Chapter 10: Runaway

Two days later, Harrie found herself back in Mr. Paulo's class, right behind Emmett (yes, she finally remembered his name) and as always, she couldn't concentrate in class at all. She was too preoccupied, wondering where Jasper was. Twenty minutes had passed since Mr. Paulo had begun his monologue and he was nowhere to be found.

'Is he going to show up at all?'

She sighed as she reluctantly pulled her eyes away from the door. She knew that she should be paying more attention in class but she couldn't find the energy to do more than listen in every five minutes. Instead, she preoccupied herself by admiring the wet scenery outside and watching for anything interesting to happen. That probably lasted her a good ten minutes. She tried counting droplets of water on the window pane before she noticed Emmett's reflection in the glass. Harrie smiled to herself. He looked just as bored as she was. A while back she had thought of asking him where Jasper was and a whole notebook page was filled with her lopsided handwriting about what to say. However, after too many failed attempts at trying to get big guy's attention, and accidentally catching the blonde sister's eye who had looked at her with such vehemence that it made her too frightened to continue, Harrie decided to just give up.

Harrie was jolted back into the presence when she heard Mr. Paulo's signature "Textbook Slam". He always gave the blackboard a swift swipe to wake them all up before he gave his last minute reminders. There weren't many today just the usual homework and a quick reminder about the project. 'Stupid project,' she thought. The project wouldn't have been such a nuisance if she could do it by herself. Even a fourth grader could whip up a family tree.

Everyone was practically clamoring for the door and Harrie decided that she didn't want to be left in the room with Mr. Paulo in case he found it necessary to irritate and embarrass her again. She quickly cleared out her things from her desk and dumped them all into her backpack and she was just about leave when something or rather someone made her stop in her tracks.

"Jasper…" she whispered his name in surprise. He was right there at the front of the class talking very animatedly with Mr. Paulo. 'What's he doing? He looks pissed.' Slowly, she started inching her way towards the front.

"No, Mr. Hale. You may not do the project alone. It's a pair-work, I'm sorry," Mr. Paulo explained. He looked agitated probably because Jasper was looking at him as if he were about to bite his head off. But Harrie didn't care about how Mr. Paulo was feeling (although looking back later, she was amazed that somebody had actually cowed the usually domineering teacher). All she cared about was what he had just said.

Harrie gritted her teeth. 'Bastard!' she thought, glaring at the back of Jasper's head. He instantly seemed to feel her presence because at almost the same moment, he looked back and he had a sad, apologetic look on his face. She could feel her whole body shaking in anger and she couldn't make her mouth move in order to shout at him so she just rushed passed him and out the of the classroom without so much as a word, slamming the door in the process.

She did not see Jasper again after that. Although, she secretly congratulated herself that she hadn't noticed at all. Only when she walked home from school did she realize that he hadn't attended Calculus either. As she trudged along, her head hidden underneath her hood, and her ears stuffed with earplugs, the music drowning out the noise, she reluctantly admitted to herself that she was no longer angry with him. She couldn't understand why though. All she felt now was overwhelming embarrassment because of her own actions. He was still a jerk for doing what he did but that didn't excuse her for the way she had acted. It was even worse that she had done so in front of Mr. Paulo.

'Great! Just another thing to worry about,' she thought glumly.

Her grandfather's house was probably only a block or so away now but Harrie no longer felt like going home. Biting her lip, she stopped and looked around. If she continued walking straight she'd arrive home in less than ten minutes. She'd meet Hen by the door and hug him like she always did when she came home and proceed to help make dinner. If she went home, she'd have to act as normally as possible. She would be pretend to be happy and talk about her day to Grandpa Steve as if nothing was wrong and she would ask Hen if he learned anything in school today. That's what she should do and if she walked straight home now, that's what would certainly happen.

But to her left was the sea. All she had to do was jump a few backyards, walk through the forest and she would end up there. She remembered doing this once before, one summer when she was younger. Old Mr. Jenkins' house – the typical town hermit – was right at the corner and she was pretty sure even after all these years, he had yet to board up that hole in his fence. Harrie was older now and much bigger than her thirteen-year-old scrawny self but that fence was old and was in dire need of repair. It was possible that the hole was even bigger from the wood rotting away and she was confident she could still squeeze through.

She was slowly walking towards the house now. For a moment she stopped and looked back and down the street that led her home. Then she looked up at the sky. It was cloudy yes, but she thought there was still enough light to get back home. 'Just a while,' she told herself and she hiked up her bag and made a dash over to Mr. Jenkins rundown shack.

To Be Continued…

oOoOo

A/n: Again another short chapter but I did update twice this week so I guess it's okay? :P Apologies for the lack of real Jasper/Harrie interaction and that this was mostly filler but it was needed so we could transition into more better stuff! Happy weekend to you all! :)