Joost klein Hearts of Fire

Falling and failing

My head was spinning, and I had no idea where I was. My vision was blurry, and I reached out to touch my surroundings. Grass? I blinked, and suddenly my vision sharpened, almost too perfectly. Three faces loomed above me, blocking the sun. Joost looked confused, Mr. Jansen seemed worried, and my mom was clearly furious.

Mr. Jansen spoke first, addressing my mom, "Excuse me, Miss Monet. Do you have any idea who this girl might be?"

My mom crossed her arms and turned to him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Jansen, but this trespasser happens to be my daughter."
Her tone was apologetic.
"C'mon, get up!" She stretched out her hand and helped me to my feet.
"I apologize again, Mr. Jansen. I truly don't understand what was going on, but I assure you it won't happen again."

Mr. Jansen turned his anxious gaze to me. "Yes, of course. But are you okay, darling?"

I nodded, though the word "darling" made my skin crawl. I still didn't like him.

"Okay then, I'm going to head inside." He turned and walked back to his house.

"What were you thinking?!" My mom yelled at me. "And what are you doing here?" She gestured towards Joost, who I had almost forgotten was there.

Uhh-I-" Joost stammered, looking uncomfortable.

"Whatever! You are grounded, young lady. And you?" She pointed at Joost. "I will want to talk with your parents."

Joost's gaze darkened, his usual smug smirk nowhere in sight.

"Let's go!" my mom commanded, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the car. I glanced back at Joost one more time. His expression was sad, and it made my heart ache.

————

Two hours later, I was lay in my bed wearing my favorite soft pajamas, FaceTiming with Mia.

"So, how was it?" she asked excitedly.
"Bad. Very bad."
"What happened?"
"I fell off the roof, and now I'm grounded."
"Oh. Didn't see that coming."

I heard a faint voice in the background on Mia's end. "Ugh, my mom is asking me to clean up the house. You'll tell me everything tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, bye."

I tossed my phone aside and sank deeper into my bed. These were going to be the worst two weeks of my entire life.

————

The next day, as promised, I met with Joost to tutor him. He was acting very strange—no sarcastic comments, no laughing or joking. Just silently working and reading. He'd been like this since the conversation with my mom yesterday, when she mentioned his parents. Had something happened?

When lunch break ended, he got up, silently said, "Thank you," and left. Not like him at all.

Now I had math, but the teacher seemed preoccupied, heartbroken over her recent divorce (Mia's words), so the class was pretty chill .

"Hey, there will be a party at Kylie's house. Wanna come?" Mia whispered.

"No, I can't. I'm grounded, remember?" I reminded her.

"So what?" she said nonchalantly.

"So what?!" I echoed incredulously.

"Just sneak out!" She shrugged.

"Sneak out?!"

"Yeah? I can help you if you're scared," she mocked me.

Uhh... no, obviously I'm not scared."

"Then come to the party with me. I'll come to your house at 9."

"Cool," I said, trying to sound effortless.

What did I just agree to?

A/N:

Hey guyss!! I'm sorry for taking so long for this part. It's gonna get good now.

By the way , Kat and Joost aren't the biggest enemies now, but they're gonna be later,sorry:( .

Spoiler alert: it's going to be gut wrenching.

Kat.