Piecing it Together

Chapter 25

Skip ahead two and half months


Jordyn POV

There is a week and a half until I play my last home softball game. It will be our senior night game. This is where before the game they will recognize the seniors with their parents.

I run into a dilemma with this. Do I ask Mr. Hartley if he wants to come? He comes to a lot of the games as the "principal", but no one knows that he is my father.

If it is up to me, I want him there. The last two months have been a godsend. He is completely different from the guy I thought was my dad, who still hasn't talked to me since that day he told me I wasn't his daughter.

I need to ask Mr. Hartley and let him decide.

I am in sixth period and this class is a total bore.

"Can I go to the nurse? I don't feel well." I acted as if my stomach was hurting so the teacher would let me go.

"Yes, take the hall pass." She says as she gets it out of her desk and hands it to me.

I grab it then head for the office. Instead of going to the nurse, I knock on Mr. Hartley's door.

"Come in." He yells out.

I open the door and go in. I shut it behind me once I entered fully. My eyes are glued to a new picture I see on his wall. The picture is a sky view of the Seahawks field. Getting to know Mr. Hartley, I realized we have a common interest. That interest is the Seahawks. His favorite player is Richard Sherman just like Paige.

He knows I am dating Paige. He knew about it last year. He says he has always been okay with it. He knows Paige well. He thinks she is good for me. We all even went out to dinner together about a month ago.

"What can I do for you Jordyn?" His voice was sounding more like the principal side of him.

I walk over and take a seat. I am nervous to ask him. I don't want him to say no.

"Senior night is coming up. I want you to come." I pause for a second before clarifying. "I want you to come as my dad."

I stare at him waiting for a response. It was extremely hard to ask him. I felt like my heart was beating in my throat.

"I would love to." Mr. Hartley answers.

I sit there frozen not expecting him to answer so easily.

"You seem surprised."

It's because I am. "I didn't think you would want to. I didn't know if you wanted people to know."

Mr. Hartley gets up from his desk and walks over to the empty chair by me. He turns it towards me and sits in it.

"I would love for the whole world to know. I told you it was your call. I didn't want you to be pressured. I'm not ashamed of you Jordyn."

"Thanks dad." I quickly put my hand over my mouth. Even though we have been getting closer.

He chuckles. "It feels good to hear you call me dad, even if you didn't mean too. There is no pressure with that either, but if you want to call me it you can, just not in school." He adds. "We must stay professional here. It's school policy."

I'm not sure if I'm fully ready to call him dad. The last person I called dad bailed on me, so I think I need more time.

Mr. Hartley walks back over to his desk where a stack of papers are. Since he hasn't asked me to leave, I assumed he was looking for something in there for me. He then hands me a paper. The paper holds our graduation information such as our name and what college we are going to.

"Why is your college blank?" He asks.

I shrug my shoulders. "Well, I want to go to Washington State. It's been my dream forever, now mom says there aren't the funds to send me there with the divorce."

He hands me a pen and I look at him confused.

"Write down your college." He demands.

"I just told you I can't afford to go." I'm starting to wonder if he is hard of hearing.

Mr. Hartley sits in his chair smiling. "You can. I have a special account that I have put money in since the day I knew about you."

Mr. Hartley is starting to make me think he is God himself.

"I can't take your money." I responded to him.

"It's not my money, it's yours. You are my daughter. I want the best for you." He tells me. "Now go back to class and we will talk more about this later."


Paige POV

Derek and I are driving back together to watch Jordyn and Callie's game. I would have driven myself and stayed, but I have finals. My last one is tomorrow. I should be spending the night studying for it, but I'd rather be here.

"Do you think Callie has been cheating on me with Christian?" I look over at Derek who is driving.

He has the window down and the wind is blowing through his hair that he let grow out again. He looks better with it shorter in my opinion.

When I found out they came together on Valentine's Day and Callie decided not to see Derek, I thought she still had feelings for Christian. That all changed when they came to the place that Jordyn made me sing at. I realized watching them that it's strictly friendship.

"No, I don't think that is how Callie is." I give him my honest answer. "If something were to happen, she would break up with you before it did."

Derek flashes me an unhappy look when I say the last part. "Thanks for making me feel better." His voice was low and full of dissatisfaction.

"Stop sulking Derek. She hasn't broken up with you. She likes you. I think you are scared."

I am quite sure I know what his problem is. We have formed a friendship where we tell it how it is and don't dance around trying to protect the other's feelings.

Derek sits up in the driver's seat.

"Why would I be scared? I'm not scared of anything."

I can see past Derek's stupid ego.

"You are too. You are afraid that if you let yourself love her, she might not love you back. You are afraid what happened with Jordyn is going to happen with Callie." He might not want to hear it, but it's the truth.

I know he is afraid of putting his heart on the line with Callie like he did with Jordyn.

Derek tones down his ego. "What if I get hurt again?"

"What if you don't? You need to put yourself out there. She might be waiting on you." I think he forgets that Callie was in a rough relationship before him.

He nods his head. "I don't know why I'm scared."

"Because it isn't easy giving up your heart." It's hard to give up your heart, especially when you have had it broken before. "You just have to know in your heart that Callie is worth it. Trust me, no one is perfect, but you get to decide who is worth it."

I look over at Derek who is smiling. "You know, you have helped me a lot this year." He comments.

