Romance: Teen Romance: Follow Your Dreams (A Nerd and a Bad Boy Romance) (New Adult High School Sports Romance) (87 page)

Chapter Four

Wren stayed with Agnes and Chris an extra
hour,
and when it finally came time for her to leave, Chris left at the same time. They walked to their cars together.

They were quiet at first. Even though they had been open and laughing while in Agnes’ company, Wren still had her bad behavior on her mind and wanted desperately to say something to Chris about it. She wanted to apologize. She could see that he was not who she thought he was when she’d put him down in the restaurant.

They reached his car
first,
and she hesitated, not wanting
to just leave
without saying something to him. She looked out across the parking lot toward her car, biting one side of her bottom lip. She hoped her cheeks weren’t red as apples.

“Okay, so you wanted to go on a hike today, did you?” He said, looking at her flushed face. He knew something was up. He still couldn’t tell if she really liked him or if she was just playing it off for his grandmother. “You gonna get your roommate or something?”

Wren finally looked at him, pushing her nervousness down as hard as she could. She wanted to be cool talking to him. She didn’t want to come off like some middle-schooler with a crush.

“Nah, she’s got plans with her man today.”

“Ah.” Chris nodded. “You got other friends you were gonna hit up?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound too certain.”

She laughed, hating the fact that it came out like a bird chirping. She looked down at the ground, feeling her hot cheeks burning.

“You got something on your mind?” Chris raised his eyebrows.

She decided
to just go
for it. “Yeah, I…I’ve
been wanting
to talk to you since we saw each other in the restaurant a couple weeks back.”

He didn’t say anything. He just nodded. She had no idea how to take that.
“I…I wanted to apologize for being so rude to you.
I…do
n’t
know you enough to say that stuff to you. You were right. I was making you pay for something someone else did to me, just because you play football, too. I can see you have other stuff going on. You seem like a good guy.”

“You changed your mind because you saw me with my grandma?” He asked. She noticed he was fiddling with the keys in his hand and wondered if maybe he was a little nervous, too.

“Well, I actually have been feeling bad since that night.”

“You never said anything to me. I kind of got the feeling you were avoiding me.”

She shook her head quickly. “No, I really wasn’t. I…just haven’t seen you around. How is your shoulder doing anyway? Have you been exercising it and stretching it like you’re supposed to?”

He chuckled at her change of subject. “Yeah, I actually went to the therapist the doc sent me to. I…I didn’t like it as
much,
so I only went once or twice. I’ve been…trying to think of a way to get you to do it
but…well, you
really didn’t seem like you cared much for me and like I said, I thought you were avoiding me. I didn’t want to pressure you into doing something you didn’t want to do. Just for my own benefit.”

Wren nodded. “I really should have followed up with my offer. You could have talked to my professor. He would have scheduled another session probably.”

Chris shook his head. “I didn’t want to start something you didn’t want to finish.”

“Well, it’s not like we would have been going on a date.”

“Would that have been so bad?”

Wren laughed. “
No,
but it wouldn’t have been a date.”

He
nodded,
and they were quiet for a moment. “Well, do you want to go on a hike with me today? We could go up on McNab Mountain. Lots of people around on a day like today.”

She was surprised by his invitation. She immediately wanted to go. “I think I’d like that.”

He looked relieved. He touched the alarm button on his
car,
and it beeped twice as it went off. “Okay, well, I’m not exactly dressed or prepared for a hike. Meet you on the commons at 12?”

She smiled. “That sounds great, Chris. I’ll meet you there.”

He smiled back. “Okay, see you then.”

Before she knew it, he’d opened his door and got in the car. He nodded at her before closing the door and
staring
up his car. She watched him as he backed out. She turned to cross the lot to her car. Her chest was aching from her pounding heart. She was going on a date with him after all.
So much for another therapy session.

She’d prepared a large thermos of coffee to take with her on the hike, along with two bottles of water and a bag of mixed nuts. She was on the commons early and sat on the edge of the huge fountain, crossing her ankles and taking a drink from one of her water bottles, scanning the grounds for him. She hoped he wasn’t late. She hoped he hadn’t been fooling with her and set her up by asking her to come and then not showing up himself. That would be
revenge
if he did.

She was scared for a moment and then felt bad when she saw him crossing over the grass, approaching her. He lifted one hand in greeting and smiled wide. Her breath caught in her throat. He looked stunningly gorgeous.

He was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans and had on tan hiking boots. She thought he looked incredible. She laughed inside, thinking that she was wearing pretty much the same thing, except her t-shirt was light
green,
and she had a thin black jacket tied around her waist. It was cool at the top of McNab Mountain. She pictured the two of them at the top, sipping on her special delicious coffee, looking out over the incredible scenery.

