I finally got brave enough to apologize to Bree. We all were hanging out in the living room after school. It was my last day here.
"I'm sorry Bree. Can you forgive me?" I asked after telling her how wrong it was to leave her hanging. Bree thought for a moment.
"I will if you tell me what Juvenile Detention is and why were you in it?" I had forgotten that Perry had mentioned my time at Juvie in front of her and Leo.
"It's sort of like a jail for people who aren't old enough to go to real jail." Leo explained, "What did you do to end up there?" All four looked at me expectantly and I sighed, knowing there was no way out of this. But I don't want to reveal anything about my past, they already know too much as it is. I guess I could tell the abbreviated version. It wasn't technically lying.
"It was a lot of smaller things that led up to one big thing." I started and I started fiddling with the sleeve of my shirt as I continued, "I uh- set off a bunch of fireworks in the girls bathroom. Turns out fireworks can cause fires, and aren't as pretty when they explode inside instead of the sky." All of them had shocked expressions and I found it a little funny. There's something about making people speechless that just amuses me.
"Why would you set off fireworks indoors?" Chase asked. I sighed again. I should have known I couldn't get away with just that, my superintelligence must not be working.
"I really don't want to talk about it." I said shortly, becoming closed off.
"Harper, we're friends. You can tell us anything." Bree said, trying to assure me. No, I can't tell them anything.
"You know how dumb and immature I can be. Do you really need to know anything else?" I said starting to get more agitated by the second.
"Harper-"
"I don't want to talk about it ok?" I snapped, and Bree was hurt by this. "Can't you just respect that?" I asked in a more quiet tone before getting up to leave the living room. But Mr. Davenport chose to come in at the worst time.
"What's going on."
"Harper was in Juvenile Detention for setting off fireworks inside her school. And she won't tell us why she did it." Bree told him and I glared at her.
"Harper?"
"What's the big deal? Why do you have to know about every little thing I do? Half the time I don't have a reason for doing things." Donald gave me a stern look. I hate it when he does that.
"Because I need to know if it was a good idea to let you go free with your bionics. How do I know you won't do something worse in the future with them?"
"Oh please, if I was going to do something insane with my bionics don't you think I would have done it by now?"
"I can't be sure." I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "I'm starting to realize that we don't know much about you or your past. You've done a great job in keeping it a secret. And now I'm wondering if I can trust you."
"Oh come on. Just because I'm not open about my past, you're going to question my trustworthiness, after everything I've done to prove myself?"
"I hate to say it, but yes. Either you be honest, which is still something you struggle with or I'll have to take extreme measures to make sure my family is safe." My eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean I'll have to send you to one of my heavily guarded secret facilities where you'll be kept an eye on 24/7."
"You can't do that." I protested and he crossed his arms.
"I can and will if you're going to keep secrets from us. Trust goes both ways and I can't trust you if you don't trust us."
"Well I don't- I mean -" I pinched the bridge of my nose as I became frustrated because I couldn't think of anything to say back other than then the truth. What else can I do?I throw my hands up.
"Fine. You wanna know about my past? Where do I begin? You already know I'm a foster child. Yeah, that's right, I don't come from a normal family. My parents abandoned me when I was three. And if you think people are accepting of kids like me, you're wrong. People are mean and in every school I've been bullied because of my situation. So forgive me if I didn't say anything to you, but you haven't lived the life I have. I have a hard time trusting people." I looked at the three bionic siblings, "You think living in a basement is bad? I would do anything to have been locked up, away from the cruel world. It got so bad at my last school I did what I did so I could leave there and start fresh somewhere else. And it would have worked if it weren't for you guys. I was already a freak and now I'm even more of one thanks to Douglas. There. Are you happy now?" I finished and turned my back to them. My hands were balled into fists and I could feel my nails digging into my skin and it's probably bleeding. All I could hear was the pounding of my heart. I've never willingly told anyone about being a foster child, let alone the bullying, and now I just spilled my guts to these people. I can't look at them, too afraid to see what their reactions are. They probably are now thinking I'm worthless and pathetic like I've been told I am. And I believe it.
A hand was put on my shoulder and I subconsciously jerked away from the contact. I suddenly felt like I needed to get away.
I ran out of the living room, up the stairs and into my room. After locking the door, I took a few shaky steps over to my bed and curled up into a ball on my side.
Memories of the abuse I suffered at the hands of many fellow students and foster parents alike plagued my mind and I couldn't stop them.
I wondered if I was going to have another panic attack, but I didn't and eventually I stopped crying, except the thoughts were still there. I was tired, but didn't want to fall asleep here. Laura was coming home tomorrow but I don't think it would be a problem if I went home a day early. I don't think I can stand another minute here. I've gotten too comfortable and suffered the consequences.
