Welcome To My Life

Chapter 3

We spend a while in the pool before leaving. A lot of time was spent talking. I found that I liked Katy. She was pretty shy at first, but she quickly became very talkative. She and I have quite a bit in common. We’re both afraid of dogs and we both played instruments. Katy had played the clarinet, while I’d played the flute. Both of us had decided against continuing band this year.

When we finally left, we walked up to our rooms and parted ways to change, agreeing to meet in my room to watch a movie in ten minutes.

I change my clothes, and brush through my thick, brown hair. I check the clock and see that it’s been twenty minutes already. I open my door and go up to Katy’s. I’m about to knock when I hear voices.

“Just give it a chance!” I hear Katy exclaim, sounding exasperated.

“Why?” a male voice says. “I don’t have to.”

“Jase, come on. Hayley’s really nice.”

‘They’re talking about me,’ I realize, unsure of whether to be flattered by Katy’s compliment, or insulted that they’re talking about me, and how much Jason seems to dislike me already.

“I don’t care how nice she is. It’s her fault that we had to come here in the first place.”

“If you’d listened when Jordan was talking to us, you’d know why and you’d feel like a jerk for ever saying that. It’s because—”

I knock loudly on the door, not wanting Jason to know about my mom. Katy stops her sentence short, like I’d hoped, and comes to answer the door.

“Hey!” I say when she answers. “Ready for the movie?”

“Um… yeah. Let’s go,” she says, as she picks a movie up off her bed before exiting the room.

The movie she took was called The Time Traveller’s Wife. It was ridiculously sad and I burned through tissues faster than a fire. Katy, however, didn’t shed a tear.

“Why aren’t you crying?” I ask.

“Oh, I don’t cry at movies,” she answers dismissively.

“Can I ask you a question??” I ask.

“Shoot,” she says, turning to face me.

“Why exactly does Jason think it’s my fault you two had to come here? I mean, I know Natalie didn’t want us to go there because of me, but I didn’t exactly choose to come here either.”

          “He doesn’t know that. He stormed out of the room before Jordan could tell him. I’ve been trying to tell him but… he’s not letting me,” she answers, sounding a little frustrated and slightly disappointed.

“Listen,” I say, “can you… not tell him?”

“I guess so… but why?”

“I don’t want his first impression of me to be pity.”

“Okay… I doubt he’ll talk to you much though. He’s pretty stubborn sometimes, and he’s pretty miffed right now.”

“Jason! Katy! Hayley! Dinner’s ready!” I hear Natalie call from downstairs.

Katy and I get up and start downstairs, and I can hear Jason following behind us. We go straight to the dining room to find all the places set. There is chicken, peas, mashed potatoes, and salad on the table. Natalie sits at the head of the table, with Jordan on her left. Katy sits on the other side of her, and I sit next to Katy, leaving Jason to sit beside Jordan. This means I’m sitting across from him.

“Help yourself and dig in,” Natalie says, reaching for the mashed potatoes. There’s ten pieces of chicken on the table and I reach out and get one.

“So how do you guys like the house?” Jordan asks.

“It’s great! I danced in the studio and then Hayley and I went swimming!” Katy says happily, before eating some of her peas.

“That’s nice,” Jordan says. “What about you, Jase?”

“It’s okay.”

There’s a slightly awkward silence after that. Once it’s broken by Natalie questioning Jordan about his day, the conversation mostly sticks to them two, with Katy joining in every once in a while. Jason and I remain silent for the rest of the dinner.

After dinner I go up to my room. I look at the suitcase on the floor and open it up. Inside there are clothes mostly, along with my sketch pad. I had gotten it from an art teacher on my birthday. I place the sketch pad in one of the nightstand drawers. Then I gather pajamas together and walk over to the bathroom. I open the door without thinking, wanting to shower and get the chlorine smell from the pool out of my hair.

“Hey!” I hear Jason yell as the door opens. He’s standing in just his boxers, obviously preparing to shower as well. “Don’t you knock?”

“Sorry,” I say, a little annoyed by his tone. “I didn’t think to knock before going into my own bathroom. Don’t you lock doors?” I ask using the same tone he did. I can’t help but notice his body, which is much better shirtless. His stomach is toned, but not too much, and his arms are defined.

“I figured you’d know how to knock. Is bending your wrist too complicated?” he says.

“I figured you’d know how to lock a door. Is twisting metal to complicated?”

He scowls at me, obviously annoyed that I’m not going to let him win this little game of his.

“If you could stop checking me out and leave, I’d like to shower.”

“Me? Check you out? Ha, you’re funny. You should do stand-up comedy,” I fake a laugh as I leave. As soon as the door closes, I hear the lock click.