering on the doorstep as he returned Veronica's helpless look.

The girl just wanted to leave the room and spend some time with Cole, as she had intended to do, but now she was stuck in the small room with a person that didn't seem particularly interested in talking to her.

He threw one last glance in her direction, trying to give her an encouraging smile as he left her behind. Though, as he turned around, he had to hold his hand over his mouth, so that Will wouldn't see the sly smirk on his face. Cole hadn't even noticed how red her lips had gotten from their rather intense kiss in the barn.

Not sure of herself and what she could say to Jackie, seeing as the younger girl just sat on her bed, staring at one of the many artworks, Veronica settled on offering her help in unpacking. While she knew that Jackie wasn't interested in talking to her, she still wanted to make her feel welcome after everything that had happened to her.

Jackie finally looked away from the landscape painting on the wall and looked over to Veronica, a smile - that looked more like a grimace - on her face. "It's alright, I'll do it myself."

An awkward silence filled the room, Jackie not caring much about it, while Veronica suffered under its heaviness; she just wanted to make the girl feel a bit better but didn't know how.

"How about I tell you some things about the people at school?" Veronica finally suggested, relieved that she found at least something that she could talk about with Jackie.

Jackie considered her options: she could either go to school, not knowing anything about anyone, or she could use the help this stranger was offering her and at least have an overview of the high school drama.