Letters To Juliet
By Triple Driple

Chapter 10: Cold Shoulder

Rating: T
Contains: Violence & minor expression of emotions (nothing too extreme!)
Disclaimer: I am only a fan of the show, I do not own anything!

Chapter 10: Cold Shoulder

The more I thought about it… the more I felt like a jerk. Kim must've shadowed her true feelings for her father and how devastated she is about his death. I'm shadowing my mistakes from the world just to keep myself from falling. Are her and I really more similar than I thought?

I continued sitting there as I thought of the possibility… I shook off the feeling trying to ignore the feeling. All I knew was that I had to apologize to Kim.

XXxxXX

Why is Kim so difficult? I tried to apologize so many times today but she just wouldn't let me. I approached her in the morning before school but she just took her skateboard and rode off before I could even start. At school, in the halls I came up to her locked when she was taking books for her next class but she just slipped on the bud of her earphones into her ear, switched on her iPod and closed her locker, walking away leaving me to look like an idiot.

I tried to talk to her at lunch but she just exchanged tables to eat with Grace, Mika and Milton's girlfriend Julie. I was practically invisible to her, she just walked right by me as if I was a ghost and I hated it. Even at the dojo, she always asked if she could work on a punching dummy instead of sparring with me when Rudy says so.

I cornered her when she was at the beach on the Wednesday afternoon of that week, watching the waves. I walked up to her quietly, cracking a seashell catching her attention. She just turned her head to me and turned it back to the ocean. I took a deep breath once more and walked up next to her. She didn't go, she just ignored my presence keeping quiet so I decided to follow her suit and do so.

The tension was so thick that it could be sliced with a knife, I wasn't so sure whether I should be the one to talk first or just walk away until she did the unexpected,

"What are you doing out here?" Kim asked, keeping her eyes to the ocean

"It's a free country isn't it?" I said and she just shook her head

"How's Craig?" She asked, remembering the fact that my dad was a bit under the weather.

"He's doing fine." I answered before we fell into an uncomfortable silence which I bravely broke. "Look Kim,"

"Jack, if you're here to apologize… you're wasting your time." She said and I sighed

"I'm sorry about everything but if you don't want my apology, I won't say it." I said

"You just did." Kim chuckled and I smiled to see that she and I could get through a sentence without her keeping away from me. We stood there in an awkward silence which I honestly couldn't take. Before I could attempt to break it she spoke,

"If been thinking of what you said that day… about you caring about me," She said and I bowed my head trying to keep from her gaze. "I'm sorry that I punched you in the face and for giving you the cold shoulder but— I don't like people digging into my past like it's some juicy scandal and the fact that we got off the wrong foot when we first met kind of— I couldn't think straight."

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked after her rant, lifting my head to look at her "I'm the one who wronged you… you did nothing to me. I guess I just— I don't even know why I read it anymore." I shook my head

"It's alright," Kim told me "I was acting pretty strange and I did tell you that I lost it. You just drew the pieces together."

"I guess I did," I shrugged "So, am I forgiven?"

"Yes you are." She said "As long as you don't do it again!" She threatened

"Did you see the punch you gave me?" I remarked "Trust me, I won't." She chuckled and muttered another 'sorry' again before we fell into an awkward silence.

"Why are you hanging out here with me?" She asked and I eyed her awkwardly. What kind of question was that?

"What?" That was all I could say out of the shock

"I mean— you read what was in my binder." Kim said "You must think I'm some psycho chick, writing letters to… my dad."

"No, of course not." I said "Everyone has a way to cope with pain and that's your way of doing it so I won't judge you at all."

"To think I thought you were a shallow, cocky freak." Kim said and I sarcastically gasped.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me." I said turning my head back to the ocean.

"Like the reason why you're here?" Kim suggested and I shook my head. She sighed and continued "Jack, your dad mentioned it once or twice that the reason why you're here is because you did something horrible back home."

"That guy's got a mouth on him!" I muttered, referring to Dad.

"If it's personal then… I won't ask." Kim said in a low voice.

"It's not that it's personal, it's just—" I cut myself off

"It's just what?" She asked

"I'm not comfortable talking about it," I said "But if I ever do want advice about it, I'll come to you… I promise." Surprisingly, I was telling the truth. Somehow, I trusted Kim more than anyone right now. Now that I think of it, she's the only person who can keep me sane… ever since I got this town.

"But what about Craig," Kim asked and I rolled my eyes knowing where this conversation was going. "Jack, he is your dad and he deserves to know more than I do. You can't keep shunning him out like he means nothing to you."

"It's not that I'm— shunning him out, I just…" I trailed off finding the right words before I faced Kim again "Even if he's my father, I feel like I barely know him."

"Then why don't you try to get to know him some more?" Kim asked

"I want to but… it is because he won't try to take the first step," I said with a slight growl in my tone.

"You don't have to wait for him to make the first step." Kim told me "Even if he has, you haven't noticed because you were pushing him away. You have to go out there and take it. Not wait until you're ready because you will never be ready until you actually take the chance."

I sighed and looked to the sand. "I'll work on it." I mumbled, turning back to look at her and she nodded.

"See you later," She said walking back to her house and I watched her leave. I left back into the house, Kim was right and I acknowledged that but question is… Am I strong enough to do it?

XXxxXX

The next day after a got home from school, I dropped my bag in my room and began to work on an essay for History class on my computer when I got a request for an online chat from KN47 which was Kelsey. I hadn't talked to her in a while and to be honest— I might've forgotten about her a bit but it didn't matter.

I accepted and she appeared on the screen, her brunet her in a fringe covering her green eyes as usual but she had a small smile which wasn't really seen with her, she looked half sad yet half happy.

"Hey Jackie," She said and I rolled my eyes at the name with a smile.

"Hey Kels, so how have things been over there?" I asked

"It's alright." She said, her voice dripping in boredom "So how's dull, old Seaford?"

"It's actually pretty nice here." I said and she nodded. It was awkward nowadays because we barely talked and now we had nothing to talk about. "Kels, is there something wrong?"

"Actually, we need to talk." She said sternly.