Scott's World-CH. 18
Group one had arrived back at Horizon in record time. This was do to their fierce leader Scott who had pushed the group beyond their limits. Everyone in the group was moaning and groaning most of the way until they had heard how impressed Peter was of them.
"Well I see that you guys must have finally stopped horsing around and put your heads together. I'm real proud of all of you. You guys may have set a new record here. I'll let you guy's kick back for the remainder of the day until the second group shows up. Natalie I need to see you in my office."
After Natalie put her gear away she went to see what Peter had wanted. She knocked on his office door and He told her to come in.
"Natalie you just don't seem like the kind of person that belongs here."
She thought that she must have done something real bad but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it possibly could be. "I don't understand. What did I do?"
"No you misunderstood me. You haven't done anything wrong. In fact that's one of the reasons you don't belong here. Almost everyone else here does do something wrong at some time or another but the worse thing that you've ever done is stay out past curfew once. What I'm trying to say is that I wasn't a bit surprised when your father called earlier today to say that he was coming to take you home. Evidently he found out that your stepmother has making a lot of the allegations up about you in order to get you out of the house. So you can go pack your bags because he'll be here in a couple of hours."
Natalie was so overjoyed that she let out a small scream. "I knew my dad would figure it out eventually."
"I hope that you haven't regretted any of your stay here and just maybe you have learned something."
"Yes actually I have. You've really taught me how to listen and communicate with people that I would normally not have anything to do with. Maybe I'll look at others as not necessarily as being different but as having different needs."
"Good tool to use. Go pack up and say goodbye to whoever you can. I'll come get you when he gets here."
Scott paced around the grounds looking bored because Shelby wasn't back from her quest yet. All the trouble he went through to get back in a hurry to see her and she wasn't there. The only thing that kept him from thinking about her was the man that he had run into in the woods. He was standing in the middle of the gazebo in a daze thinking about it when Peter came up.
"Well you look like you're in deep in thought. Care to share your thoughts with me?"
"I was just thinking about a man that we ran into just past the ridge over there."
This got Peter on guard. "What man? What did he look like and what was he doing?"
"He said that he was a hiker taking pictures but things just didn't seem normal."
"How so?"
"Well he had all this high tech equipment with cameras and computers and stuff. When I asked him about it he became very defensive and told me to mind my own business."
Peter was getting worried. He feared that Horizon was being spied on. "Can you show me actually where he was and take me there?"
"Yea it's only about 10-15 minutes away from here."
"Let me go tell Sophie that we're leaving just in case Natalie's dad shows up."
"Why is Natalie's dad coming?"
"He is coming to take her home so if you want to go say good bye you should do it now."
Scott walked over to the girl's dorm and knocked on the door. Juliet answered and told Scott that Natalie was inside packing and she left so that they could be alone. Scott walked around the corner and sat on Shelby's bed.
"Hey!"
Natalie looked up from what she was doing. "Hi. I didn't hear you come in."
"Yea, Peter told me that you were leaving."
"Yeah my dad finally figured out the wicked stepmother."
Scott had a solemn look on his face, "I wish that my dad would figure mine out. I mean she left him but he still refuses to put any blame on her."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I came to say that I'm sorry about what I said to you yesterday. I sometimes put my foot in my mouth. I speak before I think."
"Well if that's your only bad trait than I think you'll survive in life."
With a smile, "Thanks."
"I guess I owe you an apology too. I don't want you to take what happened as your entire fault. I was there because I wanted to be there and I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you. It doesn't matter that you used me to replace Shelby. She's a very lucky girl to have you."
"I don't want you to think that I used you. You were there for me when I needed someone and I appreciate the time you spent with me. You'll make someone someday happy also. I wish you the best."
They both seemed to be a little teary eyed from expression their deep thoughts towards each other. They both came to each other and gave each other a big comforting hug. In the middle of the hug Shelby walked in from her quest.