Suddenly, she realized she didn’t even know if he liked coffee. Secretly, she hoped he did.

Better than beer,
she thought to herself with a chuckle.

“You ready to go?” Chris asked when he was close enough for her to hear.

“Yep.”

“Your car or mine?”

She shrugged. “Mine is fine. I’ve got the gas to go and don’t mind driving.”

He nodded. “Let’s take yours. I’m having a little trouble with my
transmission,
and I plan to put it in the shop when I get the money.”

“Ugh, car trouble.” Wren shook her head and groaned. “There’s nothing worse!”

“You’re
tellin’
me! I’ve had this clunker since high school, yeah, I know that’s only four or five years but I’ve been pretty rough on
it,
and it wasn’t new to begin with.”

“Did you buy it yourself or was it given to you? Just curious.”

“I worked my tail off for a summer to buy that car. And then I made payments on it for a year, too.”

“Really? Wow.”

“Yeah, but I like it. It’s a Chevy, thank God, so you know it’s gonna last a little bit longer.”

“My car is fairly new. But my aunt and uncle gave it to
me, it
was one of
theirs,
and I took over the loan. I’m trying to build my credit.”

“Sounds logical.” Chris nodded. “It’s a nice lookin’ car.”

She smiled when he made to go directly to her car. That meant he knew what she drove, which meant he had been noticing things about her when she didn’t realize it. Probably watching her sometimes when she didn’t see him. Not like a stalker.

Her thoughts made her laugh.

“What are you thinking about? I want in on it.” He said.

She surprised herself by responding before she even thought about it. “I was thinking you have probably been watching me sometimes when I don’t see you there but not like a stalker or anything.”

Chris chuckled. “And how do you know I’m not a stalker?”

She raised her eyebrows, watching him circle her car to get in the passenger seat. She looked at him over the top of the car. “Are you?”

He grinned. “Totally.” He got in without another word.

Wren closed her eyes and laughed before sliding into the driver’s seat. “Well, you must be a silent stalker then, because I haven’t received any death threats or proposals of marriage.”

“Give it time.”

The hike up was amazing. The sights and sounds made Wren feel more relaxed than ever. Once they were at the top and she’d pulled out her thermos, she was pleasantly surprised to see his face light up.

“Yes! Coffee! So glad I’ve been stalking you!”

They both laughed. “No proposals of marriage or death
threats,
please. Just a little calm dating and good times, if that’s okay.”

Chris nodded. “I promise. I don’t want to get married quite yet. I’m a bit young and have no prospects in mind, present company excluded, of course. And I don’t want to kill you. You have to fix my shoulder first.”

“Did your doctor tell you how well you are coming along? Will you be able to play again soon?”

Chris lost some of his jovial
mood,
and she regretted bringing it up. When he spoke, she wished she’d never said anything at all about it.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to return to playing.” He said in a low tone. She could hear the pain in his voice. “I really messed it
up,
and all the physical aspects of the game might cause more damage than I’m willing to let happen. No matter how much I love the game.”

“You’re not here on a scholarship, are you?” She was afraid
for
him.

“Nah. I wasn’t this…that good until I got to college. I thought I was gonna go
pro,
but it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen now.”

“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Got tackled and came down on it, ripped my muscle up and cracked the shoulder bone in a bunch of places. It wasn’t good.”

“Oh man, I’m so sorry, Chris.”

He looked at her and put his hand over hers on the ground between them. “I don’t care about that anymore really.”

“You don’t?”

He shrugged. “Not really. I’ve been thinking about a lot of things since that night in the bar with you.”

“Oh, Chris, I didn’t mean to…”

“No.” He turned to her and put one finger
on her lips
to quiet her. The touch sent electricity through
her,
and she melted inside. She pulled in a quick breath. “I mean, I have been living a certain way, Wren. And…well, since meeting you, even though we didn’t seem to hit it off at first…I’ve had a change of heart. I…I want to do things differently from now on. And I…I want to do them with you.”

She swallowed. She wanted the same thing.

“I…I want to be with you, too, Chris. You…you aren’t who I thought. I’d…like to get to know you a lot better.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Wren.”

When he leaned in close to her and pressed his lips against hers, it was as if shock waves flowed through her body. She lifted her arms and wrapped them around him, kissing him back. It would be the first of many, she knew, and that thought was enough to make her feel as if the hard ground under them was replaced with a soft cloud. It was a beautiful beginning of a beautiful relationship.