I packed up my things and snuck out through my window. A bionic ability I discovered was the ability to climb on walls without needing a rope or any equipment. Very useful, I think.
After super speeding home, I head inside and go to bed, dreading what tomorrow would bring.
Morning came and I barely got any sleep so I felt like a zombie. Even so, I couldn't stay idle. I busied myself by doing chores.
As I did them, what happened last night replayed over and over in my head. I was having mixed feelings about it. On one hand I was embarrassed for telling them about the bullying. I never intended on letting anyone know about it. When I came to Mission Creek High, I vowed to become a different person. Someone who didn't let anyone know that they got to me and who didn't need friends. But it seems my whole life is a series of unfortunate events and nothing can go my way.
Around midday I heard a knock on the door and I thought if I pretended to not be here, whoever was outside would go away.
"Harper? It's me, Chase." I closed my eyes and sighed internally. Why is he here? Doesn't matter, he doesn't know I'm here. "I know you're here, there's a light on."
"Harper isn't here." I said using vocal manipulation to sound like Laura. But Chase didn't buy it.
"Harper, I know that's you. Can you please open the door?"
"She's not here." I said more forcefully.
"Oh really? Fine." I don't hear him and wonder if he left. "You know I can scan through walls right? I see you by the door." I glared at the door.
"You know, some people find that rude." I said, dropping the act and using my normal voice.
"Well you left me no choice. Now, can you please let me in?" Sighing, I knew he wouldn't leave and opened the door.
"You know, I find you very annoying at times." I said with a glare.
"You're not the first person to say that." He replied and I stepped aside to let him in.
"How do you know where I live?"
"I used the satellite to track your phone." Most people would be creeped out by this, but to be honest I would have done the same thing.
"You're here by yourself?" I asked after looking outside before closing the door, seeing no one.
"No one knows I'm here. I just wanted to see if you were OK."
"Oh yeah, I'm fine." I said, "Great. Peachy. Magnificent. Superlative."
"Harper-" I snapped my fingers as I thought of another word.
"Splendiferous?" I interrupted and he gave me a look that said 'are you finished' but I saw a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Alright, I'm done." An awkward silence fell between us. Chase looked around the living room.
"So, this is where you live?" He asked, making conversation. I hid my embarrassment at how shabby this place looked compared to the Davenport Mansion and put on a fake smile.
"Yeah. Just like your place except instead of a state of the art security system we have a baseball bat and our basement is dark and probably housing a family of raccoons. Don't even get me started on the neighborhood. The police come by on a daily basis, so this area is totally safe and protected."
"I guess it's safe to say it's never boring around here." He said after a moment. I chuckled.
"I'm pretty sure you saw some interesting things on the way here that confirm that statement."
"Yep. Wish I hadn't." Another awkward silence and I decided to just get everything out in the open.
"Chase, why are you here?"
"I already told you why." He said and I rolled my eyes. Why does he have to be stubborn?
"I know you want to talk about last night so, out with it."
"I do, but not here." I raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant, "I looked online and saw that there's an ice cream shop about two miles from here."
"Are you bribing me with ice cream?" I asked, and I expected him to admit that he was joking.
"Whatever you want. You up for it?" Wait, he's not kidding? I pursed my lips. While I don't like being bribed, the thought of the creamy, delicious dessert was very tempting. But there was one problem.
"I think you know at this point I don't exactly have extra money lying around." I said with a slight bitterness and a hint of embarrassment.
"I'll pay as long as it gets you to come." Chase offered, and when I glanced at him he didn't look like he was annoyed or baffled by my lack of money. I sighed and nodded.
"Fine."
"Great. Uh, do you want to change first or..." I looked at myself and gasped when I realized I was still in my pajamas. I didn't bother to brush my hair and my face was most likely smeared with make up that I didn't bother to take off last night.
I super sped up to my room and made myself look presentable. Five minutes later I came back down and motioned for Chase who was sitting on the couch to get up.
"Let's go."
"I can't believe you made me get sugar free." I said as we sat at the front of the shop that had a bar with stools you could sit on and watch the world go by through the large windows that looked out onto the busy street.
"Hey, you wanted the large bowl and each scoop of ice cream has seventeen grams of sugar. You'll be bouncing off the walls." He told me. I scoffed.
"That's the whole point. Sugar makes me happy. I can't have coffee or energy drinks. Sugar is all I have left. At least I made up for the lack of it with toppings."
"I knew you would, which is also why I pushed for sugar free." Looking at him, I sighed.
"You know, it bugs me how smart you are that you can predict my pattern of behavior. Am I really that obvious to people?"
"In some ways yes. But, you can also be very unpredictable which is why Mr. Davenport is hard on you."
