I'VE BEEN running for as long as I can remember.
I think it started when dad first left us. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon in Paris, and we had just returned from our daily trip to the boulangerie down the street. Mom and I, that was, dad didn't feel well and stayed behind.
"Hey," he said when we came in with bags clutched in our hands, while his head tilted to the right ever so slightly, a hand scratching awkwardly behind his ear. "Can we sit?"
He packed his bags not too long after that and, well, left.
And so did I.
I ran along the streets of Paris, desperately trying to find a way to deal with the emotions that surged through me. I didn't, and so when we finally got back to my hometown, Boston, I never stopped running.
That's also when we found out my dad was in fact, gay. He knew for a while. He just didn't want to acknowledge it, turned away from it too long, but when we visited his beautiful home country of France and his eyes had fallen on all of the gorgeous men that walked around there, he couldn't run from it any longer. And so he.. experimented. A lot.
Sometimes I think fleeing might run in the family, it just expresses itself differently.
Dad finds a new man to lose himself in, mom overworks herself, and I run. I've found a healthier way to describe it, though. I work out.
I was on the track team most of high school, I ran a marathon, I even got myself a full-ride scholarship, and up until a few months ago, I was planning on going to college. Political science. I practically already packed my bags by the time I got my acceptance letter. Then my life went to shit, and I had to say good bye to Dartmouth. So, yeah, I ran quite a bit those days.
Why?
My uncle died. And now, apparently, my cousin is just living on his own, I guess. My uncle Ted was supposed to take care of him, but then again.. it's uncle Ted. Always been a bit of a weirdo. So now we're moving.
"You ready, bird?"
We're leaving tonight. It kind of happened out of the blue. After everything that happened with mom and the entire situation just blew up on the news, she wanted to get out of here. And then there's John B too, of course.
John B. He should be about seventeen now. Shit, what was the last time I even saw the kid?
"Wren? Are you almost done?"
The heel of the foot that belonged to my mother made a bang on the floor with every step she took, slowly finding its way towards my room.
"Hello?"
"Yeah, sorry." I pushed a strand of brown hair behind my ear and smiled apologetically. "Almost done. Just need to zip this up."
"Okay. Hey, dad is stopping by in a minute. Just put your stuff by the stairs, he'll carry 'em down, alright?"
"You got it."
"Cool. Oh, and Wren, please don't wear those stupid earplugs when I can't see them. Feels like I'm talking to a wall."
"Sorry."
She tapped my door, signalling an 'okay', and took the stairs down again.
I wasn't even wearing any.
I sigh before pushing my entire bodyweight onto the suitcase and fail to zip it up. Again.
This was going to be a bit of a hassle.
When dad finally showed up, he did the zipping for me and drove us to the airport, where we left almost instantly because the craft departed sooner than anticipated, said mom. Right.
Ever since the incident she hasn't been doing well. Doesn't really eat, or sleep, for that matter, so she lives on coffee. I swear I saw her hand trembling uncontrollably when she wrote a check to pay for our rent last week, so when she finally passed out in the seat next to me, I just let her be.
It was a pain to wake her, though. Grumpy as ever.
"Where do we even go?" She growled, stomping around the airport in search of a map or something. "Renovated the entire place, but can't give out basic directions? I swear to god."
"Hey! Leave him out of it. Might need him someday," I joked, trying to keep the situation light hearted. She was right though. I too was scanning my eyes through the long hallways, hoping to find a sign or anything that would be of help.
Terminal 1, bathrooms, restaurants... and then, somehow, at the very end, a big ass sign that said ROUTLEDGE.
"Mom, that's us, look." I pointed to the girl that was holding it, strolling my luggage with personal items along. Everything else was sold. Mom needed a new start.
"Yeah, I see it. Is that John B? And he's supposed to be seventeen? You'd think the kid had grown by now, right?"
"Put your glasses on, bighead. It's a girl."
She grumbled and paused to feel around her bag, where she eventually pulled her glasses from.
"Dang it, you're right. My goodness, they're really having teenagers doing grown jobs nowadays? See, baby, this is why we left. Can you imagine working a job like that?"
"Shh," I hushed her, embarrassment rushing through me as we were approaching the girl and were even within hearing distance. "She can very much hear you. Hi," I smiled at the girl, cheeks flushed. "She's not normally like that. Bit of a rough few months for us. I'm Wren."
I held out my hand for her to shake, and even though I could tell she was hesitant, I was resistent.
"Hi," she finally speaks, returning the gesture. "Kiara Carrera, I'm a friend of John B's."
A friend?
I scanned her down unnoticeably, worried for my new reputation after mom's comments. If this was a friend of JB's, I would probably see her more often. And I needed people to like me.
"You're really pretty," I blurted, cheeks flushing even deeper when I realised I said it aloud.
