Connor’s POV
Her eyes were a pool of sky blue; and endless pit of cobalt that strikes you with every glance. They were Caribbean waters and fresh blueberries; they were warm and inviting and impossible to look away from. I smiled at her, my head spinning, and she smiled back. Her eyes crinkled around the edges and brought life to her flushed face. She looked alive.
Just then, a loud blare erupted from the inside of Peyton’s grey lacrosse bag. She pouted just before reaching down to grab it. Peyton let out a loud irritated sigh as she said hello, making me smile a bit.
“Mom? What is it? Is something wrong?”
I watched Peyton as her entire body seemed to go tense, her grasp on her phone becoming frightening. All of the life I witnessed just moments before seemed to vanish; gone. She shut her eyes, slowly, and took a long shaky breath.
“How?” She asked, her voice unbelievably quiet and high. Her eyes stayed closed. There was a long silence before she spoke again. At this point I was curious and worried at the same time. “Is he going to be okay?” Peyton’s eyes fluttered open, leaving me to see them coated in water; a sad blue, a sad ocean. She bit her lip, trying to conceal a sob. Was who going to be okay?
I shot Peyton a confused look, motioning for her to fill me in. I may as well have been invisible. Peyton nodded to herself slowly before hanging up the phone. I debated whether or not to speak and decided against it. She just sat there, phone in hand, silent and still for a few seconds, her breathing slow and concentrated.
Finally, she turned to me, eyes still brimming with unexpected tears. “I’m sorry, I have to go.” Peyton rushed to her feet and grabbed her bag just before running to the door of the Rec Center.
“Peyton, wait!” I called after her, but it was pointless. She either wasn’t listening, or didn’t want to. My voice echoed throughout the building.
I don’t think I’d ever been more confused.
Peyton’s POV
I couldn’t hear anything but the pounding of my heart. You’re brother has been in an accident. Jamie has been in an accident. Jamie’s been hurt. Jamie is in the hospital.
I was sprinting back to my dorm room, ignoring the stares that I was given by other students out in the courtyard. I ignored what just happened with Connor, what he yelled after me, everything. There’s been an accident.
By the time I reached my room, my breath was jagged and my legs were burning, my knee throbbing uncontrollably. My heart was thumping thumping thumping. I feared it would jump straight through my chest.
Mia was laying in her bed, her blue laptop sitting on her thighs. “Hey, Pey,” she said when I burst through the door. I hurriedly grabbed my suitcase from under my bed and began ripping clothes out of my closet. “Woah, what are you doing?” Mia asked, setting her laptop down.
I stuffed my suitcase to the brim with all of the necessities while Mia shouted at me in confusion. I dumped a toothbrush and tampons onto the top of the clothes I’d grabbed on the floor and zipped the suitcase shut. Grabbing a red hoodie from my old school, I threw it over my head and didn’t bother to take my hair out from underneath it.
By the time I was done packing completely, 5 minutes had passed and I felt every one of them as it ticked on. Mia was still talking to me and asking what had happened.
I stopped, standing directly below the top bunk and looked her straight in the eye. “Mia, I’m going back to Florida for a little while,” my voice threatened to break.
YOU ARE READING
Shrinking
Dla nastolatkówPeyton Hill had grown used to her beautiful, sunny life in eastern Florida, where she lived for fifteen years. She was content and surrounded by those who loved her. However, when her parents decide to send her off to an elite boarding school in Mas...