THANK YOU ALL so much for the wonderful reviews/comments submitted so far! I've tried to respond to everyone, so if I missed you I'm sorry! It doesn't mean I love you any less!
Also, a shout-out thanks to Guns and Drums for her reviews – they're bitchin' good like always! You don't have an inbox, so here's my reply!
.: Chapter 3 :.
I was past waking up wondering where I was anymore.
I didn't need to tell myself to calm down and not freak out – that I was in Washington state living with a neurotic woman obsessed with gardening and lawn figurines.
That I was living in a place called La Push.
That today was the first day of school.
I groaned and rolled over as much as the sofa would allow. Seeing as my new bedroom didn't have anything in it, including light bulbs and a mattress, I had slept on the sofa for the night. It was a little unsettling at first when I had tried to fall asleep knowing that even though the woman herself was upstairs, Marjorie was still staring at me from her various positions around the room. I had eventually managed to get some sleep in, but not enough to constitute a full night's rest.
Which was probably why I was dragging a bit behind schedule.
"Whoops…sorry." I apologized with a yawn as I bumped yet again into Marjorie as we shuffled around the kitchen. Despite the woman's energy during the day she was a rather sluggish person when confronted by the six o'clock waking hour.
"No worries, Hollyhock. Would you like me to pack you lunch?" She offered as I watched her pour an unusually large amount of sugar into her coffee; at least I knew where the craziness came from.
"You don't have to, I can just buy lunch," I shrugged while drinking down my own pure black cup of caffeine, "do you know how much it is?"
"Don't be silly!" She swatted at me, only to miss my arm completely. "Do you mind leftovers?"
"Not at all." I smiled as she swished over to the fridge in her neon zebra printed housecoat and began to dig around inside. I shook my head as I finished up my coffee and rinsed the mug out in the sink, looking out the back window to find even more flowers, gnomes and also something else.
"What's that?"
"What's what dear?"
"I don't know…" If I knew what it was why would I be asking? "It looks like a tool shed?"
"Oh!" I turned around just as she popped up from behind the fridge door. "That's the carriage house!" She smiled as she held up a Tupperware bowel of what looked like last night's lasagna; I gave her a thumbs-up to show approval.
"Ah…what's that?" For some reason I felt like I should have known what that was because of the way she said it.
"What is it?" She repeated as she grabbed an apple from a bowel on the counter and a muffin from beneath the glass cake dome on the bar. "Carriage houses were used in the olden days like garages for the upper class people with fancy rides. Today however, most people use them as guesthouses or studios and such." She shrugged, still dashing around the kitchen in a flurry of color.
"So what do you use yours for?"
"Storage mostly – it's like another little world in there." I had to bite back a snort at this: her whole house seemed like another world.
"So that's where you keep all your back up gnomes?" I grinned as she laughed and dug around in a drawer for something that turned out seconds later to be a brown paper bag.
"No, no; I have a separate place for them and the other gardening tools. The carriage house lodges the piano and other…" She trailed off to stare at me and I knew why: I couldn't help the wide eyed smile that was splayed across my face.
"Aha!" She exclaimed knowingly as she stuffed my food into the bag. "Seems as though we have a musician in our midst!" I bit my lip and tried to get rid of my daffy assed smile.
"N-not really," I tried to shrug her off nonchalantly, "I just mess around some."
"That's not what I heard!" She sang as she folded down the top of the bag and held it out to me with a flourish and Cheshire grin. I accepted it gratefully and pushed off from the counter where I had been leaning against it by the sink.
"Thank you!"
"Not a problem, my little Hollyhock!" She trilled as I stepped down into the living room to gather my coat and bag, aware the whole time she was following me.
"School lets out at two thirty I believe, so you can look forward to that and make sure you go directly to the main office when you get there; that's what the lovely woman said over the phone." I nodded in understanding and shrugged on my jacket and pulled on my scarf, realizing fleetingly that I'd need to find some better clothes if I was going to survive in my new greener and wetter environment.