"I didn't ask him to do that. If it were my choice, I'd rip out my bionic chip and make everyone's life easier." I angrily took another bite of ice cream.
"Can I ask you something?" He asked after a couple tense minutes of us just eating in silence.
"Oh no, every time I'm asked that something goes horribly wrong."
"It's just a yes or no question." I reluctantly motion with my spoon to continue. "Do you trust us?" There's the question I dreaded he would ask. I wish I could lie, or tell him to get lost, but for some reason I couldn't be mean to Chase like before. I found myself tongue tied, because I didn't want to hurt his feelings.
"I..I...uh...I don't think...I mean..." Chase looked disappointed and I dropped my face in my hands. Why is this so hard?
"No?" He said, and my head shot up.
"No! I mean yes! But then no."
"I think it's obvious the answer is no."
"You said it not me." I muttered.
"Why don't you trust us?" He asked with a gentleness that I wasn't expecting. Why wasn't he angry?
"It's complicated." I murmured. Thanks to bionic hearing, Chase heard me perfectly.
"Try me." I became frustrated.
"Why do we have to talk about this? I think I said more than enough last night. What else do you want from me?" Chase remained calm which frustrated me even more.
"I don't want anything from you except to trust us."
"It's not that simple, Chase." I said, attempting to mirror his calmness and being only half successful, "I've been let down too many times by people I'm supposed to trust."
"But we're not like those people." He insisted and I groaned.
"I know!" I exclaimed, and some of the other patrons in the shop looked at us. Clearing my throat, I lowered my voice. "I know you people are different. And that's what scares me." Did I just admit to Chase that I was scared? What's happening to me?
But Chase didn't look like he judged me for admitting to it. He rested one of his hands on my shoulder, making me look at him. Our faces were less than a foot apart. His hazel eyes had me mesmerized with the gentleness they expressed.
"Harper, I know you've been hurt in the past. I'm the smartest man in the world and I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through. But it's made you one of the strongest and bravest person I know." I scoffed bitterly and looked away.
"You're just saying that."
"No, I mean it. You take risks and it's one of the things I admire most about you." I look at him, surprised. "You may think trusting us is a risk, but that's what you do. And I promise, this is one you won't regret. We're here for you..." He gently squeezed my shoulder, "I'm here for you." He finished in a softer tone that replaced the heaviness in my chest with a warmth that caused me to lift the corners of my mouth for a brief second at him.
"I don't know how you do it, but you make everything seem not so hopeless." He squeezed my shoulder again. "I just don't know if I can learn to trust again." I admitted, becoming tense again.
"Then we'll work on it. I'll help you, if you let me. It'll be like when I tutored you, minus the arguments."
"I'm not sure about the arguing." I stated in a half joking manner.
"Come on. Please?" He asked, his eyes becoming big and a slight pout formed on his lips. I looked at him, not impressed.
"Puppy dog eyes won't work on me." I said flatly, but I could feel my resolve to not give in slipping as his hazel eyes got bigger and I couldn't look away. "Stop it-I'm serious." I insisted and he rested his chin on my shoulder and I could feel my face turn a dark shade of red at his closeness - but I didn't hate it. In fact, that's what broke me and I groaned. "Ugh! Fine." I said, and he backed off and cheered quietly.
"Wasn't sure that would work." He admitted, making me scoff. Yeah right.
"Yeah well, like you said, I'm all about risk taking." I said, trying to get my face to turn back to it's normal shade.
"You'll thank me one day for this, I know you will."
"Let me guess, because you're the smartest person in the world and know everything?"
"You said it, not me." I smiled and lightly punched his shoulder.
While we finished our ice creams we chatted about different things. Like what it was like for him growing up in a lab, I told some funny stories about some of my past foster parents. As we left the ice cream shop we were finishing a discussion about a recent documentary Chase watched about the printing press. If I didn't have superintelligence I wouldn't have understood a word of it, or be interested in talking about it, period. I'm not even sure how we got on the subject.
I surprised myself by feeling disappointed when Chase got a mission alert on his phone.
"Great. There's a building on fire in downtown." Despite being bummed that we can't hang out I offered to superspeed him to the lab so he could get his gear.
When I got home I went to my room and flopped down on my bed with a sigh. Now that I was alone, whatever joy I was feeling had disappeared and I started second guessing everything.
Can I really trust the Davenports? Did Chase mean it when he said they were there for me? Am I worthy of their help?
I groaned and buried my face in my pillow. Why can't I just be happy over the fact that people want to help me with no hidden motive in mind? Why do I have to worry about every little thing, about things that haven't even happened yet? Can't I just stay in the moment and enjoy the few moments where my life isn't terrible?
Why can't I just let myself be happy?
A/N - I love writing scenes with just Harper and Chase! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!