Piecing it Together

Chapter 21

Jordyn POV

Friday rolls around and it's the day that Mr. Hartley has agreed to meet me after school. I was supposed to go see Paige tonight and stay there this weekend. I postponed going. She still has no idea what is going on with Mr. Hartley. I feel so guilty. I want to tell her, but I haven't.

School gets out and I go home first. I get a bag ready and put it on my bed. I don't know how this is going to go and I can see myself fleeing to see Paige, so I want to be ready. I look at the clock and my stomach starts aching. I am so nervous.

I get to my car and drive to the location he gave me. My GPS took me to a diner in town that I didn't
know we had. When I get in there I can tell it's completely dead. No wonder why he picked this place.

Mr. Hartley is sitting in the corner. I walk over to him. When I get to him, he motions for me to sit. I sit at the table that looks old and disgusting. I keep my eyes on it, too scared to look up at him.

"I'm glad you came. I thought you might second guess meeting me." Mr. Hartley says.

I keep my eyes down, "You don't know me that well then."

This causes him to let out a big sigh. "Jordyn, I don't know what to say here."

He doesn't know what to say. I find that hard to believe because I have a lot to say. I look up at him and I know my eyes are unfriendly. Anger is built in me. I feel like I'm going to snap.

"I heard what you said to my mom. You knew this whole entire time, didn't you?"

Mr. Hartley looks down at the table now trying to avoid me. He isn't saying a word and I can feel my temper rising.

"Didn't you?" I say through gritted teeth.

Mr. Hartley looks at me and his eyes look red. Not red for anger, but red with sadness.

"Jordyn." He says with a remorseful voice. "I haven't known since you were born. I found out about five years ago. I put it together as I saw you growing up in front of me."

I stare at him. I feel more confused than ever. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wanted to, but I felt like I couldn't. You had your parents and your sister. I didn't want to come in and cause turmoil for you." Mr. Hartley tries to give his explanation.

I tap my fingers on the table trying to calm myself. There are so many things I want to know about the past and have answers to, but something hit me. I can't change the past. I can ask all the questions I want, but it isn't going to change anything.

"What do you want from me?" I ask.

He sits back in his booth staring at me. I realize I was a little rude in the way I said that.

"I mean, what do you want from this? Do you want me to pretend like it isn't true?"

He leans his head to the side as he keeps his eyes linked with mine. "You are a smart girl Jordyn. You know we can't do that."

The way he answered that made my stomach feel unsettled. "What do you want then?"

Mr. Hartley takes a drink of his coffee that the waitress poured. He sets the cup down and looks at me. I don't understand how he can be so calm.

"I want whatever you want Jordyn. I don't want you to feel like you have to get to know me, but I would like for you too."

I try to hide the smile that wants to appear on my face.

"Why did you want to meet here?" I ask.

He looks around at the empty diner. "I don't want you to feel pressure or have extra attention on our situation. I have been a principal for ten years. I know how students are. I'm not ashamed of you. I just don't want you to feel pressure to get to know me and give me that chance to be your..."

Mr. Hartley hesitates on the last word.

"My father." I finished it for him.



Paige POV

I was supposed to spend this weekend with Jordyn, but she bailed out. She wouldn't tell me what caused her to change her mind. She has been acting distant lately and I don't know how to bring her back. I know I have a busy work schedule along with school so that causes us to drift a bit, but there is something else going on.

I show up to Amanda's party even though I am still kind of bummed about Jordyn ditching me. I decided to try to have fun instead of sitting around sulking about not seeing my girlfriend.

There are some people playing beer pong out in the hallway of the apartment building. A couple of them said hi to me as I walked into Amanda's place.

Right inside the door Amanda was standing with a few other girls. Amanda was looking well-dressed tonight in some skinny jeans with boots, along with a cute "dressy" top.

She grabs my arm as soon as she catches eyes with me and drags me into the kitchen to find a drink. There was a large selection, ranging from various liquors to beer. I decided to go with captain and coke.

After grabbing a drink, we went back into the hallway to call the next game on the beer pong table. Before I know it, Amanda and I are dominating the table, having won four straight games.