I frowned down at the tights and shorts I wore with ballet flats.
I was going to need some pants.
"Don't worry dear; we'll get you settled in!" Marjorie laughed, seemingly picking up on my thought process as she pulled me to her side in a hug and started for the front door. I kept up this time, unlike last night where I had stumbled after her, and gripped my bag strap tighter as she wrenched open the front door and flicked on the Christmas lights.
It was still kind of dark outside.
"Well I guess I'll see you later." I stated as I made a move for the screen door, only to be jerked back by the hood of my jacket; the woman had some strength in her after all!
"Wait a minute, let me – yes, here we are!" I turned see what Marjorie was looking for and came face to face with a gleaming new set of keys, the VW logo unmistakable on the little black remote.
"No," I shook my head in disbelief, "really, I'll just take my own car!"
"Don't be silly! Have you seen the thing you drive? It looks like a hairy ol' turd." She stated firmly with a frown directed towards the driveway. I stared at her shock; did she seriously just compare my car to shit?
And hairy shit at that?
"Take the Rabbit – I know you like it!" She laughed as she forced the key into my hand and practically shoved me out the door.
"B-but what will you drive today?" I spluttered, once again amazed at how I was being thrown another act of kindness I had not yet experienced. She took a moment to think about this before brightening and stepping out the door to join me, her hand outstretched and open.
"Give me your keys – we'll switch."
"So you're going to drive the hairy turd?" I deadpanned.
"Yes! I'm going to drive the hairy turd!" I couldn't help but laugh; was this seriously happening right now? She fluttered her fingers at me in impatience and I dug my keys out of my pocket and dropped them into her hand, her face lighting up at the prospect of driving my car.
Maybe she'd do me a favor and send it over a cliff?
"Excellent! Now off you go!" She shoo-ed at me. "Don't want to be late!" I smiled as I left her standing on the front porch and made my way down the front walk, dew from the plants wetting my ankles as I waded through nodded flower heads leaning over the path. I clicked the unlock button on the remote and couldn't help but smile wider as the Rabbit lit up with life and I opened the driver door.
"Carpe diem!" Marjorie called out as I climbed in and started the engine, her hands clasped together in joy.
Even the gnomes seemed to encourage me on as I backed out.
I watched with slight amusement as other kids my age staggered their way into the building. Granted, there weren't a lot of them, but there were enough for me to tell that practically almost all of them were natives, meaning I was going to be the minority.
The white chick.
I found this thought funny and couldn't help myself from laughing out loud in the confines of the car. Out of all the schools in America I had been to in the last couple of years I had never been so largely outnumbered like I was now – I was kind of looking forward to this. I grabbed my messenger bag off the passenger seat and took one lat survey of the parking lot before heading out. I had parked in the most out of the way hole in the back of the lot out of sheer paranoia that someone would manage to key, dent or scratch Marjorie's car and wasn't willing to find out. I clicked the lock button on the remote twice for good measure and gave the Rabbit one last lingering look before trudging off towards the main doors where everyone else was funneling in.
I received a few looks upon merging with a group of girls as I shuffled in behind them and into the lobby of the school, noticing that it wasn't as shabby as it looked from the outside – and this was coming from someone who had been in a lot of schools in her lifetime.
I took only a second to look around at the white drop-in ceiling and tiled flooring before being shoved from behind, my feet tripping over one another in an effort to keep me upright. I grabbed at my bag to keep it from smacking others and looked over my shoulder to see a group of guys fooling around, their laughter booming like cannon fire through the hall, seemingly not aware that they had almost laid me out flat. I frowned as I turned back towards the main office and paused for one single heart beat as my gaze connected with another's, my subconscious informing me that I had never before seen such vibrant hazel hued eyes.