*****

THE END

Chapter One

Amber walked down the hallway with her head down. The last thing she wanted was to look into the eyes of her classmates. As an empath, whatever they were feeling,
she
would feel. She had lived with the ability all her life and was still learning to control it. The beat of the
music
in her ears soothed her somewhat because it blocked out words that filled her mind as she walked past the other students. She couldn’t
exactly
hear their thoughts. But the words they said revealed their feelings to her in even stronger waves than usual.

Even with the headphones on, she could feel waves of sadness, joy, lust, greed and anger flowing past her like a cold breeze. She wished she could
be homeschooled
but, with her parents’ schedule,
that simply
wasn’t possible.

She tried to stroll casually into her first class, knowing the look on her face would give her away if she looked at anyone in particular. She kept her eyes on the floor, walking to her desk and sliding into the chair, pushing her backpack in between her legs and holding it there as if someone might try to snatch it from her.

The bell rang
not long after
she sat down, and she was somewhat relieved. The distraction of
schoolwork
took her mind off the emotions she felt around her. She had no friends to entertain her, no boyfriend to count on, no counselor she could
vent to
. She was aware of her lonely existence and preferred it that way.

Halfway through the class, she felt an abrupt change in the atmosphere around her. Suddenly, her heart was
racing,
and her mind was in chaos. She gasped and put one hand on her chest, leaning forward over her desk.

“Amber?” Her teacher turned from the dry erase board, looking at her through narrow eyes. His face turned to concern when he saw that she had lost all the color in her face and was as white as a sheet. “Amber? Are you all right?”

She tried to breathe, looking up at him
through
pleading eyes. “I’m sorry, Mr. Kinney. I…I don’t feel good all of a sudden. I…I think I’m going to throw up.” She didn’t
really
feel like vomiting. Her senses were storming through her
mind,
and her body was tingling with electricity. “I…I need to…”

“Go on to the nurse.” Mr. Kinney grabbed a notepad from his desk and scrawled something on the pad for her. He ripped it off and practically threw it at her. She stumbled out of her desk, grabbed the paper and headed for the door, barely able to see.

After she was through the door, one of her classmates stood up and grabbed her bag from under the desk. “All right if I take this to her, Mr. Kinney? She looked like she might not make it to the nurse.”

Mr. Kinney jotted another note and gave it to him, nodding. “Yes, Quinton, make sure she’s okay. Come back once she is with the nurse.”

“Thanks!” He took the note and followed Amber out the door.

He didn’t have to go far. Amber had not made it to the nurse. In fact, she wasn’t heading
for
the nurse’s office. She was heading for the front door.

“Amber!” He tried not to call out her name too loudly because someone may have noticed and come out to find out what was going on. Students weren’t allowed in the hallways between classes, much less yelling. Amber didn’t seem to hear him. She continued to stumble toward the doors, both hands out to push it open when she reached it.

Quint glanced to the
side,
but the desk where the security guard usually sat was empty. He thought that was strange. There was almost always someone there to make sure no one came in with weapons or that looked suspicious.

He bolted
down the hallway
to catch up with her and reached her with just enough time to push the door open and grab one of her arms.

“Amber, are you okay? Where are you going? Are you leaving school? Shouldn’t you go to the nurse?”

When she looked at him, Amber’s green eyes had filled with
tears,
and red rings had appeared around them as if she had already been crying for hours. “Something’s wrong.” She gasped. “Oh, something is
really, really
wrong
. I
gotta
get home. I gotta get home.” She began to
sob,
and he held her up as they moved out the door.

“I have my car. I’ll take you home. Come
on; it
’s this way.”

She continued to cry as Quint drove her away from the school. She was able to breathe out directions to him “turn here…that way
…
to the left…”

Ten minutes later, Quint was pulling onto the street Amber lived on when he slammed on the brakes. “Oh no.” He said breathlessly. The street
was filled
with emergency vehicles from police to ambulances to fire engines. One of the houses to the right in the middle of the street
was engulfed
in flames that licked the sky and the tops of the trees around it dangerously. He looked at Amber with wide eyes.

“Tell me that’s not your house, Amber. Oh, please tell me that’s not your house.”

Amber’s tears came full force now. He didn’t need an answer from her. He pulled over to the side of the road, scooted over to her and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m so sorry, Amber.
I’m so sorry.
Was anyone there?”

“My…my parents…my mom and…dad.” She sobbed into his
chest,
and he held her tightly.

“Oh my God.” He pressed his face down into her hair and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m so sorry.
Oh my God. Maybe they weren’t home. Maybe they’re okay.”

Amber felt his sorrow emanating
through
her body, compounding her own. It was almost too much to bear. Her parents were gone. She knew it was a fact. She couldn’t feel them anymore. The feelings of love they had for her was gone. She shook her head vigorously.

