Sophomore Year || Parenthood Series, Book One || WATTYS 2018

Chapter Twenty-Two

SOUNDTRACK: "Another Brick in the Wall" - Pink Floyd

ONE WEEK LATER

When she had gotten to school on Monday, Victoria and Blair basically ignored her. She didn't expect to be best friends with them, but their reception of her was chilly at best. Victoria didn't even look at her during Web Design. It seemed like more people stared at her during the day, too. She couldn't brush it off as her imagination when she looked up from her English textbook and two guys looked away hastily. Practice had been better. Coach Anders started her and she began prepping for the scrimmage on the weekend.

Tuesday had been slightly more exciting. The thing about having so many employees coming and going meant that you never quite knew who was going to show up when. She learned that fact Tuesday night while taking a shower before bed when an intern had come in. The young man had rushed out of the bathroom red-faced and apologetic, leaving her surprised and embarrassed. And Jared had given the other man hell for it, which surprised her.

"Did I not fucking tell you to use the downstairs bathroom?" he fumed at the man.

The only thing the intern could do was mouth wordlessly like a fish stuck on dry land.

From Jared's previous behavior, Kate didn't expect him to act that way. He didn't seem to care much what happened to her. He certainly didn't act that protective of her regularly. But what Kate didn't know was that after the Halloween party, Jared had become acutely aware of the fact that Kate was incredibly beautiful. And it wasn't a secret that beautiful women got attention of all kinds, even when they didn't want it.

The idea of Kate getting that type of attention scared him. Why? Because he knew how far some men would take it, having crossed the line once or twice on his own before. So he was on high alert for any potential creeps. He also noticed how Kate was affecting his sex life. Suddenly, Jared was aware that every woman was somebody's daughter. And they had all been Kate's age at one time. It was a mind-bending fuck up and his dick wasn't a fan.

Wednesday night, Jared had packed while Kate studied. The two of them didn't really talk until she was getting ready for bed. He stood in her doorway as she set her uniform out for the next morning.

"I'll be gone when you get home tomorrow," he started.

"I know," Kate replied automatically. "Shannon's staying with me while you're gone. You told me."

"I'm back on Monday, though," Jared remarked. She didn't reply. "I'm sorry I'm missing your game. I know I said I'd catch the next one. It's just this conference is really important and I need to be there."

She sighed and nodded. "You told me."

"When I get back, we can sit down and talk about what you want to do for your birthday," he said. "We could have a party or something. You could invite some friends from San Diego," he suggested, hoping it might smooth things over a bit.

She looked at him. "You'd really be okay with hosting a party where people would see you and connect you to me?" she asked, suspicion on her face.

"Well...no. I mean, I'd help you set it up, but I wouldn't be there," he clarified.

"Of course not," she replied.

He could swear he heard her mutter something like, because no one can know you have a kid under her breath, but he wasn't going to open that can of worms before closing the one he was already working on.