She didn't seem to mind though, because a genuine smile finally appeared on her face. "Thank you. You too. I really love your smile."
"Thank you," I mumbled. "Well, uh, this is my mom. Mom, this is Kiara. Kiara, this is.. mom."
Mom approached us again after walking around a little bit. "Jennifer Routledge," she spoke "Wren's mom, John B's aunt. Nice to meet you, Kiara."
A normal reply! At last!
The two shook hands. "Speaking of John B," mom began," where is he? I thought he was coming here."
"Yeah, about that.. he kind of broke his wrist last night. He has a concussion, too. He's in the hospital right now."
"What? Is he okay?" I asked, a frown forming on my face.
"Yeah, fine. Just a concussion. And a broken wrist."
"Goodness. Poor thing probably doesn't even have any insurance. Can you take us there, please?" Mom started reorganising her stuff, something she always did when her nerves caught up with her.
"Yeah, of course. Already planning on doing. Do you wanna go?"
Kiara led us to a dark green SUV just outside the entrance. It was parked badly, as if she was in a hurry.
"Yeah, uhm.. I kinda thought y'all were waiting, so.." She mumbled awkwardly when she noticed me looking.
"I'm not judging. Can't park for shit."
"I'm not the only one, then," she chuckled. "JJ- you'll see him in a bit, he always teases me about it."
"Another friend of yours?"
"Yeah," she shrugged as she stepped in. "There's your cousin, me, Pope and JJ. Just the four of us, really. I'll tell you all about them later, we gotta go."
And so we were off.
As we drove around the island, I couldn't help but look out the window. It was clear there were two sides of the island. The rich one, Figure Eight, what my mom kept spitting angrily the entire time, was well lit. Big ass houses. Yards with pools in them. Well kept gardens. Home of the Kooks, as Kiara called the rich people around here.
And then there was the Southside, or The Cut, where uncle J used to live. Dark as hell, because there were simply no generators around here, and the hurricane that hit a few days ago clearly left its mark. "No juice 'till the end of the summer, probably," Kiara had said. Nice.
"That still happens?" Mom called out. "You'd think they would have had that fixed by now. God, it feels like time was just put on hold here. Hasn't gotten any safer either, I assume?" She asked the curly haired girl beside her.
"No, ma'am. I don't live here, though."
"Figure Eight? There's no way you're a Kook," mom muttered in disbelief.
"Financially, yes," the girl responds.
"Well, you don't look like one. No offense."
"Non taken."
"And your parents are cool with you hanging out with Pogues?"
"Usually. I don't really tell them what we do, there's no way they'd let me if I did."
Mom chuckled softly in her hand.
"What are Pogues?" I asked, feeling like an outsider. Last time I visited Kildare was when I was maybe four or five. I don't really remember anything.
"I am. I was, I think. I don't really know," mom shrugged. "The lower class people of Kildare."
"Am I a Pogue?"
"You don't look like one," Kiara mocked my mom jokingly.
Okay?
Another frown, maybe even deeper than the one before, forms on my forehead.
"Of course you are, honey." Mom softly tugs on the scarf around her neck. "Mentally you are. Remember that."
"Yeah. You'll probably be seen as a Touron for the first week or so, but everyone'll get used to it. No worries."
Before I can reply with even more confusion, the thought of what the hell a 'Touron' is supposed to be being one of them, Kiara reverses into a parking spot and turns the motor off.
"We're here."
The room was pretty crowded when we arrived. The door was opened slightly, which made us able to hear some of the conversation that was held inside.
"And I think he is better off with us, simple as that," a male voice echoed onto the hallway. "Financially we're more than able to provide for him. He can go to college, seems to me that's been a while since that has happened to that family."
I was caught off guard by the condescending way he spoke of my family. Who the hell was this guy?
"And we, as his friends, the people who know him best, think he should stay with his remaining family." Another voice said.
"Go, Pope." Kiara whispered as the three of us stepped closer to continue listening in. We all seemed to think the same thing; listen closely before interfering.
"Who he hasn't seen in years, mind you," the elder male voice responded sternly.
"Why are you so eager to take him in, anyway?" A third voice called out, annoyed. "His family is on their way. Actual family coming here to take care of him. His blood. Do you really want to take that away from him?"
I questioningly looked over to Kiara, wanting to ask who that was. "JJ," she mouthed.
Mm.
The older man scoffed. "I don't want to take that from him, I just-"
"So don't!" The voice I now recognised as JJ's said. "Why do it when it's not necessary?"
"The boy saved my daughters life. I just want to thank him."
My mom took a step back, pushed some hair over her shoulder and straightened her skirt, before walking to the door and pushing it open.
Here we go.
"Evening," her voice echoed with authority. Even though I wasn't there to see it, I could practically feel everyone in the room staring her down.
She looked pretty, and she knew it.
