Chapter Twenty Three
"I won't be smiling but the notes from my admirers fill my dashboard just the same."-Lorde
Tristan woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. That was an odd sight. The cause of his happiness was none other than Sienna. They were going to make their escape together. He had almost everything figured out. All they needed to do was lay low and await the date.
Once he was out of bed and brushing his teeth, his mind raced back to thoughts of Sienna. He couldn't get over the fact that she had been the one to kiss him the last time. What was she doing now? Maybe she was getting ready for class just like he was doing. Was she thinking about him too? He then remembered it was Thursday which meant they had first period gym together. That made him smile even wider if possible. Just the thought of Sienna's long legs wearing those gym shorts made him sigh in satisfaction. A hot, smart girl who cared for him, what more could he want in life? To top it off she was actually willing to follow what some would consider a crazy plan.
After taking a quick shower and fixing up his hair, Tristan headed to his door to leave for class. It was one of those rare days when he had a reason to be on time.
The sight of a single egg white piece of paper on the floor by his door stopped him in his tracks. He bent his knees and picked it up. Was this another note from that psycho Scarlett girl? He grunted in annoyance and unfolded the letter. He was about to read it when he looked up at the clock and realized he would be late to class if he spent another three or four minutes in his room.
Deciding to read it after gym class, he folded it back up to its original form and slipped it in his bag. He zipped it and slung the knapsack over his shoulder. It was time to see Sienna. With that thought in mind he grinned to himself and locked his door behind him.
Sienna had overslept. She got up feeling disoriented, then she stumbled out of bed and almost tripped over her own shoes as she raced to the bathroom. Her hair was a mess, she realized with disappointment as she glanced in the small mirror. It needed some serious brushing but that took time that she didn't have at the moment so instead she tied it into a pony tail at the back of her neck. She checked her schedule and found her gym uniform. She put it on and grabbed her bag as quickly as humanly possible. She locked her dorm room and jogged down the stairs.
When she was almost to the gym's double doors she realized with dread that she had been so focused on her hair that she had forgotten to brush her teeth. She really hoped she didn't have to talk to anyone up close until lunch.
Good luck with that, one of the sarcastic voices said to her as she walked inside.
She wanted to face palm herself when she saw Tristan standing in the middle of the court wearing his gym shorts and loose shirt. He was holding a basketball under his arm and running his other hand through his hair. He looked like a sports model, he really did. Why had she forgotten toothpaste today out of all the days?
'Ugh, it's going to be a long day', she thought to herself as she walked over to the students gathered around the teacher.
Parry watched her with interest. She had her long dark hair pulled into a pony tail, she wore her gym shorts well and she looked tired. 'Maybe she didn't get enough sleep last night', he noted.
He didn't know what her plans were for today, besides going to her classes- a schedule he knew better than his own. He didn't know what plans she had for the future but he found himself wanting to know. He wanted to sit down and talk to her. He wanted to have a real conversation with Sienna. He wanted to get to know the girl he was infatuated with on a deeper level. What were her dreams? What were her parents like? What was her favorite color? He wanted to know everything from small to significant. All he knew about her were the facts on her school file which he had access to. That was a privilege he enjoyed because he volunteered his time in the school office and wherever he was needed in exchange for a half scholarship to the Oak Wood.
His mother could never afford such a school on her own. She was a single mother with a middle class job who had spent most of Parry's life trying to raise him and his sister. She had wanted both her kids to attend the prestigious school. Scarlett had been the only one in denial at first.
"Why do we have to go to some stupid snobby rich kid boarding school? I'm perfectly fine where I am," Scarlett had argued with mother.
"It will be better for you in the long run, for both of you," mother explained.
"Why? Huh? Why? So that you can tell your friends where we graduated from? Ugh! I don't want to go. I'm not going." Scarlett yelled as she stormed up to her room and slammed the door. The sound echoed throughout the house like a loud thunderstorm.
"I'm sorry mom," Parry tried to apologize for his sister.
"It's okay, son. Everything will be okay. This will be good for you," she said sounding as though she was trying to convince herself more than her son.