Shelby looked on in surprise and said, "Is their anything that I should know about here?" She folded her arms across her chest and looked pissed.
"Shelby your back."
"I guess back a little to soon for you right?" She turned to leave but Natalie ran over to her and grabbed her arm.
"Shelby wait. It's not what you think. He was just saying good bye because I'm leaving Horizon for good as soon as my dad gets here."
Shelby looked up into Scott's eyes and saw the pleading forgiving look. "Shelby it's true. I was just wishing her good luck in the real world. Don't be mad. You know my feelings for you."
"Shelby I just want to say that you are a very lucky girl to have someone like him. Don't screw it up with jealousy. His heart has always belonged to you."
"Yea, well it's hard to turn away from those sad puppy dog eyes. I forgive you."
Scott let out a sigh of relief when Shelby said that. He went over to her and wrapped his arms around her for a big bear hug. "Welcome back, I missed you."
They started kissing when Peter walked in.
"Scott let's go. 1 2 3. One you're not supposed to be in the girl's dorm, two that's inappropriate touching and 3 you're suppose to be showing me where you came in contact with that man so lets go. Natalie Sophie will alert you when your dad comes if I'm not back in time. I should only be gone for 30 minutes. "
Peter follows Scott up into the hills where Scott remembers seeing the questionable looking man. Once they get to the sight Peter started looking around like he was trying to find something.
"What are you looking for," Scott asked.
"Anything that may have been left behind that could give us a clue as to who he was or what his real purpose was."
"You don't think that he was just a hiker?"
"No they wouldn't be foolish to carry all that equipment that you saw. I'm sure it probably took him more than one trip to bring all that stuff up here." He couldn't help but think about the phone call that he got several days ago from Scott's father. He pondered the thought and than spoke.
"Scott what do you know about your grandfather?"
"Nothing. I don't have one. My mother's father died when she was a teenager and I never heard my dad mention his father so I never asked. What does that have to do with anything?"
"I guess I should tell you about a phone call that I received from your father the other day." Peter proceeded to tell Scott the details of the conversation that he had with Martin.
Scott didn't know what to say or how to feel. It was a very confusing time for him. "I'm sorry but I just don't get it. The guy disowns my father and later wants to lay claim on his son. That doesn't make sense."
"Apparently he is a very powerful man and he wants to lay claim on the only grandson he has and that apparently is you."
Scott sarcasticly says, "Boy don't I feel special," and then he starts to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"Can you see the old man's face when he finds out that his grandson is a sexually abused, drug using depressed juvenile delinquent? I turned out worse than my dad did and look what he did to him?" He was really laughing now and the more Peter thought about it the funnier it became to him also.
"Yeah, I guess he really should stay away if he knows what's good for him." This just made Scott laugh even more. After the two were able to finally control themselves they decided to sit down on the ridge looking over the school. It was a beautiful sight and Peter actually felt that he had accomplished some quality bonding time with Scott. He wondered if he should press his luck and ask about Scott's last visit at home.
"Scott how come you never talk about your last visit at home with your dad?"
"I don't know. What's there to talk about?"
"Well first, how about what caused you two to not get along?"
Scott sat silently trying to arrange his thoughts in his head. Peter gave him the time he needed. Scott looked up into Peter's eyes and saw the deep concern this man had for his welfare. Sometimes Scott wished his own father had the patience and compassion that Peter had.
"I just don't think that we can ever get along as long as he still blames me for what happened between Elaine and me."
"I don't think he blames you Scott. I just think that he has a hard time understanding how it could have happened."
"No he blames me because he said that I should have stopped it and I should have been able to control myself." Scott's head is all of a sudden overflowing with all the painful memories. Tears start running down his face as he becomes like a small kid searching for help. "I said no Peter, I said no over and over again and she just wouldn't get her hands off me. I didn't know what to do I didn't know how to stop her," he fell into Peter's opened arms and wept as Peter gently stroked his head and rubbed his back.