They were gone a moment later and I was still standing there like an idiot while the rest of the student body milled around me, now point blankly staring in curiosity. I felt myself blush lightly and ducked my head as I made a beeline for the office door and pulled it open, relishing in the fact that it was empty as I stepped inside. Looking around there were a few chairs and some potted plants along with landscape paintings decorating the light blue walls. In front of me was a counter with a small door near the one end, making it seem like some judge's desk out of a court room with a witness booth.
I stepped up and smiled politely at the lady with coke bottle glasses behind it.
"How may I help you, m'dear?" She asked, her voice quivering slightly as though she was really cold.
"Uh, yes, I'm new here – today's my first day." I was confused when her face lit up with what looked like recognition.
"So you're Quinnella James!" She smiled as she struggled to stand from her desk chair to lean forwards over the counter to look at me. "Em just called me saying you were going to pop up in here at some point!"
"Really?" I asked, trying to decide whether this was going to be a good or bad thing.
"Of course! I'm so glad to finally meet you; Em hasn't stopped gushing since she found out you were coming up to stay a bit!"
"Oh, well, she's so sweet!" I smiled, a bit unsure as to what to say.
"That she is! Now let's get you set up, shall we?" She turned away to rummage around on her desk and eventually surfaced with something I recognized instantly.
My transcripts.
I blushed when she thumped them down on the counter between us.
"Take these and head on over to the guidance office; they'll get you set right up! They're right across the hall." She nodded even though she was staring at my imposing stack of papers. I bit my lip and pulled them from her grasp and hefted them into the crook of my arm.
"Well thanks so much!" I gushed, hoping she wasn't going to be one of them big talkers who could go on for hours.
"Of course!" She waved me off as I started walking backwards towards the door. "Now if you ever need anything you come see me, alright? I'm Mrs. Mathers, the secretary!"
"Great!" I smiled with a nod, my free hand reaching behind me for the knob. "You've been very helpful!" She waved me out of the office and continued to watch through the glass wall as I darted across the lobby and through the last few stragglers still coming in the front door.
I braced myself as I opened the door for the guidance office and held back a sigh of relief to find it relatively normal; there weren't any rabbit holes for me to fall down…further, at least.
The secretary here was much younger, with black hair twisted back into braid and a kind smile; she waved for me to come forwards while she talked into a phone cradled between her neck and shoulder. I waited for her to get done talking and smiled when she hung up.
"What can I help you with?" She asked, folding her arms forwards on the desk and leaning on them.
"Mrs. Mathers sent me here; I'm new."
"Yes," She nodded at my words, "we've been waiting for you!" She extended an arm out to press at the phone, a button lighting up red at her touch.
"Mr. Raines is going to be your counselor, so you can have a seat till he's ready, alright?" I nodded and moved over to plop down on a blue cushioned chair that matched the ones in the office. I looked around, noticing the décor wasn't much different from what I had just seen and found my eyes landing on the name plaque on the desk.
Ms. Parrish.
She seemed nice; wasn't pushy, smiled, and didn't make you take off your shoes upon entering like that one lady in Arizona.
"He'll see you now." I looked up at the words and stood. "Down the hall and first door on the left." She pointed with one hand while the other typed idly away on the keyboard. I followed her instructions and stopped just outside the door, waiting for the balding man to look up from whatever he was working on. When it became apparent he wasn't going to notice me anytime soon I cleared my throat politely and watched as he jumped and looked up.
"You must be the new student." He stated as he pulled off a pair of reading glasses and fixed me with an appraising look.
"Yes, sir." I nodded and he motioned for me to step inside and have a seat. He organized some papers as I got settled and placed some pens back in their cup holder.
"You have your transcripts?" He asked, still putting the writing devices where they rightfully belonged.
"Right here." I said, offering the pile of papers forward with both hands. He stared at them for a second, then at me, then back at them before accepting them with a small look of surprise. He flipped open the beaten up blue folder and skimmed the top most page.
