The rest of the night went by in a blur. Elyse and Patrick had followed me out of The Garage. Ari rode back with me to my house while Elle followed in Jake's Jeep so that we didn't leave it there. We hung out for a few hours but I was silently wishing they would leave so that I could talk to my sister alone about what was going on in my head.
She suggested that I follow Patrick's advice and start talking to other people there at the school. I felt like this was easier said than done because I seemed to constantly be next to someone from The Families.
I knew they wouldn't be home when I got back from school but it felt so nice having them there to take me to school the next day. Patrick even got Elyse to come back for him so that he could hang out with me before class. Jordan was amazing enough to let him skip school today so that they could take a flight home this afternoon instead of last night.
I conveniently avoided all the spots I knew both Ari and Tyler liked to be in the mornings. We stayed fairly out of site of anyone I might know actually. I just wanted a little more alone time with Patrick before I had to say goodbye for another month.
I thought I was in the clear until I noticed Declan. He was talking to a tall, muscular, blonde girl. She had an effortless athletic style that fit her slender physique. I had seen her working out with Declan in Gym but had know idea what her name was. As my luck would have it, Declan chose the moment I was looking at him to look up too. Our eyes locked and then he looked at Patrick. He waved us over.
Crap. There was no way I was getting out of this.
Patrick whispered in my ear as we slowly made our way over, "Are they both in the clique?"
"The girl isn't."
"Perfect. See, you might make a new friend."
I rolled my eyes. Patrick was always the optimist.
We reached Declan and the pretty blonde girl. I wasn't sure what to say but lucky for me, Declan was always the charmer.
He spoke to the blonde to make introductions, "Jensen Echols, this is my friend Alex Harrison and her friend who is visiting all the way from Alex's hometown of Dallas, Patrick."
I was impressed that he remembered Patrick's name. She smiled at the both of us. "You're in Gym with us. Nice to actually meet you."
She had noticed me too? I thought I was fairly invisible in my little corner. "Nice to meet you too."
"We also have study hall together. I'm usually buried in a book. Trying to get my homework done so I don't have any after practice." I still felt embarrassed that I hadn't noticed her in there before. It was one of the few classes I had without people I knew and I was a total hermit in there. I smiled shyly in acknowledgement. Jensen returned the gesture. I noticed that she had a sort of hazel eye color that was popping in the sunlight. They looked almost golden in certain parts.
Patrick brought be back to the conversation when he smiled and said, "What sport?"
"Cross country. It's off season but we train. In the Spring I will get put into athletics. We don't have enough girls to make a class right now. Hoping to recruit some so that we can have a Fall athletics class next year."
I tried adding to the conversation though I felt like an awkward turtle. "It looks fun. We don't have cross country at our school."
Our school?
I had meant my old school with Patrick. Declan and Jensen looked confused. I wanted to hide in my hermit hole.
Patrick just shrugged and clarified for me, "She meant her old school and my current school. Alex and I have been going down memory lane all weekend."
Jensen nodded and smiled warmly, "Were you two best friends out there? What has you up here?"
"It was Alex's birthday this weekend. Her sister and I flew in to celebrate. Her dad and my mom actually used to be married."
Declan's eyebrow went up in curiosity. I had not mentioned that part at my party.
I heard a honk behind us. I looked up to see that Elyse was back. I felt a text buzz in my pocket. She was obviously in a hurry. I smiled at Jensen and Declan, "I'll see you guys in Gym. That's my sister. I need to go say goodbye."
We turned and started heading to the lot.
"She's cute." Patrick commented.
"She has a great ass."
Patrick laughed, "Needs more boobs."
I rolled my eyes, "I like her boobs."
Patrick and I were always joking around like that. Well, Patrick was joking. He thought I was too. That's all that mattered.
Patrick and I hugged it out and then Elyse and I did too. They headed out and I was left standing there alone.
I tried to hide the redness in my eyes from crying on the way back into school. A part of my heart seemed to go with them. I ignored the texts from Elle and Ari wondering where I was, and headed to first period alone. Miri and Danny let their curiosity remain silent and let me sulk in peace. I got up when the bell rang and started walking alone to class. I wanted to be alone in my head today and being on a campus full of teenagers made that difficult. Dylan snapped me out of thoughts by pulling me back as I was apparently walking past him.
I hadn't even noticed he was there.
"What's wrong Lex?"
"Elyse and Patrick are headed home."
He understood and pulled me in for a bear hug. I felt oddly comforted by this. We were cousins yes, but it surprised me how much his hug felt like home. All that did was make me more confused. I had been doing so well at ignoring the homesickness I got when I thought of Dallas. Now that a piece of it had been here with me only to have to leave so quickly, I didn't know how to lock all of my feelings back up.
I started to shake and then I started sobbing into Dylan's hug. He held on tighter until I could calm down. Dylan walked me the rest of the way to my class and Elle met us at the door. He filled her in and she replaced Dylan's arm around me as we took our seats. Elle and I had only been close for the last few months but she was trying to be family when my own couldn't be. I tried to relax and take solace in that.
The bell rang after what felt like only a few minutes. I realized I hadn't taken a single note on the sheet the teacher had passed out. Elle saw my blank set and handed me her notes, "Fill them out during study hall."
"Thanks."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just in my head today."
"Ari is worried about you. I am too actually. You've been radio silent most of the weekend."
