No Strings Attached

Chapter Three

It's  been about a week since Kathy was let go from the hospital. I was just overreacting to the whole situation. I think the reason I overreacted so much is because when my dad died, I didn't know until it was too late to try to save him.

-

I was finished coloring and put the crayons on the counter in my playroom. Daddy walked in and picked me up.

"Look at my beautiful little girl!" He said softly. "Daddy will be right back, Nicky."

I went into my toy box and grabbed the teddy bear that he had given me when I was 3, I'm 8 now and I still love Mr. Bear.

I heard a loud noise coming from the living room. My mom screamed when I came running out of the room. She looked and me and motioned for me and Britney to go to her.  She held us in a tight hug, away from the view of our father, limp on the ground with a gun in his hand.

-

I thought about my dad a lot, who he would've been if he was still around, if my mom would still be with him, even though their threads didn't connect.

I walked downstairs into the kitchen after getting ready for school. My mom had made me and Carden low-fat bacon and homemade blueberry pancakes.

I took two pancakes and three pieces of bacon and completely drenched them in ketchup.  Yeah I guess it's a weird combination but I love it.

After I finished eating, I made sure I still had time to catch the bus and walked outside and went to my bus stop, which is about a 10 minute walk.

I'm usually the only one at this bus stop because nobody else lives on this part of town, but today there's a new boy waiting.

He has dark brown hair, kind of like a chocolate labs fur.  He was looking down so I couldn't get a good glimpse of what color his eyes were. He was wearing a jean jacket and light blue jeans with grey converse.

Once he looked up I could see just how cute he really was.

I noticed something odd, he didn't have a thread connecting him to anybody either.

I walked up to him and took a seat right next to him.

He turned towards me, "So, do you come around here often?"  He asked, a smile playing on his face.

I couldn't help but giggle. "Actually, yes, yes I do. Every weekday to be exact." I said, smiling. "What about you? Do you come around this very bus stop often?"

"Not particularly, I like to try out a new one everyday." He snickered. "My name's Grant."

"Nicole. Nice to meet you, Grant."

"Yes, yes. Same to you, Nicole."

He winked at me and turned to get on the bus that has been waiting for God knows how long.

-

I walk up the stairs to get to room 308.

Great, forensics.

I open the door and walk in. Mrs. Gleamer doesn't notice I'm three minutes late so I slide in to take my seat next to Derek.

A few minutes later there's a knock at the door. Mrs. Gleamer stops her lesson, looking annoyed, and goes to answer it.

Grant walks in.

"Hey so uh, I'm new here and I could not find this class." He says, trying not to laugh.

"No excuses. Sit down next to Nicole. I'll have a talk to you after class about showing up on time." She replied rawly.

Grant takes his seat next to me. "Long time no see."