Piecing it Together

Chapter 20

Jordyn POV

A month has passed since I found out who my real father is. I haven't been able to bring myself to ask Mr. Hartley about it. Does he know? I haven't spoken to him since the day of homecoming games when he told me to get ice for my face.

Today that will change. The seniors have been going in one by one to talk to the principal. He talks to us about our future plans. I don't know if he really cares, but it's something that has happened every year with the senior class.

I was supposed to be one of the first people to go since my last name starts with a 'C', but I've been avoiding going. I have run out of excuses to use.

Paige has no idea that I know it's Mr. Hartley. I haven't told her, which I feel bad about. She has been busy working at her new job and now her classes have started back up. I didn't want to throw my problems on her busy schedule.

I haven't spoken to my dad, Mr. Chancellor. I don't know what to refer to him as. I also haven't spoken to Alexis. I've been waiting for them to reach out to me, but they haven't. I guess this is what loneliness feels like. In a way, I feel like I understand the struggles Paige was going through last year around this time. Clearly our situations are different, but the loneliness is similar.

I head to school hoping when I get there the school will be burnt down. I couldn't sleep last night dreading today. I could pretend like I don't know anything and just go in there like I have talked to him in the past, but I know I'm not capable of doing so. I'm one of those people who can't let things go.

I walk into the school and go to my first class. Callie tries to make small talk with me before class begins, but I can't focus on a word she is saying. Class starts and not even five minutes in I get called down to the office.

I grab my stuff not knowing how long it will take. I make my way to the office slowly. The gut wrench feeling I have had for the last month is growing. I get in his office and freeze at the door.

"Please come sit down." Mr. Hartley says with a smile that made me nervous.

I walk to the chair and sit down.

"What do you need?" I blurt out.

Mr. Hartley was looking in a file, which I assume is mine.

"By the looks of it here you are doing just fine. You are top five in your class and already accepted into the college of your choice."

I feel my leg shaking and my palms are getting sweaty. "Yeah, is that all?"

He puts my folder down and stares at me. "Is there something wrong Jordyn?"

I shake my head. I knew if I speak that I would say too much.

"Are you sure? You don't look too well."

"I'm fine." I got up from the chair hoping he would let me go.

Instead, he gets up and walks over to me. He put his hand on my shoulder which made me feel completely uncomfortable.

"Is there something bothering you? You can talk to me. You know that right?" His voice sounds sincere, but it's not that simple.

"I'm fine." I repeat myself.

I try to walk out, but he keeps his grip on my shoulder.

"You know you are one of my favorite students in this school." His eyes were looking straight down on me and that's when I lost it.

"Why am I your favorite?" I ask, but before he answers I continue to talk. "Is it because you know?"

He takes his hands off of me and takes a step back, but keeps his eye contact with mine. "I know what exactly?"

I can read his body language and the way he is reacting. It's like he has been waiting for me to say this. I bit down on the side of my cheek before I gathered the words.

Once I say this, that means everything is true.

"You know that you are my father." As the words came off my lips, I felt tears streaming down my face.

I close my eyes tight before reopening them. My head is spinning, and I feel like I'm going to faint. I look at Mr. Hartley who doesn't seem freaked out about this.

"Jordyn, we need to talk about this, but not here."

I turn to walk away and feel too weak. My knees went jello and I hit the ground. My vision is completely cloudy, and my breathing is getting heavier by the second.

"Susan gets the nurse." I hear Mr. Hartley's voice. He puts one of his hands on my back and the other under my arm to help me up.

Seconds later a nurse comes walking in. Her room is right beside his in the office. They both help me to the bed that is in the room and lay me down. The nurse grabs an icepack and sets it over a cloth she placed on my head.

"Don't let her go until you know for sure she is okay. I will contact her mother and let her know." Mr. Hartley instructs the nurse.

I hear both walk out and I shut my eyes. What feels like a minute turns into a couple of hours. I opened my eyes when a bell went off and realized I should be on my way to lunch right now. I look around the room and see no one is in here, not even the nurse. Are they planning to let me sleep the full day?

I get ready to get up from the bed when I hear a commotion going on in the other room. I couldn't make out what they were saying so I stood up and walked by the wall opposite from where the bed in the room is. I put my ear up to the wall and try to focus in on the voices.

"How could you not tell me she knows? You made me stay quiet for all these years. You threatened me to not say a word. I played by your rules for god knows why." Mr. Hartley's voice was angry and hurt.