"Sorry. Patrick and Elyse being in town has had me distracted."
"Well, we're here for you."
I tried to give her a genuine smile, "Thanks."
We got to Gym and got changed. I peeled away from a confused looking Elle when I saw Declan and Jensen stretching in the middle of the gym. I had not worked out in front of people much here lately. I was still running in the evenings with Dylan or doing Yoga in my room over FaceTime with Jordan. It felt weird to do it in public though when I had grown used to sitting in my corner.
I smiled politely when I reached them, "Mind if I join you two today?"
"You actually want to work out today?" Declan seemed genuinely surprised.
I nodded and sat down. I did my best not to look over in Ari's direction.
What was I going to say, 'Sorry I don't want to live in a fishbowl all the time?'
I still felt guilty for being so distant. I also felt guilty for having Tyler's song stuck in my head since yesterday. He and I had just as much to talk about as Ari and I did. I wasn't ready to talk to either.
So I didn't. I ran. I literally started running.
We usually had mandatory laps but I kept going after. I ran fast enough that Ari and Elle had no chance of trying to catch up to talk to me. I noticed Jensen keeping stride easily. She definitely ran Cross Country. Declan was keeping pace but as I slowly increased my speed I saw him start to lag. Jensen kept stride easily. We were in a full runner's mode, skipping straight over jogging. I felt the familiar form of my stride and my breathing keeping pace with my rhythmic speed. After enough laps to equal three miles we slowed down to a jog.
Declan looked exhausted when he caught up to us; I was just warming up. This was nothing for me. Dylan and I would run up hills and around all of the surrounding neighborhoods in the late evening. I wasn't sure that James or Laura even knew that he stopped by house as he started out every night. It was just our thing.
Declan looked incredulously at me when we started slowing down to cool down, "I didn't know you knew how to run like that Harrison."
"Look at who my family is. Are you really that surprised Dec?" I laughed.
Jensen piped in, "Harrison? Like James and Dylan?"
"And Laura. They're my cousins."
"How in the heck do you get away with sitting in the corner every class?"
I smirked, "The coaches have yet to make the connection."
That did remind me about my corner. I looked over as we passed. It was empty. They had ditched out to lunch I assumed. We stopped running and did cool down stretches in the corner. I guessed that meant I was eating alone in the Cafeteria today if Ari had gone to lunch with them.
I looked over at Jensen and noticed she was checking out Declan. He seemed to be returning the looks.
So she plays for that team?
Why did I care? I played for the same team, or so I told myself. It was a topic I didn't like to think about. The Southern Baptist and Catholic guilt of my upbringing poked up in my chest when I thought about it.
I tried to get my head out of the clouds. "So how long have you two been friends?"
Jensen chimed in first, "Grade one."
Declan smirked, "Yeah we had Mrs. Pittman, right?"
"Ha yeah, and we all thought that was the funniest name ever."
"Well it was."
Jensen looked over at me, "We just started hanging out more though this year. I finally got him to hang out with me."
I laughed, "Let me guess he just wanted to hang out with his siblings and all their friends?"
Jensen nodded fervently. She then decided to change the subject, "What brings you to Canada, Alex?"
"My dad got a job promotion that came with a transfer."
"Oh that had to be hard. Was this weekend the first time you've had family visit?"
I nodded. "It was, actually. I've been bummed all day that they have to leave while I'm stuck here."
"I couldn't imagine living in another country from my sister. Are you and her close?"
"Yeah, she helped raise me. My mom bailed when I was just a kid so she became a surrogate mom for me even though I had my stepmom Jordan too." I choked back a wave of emotion.
Declan looked curiously at me but kept his mouth shut. It was time to go change so we separated and I walked with Jensen to the changing rooms. I actually felt gross now. This was the first time I had even begun to sweat in Gym. Jensen was spraying on some body spray and I knew I needed it.
"Hey can I borrow some of that?"
She giggled, "Sure. You did well today by the way. I would have never guessed you had that in you."
"Yeah I usually just hang out with Ari."
"He's your boyfriend right?"
"Yeah. He is."
"Thought so."
We headed out back into the gym. Declan was waiting for us. "Alex do you want me to give you a lift to Chew Chews or are you meeting Ari?"
I looked over to Jensen. "Want to join?"
She beamed, "Yeah that'd be cool."
All three of us headed to the parking lot.
I wanted to get to know Jensen more. I tried to keep the conversation going, "So you and Declan are in the same grade?"
She blushed, "We should be. I'm actually still in Grade Ten."
Declan shook his head, "Yeah because you missed half of last year."
She nodded, "Long story. So what grade are you in?" Jensen said as a way to change the subject.
"Sophomore." She looked at me funny so I felt the need to correct, "I mean grade ten. Sorry we say Sophomore for tenth grade, I mean grade ten, in Dallas." I felt like I was never going to get used to saying that.
"Seriously? What else do Texans say differently?"
I thought for a moment, "Well in the South we say Coke and it means any type of soda. We never say pop. If you talk about time we say how much and when you talk about distance it is common to answer in time. We also say y'all and yonder and Lord knows a slew of other sayings that make no sense to people not from there."
She looked confused. "What does yonder mean?"
I pointed "Over there, yonder. It means like over there." That made her laugh and Declan just shook his head. We made it to the lot and found Dylan. He was surprised to see me with a companion. We headed off though to what I was assuming would be an interesting lunch.