"It's ok to let it out Scott. You've been holding it in for so long. You can't let what your father thinks hold you back from moving forward with your life."
"I can't help it. What he thinks has always mattered to me. Everything I do is for his approval."
"But what about you? You've got to run the show called Scott Barringer. You need to get your own approval of yourself before you can please others. If you don't like yourself than how can you expect others to like you. Think about what it is that you want in life and not what you think your father wants. Do you know what that is?"
"No I just want him to except me for who I am and not be what he wants me to be. I just want him to love me."
"I know he loves you in his own way Scott. If he didn't than he wouldn't have sent you to a place where he thought that you could get some help. Is his blaming you the only thing that you have a problem with?"
Scott sat back down and rested his back up against a tree. He looked up into the sky and blinked. "No, it bothers me that he reverted to violence."
"Do you care to expand on that?"
Scott looked over at Peter, "Come on Peter I thought you were brighter than that."
"Ok let me take a stab in the dark here. The bruises and the cut on your face when you arrived were a result from your fathers temper."
"Give the man a cigar."
"That's a lot of weight you've been carrying around with you. You know I need to call CPS about this don't you?"
"No. If you do than I'll deny it all."
"Why Scott? Don't you think it could happen again?"
"Because I love him. He's my dad and he's the only one I'll ever have."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile back at the school Shelby was anxiously waiting for the supply truck to arrive. When it did she hung around while the delivery guy unloaded supplies. She took one of the boxes and hid it behind something else. She wanted to get her hands on the outgoing invoice that contained the list of supplies for the next shipment. Once she saw the delivery guy put the clipboard with the invoice in his truck she informed him that he had forgotten one box. When he went to the back of the truck to find it, she grabbed the invoice and added a minor change to the list. Now all she had to do was to make sure that she would be available when the truck came back in a couple of days. A bright smile came to her as she anticipated what she had in store for a romantic evening with Scott.
To be continued
Group one had arrived back at Horizon in record time. This was do to their fierce leader Scott who had pushed the group beyond their limits. Everyone in the group was moaning and groaning most of the way until they had heard how impressed Peter was of them.
"Well I see that you guys must have finally stopped horsing around and put your heads together. I'm real proud of all of you. You guys may have set a new record here. I'll let you guy's kick back for the remainder of the day until the second group shows up. Natalie I need to see you in my office."
After Natalie put her gear away she went to see what Peter had wanted. She knocked on his office door and He told her to come in.
"Natalie you just don't seem like the kind of person that belongs here."
She thought that she must have done something real bad but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it possibly could be. "I don't understand. What did I do?"
"No you misunderstood me. You haven't done anything wrong. In fact that's one of the reasons you don't belong here. Almost everyone else here does do something wrong at some time or another but the worse thing that you've ever done is stay out past curfew once. What I'm trying to say is that I wasn't a bit surprised when your father called earlier today to say that he was coming to take you home. Evidently he found out that your stepmother has making a lot of the allegations up about you in order to get you out of the house. So you can go pack your bags because he'll be here in a couple of hours."
Natalie was so overjoyed that she let out a small scream. "I knew my dad would figure it out eventually."
"I hope that you haven't regretted any of your stay here and just maybe you have learned something."
"Yes actually I have. You've really taught me how to listen and communicate with people that I would normally not have anything to do with. Maybe I'll look at others as not necessarily as being different but as having different needs."
"Good tool to use. Go pack up and say goodbye to whoever you can. I'll come get you when he gets here."
Scott paced around the grounds looking bored because Shelby wasn't back from her quest yet. All the trouble he went through to get back in a hurry to see her and she wasn't there. The only thing that kept him from thinking about her was the man that he had run into in the woods. He was standing in the middle of the gazebo in a daze thinking about it when Peter came up.
"Well you look like you're in deep in thought. Care to share your thoughts with me?"
