Splinters: Part One

Part One | 8

"Andrew! You're here!" a thin girl exclaimed, coming up towards him.

"Hey, Lola," he smiled. "Do you know where Zech and them are?"

"Yeah, they're-"

"Brayden?"

I turned upon hearing the voice I had been so nervous to hear. Collie stood just a few feet away from me with a smile playing at her lips. This had been the first time I had ever seen her wearing something other than her uniform. She wore a tight fitting blue shirt with some skinny jeans and brown weird looking heels. She was... Well, she was beautiful.

"Hey." I breathed.

She advanced towards me. "Did you just get here?"

I nodded. "Yeah, did you?"

"No, I got here about an hour ago."

"Oh, we-"

Suddenly, an arm had been laid over Collie's shoulder and an irritating voice had interrupted my sentence. "Pierson, Andrew, my boys!"

I glared at his arm, wishing I could throw it off of Collie. As if she could read my mind, she slowly pushed Zech's arm away from her. 

"Parents out of town?" Andrew asked.

Zech laughed, a little too loud for me. "Nah, it's their anniversary."

"So they'll be back?"

Zech waved him off. "Not until early tomorrow."

"How do you plan to clean this place up?"

"That's where you come in, Drew Drew!" he said with a baby voice that made me grimace. Partly because I was beginning to really dislike him and partly because the nuns used that voice a lot to the younger kids.

Collie nudged her head away from the them. I followed her to another room without them trailing behind us.

She grasped my hand and took me to the backyard where there weren't a lot of people. When we were far away enough from anyone who could hear us, she began talking.

"So you really did come," she said, turning to me. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't."

"I said I would."

"Why did you?"

I was a bit taken aback from her question. Why did I come? Well, I wouldn't have if I didn't hear that she wasn't, and if I wasn't peer pressured into it.

"I mean, you know, you don't really know a lot of people so I just figured you'd be a little uncomfortable."

"I know you," I pointed out.

Her eyes met mine and for a moment, she was frozen, and then she smiled, nodding. "Yeah. You know me."

We continued walking and at some point, Collie's fingers threaded through mine. I'm not sure who made the first move, because all I was thinking about was the fact that I was with Collie and she was making me feel things that I had never felt before.

"So, why are you and Ursanne so...close?"

Collie's voice sounded a little strained. It was an uncomfortable topic I guess.

I lifted my arm and began to rub the back of my neck. "We're... you know, close in age, and, well she and I are similar in some ways..." I don't know what answer I was trying to conjure up but multiple seemed to do the job.

"It's just kind of weird. Because I mean, no one's ever heard of you until... now."

"Yeah, uh... I was at a boarding school so... I wasn't around much," I lied.