"I'm Doctor Jennifer Routledge, I'm here to see and collect my nephew."
No one replied.
"Right. Can anyone tell me what's going on here?"
"Evening, ma'am," Pope said. "We're uhm- we're here because our friend- your nephew John B unfortunately took a pretty harsh fall from Hawk's Nest, the lookout near The Point."
"I know what Hawk's is. Why exactly did he fall in the first place?"
"Someone pushed him, sir- I mean, ma'am," JJ said.
Kiara placed a hand over her mouth to avoid her from laughing, and I myself chuckled, too.
"Pushed? Why?"
"Because of me, ma'am," the voice of a girl replied. I looked over to Kiara who then mouthed "Sarah", and rolled her eyes.
"Because of you?"
"Yes, ma'am. You see, my ex- well, boyfriend, got jealous of John B, and then pushed him when he saw us."
I could feel my mom frown at what she heard, her self-proclaimed allergy to other's stupidity flaring up the more she listened to what everyone had to say.
"Right," she said. "So, essentially what your telling me here...?"
"Sarah," the girl swiftly introduced herself. "This is my dad, Ward Cameron."
"I know. So essentially, Sarah, what you're telling me here is my nephew, who hasn't got a dime to his name, almost fell to death because you can't keep your... affairs, in order?"
"I wouldn't put it like that, Jen," Ward said. "They were on a break, and John B is still alive. Just a broken wrist and concussion."
"Just a broken wrist and concussion?!"
I cringed at the way my moms voice resounded itself in the small room and beyond.
"From the looks of it the boy hasn't even woken up yet! You don't know what damage could have been done to the brain, if he will be able to express himself again, talk, walk, eat! And it's Jennifer to you!"
I could see through the small gap that was left in between the doorpost and the door itself her hand was softly rubbing her arm, trying to recollect herself.
"I'm sorry for my outburst," she finally spoke. "It's been a long day. Is there a nurse nearby who can update us on his status?"
"She should be stopping by in a minute," Pope said.
"Okay. Alright, well, I think I will be staying her for tonight. Kiara, Wren, would you join us in the room, please?"
My eyes widened at Kiara, who returned the same expression. We both shuffled over silently to the room, my hands fidgeting with the hem of the hoodie I was wearing.
"Evening," I mumbled awkwardly. "I'm Wren, JB's cousin."
Kiara quickly joined the boys, leaving me alone in the dooropening.
"I want to thank you all for staying with John B until we got here. Kiara, darling, thank you for picking us up from the airport, but I must ask you all to leave right now. He will need his rest, don't you think?"
JB's friends silently agreed and gathered their stuff without protest, something my mom somehow always succeeded in. People always seemed to follow her lead.
"You four are more than welcome to stay at our house for the night if you'd like. This is the address." She handed Kiara a small, crumpled note.
"Thank you, ma'am. We will, won't we, boys?" She said sternly, looking over at them.
"Yeah, yeah. Thank you, miss J," JJ muttered, taking the note from Kiara and shoving it inside his pocket.
"I would like to stay with John B as well, ma'am," Sarah said, to which I frowned. She really did have balls.
"And I would prefer if you didn't. No worries, he'll be safe with me. Safer, probably. You can see him tomorrow."
"But dad said-"
"I said no," she smiled coldly. "You can see him tomorrow. Wren, send me a text when you arrive, please."
I awkwardly followed the group a few minutes later. Sarah had started crying in the meantime, and while I supported my mother's decision, the way the tears streamed down her face made me fill up with guilt.
"You coming, Wren?" Pope yelled from the car when he noticed I still was pretty far behind.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on my way." I jogged the rest of the way to the car and slid in the seat next to JJ.
"Sorry," I breathed.
"You're cool," he mumbled. "Right, so where do we go?"
"You've got the address, JJ," Kiara sighed, her hands gripping on the steering wheel.
"Right. Let me just.." He lifted his hips slightly to retrieve the note from his pocket. "Got it. Jeez, you live on Washington?" He looked over at me, eyes widened.
"Apparently," I shrugged.
"That's just a few blocks away from Kie's. Talk about Kooklandia. Damn."
"Oh, shit. I think I know where that is," Pope spoke, looking over his shoulder to meet JJ's gaze, only for him to burst out laughing.
"No..." The other boy snickered. "It's the- with the-"
"The toilet seat warmers!" Kie cried out. "Oh, my God, Wren. That's your house? How did they finish that up so quickly? It was still in scaffolding a few weeks ago!"
The three laughed so hard it almost made me feel embarrassed. Clearly there was something wrong with it, I just didn't know what. I guess I would find out soon enough though, because Kie pulled out of the lot and we were on our way.
"Alright, this is it," she announced as she parked the car in what I guess was my driveway. I had my nose pushed up to the window, trying to get as much detail in as possible. The house didn't exactly look modern, it had the eighteenth century vibe my mom liked. Apart from the toilet seat warmers, then. Why on earth would that be necessary?
