Player (What Happens on Campus Book 1) (17 page)

“NFL, sugar,” he laughed, a proper laugh this time, “the NBA is basketball.”

“Oh, well, my point still stands.”

“I s’pose,” he sighed and she heard him shifting around on his bed, the sheet rustling. “And I got a smokin’ hot girlfriend, so I’m not doin’ bad in that department neither.”

“How could I forget that achievement?” she commented dryly, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, it’s my biggest achievement,” he said with mock offense, “I bagged the hot British chick.”

“Bagged?” she repeated dangerously.

“Hell yeah.” Before she could say anything, he added, “Come on, just let me win this.”

She huffed, “Fine.”

“Thank you.” She could hear the smirk in his voice, then the sound of water running; he must be in the bathroom. “I gotta go, sugar, but I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Okay,” she murmured, “love you.”

“I love it when you say that.”

“Well, I love it when you say it back,” she prompted.

Laughing softly, he said dutifully, “I love you too, Chlo.”

Chloe had a free period after her first class of the day, so she headed over to the library. As a child she’d loved the library and after Jack’s death it had become the one place she could find solace, but she hadn’t spent much time here since she’d come to Texas. Usually it was only when she had a free period whilst her friends all had lessons.

Claiming a desk tucked away in a corner at the back, she left her bag there and began browsing through the shelves and shelves of books. That old feeling on contentment came back to her and she smiled to herself as she trailed a finger along the exposed spines, studying each one as she came to it, until she found something that piqued her interest. Pulling George Orwell’s
1984
, off the shelf, she turned it over in her hands. The book was an American classic, but she was ashamed to say she’d never actually read it.

As she walked back towards the desk, she glanced up and saw a vaguely familiar figure sitting at the desk near her. It was no wonder Chloe hadn’t noticed the girl when she first walked past, since she was hunched over the table, squinting at the papers spread out in front of her through a pair of glasses that looked far too big for her small face.

Hesitating, not wanting to interrupt and yet also not wanting to ignore her, Chloe lifted her hand slightly to catch the other girl’s eye. When that didn’t work, she moved forward several steps, coming to a stop next to Payton’s desk. Startled, her head jerked up and she stared at Chloe for a second with wide, almost owl-like blue eyes.

“Hi,” Chloe smiled, shifting awkwardly, “I’m not sure if you remember me, I’m Chloe, we met when Dawson trod on your glasses…”

“I remember,” Payton said quickly, adjusting her new glasses in a small, nervous gesture, before dropping her hands into her lap and clutching them together.

“Oh, good. Well, I just wanted to say hi, so…” Chloe wasn’t particular good at initiating conversations with people she didn’t know and trying to do so with someone who was even more reserved than her was extremely difficult. Backing away, she gave the other girl another friendly smile before turning around.

“Would…” A small hesitant voice behind her had her turning back to face Payton, who was staring down at her desk, “Would you like to sit here?”

Realizing how hard it had been for her to make the offer, Chloe smiled and accepted, going to grab her things and transferring them to the desk next to the younger girls. By the time she sat down, Payton was already bent over her work once more, her long blonde plait falling over one shoulder.

The silence as they both got on with their own thing wasn’t quite companionable, but nor was it agonizingly awkward. Still, she occasionally felt the need to say something, just so that she didn’t feel like they were totally ignoring each other.

“What are you doing?” she asked at one point. In answer, Payton just held up the sheet of paper she was working on. It was filled with scribbled mathematical equations that Chloe couldn’t even begin to puzzle out.

“Wow, that looks complicated.”

“Not really,” Payton shrugged, returning the sheet to the desk and smoothing it out. “It’s easy when you know the rules.”

“So I guess you’re pretty good at math?” she said, an idea forming in her mind.

Another little shrug. “I’m better in biology.”

“Do you tutor by any chance? My boyfriend’s really struggling in his math class.”

Immediately a panicked look spread across her face and she started shaking her head, “I… I don’t do that.”

“He’d pay you, of course. It wouldn’t be much, but I’m sure you two could negotiate a price between you. Please, you’d be doing me a huge favour. He has to pass math to keep his scholarship.”

Chewing her bottom lip, Payton’s brows pulled together as she thought about it, staring down at the desks scarred surface. It appeared to be a difficult decision for her so Chloe leant back in her chair and went back to reading, though she kept her fingers crossed.

A while later, she glanced at her mobile and winced; she was supposed to be meeting Parker for lunch and she’d totally lost track of time. Shoving her mobile into her pocket and slinging her bag over one shoulder, she stood, drawing Payton’s attention.

“I’ve got to go, I’m meeting Parker for lunch, but I’m sure I’ll see you around.” She didn’t mention the tutoring again, because she didn’t want to seem pushy, but luckily Payton brought it up for her.

“I’ll do it,” she said hesitantly. “Tutor him, I mean.

“Really? Great, thanks! If you give me your number I can pass it onto him.”

Nodding, which caused her glasses to slip down her nose, she wrote her number in small, neat handwriting at the top of her page, before carefully ripping it out and handing it over.

“Thanks, Payton, I appreciate it and you’ll like Parker, he’s really nice.”

She’d have to remind him to be friendly to the younger and to put a filter on his foul mouth, since she was doing them a favour, though she clearly wasn’t happy about it.

Again she just nodded, so Chloe said goodbye and headed down the aisles of books towards the check-out desk. A soft, almost inaudible “Bye” followed after her.

By some stroke of luck, Chloe nabbed one of the coveted picnic tables outside of the cafeteria and set her bag down beside her. It was edging into November, but the sun was still out. It wasn’t the same melting heat that had been beating down on them when she first arrived, but it was warm enough to sit outside for lunch – some brave girls were even wearing shorts and crop tops, refusing to stop showing off their tans so soon.  