"Your last school was in California." He stated. "Los Angeles." I nodded in confirmation even though he was still reading the paper. He flipped another page and I briefly wondered if he was going to read the whole thing. "Before that was Nevada," another flip, "Arizona," flip, "New Mexico," flip, "Nebraska," flip and…stop. "Oklahoma." He looked up at me with an incredulous face; he wasn't even a quarter of the way through.
"I move around a lot." I explained sheepishly with a small smile.
"Seems like it!" He laughed as he gave a flip to close the folder. "I'm assuming you're Quinnella James?"
My god – did everyone around here know about me?
"Yes, I am, but I usually just got by Quinn."
"Alright then; let me pull up your new schedule." He turned to a computer that could only be described as a fossil and typed away, muttering under his breath the whole time. "Here we go," He said while clicking around with the mouse, "I tried to match it up as closely to your previous one, but I'm afraid we don't have as many of the same classes."
"I'm sure whatever you have is fine." I assured him as the printer next to computer hummed to life and began printing off my new daily routine. He plucked it up once it was done and pushed it across the desk towards me.
"Take a look at that and tell me what you think." He sat back as I pulled the page closer and scanned my new set of classes. Since I had already covered my history and science classes back in LA all I had was honors chemistry and english, lunch, and two whole blank spaces of nothing.
"Where are my electives?" I asked, looking up in confusion.
"We don't offer the classes you took back in California, so our system automatically put in free periods." Mr. Raines explained with a wave of his hand.
"Oh…so you don't have any music classes or anything?"
"We do, but nothing like…" He turned to look at the computer screen where my old schedule was pulled up in an email, "advanced musical theory and composition."
"What do you have?" I asked, hopeful that there'd be something for me to take that was even slightly musical related.
"We have band and that's it, although the term is used rather loosely." Well I'd never quite heard it like that before; it sounded ominous.
"Is that…bad?" I asked with a small sense of foreboding; were the delinquents the only who took band or something?
"No, no, of course not!" Mr. Raines laughed with a shake of his head. "There just isn't a high demand for music here, so the band and choir are joined together. They don't really have performances because half of them can't even play or sing, so really it's like an appreciation class." I frowned at his explanation; I always found it sad when coming across a school that didn't fully embrace its music and arts programs.
"Is it possible for me to do that?" I asked, pushing my schedule back towards him so as he could change it. "Take band and give up a free block?"
"It's your life." He shrugged, whipping out a pen from his pocket and scrawling 'band' in one of the empty blocks along with a room number and teacher's name. "You're free to go now; welcome to QTS!" I smiled in thanks and pulled the paper from the desk as I stood and left the tiny office and back out to where Ms. Parrish sat still typing.
"Have a great day!" She called out as I waved while shouldering open the door.
Hmmm…I could get used to this.
English had been the biggest joke of a class I'd ever taken.
The teacher, Mrs. Kwaiya, was an elderly woman who couldn't hear a word you said but spoke loud enough to rival that of a rocket ship gearing up from the launch pad. She was completely unfazed when I showed up knocking on her door telling her I was a new student; she merely waved me in and called me Mary Beth before sending me to a desk at the back of the room. From there we watched the Disney version of Tarzan while she knitted behind her desk.
After that I had Chemistry, which wasn't a whole helluva lot better than English; the only thing different about it was the fact the teacher, Mr. Kinsey, was pretty unf-tacular. He looked no more than thirty and had copper colored skin and thick, black geek-chic glasses that matched the color of his hair. He had been nice when I showed up and had set me up at a lab table by myself and gave me a rundown of the semester while my classmates watched an episode from season one of House, which turned out to be the only thing we did.
Did they even teach at this school?
I sighed and leaned back in my chair; I had survived until lunch at least despite the fact I had practically done nothing challenging since setting foot through the door. I picked idly at the muffin Marjorie had thrown in with my lunch and used my foot against the table leg to lever the front two legs of my chair off the ground. No one had even said so much as hey, hi, how ya doin', or even dude, get out of the way! to me all morning.
