Carry On Dreaming (The Cowboy's Promise sequel) (SLOW UPDATES)

Chapter 14

BLAZE'S P.O.V.

Rubbing my sore shoulder, I grab clothes at random and head upstairs to the bathroom. Across the hall, August and Seneca are awake. Their laughter and whispered voices are audible through the door. Moments later, I hear Faith growling at them to be quiet. Laughing, I enter the bathroom and turn on the shower. There's a full-length mirror behind the door. In the mirror, my body appears smaller than August's. Already, a nice-sized bruise is appearing where I fell off this morning.

Turning away from my reflection, I finish undressing and step into the shower. The hot water feels wonderful. As I wash my hair, I listen for the sounds of my family getting ready for the day. Elliot walks in, slamming the screen door behind him. He's grabbing his third cup of coffee. Faith has given up and is fixing the kids breakfast as they watch tv. I drag a wash cloth quickly over my ribs. They still stand prominent, even though the Dodges feed me well.

Then again, I still don't eat enough as I should. I eat enough to survive, but not enough to gain weight.

Just as I rinse the soap off my body, the radio changes songs. The first few notes of a sickeningly familiar Coldplay song come through the speakers. Before I can think, I jump out of the shower and change the station. Before long, an Aerosmith song is resonating through the small bathroom. Checking the time, I rinse my hair one last time and turn the water off.

Stepping out of the shower, I dry my body and dress in my shirt and jeans. I then jog downstairs, toweling my blue hair dry. Faith is nursing a cup of coffee at the table. She smiles softly from behind the morning paper.

"I have breakfast for you if you have time."

"What time is it?" I glance at the clock.

"About ten past seven," she replies. "You really should eat breakfast."

Faith gives a pointed look at my torso, and I sigh. I really don't want to eat, but I didn't eat much last night. My stomach growled through most of the night.

"Only for you," I finally sigh, sitting down at the table across from her. I eat the waffle and orange slice quickly, then grab my bag and join Red in his truck.

"Finally," he grins. "Didn't think you'd ever show."

"Oh, hush. It's only seven twenty," I reply.

"Seven-twenty-five, to be correct," Red counters with a smirk.

Slipping my headphones over my ears, I give him the middle finger as I stare out the window. He just laughs.

€*€

"Hey, Blaze. How was your weekend?" Sabian asks as I enter the building. Sighing, I shrug as I slip my headphones around my neck.

"What can I say? It was the weekend."

"Hey, Blaze," a blonde in skinny jeans and a red v-neck says, waving as her group sashays past us. She gives a flirty smile, her group tittering and giggling.

I roll my eyes and move on, shoving my hands deeper in my pockets. Girls who flirt endlessly annoy me. She flirted with me almost nonstop on my first day, even though Sabian told her I wasn't interested. (I was too nervous to tell her myself.) When he sees me blow her off, he elbows me. Hard.

"Dude, how could you turn Elise down? She's hot," he says to me.

I give a bark of dry laughter. "And a total slut. I don't want that."

"Fine then. Any girl in the school. You got your pick of them. Choose."

I tap his shoulder and point out a small brunette in glasses. Her name is Skye, and she's in my class. She's shy but really nice from what I can tell. She always has a sketchbook under her arms and a pencil or pen behind her ear. I wave at her as I pass her locker. She's hanging up a sketch on the back of the locker door. Patting Sabian on the shoulder and telling him I'll see him in class, I make my way over to Skye.