Memories-Part 5
Disclaimer- I don't own any original higher Ground characters. BLAH BLAH BLAH But I do own Jordan Thomas, his mom and stepdad Kendra and Jackson. His sister Hailey Jade and bother Dillion. His social Worker Max Anderson and Helen Brandon. I also own Jill Trinity, the mail lady and her little nephew Alex.
In this chapter- Jordan's meeting with Peter, Jordan's letters. And Jeff's first real date with Jill.
PLEASE REVIEW!!! PRETTY PLEASE
PETER'S OFFICE-
Jordan ran into Peter's office. The door was open, or else he would have knocked. He was surprised that Peter wasn't there. Only Sophie. And she looked like she had something on her mind.
"Hey Sophie." He said awkwardly. "Where's Peter?" He asked.
" Peter had to get a fax from town because ours isn't working He'll be back in a few minutes. Have a seat" She said. "Relax."
Jordan sat awkwardly. (Have you ever noticed that when someone tells you to relax it makes you uneasier?) Well, Jordan felt really awkward now. He sat back in the chair and put his hands in his Pockets, he felt the 2 letters he had in his pocket. Jamie's, and Hailey and Dillion's.
"Do you have anything to do while we wait?" Sophie asked.
"I've got mail to read." He said taking out Jamie's letter and his parents.
"You can read them if you want to. I'm going to call Peter." Sophie said and left the room.
Jordan got up and looked quickly out the door to see if anyone was coming. Then he took out Jamie's letter and ripped it open. It had a slight hint of the sent of her favorite perfume on it. It was Jordan's favorite too and he smiled while he imagined her there with him.
He unfolded the letter. It was 3 pages long. He saw the slight curve in her handwriting. That meant she had taken a long time writing it, trying to make it look nice because usually her writing was kind of sloppy but this wasn't.
"Dear Jordan, Hey honey (just joking). I miss you here at home. So do Rylan and Jake. Rylan is in kindergarten now. Can you believe they just grow up so fast :). Mom and dad miss you to. They wish they had known you were leaving. They were going to give you a goodbye present. Jake got you something that mom and dad will be sending you soon. I think they're waiting for you to get settled in. Cause you really don't want to get it before people make solid opinions of you because this could ruin it all. (A hint- it has something to do with rocks and paint- a pet rock, how babyish right :))"
Jordan laughed and but down the letter for a minute to check the door to see if Peter or Sophie was coming in yet. They weren't so he picked up the letter again.
"Anyway, How is Mount Horizon? That's the name of the school right? I wish I could say that I couldn't believe they sent you there. But I guess it's for the best... maybe. I just don't get why. I mean there is nothing really totally wrong with you is there Jordan? I mean you would tell me wouldn't you. Maybe it was your stealing, or the running, or the cutting. I wish you wouldn't do that, cutting. I hate to see you do that to yourself. I hope you aren't doing it there Jordan, I want you to get better. But I guess I'm glad you're out of there though Jordan. Jackson was going to ruin you. I see you becoming like him everyday. And I don't want them to do that to you, to ruin you like that Jordan I mean he's not that bad really but he's definitely NOT like your dad was.. I want you to be like your dad. Wasn't he cool. Remember when it was your birthday and he took us to the mountains? Now that was awesome. I hope that you tell them at horizon about him. Make yourself remember when it was good and not crappy. I miss you so much Jordan. I miss seeing you there in your yard outside my bedroom window in the morning. I miss your smile, well when you did smile. I miss talking to you and knowing how you are. Even though I know you kept stuff from me. I know there's something that your hiding from me Jordan. I just wish I knew what. Just do me one favor if you love me and my family and your brother and sister as much as I know you do. Tell the people what your secret is. Like the old saying 'The truth will set you free.' I think you need a dose of the truth. Love ya, Jamie!!"
"'The truth will set you free.' What kind of line is that." Jordan said to himself. "They also said 'The truth hurts.' If I remember correctly."
Jordan reread the last part of the letter.
"She knows." He said to himself. "She knows, but I have no idea how she knows. But she knows about mom and Jackson and 'it'."
The idea that Jamie might know the truth about his home life sickened him. They had been friends forever and after Jackson and Kendra had started hitting him real bad and stuff Jordan had tried to hide "it" from her. He wanted her to think he was safe now. She had always cared so much about him, even when they were little and the thought of her worrying so much about him if she knew that they hit him. His mind wandered back for an example to reassure that he was "justified" in not telling her. An earlier memory came up.
******FLASHBACK*******
Jordan sat on the steps in front of his house. It was late spring. His dad was getting worse and Jordan, even at 6, knew he wouldn't last much longer. Tears fell from his eyes. His dad was everything to him. His whole world. But Jordan knew he'd die soon. He started crying. He tried to wipe his tears on his navy blue top but they kept flowing.