"I was just thinking about a man that we ran into just past the ridge over there."
This got Peter on guard. "What man? What did he look like and what was he doing?"
"He said that he was a hiker taking pictures but things just didn't seem normal."
"How so?"
"Well he had all this high tech equipment with cameras and computers and stuff. When I asked him about it he became very defensive and told me to mind my own business."
Peter was getting worried. He feared that Horizon was being spied on. "Can you show me actually where he was and take me there?"
"Yea it's only about 10-15 minutes away from here."
"Let me go tell Sophie that we're leaving just in case Natalie's dad shows up."
"Why is Natalie's dad coming?"
"He is coming to take her home so if you want to go say good bye you should do it now."
Scott walked over to the girl's dorm and knocked on the door. Juliet answered and told Scott that Natalie was inside packing and she left so that they could be alone. Scott walked around the corner and sat on Shelby's bed.
"Hey!"
Natalie looked up from what she was doing. "Hi. I didn't hear you come in."
"Yea, Peter told me that you were leaving."
"Yeah my dad finally figured out the wicked stepmother."
Scott had a solemn look on his face, "I wish that my dad would figure mine out. I mean she left him but he still refuses to put any blame on her."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I came to say that I'm sorry about what I said to you yesterday. I sometimes put my foot in my mouth. I speak before I think."
"Well if that's your only bad trait than I think you'll survive in life."
With a smile, "Thanks."
"I guess I owe you an apology too. I don't want you to take what happened as your entire fault. I was there because I wanted to be there and I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you. It doesn't matter that you used me to replace Shelby. She's a very lucky girl to have you."
"I don't want you to think that I used you. You were there for me when I needed someone and I appreciate the time you spent with me. You'll make someone someday happy also. I wish you the best."
They both seemed to be a little teary eyed from expression their deep thoughts towards each other. They both came to each other and gave each other a big comforting hug. In the middle of the hug Shelby walked in from her quest.
Shelby looked on in surprise and said, "Is their anything that I should know about here?" She folded her arms across her chest and looked pissed.
"Shelby your back."
"I guess back a little to soon for you right?" She turned to leave but Natalie ran over to her and grabbed her arm.
"Shelby wait. It's not what you think. He was just saying good bye because I'm leaving Horizon for good as soon as my dad gets here."
Shelby looked up into Scott's eyes and saw the pleading forgiving look. "Shelby it's true. I was just wishing her good luck in the real world. Don't be mad. You know my feelings for you."
"Shelby I just want to say that you are a very lucky girl to have someone like him. Don't screw it up with jealousy. His heart has always belonged to you."
"Yea, well it's hard to turn away from those sad puppy dog eyes. I forgive you."
Scott let out a sigh of relief when Shelby said that. He went over to her and wrapped his arms around her for a big bear hug. "Welcome back, I missed you."
They started kissing when Peter walked in.
"Scott let's go. 1 2 3. One you're not supposed to be in the girl's dorm, two that's inappropriate touching and 3 you're suppose to be showing me where you came in contact with that man so lets go. Natalie Sophie will alert you when your dad comes if I'm not back in time. I should only be gone for 30 minutes. "
Peter follows Scott up into the hills where Scott remembers seeing the questionable looking man. Once they get to the sight Peter started looking around like he was trying to find something.
"What are you looking for," Scott asked.
"Anything that may have been left behind that could give us a clue as to who he was or what his real purpose was."
"You don't think that he was just a hiker?"
"No they wouldn't be foolish to carry all that equipment that you saw. I'm sure it probably took him more than one trip to bring all that stuff up here." He couldn't help but think about the phone call that he got several days ago from Scott's father. He pondered the thought and than spoke.
"Scott what do you know about your grandfather?"
"Nothing. I don't have one. My mother's father died when she was a teenager and I never heard my dad mention his father so I never asked. What does that have to do with anything?"