The flashback ended with the sound of the loud shrilly school bell. It was time for the students to attend their next class. For Parry, that bell meant that his volunteering time organizing the different balls and sports gear in the gym closet was over. He watched Sienna as she jogged off the court and into the girl's locker. He watched with disdain as Tristan Bellicose headed to the boy's locker room. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but he was painfully aware of his enemy. Tristan, however, was not aware of Parry's daily activities.
The animosity towards Tristan had started out as childish lets-make-this-new-guy-our-target-this-year, among Parry's group of popular friends. Tristan had been easy to make fun of. He was the weird lonely guy who avoided everyone. It had been Parry's idea to pick him since he was the one who had access to the school files. Nathan had access too but Nathan didn't care enough. Parry had also picked Tristan because he knew most of the guys would be on board with making his welcome to the school anything but welcoming. That was mainly because the guys at Oak Wood felt threatened by Tristan. That had to do with Tristan's looks. He was the silent, tough seeming and handsome new guy who would gain the female population's attention. He was the high school definition of a bad boy. Parry, on the contrary, was the symbol of the good guy who cared about people. That was far from his true self. Parry only cared about three people; his mother, his sister and now Sienna.
That was the reason why Parry had included Sienna in their group. He had suggested they welcome her right in before she made friends with others. Sienna wasn't anything special to the others but Parry had fallen for her from the first day he had seen her arrive.
So it didn't take a genius to realize why it turned out to be a huge problem for Parry when Sienna started taking an interest in Tristan.
The others had wanted to expel Sienna from their 'In crowd' but Parry had defended her. They said she wasn't It material, he argued that she was special. Since Parry was a big influence in the decisions of the group they kept the new girl. Sienna had no idea any of that had happened. Maybe that was why she didn't think twice about sitting with Tristan at lunch that one day instead of sitting with them. Maybe that was why she didn't care about skipping a day to hang out with her friends because of Tristan.
Parry had thought they could discourage her from her interest in the new guy. Apparently he had been wrong. Those two were very good friends now. They were so close that they actually visited each other's dorm rooms, which against school rules. Parry had caught Sienna leaving Tristan's room yesterday. They hadn't known he'd been watching but he was.
He planned to use that against them. Parry planned to use that information to keep them apart. He watched Tristan exit the boy's room first. He had thought Tristan would stay behind and wait for Sienna but he didn't. He continued on to the cafeteria. They were probably going to meet there. Sienna was still in the girl's room.
'Thank you Tristan. This makes my plan a lot easier,' Parry thought as a smile spread slowly across his face.
He waited a few minutes, to make sure the cost was clear, to sneak into the girl's room. Because of his careful observation, Parry knew Sienna was the last girl in the room. She was alone. Was the universe on board with him? He could only assume. This was almost too easy.
All's fair in love and war.
He took a deep breath and quietly slipped inside the girl's locker room.
Tristan was sitting in the lunch room waiting for Sienna. It was too loud in here. Various conversations flowed from each table to the next. Tristan wondered how everyone in here could focus on whatever the person's they talked to said. He hated all the noise but if they wanted to lay low they had to eat in here, with everyone else. He knew they couldn't risk sneaking into each other's rooms in pure daylight. It was too dangerous. The last thing they wanted to do was get in trouble and unwanted draw attention.
The line to get the food was extra-long today, Tristan noticed with disgust. He knew Sienna would hate it. He thought about skipping lunch but decided against it. They needed to eat. They had skipped lunch yesterday already. With resolution, he decided to do something nice for a change. He would get lunch for both of them.
He realized the problem once he was already standing in line. Students needed their lunch cards to get the free meals per day. The lunch ladies would never believe him and give him two trays. They would think he would eat them both. He needed Sienna's lunch card.
For a change, he went the 'extra mile' and went back to the gym to ask Sienna for her card. Knowing her she would probably need some more time in the shower so he would have plenty of time to get the card, make the line, get lunch and make her happy. Love is showed with actions after all.