I wasn't expecting to hear my mom's voice. I thought he was talking on the phone. "Dave, things changed, and she found out. I was hoping it would never come to this." My mom sounds very pathetic right now. How could she hope that her lie would hold up forever?

There was a long pause and I thought they were done talking. I start to back away from the wall, but that's when I hear him talk again.

"You know how hard it has been to watch my daughter grow up and not know who I am? How hard is it to see some other guy father her? Do you? You only thought about yourself through this whole situation."

I couldn't listen to it anymore. I run out of the nurse room and head towards my locker. I threw the stuff from the first period in there and went to lunch where I know Callie will be. I see her sitting down at our table eating.

I rush over there and grab her arm as she is in the middle of a bite. I start dragging her through the cafeteria.

"You could at least let me finish that." Callie says sarcastically.

I pull her out of the cafeteria and head to the back steps that we went to a lot last year. We got out there and I finally let go of Callie.

"What's going on? Where have you been all day?"

I sat down. I don't want to get so weak that I can't stand again like before.

"I said something to him, and he didn't deny it." I start off with knowing she knows what I'm talking about. "I almost passed out. They took me to the nurse's office where I fell asleep."

"Wow." Callie says in shock. I looked at her and she knew that wasn't it. "There's more isn't there?"

I nod. "When I woke up, I heard something coming from his office. The next thing I know I hear my mom's voice. They were arguing."

"What did he say?" Callie belts out before I could even get to it.

I can't blame her for being anxious to know. "He was angry at her. He says it's been killing him watching another guy raise his daughter."

"So, he knew this whole time?" Callie asks. I nod again.

"Looks like Miss Jordyn isn't as perfect as she tries to pretend."

A voice from a distance speaks.

I stand up and look down the steps to see Christian walking over to the bottom of them.

Great.

I look at Callie who didn't look scared like she used to. He walks up the steps and sits in front of us.

"What do you want?" I hissed at him, annoyed that he is here and heard our conversation.

He put his hands up in his defense. "I don't want anything. You two are the ones who came out here while I was. It's not my fault you didn't see me."

I looked over at Callie who was rolling her eyes.

"I know both of you hate me, but I have changed and I'm still changing." Christian tries to claim.

I stand up and so does Callie. We both headed to the door when Christian tried to stop us.

"Please give me a chance. I know I don't deserve it. I'm alone here and I'm trying."

I look at Callie who wants to turn around and go back down to him. Even with being with Derek, she has some connection that pulls her into every word he says. Callie leans over to my ear.

"We all make mistakes. Maybe we should give him a chance."

I can't believe what I'm hearing. I turn to Christian and walk down to him.

"You have one chance under one condition. You are not allowed to be around Callie when it's just her and no more smoking weed around us."

"That's two." He laughs. I shoot him a glare. "Understood."

I hope I don't regret this.


Paige POV

I'm out of breath as I reach the bus. I show the guy my pass and take a seat in the front. Trying to catch my breath as I open my bag to make sure I brought my work clothes. The one day that my class ran late happens to be the day I'm called in early.

All I can say is I'm glad this isn't an everyday thing. I'm not out of shape, but to run across campus in a five-minute span in the winter is hard on the lungs. I should be proud that I didn't slip on my ass at all.

I grab my phone out to see I have fifteen minutes until I need to be in. The bus should get there at ten. That will give me five minutes to run to the bathroom and change.

Also, on my phone I see a text from Jordyn. I opened it up.

Jordyn: I have a lot to tell you. I know you are busy today so call me when you get home no matter the time. I love you.

Paige: Can't wait to hear it. I love you too.

Jordyn has been an angel through all this. She understands that I need to work and now with school she knows I'm busy. The first two days of both colliding we would get in small arguments about not talking much, but we worked it out.

Even though it's a lot of stress on my body, I rather work, go to school, and sleep. That way I don't have to see Alexis at all. It has been seventeen days since we said a word to each other. I mean a single word.

The bus is a block away from my work and I don't have time to wait. I get out with this stop and sprint to the building. With dodging people and the ice on the sidewalk it was only inevitable that I would slip. Hitting a patch of ice, I go sliding forward with my force from running. Quickly looking to see if there is anything insight to grab on, I knew this was going to end up bad. I see a girl walk out of the restaurant and that's when I put my hands out. She quickly turns towards me and I fall right into her arms.

