Piecing it Together

Chapter 10

Alexis POV

In less than twenty four hours, I will get to see Jake. He graduates from boot camp in two days.

Tomorrow is a family and friends day where he can take people on base. Jordyn, Paige, Derek, Scott, and Callie are all coming. Scott and Derek are his two best guy friends.

We are heading to the hotel today, even though we can't see Jake until tomorrow. We are taking two separate vehicles. With the history between Scott and Paige, then Derek and Jordyn, this trip could be interesting.

I went through my bag a hundred times to make sure I got everything I needed.

When everyone arrived, we loaded the vehicles. We are taking Jordyn's and mine.

"Who's riding with who?" I ask as we are all standing outside the two packed vehicles.

Everyone looks around not wanting to pick whose car to go into. Seriously, is this junior high?

"The boys will ride with me." I take control of this situation.

I know Jordyn wants Paige to ride with her. I don't know what is going on with those two currently. I stopped keeping track months ago. However, I still have eyes.

I notice Paige getting in the driver's seat. I had a feeling that Jordyn wasn't going to drive. I would prefer Paige driving over Jordyn anyway. Jordyn drives like a grandma. Paige and I have similar driving styles as well as similar road rage.

While driving I had to roll down my window to get some air in here. Between both of the guys cologne I thought I was going to faint.

"So, what's the deal with Callie?" Derek asks from the backseat.

I glance in the mirror at him then back at the road.

"What do you mean?" I wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about.

Derek leans his body in between the two front seats. "Is she single?"

I turn my head towards him to see if he is being serious with the question.

"Yeah. She got out of an unpleasant situation. Why do you want to know?"

I had no idea what was happening with Callie and that Christian until recently. Frankly, I was upset that Jordyn or Paige didn't tell me about it sooner.

"I heard the new guy beat the shit out of her." Scott's voice was far from respectful.

I was about to hit him in the arm, but Derek beat me to it.

"Dude, not cool at all."

Scott put his hands up pleading. "I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I was repeating what I heard."

I ignore Scott and go back to Derek's question "Why do you want to know?"

He leans back in his seat. He runs his hand through his hair. "I was curious."

I can see the smile on his face that he is trying to hide.

"She's not a girl you can screw around with. She is fragile more than ever right now." I warned him.



Jordyn POV

Not within ten minutes of being on the road Callie passed out in the backseat. Since the night at the lake, she has been completely different.

I haven't seen her smile. She barely talks. I had to beg for her to come with us this weekend. She walks the halls at school with her head down. Everyone by now has heard what happened.

It doesn't help that Christian is back at school. His parents went to Callie's parents and begged them to drop the charges they pressed against him.

I guess Callie isn't the first person he did this too. The whole reason they moved from wherever they are from was something like this happened with another girl.

Any class that Callie and Christian share together, they either have Callie doing it independently or move Christian out.

"Do you know where you are going to college?" Paige glances at me for a quick second before turning her attention back to the road.

This is the first time she has asked me about college.

I've known where I wanted to go since I was in junior high. We viewed the campus before we saw the Nutcracker for a field trip. I was in love with the campus. I'm still in love with the campus. The buildings aren't that far apart. There is a beautiful mountain that sits behind the campus as well.

"Yeah, I have known forever where I'm going." I told her.

"Well?" A smile appears on her face as she waits for me to tell her.

I decided to play with her a little. "You can find out at graduation when they announce it."

Her smile disappeared on her face. She gives me the side eye.

I lean my head back on the headrest laughing. "I'm going to Washington State."

She nods her head, trying to hide the smile making its way back to her face. "I knew you couldn't stay away."

I knew a remark like that was going to happen. Paige knows that I'm not going there to follow. I'm going there because that's where I always wanted to go. Paige being there is a bonus.

My phone buzzes.

Alexis: Derek is talking about Callie. He sounds like he might be interested in her.

I look back to see if Callie was still asleep. When I see she is I read the text message to Paige.

"I never saw that one coming." Paige voiced. "Not after prom last year."

Neither did I. Callie is so fragile right now. If what Alexis texted is true, I don't know if I should tell him to back off or let him pursue her.

"Stop overthinking it." Paige tells me. "Derek isn't going to do anything to hurt her or push her into something."

Paige hasn't told me how or why they started hanging out. It's obvious she knows more about him right now than I do.

"How are you sure?" I'm hoping she gives me a little insight.

"We have been going to group meetings together."