It was kind of depressing, really; usually I met people through my classes, but seeing as we watched movies all day and sat in the dark, that really didn't seem to be an option right now.
I frowned and popped a chunk of the pastry into my mouth, my other hand reaching for the copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray that sat next to my unopened bottle of water. I smiled bitterly as I flipped open the cover and studied the title page before moving on the thumb throughout the rest of the book.
I know this may seem weird, but it's almost always worked no matter where I am: after realizing that I wasn't going to have a solid freshman year in one go, I decided that no matter where I went to next I would always go to the library and check out Dorian Gray, seeing how it was the first book I was ever assigned to read in high school. Depending on what condition the book was in I could pretty much guess as to how my time in a certain place was going to go.
When I was in Maine the copy I had picked up had suffered through some major water damage; the pages were all wavy and the script slightly blurred as though it was crying; it was depressing, honestly. My time there, with my aunt and uncle, wasn't a good one; there were a lot fights, screaming, and most of all, tears – just as Dorian Gray showed.
When I was in Georgia the copy was fairly new, but due to some misprints not all the pages were there and the book promptly split in half when I cracked it open; the binding literally coming apart at the seams. My cousin and her husband got a divorce a week later and I was sent packing.
So you can see where I'm going with this.
I know it's bad to base your life around an inanimate object – especially something like a book – but I've never really believed wholeheartedly that Dorian Gray was the deciding factor in where I lived; he was just always good at picking out the bad before I could realize it was there.
But he could be wrong, too; look at Los Angeles.
I was happy there; I had finally found people who loved having me around and spending time doing things families normally did, like eating out, watching movies, and just having fun. When I went to school there, Dorian Gray was so disgusting I had scrubbed my hands for what felt like hours trying to get rid of the grimy feeling. There had been so many different stains splattered across the front and back covers that the title was almost unreadable. Inside there were rude notes written in the margins and crude drawings of what seemed to be MILFs on the title page.
I had immediately assumed the worse, since before that the book had never let me down, but my time there was probably the best I had ever had, which was why I was so sad to watch the Los Angeles skyline receding into the distance in my rearview mirror that sunny morning I had left to come north.
And now here I was, sitting in the Quileute Tribal School cafeteria, flipping through a brand spanking new edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray: it still had the bargain buy sticker on it from the store.
I was actually kind of speechless.
The due date card in the back showed that not a single other person had ever checked it out, and the way the cover and page edges were as straight as an arrow suggested that no one had even taken it off the shelf, let alone read it.
I was going to take this as a good sign.
This was going to be a good thing.
I pushed myself up and down in my chair as I settled down to begin reading – oh yes; I read it every single time I checked it out – and smiled at the crispness of the pages beneath my fingers and the clarity of the font. I was probably no more than five pages in when a bright flash from the left blinded my peripherals and I jumped in surprise, my foot giving me too much of a lift as I felt myself starting to fall backwards. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for impact, waiting for the inevitable blow to the head and explosion of laughter from judgmental bystanders who would still find it funny three days later.
But it never came.
I peeked an eye open in suspicion, followed by the other, and found myself staring into the same hazel hued gaze I had seen this morning.
"You alright?" I blinked a few times in confusion, wondering why the hell there was a face hovering down so close to mine. That's when I realized I was still tipped back my chair with this guy's hand grabbing at the top to hold it steady.
I felt myself flush lightly and leaned forwards so as to come back down to earth, aware of his eyes on me the whole.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I managed to bite out as I laid Dorian down the table and ran and flustered hand back through my hair.
"Sorry about that, I didn't think the flash was on!" I looked up to find my savior smiling sheepishly as he held up a digital camera and gave it a small wave.
"Huh, oh, no worries." I shrugged with a small smile and watched with veiled shock as the guy lowered himself into one of the many empty chairs at my table of one. We stared at each other for a few seconds – me not knowing what to do and him seemingly trying to figure something out.