That's when he saw Jamie coming from 2 houses down. He tried harder to wipe the tears away cause he knew that would make her cry to. By the time Jamie came the tears were gone.
"You were crying." Jamie said sadly. "What's wrong?"
Jordan looked at her. 'Girls' he thought. Boys weren't supposed to like girls when they were six. But Jamie, he couldn't stop liking Jamie. She looked as sad as he felt.
"Daddy's gonna die." He said solomly, looking intently on a piece of leaf on the grass so he wouldn't have to see her eyes.
"Are you sure? I don't want your dad to go away." She said crying to.
"Mommy says so."
That's when Jamie started crying. Jordan couldn't cry cause he didn't want her to cry harder.
*********END FLASHBACK**************
"Maybe she doesn't know." Jordan said trying to convince himself of the idea. But that wasn't working. 'I mean how could she.'
Another good question. How could she have known about "it". But before he could think of an answer Peter and Sophie came in.
"Sorry I'm late Jordan." Peter said as he sat down in his chair. "I had to go to town to pick up some stuff for our meeting."
Jordan winced at the idea of what Peter might have. Police reports, medical reports, school documents what? Not knowing what Peter had and what he could use against him made Jordan feel uneasy, and more than that vulnerable. And Jordan hated that feeling cause it meant that you could get hurt more easily. He needed to swallow hard because his mouth got so dry.
"Wha...What kind of stuff?" he said almost choking on the words.
Sophie and Peter sent a look at each other over Jordan's head. They could feel how tense Jordan was and it was kind of worrying them.
"Nothing really. We just got a hold of some sources back home. Mainly the police station. I wanted to know what could be the problem because we really can't identify a real reason that you're here." Sophie said, trying to be serious but comforting.
"Cause they wanted me off their backs. My parents. They never wanted me" He said to them in reaction.
Peter and Sophie looked at him. He had no anger in his voice. Well just a bit but for the reason that they didn't realize what he thought they should know. But besides that it held no emotion. It was like, Peter and Sophie thought, that he really believed it was true.
"By the way. They sent me this." He said throwing the letter on Peter's desk. "I DON'T want it."
Peter looked at the letter and then at Jordan. "Okay. We'll keep it for later then. Just incase you change your mind."
"Whatever." Jordan said giving up. He didn't care. The letter cold sit there in Peter's desk for all of eternity and he would be affected by it one bit.
"Anyway." Sophie interjected trying to change the subject. "We would like to talk to you about you."
Jordan took a breath. He closed his eyes for a minute. He didn't want to talk about himself. That lead to secrets being told and stuff. Almost like the first day when Peter had asked him why he cut.
"Jordan?" Sophie asked, shaking Jordan from his thoughts. "You okay."
Jordan didn't look up but nodded his head. "yeah. I'm fine. Talk."
"Jordan, who was your social Worker back home? Did you have one?" Peter asked.
Jordan laughed sarcastically. Usually case workers dropped faster than flies around him. Things always happened that made them leave his case. "Max Anderson." Max said naming his last social worker. "My brother and sister, theirs is Helen Bradley. If that was the second question you were going to ask. And I know it was." He said.
Peter wrote the names down. He'd have to call them later. He looked at his watch. The meeting was nearly finished and they hadn't covered anything yet. Especially not the idea of the solo hike. But it seamed like Sophie read his mind because the next question she asked was;
"Jordan, how do you feel about going on a solo?" Sophie asked.
A smile crept on Jordans face and then disapeared quickly. Hikes brought back so many memories of his father that even brief ones, like the short quests the Cliffhangers went on, reminded him of the camping out he had done with his dad.
Jordan hoped no one had seen his smile, but Sophie had. "I guess that's a yes." She said cheerfully. But there was no cheerful response from Jordan.
Memories hurt. Jordan knew that hiking alone would make this happen. And he had heard about solo hikes. You have to reconnect to your "inner child" and Jordan's childhood hadn't been the best. As much as he wanted the hike he didn't want to face the memories.
"I didn't say anything." Jordan said. He looked down at the floor again and just shut up.
A few more questions were asked. But Jordan wouldn't answer. He didn't look up from the floor and he wouldn't respond in the slightest. Finally Sophie and Peter gave up.
"You can go Jordan." Peter said hiding the disappointment that he was feeling.
As Jordan got up and walked out of Peter's office, Sophie gave a disappointed look to Peter. The smile had meant something. But after that Jordan shut down. That was the scary thing. The shutting down.
"I don't like this Peter. I don't like this one bit." Sophie said as she too left. She had Kitchen Supervision next.
And Peter had to agree with her. Something was definitely wrong with the way Jordan was acting and neither of them liked it very much.
LATER ON THAT DAY
Jeff sat at a table at Rusty's. A country song playing in the background. Jeff was on his 2nd glass of Coca-Cola. He sat in a book along fidling with the straw wrapper. Jill was supposed to have met him 1/2 an hour ago.