"I guess I should tell you about a phone call that I received from your father the other day." Peter proceeded to tell Scott the details of the conversation that he had with Martin.
Scott didn't know what to say or how to feel. It was a very confusing time for him. "I'm sorry but I just don't get it. The guy disowns my father and later wants to lay claim on his son. That doesn't make sense."
"Apparently he is a very powerful man and he wants to lay claim on the only grandson he has and that apparently is you."
Scott sarcasticly says, "Boy don't I feel special," and then he starts to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"Can you see the old man's face when he finds out that his grandson is a sexually abused, drug using depressed juvenile delinquent? I turned out worse than my dad did and look what he did to him?" He was really laughing now and the more Peter thought about it the funnier it became to him also.
"Yeah, I guess he really should stay away if he knows what's good for him." This just made Scott laugh even more. After the two were able to finally control themselves they decided to sit down on the ridge looking over the school. It was a beautiful sight and Peter actually felt that he had accomplished some quality bonding time with Scott. He wondered if he should press his luck and ask about Scott's last visit at home.
"Scott how come you never talk about your last visit at home with your dad?"
"I don't know. What's there to talk about?"
"Well first, how about what caused you two to not get along?"
Scott sat silently trying to arrange his thoughts in his head. Peter gave him the time he needed. Scott looked up into Peter's eyes and saw the deep concern this man had for his welfare. Sometimes Scott wished his own father had the patience and compassion that Peter had.
"I just don't think that we can ever get along as long as he still blames me for what happened between Elaine and me."
"I don't think he blames you Scott. I just think that he has a hard time understanding how it could have happened."
"No he blames me because he said that I should have stopped it and I should have been able to control myself." Scott's head is all of a sudden overflowing with all the painful memories. Tears start running down his face as he becomes like a small kid searching for help. "I said no Peter, I said no over and over again and she just wouldn't get her hands off me. I didn't know what to do I didn't know how to stop her," he fell into Peter's opened arms and wept as Peter gently stroked his head and rubbed his back.
"It's ok to let it out Scott. You've been holding it in for so long. You can't let what your father thinks hold you back from moving forward with your life."
"I can't help it. What he thinks has always mattered to me. Everything I do is for his approval."
"But what about you? You've got to run the show called Scott Barringer. You need to get your own approval of yourself before you can please others. If you don't like yourself than how can you expect others to like you. Think about what it is that you want in life and not what you think your father wants. Do you know what that is?"
"No I just want him to except me for who I am and not be what he wants me to be. I just want him to love me."
"I know he loves you in his own way Scott. If he didn't than he wouldn't have sent you to a place where he thought that you could get some help. Is his blaming you the only thing that you have a problem with?"
Scott sat back down and rested his back up against a tree. He looked up into the sky and blinked. "No, it bothers me that he reverted to violence."
"Do you care to expand on that?"
Scott looked over at Peter, "Come on Peter I thought you were brighter than that."
"Ok let me take a stab in the dark here. The bruises and the cut on your face when you arrived were a result from your fathers temper."
"Give the man a cigar."
"That's a lot of weight you've been carrying around with you. You know I need to call CPS about this don't you?"
"No. If you do than I'll deny it all."
"Why Scott? Don't you think it could happen again?"
"Because I love him. He's my dad and he's the only one I'll ever have."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile back at the school Shelby was anxiously waiting for the supply truck to arrive. When it did she hung around while the delivery guy unloaded supplies. She took one of the boxes and hid it behind something else. She wanted to get her hands on the outgoing invoice that contained the list of supplies for the next shipment. Once she saw the delivery guy put the clipboard with the invoice in his truck she informed him that he had forgotten one box. When he went to the back of the truck to find it, she grabbed the invoice and added a minor change to the list. Now all she had to do was to make sure that she would be available when the truck came back in a couple of days. A bright smile came to her as she anticipated what she had in store for a romantic evening with Scott.
To be continued