"I, um, I'm Quinn." I offered out a hand, figuring I might as well get started on getting to know some people so I wouldn't have to sit by myself anymore; it really was as lonely as all the teen angst movies depicted.
"Collin." He smiled as he took my hand and gave it few hearty pumps; I thought my wrist was going to snap in half for a second. "So you new here?" He questioned, his perkiness slightly overwhelming.
"Yeah," I nodded in slight shock as he practically bobbed up and down in his seat, "today's my first day."
"Neat! Where're you living at?" I debated for a few seconds as whether or not I really wanted this guy to know where I was living.
"Oh, wait, I know! You're staying with Em, right?" He blurted out before I could even open my mouth.
"Em?" I asked. "You mean Marjorie?"
"Yup!" He smiled. "Everyone loves her; she's practically the town grandmother."
"Oh really?"
"Mm-hm! We've been waiting for you to get here for days!"
"Oh…" So that's why everyone apparently knew about me; Marjorie had been bragging. I smiled slightly, finding it endearing that she had been so excited about me coming to live with her in La Push.
"So what kind classes do you have?" I popped back into reality as Collin swatted a hand down my schedule that was lying off to the side and pulled it towards him. He studied it for a few moments before nodding in approval and looking up to fix me with a smile.
"Sorry about Kwaiya; she's kind of crazy in the head. Kinsey's cool even though he's permanently banned me from the labs, but no worries, it was my fault." I couldn't help but give a small laugh at this and watched as Collin's smile grew.
"What exactly did you do?" I asked with a smile of my own.
"Let's just say there was a Bunsen burner, a soda can, and a bag of popcorn. I'll leave it at that." He explained with a slight blush tinting his sun kissed cheeks. I laughed again and made a move to gather my things as I noticed the bell to release lunch was about to ring.
"I'll take your word for it." I pulled my schedule back across the table and gathered up my trash in one hand.
"I would say I'd see you next block, but Mr. P called in sick today and couldn't get a sub, so no class."
"You're in band too?"
"Yeah, but it's more like music appreciation class." I frowned and bit back a groan; it sounded so cheesy when worded like that.
"Well thanks for the heads up. Guess I'll get going then." I grabbed my bag off the chair next to me and stood, Collin matching my actions perfectly.
"Yeah, I guess so!" He swiped his camera back into his hands and fiddled with it for a few moments.
"Were you taking pictures of me?" I asked before I could help myself. The flash had been directed at me, so it was only normal to assume, right? I didn't want to come off as conceited or anything.
Whoops.
"I, uh, well, I – yeah." Collin squinted his eyes in embarrassment and avoided looking at me. "Again…sorry about that."
"I don't mind, really," I waved it off as I started for the trashcans, him following on my heels, "what made me so interesting?" Dear lord…was I flirting?
I didn't even know I could do that.
"You…well…you were reading, and the lighting was just really perfect and also the way you were tipped back in your chair and...and…yeah." I laughed as Collin blushed even darker than before and tugged at his inky black curls atop his head.
"Do you work on the school paper or something?" I asked before stopping to consider. "Do you even have a paper?"
"What? Oh yeah, we do," Collin nodded fervently, "I'm not on it or anything. I'm in the AV class, which is kind of like art and computer class all crammed into one. We do photography and media design and stuff – nothing too fancy." He shrugged, his skin tone evening out into its normal tan rather than pink.
"And you also do band – I'm impressed." I smiled, causing him to look up at me and blink a few times as though he couldn't believe he was actually talking to me or something.
"Yeah." He nodded, grinning from ear to ear, his hands still messing with the camera. "Well…I guess I'll let you go then; it was great meeting you!" He shoved out his hand, taking me by surprise. I just shook my head and shook it again, this time noticing the warmth that seeped into mine.
"See you around?" He asked, an expression I could call eager hopefulness on his face.
I bit my lip and smiled.
"Looks like it." Collin laughed and gave my hand a slight squeeze before releasing it and shooting me one last smile before practically skipping off to the other side of the cafeteria. I watched him all while smiling like an idiot and shaking my head in slight disbelief; did that really just happen?