I look up at her and realize it was Amanda.

"You saved my life." I say with an exhausted voice.

I break away from her arms as I stand up straight.

"You're welcome, I think." Amanda was laughing.

I could only imagine how loud she would have been laughing if she didn't catch me. I would either be laid out on the ground, or she would be.

"So, my dad wants me to train you tonight." She tells me as we are walking in.

I didn't understand what she was talking about. I was already trained and to be honest it doesn't take much to seat people and be nice.

"Didn't you already do that?"

She shook her head no, which made me more confused.

"I got to change. I will be right back." I told her before she could explain what was going on.

I go into the bathroom to the last stall. I change into my work clothes and throw what I had on in my bag. I go to the sink and fix my hair and make-up. Once I felt like I was presentable I walked out where Amanda was waiting. We walk
back to where I keep my stuff.

"My dad wants you to waitress. In his words you would bring good business with your looks and attitude towards people."

I never thought about waitressing here. I don't know why. They make a lot more money than I do.

"Okay, sounds good." Amanda is surprised with my willingness to do it. "Your dad is right, I'm sexy." I joke with her, causing her face to get red.

I'm hoping she didn't get uncomfortable and doesn't think I'm flirting with her.

For the rest of my shift, I had to trail Amanda around. It all seems simple enough. The hardest part will be holding multiple plates. I think I can manage if Jordyn isn't around. We all know I have a clumsy history around her.

As it is almost closing time, I get to wait on a table by myself.

"Can I get you something to drink?" I ask the two guys that look like they go to my college.

They are both head to toe in Cougar gear and they appeared the proper age for college.

"I would like a Pepsi and your number." The guy with olive color eyes and a Neff hat on says with a half-smile.

I turn to the other guy waiting for his response. "Sorry about that. I would like a mountain dew."

I walked away and went to get their drinks. On my way back, I could see the Neff dude staring at me. I don't know his name so I will just refer to him as Neff. I gave each of them their drink.

"Are you guys ready to order?"

The other guy ordered first and then it was Neff's turn.

"I would like cheese balls and that would be it, make it a double order."

"So, you like balls." I say while writing the order down causing his friend to laugh.

When I finish writing I look at him, who was waiting for my eye contact.

"Aren't you full of jokes?"

I give him a friendly smile as I walk away to put their order in. When their food was ready, I took it to them.

"You want to try one of my balls?" Neff asks. I eye him and his intent on the question. "Relax, I'm referring to the cheese ball, but the other is always an open invitation."

His friend is shaking his head, mouthing the word 'sorry' to me. It didn't bug me. I grab a cheese ball.

"Thanks, but I would have to decline your other offer. I'm not into that if you catch my drift."

His eyebrow raises. He didn't understand. Guys I tell you."l

"She's gay man." His friend says when he didn't figure it out.

"Indeed I am." I walk away from the table as they eat their food.

I go over to Amanda who doesn't have a table and is waiting for my table to leave so we can go.

"You look like you are managing yourself well." She comments.

I saw they were done and went over to clear their plates. I hand them their bill. When I got back, they were already gone. There was cash with a note.

-Here's my number if you ever change your mind. Keep the change. -

I roll my eyes at the number part. Their bill was only 13.63 and he left a 20. Not bad of a tip for my first table. I think I might like this job more than I originally thought.

I look at the clock and realize the bus has already gone. I either need to stay an hour in the cold since this place is closing or find a ride. I will go with my second option.

"Can I get a ride home?" I ask Amanda hoping she drove here.

She gives me a mischievous look as she walks to the back where the locker is with our stuff. I get my coat and hat on then turn my attention to Amanda who hasn't answered my question yet.

"So, can I?"

She pressed her tongue to her cheek causing it to flare out as she stared at me. "I guess I can do that."

I'm not sure what is going on here, but I grab my stuff and follow her to her car. I told her the directions to get to my apartment.

"Thanks for the ride and getting me here safely." The roads are terrible, and I could feel her car sliding.

She nods so I reach for the door handle to get out. As I get one leg out I feel a tug on my arm.

I turn my head to Amanda.

"Yes?" I am confused why she is staring at me the way she is.

She shakes her head, "Nothing, I will see you tomorrow."

I get out and close the door. I wave as she leaves. I walk to the door and into the apartment. I go straight to my room and set my stuff down. I go lay on my bed as I click the call button by Jordyn's name on my phone.