Having already grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of apple juice from inside, she got out her library book while she waited for Parker. When Riley arrived suddenly, sliding onto the bench next to her, having recovered from last nights’ trauma, she almost spilled her drink down herself in shock.

“Hiya,” Riley chirped, “what ‘ya doing?”

“Just reading while I wait for Parker.” Reflexively, she glanced down at her mobile, which was laying next to her, and saw that there was only fifteen minutes left until her next class. Frowning slightly, she checked to see if there were any texts waiting for her; it wasn’t like Parker to be late. Maybe he’d forgotten? But that wasn’t like him either.

Typing out a quick text, she slid her mobile into her pocket and stood, packing all her things back into her bag, before saying goodbye to Riley and heading towards her class. Worry niggled at the back of her mind, but she pushed it away; he’d probably just gotten distracted and lost track of time.

In class, she sat in the fourth row, not right at the back, but far enough from the front that the teacher wasn’t always picking on her to answer questions. This was her least favourite class – Creative Writing. Unlike Jet, she wasn’t particularly creative; though she loved reading and exploring others work, she never knew where to start when asked to write something of her own. However, her teacher was enthusiastic and fun, which made the class bearable.

Having been set a task to begin brainstorming ideas for a short story, which they’d have to write next lesson, the class set to work, heads bent over notebooks or laptops. Chloe was chewing at the end of her pen, trying to think of something to jot down, anything really, when an image on the laptop belonging to the girl in front of her caught her eye.

Looking up, she leant forward for a better look. Something was playing on the screen, it looked like the News. There appeared to be a pile-up at a cross-road somewhere in town. In the middle of it all was a bright red car, one side crumpled like a tin can. It looked like Dawson’s car… Oh God…

She shot up. “Toilet, Sir.”

Startled from whatever he’d been doing, sitting at his desk at the front of the class, Mr. Clarke looked up. Chloe was already scrambling past the others in her row, as he said, “Yes, yes, Chloe. Go ahead.”

Rushing down the stairs, she didn’t even care about all the eyes that were watching her as she shoved open the door and all but ran out into the corridor. As soon as she was away from prying eyes, she fished her mobile from her pocket and dialled Parker number. Out in the fresh air, she paced back and forth in front of the building as the phone rang.

Her heart was pounding against her ribcage so hard that it actually hurt. There was no answer. Hanging up, she tried again.

“Hello,” a voice answered and finally she could breathe again.

“Parker, where are you? Are you okay? You weren’t there at lunch, then I saw Dawson’s car on the News… at least I think it was Dawson’s car. I was probably just jumping to conclusions.” Now she was rambling. With a conscious effort, she forced her mouth to close and remain closed so that he could get a word in edgeways.

“I’m fine, sugar,” he assured her, “but it was Dawson’s car you saw, some asshole rear-ended us, then some other dickhead crashed into the side. The car looks like it’s been run over by a steam-roller, but neither of us were hurt too bad.”

“Where are you?” she choked out.

“The hospital.”

“Okay,” she took a deep breath to calm herself, “I’ll be right there.”

“Sugar, you don’t need to come, they’re just gonna stitch me up and I’ll be out.”

Stitch him up? Oh God, how bad was he actually hurt? Knowing Parker, he could have all the bones in his body pulverized and still insist he was fine.

“I’m coming,” she repeated, “see you in a minute.”

After saying a quick ‘I love you’, Chloe hung up and put her mobile away. For a moment she just stood there, wondering how the hell she was going to get to the hospital. She didn’t have a car so she couldn’t drive and even if she could she hadn’t driven since the accident, plus she didn’t know where the hospital was. She supposed she could call a cab. Even better, she remembered seeing Jet going into the classroom opposite hers as she was walking to class; he’d lifted a hand in greeting and smiled over the heads of the other students crowding the hallway.

Determinedly, she headed back inside, stopping outside his classroom. Under normal circumstances she’d never have the confidence to do this, but her stomach was twisting itself into knots and all she could think of was getting to the hospital. Lifting a hand, she knocked on the door, before opening it and sticking her head inside. The teacher turned to look at her, as did the rest of the class. Immediately, her cheeks flamed, but she stood firm.

“Sorry to interrupt, but could I see Jet for a minute.” When the teacher looked like he’d deny her request, she added quickly, “It’s really important.”

He sighed reluctantly and nodded his head.

Rising from the second row, Jet shot her a confused look as he gathered his stuff together and descended the stairs towards her. She’d left her bag in the classroom, she realized, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now; she’d just have to come back later and hope it was still there.

“What’s up?” Jet asked as soon as the classroom door shut behind him.

“Parker’s been in an accident and I need to get to the hospital now,” she said in a rush, “will you drive me?”

“Jesus, yeah, of course. Is he okay?”

“I think so, but I just need to get there.”

“Okay, come on, my cars not far.”

In the car, Chloe twisted her hands together, jamming them between her knees so that Jet wouldn’t see them shaking. She watched the scenery whizz past, but she wasn’t actually taking any of it in and, for once, she didn’t find herself analysing his driving, or cringing whenever he took a corner.

All she could think about was Parker and the fact that she could lose him so easily, the crash was proof of that. Life was so short and, Riley was right, she didn’t think Jack would want her to be unhappy; he’d want her to live life to the full, with no regrets.

They stopped at a traffic light and Jet reached over to squeeze her knee, making her jump. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she tried to smile, but failed miserably, “just worried.”

The light flicked back to green and he returned his grip to the steering wheel, saying rationally, “If he answered his cell he can’t be hurt that badly.”

That’s what she kept telling herself, but logic didn’t apply when pure panic ruled, old memories rearing their ugly heads.