Looked like Dorian Gray was going to be right this time…and if not I was going to burn it.
No, seriously, I would.
Definitely.
"Hollyhock!" Marjorie exclaimed from where she was knelt down amongst a flower bed lining the wall along the house; I waved as I crossed over to her from the driveway. "You're home early!"
"Yeah, my class was cancelled and I had a free block after that. They didn't have some of the classes I took back in LA." I explained, watching as the ground was stabbed rather viciously by a garden spade.
"Aw, I'm sorry, dear. Surely you found something, though?"
"Oh yeah, I'm taking band…which is apparently more of an appreciation class than actual band."
"Oh I know! I think it's terrible how they do that; children need creative outlets that aren't virtual or downloaded. When I was growing up I could play all sorts of instruments!" I smiled and crouched down next to her as she ripped open a seed packet with her teeth and dumped them out in her hand.
"Like what?" I asked, my interest peaking higher than it ever had before since I arrived.
"Harmonica, saxophone, clarinet…flute, I think, and the accordion, but only good days, mind you!"
"Did you play the piano?" She sent me a look and smiled, the brightness in her eyes magnifying itself by twenty watts.
"Especially piano." She nodded as she pinched at the seeds and dropped them into the ground she had previously been digging at. I smiled and watched her for a few seconds; she was so precise and patient I almost couldn't believe it.
I would have just dumped them all in a pile and let the plants battle it out.
"Oh!" I jumped as Marjorie turned to suddenly face me full on. "Your things were delivered today!" It took me a bit to realize she must have been talking about my furniture.
"Really?" I stood, more eager than I realized about the prospect of setting up a room of my own.
"It's all upstairs; mattress too. Its set up on the frame, so be careful if you want to move the bed; it'll be heavy. And there's paint in the tool shed and I laid out some boxes in the hall from the attic you can go through to find anything else you might like." I stared at her for a few seconds, not quite believing what I was hearing.
"Are you being serious?" I asked, my eyes wide as she laughed.
"One hundred percent, Hollyhock!" Then I did something that surprised the both of us: I hugged her.
Well launched myself at her was more like it, but the sentiment was still there.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I squeezed her lightly as she patted at my back, her laughter still ringing out across the yard.
"You're most certainly welcome, Quinn." I didn't bother to hide my surprise as she used my actual name for once. "You'll always have a place here." She gave me a hearty squeeze before practically shoving me away and in the direction of the front door.
"Go decorate!" She commanded with her trademark flutter of fingers. I laughed and darted up the porch steps, through the foyer, and all the ways upstairs in what felt like one solid breath. When I opened the door I was met with the same feeling of openness as the day before and relished in it, savoring every last little bit I could suck in.
Even though the annoying little voice in the back of my head told me not to get too happy here, that something would ultimately put an end it, I ignored it in favor of the mini-Marjorie advising me on where to put the head of my bed with its chipped lavender painted frame.
I was torn between east and west.
Wasn't one supposed to have mythical powers?
A/N: Well guys…I've done something I swore I never would: I've regressed back to high school. I said I would never do a fanfic that dealt with the complications of school, but here we are. Oh well. It's where the story wanted to go, so I just followed, albeit very unwillingly. I digress. :P
Anywho, the next chapter features even more insightful info on Quinn and her rather colorful upbringing, some more Colliny goodness with maybe a glimpse into his head (?) and some pretty different stuff overall.
Also, does anyone have the slightest idea as to what Collin might possibly look like? I'm imaging a young Darren Criss (I LOVE the curls), but if anyone has any other suggestions I'll gladly accept them. I'm having a hard time visualizing him – damn you Collin!
***IMPORTANT*** Out of everything, at least read this: EXPECT DELAYS. My mom's volunteered me to be her unofficial babysitting assistant, so that, mixed with school, will eat up some time. Sorry, but I'm trying!