Between the four games, the alcohol I consumed there and somehow my drinking cup being refilled the second it's empty, I would say I'm pretty drunk. I go back into Amanda's apartment leaving her behind. I hear music playing and go sit down on the couch.

Seconds later a guy sits beside me. I look at him with my blurred vision.

"Can I help you?" I ask.

He sits awfully close to me and I didn't like it.

"Do you not remember me?" He laughs with slight disappointment.

I try to make my eyes open more to get a better look at him. "Neff?"

His eyes narrow at me. "Neff? My name is Keegan."

Before I could explain why I called him Neff he got up and walked away.

Well excuse me. I get up from the couch and go get more to drink. When I got back, Keegan approached me again.

"He returns." I say to him sarcastically.

"Can I ask you a question?" His voice sounds irritated.

Here we go.

"Go for it." I take a drink of my cup and brace myself for this.

"Why are you so cold towards me? You act as if guys never flirt with you. You tried lying to me saying you are gay."

He didn't look drunk so why is he acting like this? I don't know him and he acts as if I broke his heart.

"Look Keegan, Neff, whoever you are. You clearly have a lack of self-esteem in the lady department and I'm sorry for it, but I am gay. You never had a chance with me." I will try to explain.

The next thing I know, I feel a tug at my arm. I turn around by the force of the tug. Not even a second after I turned, I felt soft lips on mine.



Jordyn POV

After talking to Mr. Hartley, I feel a lot better. This is going to take a lot of time, but I think in the end it will be okay. I am anxious to tell Paige about everything. I try to call her, but she isn't answering. I decided to just drive down there.

I run home and grab my bag then head for there. I went straight to her apartment. Of course, Jake and Alexis are there.

"Where is Paige?" I ask Alexis hoping she will tell me.

She raises her brow at me. "She went to her friend Amanda's party."

Who is Amanda? "Do you know where it is?"

Please tell me you do. I say in my head.

Alexis got up and went to the kitchen. She comes back with a piece of paper. She handed it to me, and I looked at it. On the paper was Amanda's number and address. I throw my bag in Paige's room and then head to the location.

When I got there, I realized it was an apartment. I should have assumed. There were people everywhere. I walked through the hallway and finally found her apartment. I walked in there and didn't see Paige right away.

I finally spot her and notice her talking to a guy. I stand back watching the conversation going on.

"She's hot isn't she?" I turn my head to a girl who is standing by me.

I decided to play along with the conversation. "Yeah, she is smoking. Are you interested in her or something?"

The girl shrugs her shoulders. "I work with her. She is cool. She says she has a girlfriend though. I never saw her though so maybe she is more available than what she is putting on."

It took a lot for me to bite my tongue at that comment. "I don't know, if she says she's in a relationship I would leave it alone."

She turns her head to the side as she laughs. "She is probably just stuck in a high school relationship."

Breathe Jordyn. Breathe. "High school? She is in college, isn't she?"

The girl turns her body to face me fully. "Her girlfriend is in high school. They started dating when she was in high school. Besides, she thinks her girlfriend is hiding stuff from her or pushing her away. Anyways, I just think she might be ready for newer things."

"Like you?" I questioned.

She takes a drink of the cup she is holding. "I mean, maybe. I'm probably a lot better than someone in high school. Shit, maybe you even have a chance."

I can't stand to hear this any longer, so I went with the last part she said.

"How about I go assess it?"

"How so?" She asks.

I grab her cup and take a drink of it. "Watch."

I walk over to Paige who has her back to me. I pull on her arm and turn her around. Before she could see it was me, I pushed my lips to hers. A second later she is pushing my shoulders to break the kiss.

"Jordyn!" She says with excitement, but confusion mixed with her drunkenness.

I smile at her and give her another kiss.

The guy she was talking to rolls his eyes and walks away. I turned my attention to the girl I was just talking to. Her mouth was dropped open. I think she just figured out who I was.

"What are you doing here?" Paige asks.

I put my hands on her hips and pulled her close to me. "I wanted to see you."

Paige pulls me into a hug. I snuggled my head over her shoulder as my eyes were piercing towards that girl.

I have this feeling that this is going to be a long weekend and it might turn out ugly.