Chasing the New Girl - (Complete)

Chapter 32 - First Day Back at School

On Sunday Jolie slept in really late and when she did finally drag herself out of bed, she put in her contacts and got dressed for the gym. Working out had always been a stress reliever when she was going through things in her life, like when she found out her Dad had cheated and her parents were getting divorced. Or when she found out they were moving to Illinois. Without the gym she wasn't sure how she would have made it through.

She grabbed her earbuds and headed downstairs to see that her Mom was back home and her and Cole were sitting at the table.

"Good morning," Jolie said, grabbing some fruit and yogurt out of the fridge. "Where's Dad?"

"He took an early flight out this morning," her Mom sighed. It was obvious that seeing him had been painful for her. Even though they had a toxic relationship, she had no doubts that her Mom had been in love with him.

"Where's Blaze?" Jolie asked, pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

"He left early. Said he had to work all day. Looks like it's just you, me and Cole today," her Mom said, ruffling Cole's hair and making him crack a smile. "After your workout do you want to come with us to watch his soccer game? He's actually really good."

"Yeah," Jolie smiled. "I'd love to come."

Cole's game was an hour away in Peoria and it turned out that it was a tournament with several teams playing so it lasted all day.

Her and her Mom enjoyed cheering him on and watching his team win over and over, mostly because of Cole and one or two other guys that were really good. Apparently he inherited the sporty gene from his Dad.

After the tournament they went out to eat because they were all starving and by the time they got home it was already nine o'clock at night.

When she went up to her room she noticed Blaze's door was wide open and he wasn't in there. She was too tired to wait around for him so she just went to sleep.

The next morning she got up and got ready for  school, fixing her hair and her makeup and putting on her favorite pair of jeans and a soft, stretchy athletic t-shirt that hugged her curves.

After making a bowl of oatmeal and sitting down to eat it she suddenly realized she usually rode to school with Austin, but it was already past the time that he usually picked her up. She peeked out the front window and saw that his Jeep was already gone. She had no way to get to school. Her Mom had already left to take Cole to school so she couldn't use the Range Rover.

A minute later she heard footsteps on the stairs and Blaze came around the corner with his black leather backpack slung over his shoulder and wet, tousled hair from the shower.

"You ready for school?" he asked, grabbing a Mountain Dew out of the refrigerator and a pack of Pop-Tarts out of the cabinet.

"You're going to take me?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. I figured you wouldn't want to ride with the douche nozzle anymore so you can just ride with me. I know my old shitbox is a downgrade from Austin's Jeep, but it should get us there in one piece."

"Hey, your car's cool. It's not a downgrade," she smiled. "And thank you for taking me."

"You're welcome. Hey, thank you for going to Cole's soccer tournament. He wouldn't shut up about how amazing it was. I wish I could've gone but I had work."

"He's really good. I've got videos I'll send to you."

"Thanks," he nodded. "So, ummm. You ready to go?"