Parry heard footsteps. He cursed under his breath and quickly thought of where to hide. The person was getting closer. How would he explain himself if he got caught in the girl's locker room? It looked highly suspicious. He was supposed to be at lunch now, eating with the rest of his friends. He glanced around the room in panic. There! He spotted a hiding place where he would go unnoticed. He rushed behind one of the showers at the far end of the room and drew the curtains shut. His only hope was that the person entering would not walk all the way down the long hall of showers lined up. If the person did, they would clearly notice a pair of dark polished male shoes sticking out from under the last stall.
'I left her bag unzipped!' Parry realized with dread.
He hoped Sienna stayed in the shower a little longer. He needed the person to leave the premises so he could slip out of hiding and zip her bag back up as if nothing had happened. He could not afford to leave evidence behind.
The person's footsteps entered the room. The sound seemed to echo off the walls in Parry's mind. He waited in suspense and wished he could sneak a peek at the stranger. He wanted to put a face on the individual's footsteps and see if it was someone he knew. Was it a student? Or was it someone form the staff? The footsteps were heard, then they stopped and then they continued again. It almost seemed as though the person was looking for something. 'It's probably a girl who forgot something in here', Parry reasoned.
Since Parry was at the far end of the hall, he couldn't' really make out from the sounds what the person was doing. All he could do was measure the time the person took to do whatever it was they had come to do. Parry wondered if Sienna could hear anything from inside the shower. It was highly unlikely though because the sound of the water running drowned out the sounds from outside. He knew form experience. The shower was that one place Parry could lose himself and forget about the world.
What seemed like a minute-but was actually only 30 seconds- passed and the footsteps were heard as they retreated from the room. He heard the sound further and further away until it could not be heard. Parry opened the shower curtain and checked the coast. When he was satisfied no other surprise visitors were coming, he rushed out of the room and back to Sienna's bag. It was a light blue school bag that was placed on the bench across from the stall she was in. He wanted to rummage around for something but before he knew it, the awful sound of the shower being turned off was heard. Parry's breathing stopped along with it.
He had no time. If she had finished her shower it meant she was coming out to grab the stuff she needed from her bag. Sienna could not catch Parry in here with her. That would be the end of everything. How would he explain that? He quickly zipped her bag, not caring about the loud sound the zipper made in the silent room, and ran out.
'That was close, too close', he thought to himself as he made his way back to the cafeteria as if nothing had happen.
Tristan was satisfied with himself. He had found Sienna's lunch card, he had made the long line and he had gotten them both lunch. The mashed potatoes, the grilled chicken and the lifeless looking broccoli sat there on the plate waiting for Sienna. He wondered when she would show up. Hadn't enough time gone by now? How much did she need to scrub her skin to know it was clean? He found it odd how she was taking an extra-long time with her shower-- not that he knew how much time she normally took (he didn't know her that well yet) but more than half an hour had passed and she was still not present.
He dared to glance over at Sienna's table of 'friends' in curiosity. Were they wondering where she was too?
A second later, that annoying and manipulative red headed guy who was head over heels for Sienna showed up to the table. Tristan hadn't even realized he hadn't been there before. 'That's because you were too focused on Sienna', his mind pointed out logically.
Trying to be patient, Tristan continued to wait for Sienna. She would show up at some point. She wouldn't just skip lunch altogether. Maybe she was just having one of those days.
Sienna hadn't even realized she had started shivering. She had been standing naked and frozen with shock in the narrow shower stall. Fear had not permitted her to move. She could still hear the sound of the zipper loudly in her mind. Sienna knew all the other girls had left, she was always the last one to finish her shower. She liked to take her time with it. Sienna felt like her whole life she was rushed, everything she did had a deadline, and over time she had figured out that the shower was the only place no one had ever bothered her. Until today.
Someone had come into the locker rooms during her shower. Someone had waited for everyone but Sienna to leave. Someone had known she was in here alone. Someone had zipped open her bag without permission. Someone had invaded her privacy...someone who had bad intentions for Sienna.
Now she was too scared to come out of the shower in her table. Now her worst nightmares were coming back to life. Now she knew she was in pure, undeniable danger. Now she knew she had not been imagining things.
She did not have to guess. She knew who the person that had sneaked in was. It was none other than her stalker.
Author's note: Did you follow that sinuous tale of events?
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The song for this chapter is White Teeth Teens by Lorde (a long time favorite).
o