"What do you mean?" I don't feel like I have done anything for him.

"That day with the group session. I know this stuff sounds clique, but it really did change me. You are a big part of my life." Derek gets all mushy.

It was nice to hear him say that.


Jordyn POV

We finished warmups and the announcers are about to introduce the seniors with their parents. No one has a clue about Mr. Hartley besides a select few.


The seniors line up in the dugout as the announcer is calling us out in number order. Callie was first since she is number two. She walks out and her parents meet her. I look over at Derek and Paige who are hollering for her.

There were a couple of seniors in front of me then it was my turn. I get extremely nervous.

"Next we have number twenty-six." The announcer started to say. "Jordyn Chancellor who is accompanied by her mother Kathy Chancellor and father Eric Hartley."

I walk out to the field as everyone's eyes were glued to me. I give my mom and my dad a hug. We stand there as one more senior was announce. I feel my heart pounding in my chest. There is about to be a million questions and rumors going around.

We all got pictures together and then our parents went back to their seats.

I feel someone's arm around me expecting it to be Callie.

"What the hell was that Jordyn?" The girl's voice was high pitched and without looking I knew it was Claire.

"What?" I responded back.

I don't know exactly what she wants me to say.

She does the unexpected and wraps her arms around me. When she broke the hug, she went into the dugout to line up for us to run out to start the game.

I take a deep breath and follow behind her.

We start the game. We gained an early lead in the bottom of the first.

My batting average has skyrocketed this season. I have been batting strictly on the left side. I learned how to slap. I feel like if you saw my batting average on the stat sheet you would think I was this powerful hitter, but really I am just a fast runner.




Callie POV

We are one out away from the game being over. I know what is on the line with this batter. I haven't walked or let a single hit. I get the call from the catcher.

I quickly get two strikes on the batter. The catcher calls for me to go outside. This is what the coach calls when we get up 0-2 on a hitter. I shake my head for the catcher to call something different. I keep shaking off what she is calling so she gets up and comes jogging to the circle after calling time.

"What do you want to do?" She asks.

I look over at the coach and back to my catcher. "I want to throw a fast ball straight down the middle. The batter is going to expect me to stay away from the zone being ahead in the count."

She nods and runs to her spot. The batter gets in the box. I wound my arm around and let the ball go. The ball went right down the middle and the batter didn't swing.

"Strike three!" The ump yells out.

I fist pump the air as the crowd cheers. I turn towards the outfield where I see Jordyn sprinting to me. I open my arms up expecting her to hug me.

She jumps in my arms causing me to go to the ground as I was not expecting her to launch off the ground. The rest of our team piles on top as they celebrate my no hitter.

This is one of the best feelings ever, besides when we won state.

I look at everyone the best I could while I'm on the ground. Jordyn is right in my face. She kisses my cheek over and over. The pressure of the pile starts to feel lighter as people start to get off me. Jordyn hops off me and then helps me up.

We went through the line to do our normal high fives with the other team. After that, we had a team huddle. The coach told us to go to the school where we will have dinner for our parents and friends. I go to the dugout and get my stuff alongside Jordyn. I have a feeling she is going to be getting a lot of unwanted attention tonight.

"Are you ready?" I ask her.

She rolls her eyes knowing what I'm talking about. "Do I have to go?"

"Yes, you have to go. You are ready for this. If you weren't, you wouldn't have asked him to come."

"Thanks." Jordyn says as she stops us from walking while she gives me a hug.

When she breaks from the hug, she turns her head.

She looks to the left then to the right, then back at me. "Are you ready?"

I look to see what she is looking at. Walking from two separate places are Derek and Christian. My parents don't know about Christian being my friend and I don't plan on them finding out. I know this is going to make Derek mad, but I walk towards Christian instead of him.

"Hey thanks for coming." I greet him.

He gives me a quick hug.

"Good game. I know I probably shouldn't have approached you, but just wanted to say good game and have fun tonight." Christian was speaking fast. He gives me another hug before walking away.

A smile stays on my face. I turned to Derek who was a good distance away from me standing. I could tell he was watching Christian and me. I walked over to him, giving him a smile, but he wasn't returning it. I have a bad feeling about this exchange.

I get in front of him and prepare myself for the backlash. I don't know if I should apologize right away even though I don't think I need to.

"Look Derek..." I start to talk, but he cuts me off.

He put his finger to my lips to shush me up. He moves his hand. I am looking at him confused. I try reading his face as to what's going on, but I have no idea.

"Derek, you are scaring me." I say softly.

Derek's face is going pale. He still hasn't said anything.

He is standing there silent.

I got the picture. I go to walk away. He obviously doesn't want to talk. My heart feels like it's crushing inside my chest.

I almost get to Paige and Jordyn when I feel a tug on my arm. I turn around trying to hold the tears in my eyes. I see Derek who has a hold on my arm. I was getting ready to say 'what' when he again put his finger to my lips.

"I love you." Derek says the words so fast I wasn't sure if I heard him right. "I love you." He repeats again, but this time in his deep charming voice.

The tears I was holding started to fall out of my eyes, but this time they have a different reasoning for falling. My heart was pounding. My body was shaking.

No guy has ever told me they loved me before. I have never been in a relationship long enough to get to this point.

I stand on my tip toes and place my lips on his. I pull away looking at his light brown eyes. "I love you too."