“No…no…they were home…”

When she had cried for a time, Quint released her from his grip and put his hands under her chin so that she had to look at him. Her eyes were nearly closed, swollen by her tears and her pain.

“I’m going to take you to my house, Amber. You don’t need to be talking to those police officers right now.”

She nodded without
answering,
and he scooted back to get behind the wheel once more. He turned the car around and sped off in the other direction without hesitation.

He pulled up in his driveway, slammed on the brakes and threw the car into park. He was out of his door and pulling hers open before she had time to do it herself. He reached in and helped Amber out as if she was injured, practically carrying her up the walk and onto the front porch. He still had his keys in his
hand,
and he unlocked the door quickly, directing her over the threshold.

He closed the door behind him and helped her into the living room, where they sat on a big fluffy yellow couch decorated with red and purple flowers. Amber
sank down
in the cushion. She had stopped crying and was beginning to feel numb, a feeling she rarely felt. If it wasn’t her
own
emotions
she
was feeling, it was usually someone else’s.

One good thing about being an empath was that she knew who she could trust. She knew that Quint’s concern was genuine. His touch began to comfort her, instead of hurt her, as was most often the case when people put their hands on her. She took his hand, allowing him to put his other arm around her shoulders.

“What do you think happened, Amber? How did you know your house was on fire?”

She caught a moment of suspicion in his feelings. He thought for just a second that she knew about it, that
it had been planned by her
. But then the
suspicion
was gone as he decided that there was no way. She was relieved.

She swallowed and wiped her eyes with her hands, the fleeting thought that her mascara was probably all over her face running through her mind. As if he read her
thoughts
, Quint stood up and crossed the room, bringing back a box of tissues from the bookshelf. She used several to wipe her face and blow her nose.

“I…I get feelings. Sometimes…I just know when something is wrong.”

He nodded. “I understand.”

She didn’t think he
really
did. No one did. There were only a few other empaths in the entire nation that she
knew of
.

“Thank you for…helping me.” Her throat hurt from crying so
hard,
and she had a pounding headache. She tried to draw strength from his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s my pleasure to help you, Amber. I could tell something was
really
wrong back there, at the school I mean. I felt like you were going to need someone.”

“Other than the nurse.”

“Yes, other than the nurse.”

“I’m…very sensitive to feelings. I feel what other people feel all the time. It’s…it can be very uncomfortable.”

“You mean like an empath?”

Her eyes darted to his face. How did he know about
empaths
?

“Yes.” She answered, feeling that she could trust him. “How…how did you come to that conclusion? I only said I’m sensitive to people’s feelings.”

Quint ventured a gentle smile. “I have been…watching you for a while now. I felt like you might need protection.”

“And you’re the one to do it, huh?”

He nodded. “I
kind of
felt like that, yeah.”

“Why would you? I mean, why would you bother to offer me protection. You don’t even know me.”

He looked away from her and pulled in a deep breath. “Well, actually, our parents do…I mean, did know each other. They…they belong to the same
club, I
guess you could say.”

“Whatever are you talking about?” Amber was completely confused, staring at him and wondering why she couldn’t get a sense of his deeper feelings. In fact, she sensed she was being blocked from her normal
abilities
as if she was running up against a brick wall over and over.

“There is this…club, a group of people. They are all parents of children with special abilities.”

Shock ran through her, giving her chills up and down her arms and the back of her neck. Her eyes
widened
and she stared at him. “What? What…what…”

He laughed softly. “What do I do?”

She nodded.

“I am an SB. Not to be confused with an SOB.”

That made her smile. “I don’t know what that is.”

“I can block senses. I can
block
other people from feeling my sense. Like what you do. I can block that. I can put a protection block around someone else so that their feelings can’t be picked up on, as well. That’s why our parents were friends. Because you sense what other people
feel,
and I can block that power. Our parents were worried about something bad happening. I think they were planning something. I don’t know what. But I’m pretty sure something was going on that we didn’t know anything about.”

“So you knew about my power already?”

“I
did,
but I didn’t
really
get involved in anything that my parents were doing. I just knew about it. I take it your parents didn’t fill you in on what they were doing.”

She shook her head. “Not with that
…group
of people you’re
talking about
. The club. But I do know they have a lab in the
basement,
and I know what they were working on.”

Quint frowned. “Do you think their research is what got…what caused the fire in some way?”

She nodded this time. “And I don’t think their experiments caused the fire. I think someone found out. Someone killed them.”

Quint was about to answer when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He fished it out and stared at the screen. “It’s the police.”