"Where is this, anyway?" I asked as I got out, my eyes still finding new places to look.
"Well," Kie said," you live in a sea turtle habitat."
Ahw.
"Oh my God," I smiled. "Does that mean I can see them from like- my window?"
"Uhm, no," Pope joined in. "It got destroyed when this house was built."
The smile drooped from my face as they continued telling about how so much nature gets destroyed whenever there's something new that needs to be built, and it made me feel sadder and sadder.
"Don't feel bad," JJ smiled softly. "Most of 'em don't make it out to sea, anyway."
"JJ!"
"What? It's true."
While Kie and JJ continued arguing I had found my way to the entrance of the house and fumbled the keys from my pocket, opening the door nervously.
"Can y'all show me around?" I asked softly. "Since you've been here before."
"Yeah, yeah, cool." JJ took his chance to finally step away from the environment activist and linked his arm through mine. "Let's go."
It surprised me how comfortable they all felt around both me and my mother. Normally it would take a while for people to open up to us, especially with the entrance my mom usually makes, but these guys, they were different, I guess. Or they just didn't care.
"So, as you can see," the boy on my side started," this is the kitchen. Purple, huh? Funky," he grinned as he pointed to the light purple color on the walls.
"Mauve, actually," I joked. "It's more of a lighter grey?"
"Right, sorry. Mauve it is. Then we've got the living room. Oh, that couch. Yeah, I can see myself crashing there. Yo, all this wasn't here yet when we stopped by."
"Of course not," Kiara muttered, trailing closely behind us. "They must have put it in last week, or something."
"Terrace," he ignored her, pointing to the area just outside of the house that had a pretty big terrace on top of it, fire pit and heaters included. A large garden set surrounded it. "I know where we'll be spending the most time this summer."
After the upper floor we were done for the most part.
"And finally... the deck," JJ finished when we all stood in the yard. "Perfect for the HMS, don't you think?"
"What's the HMS?" I asked.
"The HMS Pogue," Pope replied. "Our boat."
"Right," I yawned, suddenly feeling tired from today's activities. "I'm gonna head inside. That cool with y'all?"
"We'll come."
Soon enough we all sat on the sofa. JJ had made the effort to light the fire since it had gotten pretty chilly despite the heat earlier today Kiara spoke of.
No one really said anything because we were all too tired. The clock would soon hit two, and as I watched the flames crackle I finally spoke up about the thing I had been thinking about ever since we left the hospital.
"Were Sarah and that guy really on a break?" I asked.
"Topper? I don't think so," Kie yawned. "She kind of has a history with cheating, so.."
"Poor guy," I mumbled. "So he like.. pushed JB? Like for real?"
"Don't feel sorry," JJ joined in," he and Sarah's brother beat Pope with a golf club the other day."
My eyes widened in surprise and immediately looked over to the boy sitting on the other end of the couch. "You're kidding."
"Nope," he answered, lifting his hat of his head, revealing a large bandaid covering the left side of his face.
"Jesus," I muttered. "Is everyone this violent around here? Did you press charges?"
"They did."
"After we sank his boat," JJ grinned.
"I wasn't a part of that," Kie immediately said, hands raised in innocence. "And neither was JB."
"So what now?" I asked. "How are y'all still here?"
"Well, JJ took the fall for me," Pope pointed out," which I'm still so thankful for, man, you know I would've lost that scholarship if it wasn't for you.."
"Yeah, yeah," JJ sighed. "It's all good. Pope's in the race for a Merit Scholarship," he explained to me.
"Wow," I nodded. "What do you wanna do?"
"Pathology," the boy smiled passionately.
Dead people.
"Sounds... interesting. Good for you," I grinned.
"But now JJ's on probation and has to pay off 25k in restitution," Kiara revealed.
"Holy shit," I muttered. "What kind of boat cost that much?"
"A lot, trust me," JJ spoke," but, in this case, a Malibu 2020 24-MXC. The world's finest wakesetter. Bit of a shame, it was a beauty."
"So, what you're telling me is the guy- Topper, had the nerves to press charges after y'all sank his boat but didn't bother to stop by the hospital to check on the guy he pushed off of a look-out?"
"Pretty much."
"Then I'll go see him tomorrow."
"You don't want to do that, you have no idea how much of a bitch this guy truly is," Pope intervened."
"Well, there's a hospital bill that needs to be paid, right? And besides, I wanna hear the other end of the story. I'll stop by tomorrow, just for friendly conversation, see what he has to say. Anyone got a bike I could borrow?"
Hi everyone! I really hope you liked this chapter. I'm not too sure yet what I think of Jennifer, what do you think? And when will Rafe finally come in the picture?
Let me know what you think,
Jo <3