"Maybe I'm early." Jeff thought. Then he checked his watch. 7:30. The date was to have started at 7 on the dot. "Or maybe she's just extremely late."
A few more minutes past before Jeff thought he should call Jill. He went to the back of Rusty's and dialed but just as the first ring came, Jill ran in.
"Sorry I'm late." she said tripping over her own feet and falling into Jeff's arms, causing him to fall over also.
Everyone in the restaurant turned to look what the noise was. Jeff and Jill got up shyly and brushed themselves off. They went to the booth Jeff had set aside for them laughing.
"Sorry I was late. My nephew was over and he's a teenager. So I had to take him to his mom's. And my sister insisted I stay for a while." Jill said babling. They were both nervous.
"It's okay" Jeff said, reaching for the pitcher of Soda. "Coke?"
"Sure." Jill said as she handed her glass to him.
But of course Jeff spilled it. It got all over.
"I'm so sorry." Jeff said blushing.
As they went to pick up the soda they both bumped heads. And they started laughing more. By the end of the date they were both sticky from the soda, had bruises on their heads and elbows from bumping into and falling onto each other, and their stomachs both hurt from laughing so much. And the sad thing is is that they set up another date.
"See you next Thursday." Jeff called as he walked away from Jills house. Almost tripping into her plants. It had been a great night.
BOYS DORMS
Auggie, Scott, Ezra and Jordan got ready for bed. They brushed their teeth and covered themselves up with blankets. It was 10:00. The Cliffhangers wondered how long they would sleep tonight,.
"Remember. Another dream and we're telling Peter." Scott said, giving him the same ultimatum that Auggie had given him not long before.
Jordan looked at him and then turned over. He was to annoyed to say anything. "Whatever dude."
Auggie clicked off the light. And all was silent.
PETER'S LIVING ROOM.
Peter and Sophie were sitting on Peter's couch eating mint chocolate chip ice cream (*remember the ice cream from seductions!!*). They were looking through the file that they had gotten from The police office in Jordan's home town. It was going to bea while before they found what they were looking for.
"What are we looking for again Peter." Sophie asked yawning and then taking a bite of ice cream.
"I don't know, but I'll know when we see it." Peter said smiling to her.
To be continued!!!
In the next chapter- Another dream perhaps?? Or maybe another secret?? Or a solo hike?? Another persons story plot?? You'll just have to read and find out :) :) :)
Disclaimer- I don't own any original higher Ground characters. BLAH BLAH BLAH But I do own Jordan Thomas, his mom and stepdad Kendra and Jackson. His sister Hailey Jade and bother Dillion. His social Worker Max Anderson and Helen Brandon. I also own Jill Trinity, the mail lady and her little nephew Alex.
In this chapter- Jordan's meeting with Peter, Jordan's letters. And Jeff's first real date with Jill.
PLEASE REVIEW!!! PRETTY PLEASE
PETER'S OFFICE-
Jordan ran into Peter's office. The door was open, or else he would have knocked. He was surprised that Peter wasn't there. Only Sophie. And she looked like she had something on her mind.
"Hey Sophie." He said awkwardly. "Where's Peter?" He asked.
" Peter had to get a fax from town because ours isn't working He'll be back in a few minutes. Have a seat" She said. "Relax."
Jordan sat awkwardly. (Have you ever noticed that when someone tells you to relax it makes you uneasier?) Well, Jordan felt really awkward now. He sat back in the chair and put his hands in his Pockets, he felt the 2 letters he had in his pocket. Jamie's, and Hailey and Dillion's.
"Do you have anything to do while we wait?" Sophie asked.
"I've got mail to read." He said taking out Jamie's letter and his parents.
"You can read them if you want to. I'm going to call Peter." Sophie said and left the room.
Jordan got up and looked quickly out the door to see if anyone was coming. Then he took out Jamie's letter and ripped it open. It had a slight hint of the sent of her favorite perfume on it. It was Jordan's favorite too and he smiled while he imagined her there with him.
He unfolded the letter. It was 3 pages long. He saw the slight curve in her handwriting. That meant she had taken a long time writing it, trying to make it look nice because usually her writing was kind of sloppy but this wasn't.
"Dear Jordan, Hey honey (just joking). I miss you here at home. So do Rylan and Jake. Rylan is in kindergarten now. Can you believe they just grow up so fast :). Mom and dad miss you to. They wish they had known you were leaving. They were going to give you a goodbye present. Jake got you something that mom and dad will be sending you soon. I think they're waiting for you to get settled in. Cause you really don't want to get it before people make solid opinions of you because this could ruin it all. (A hint- it has something to do with rocks and paint- a pet rock, how babyish right :))"
Jordan laughed and but down the letter for a minute to check the door to see if Peter or Sophie was coming in yet. They weren't so he picked up the letter again.
"Anyway, How is Mount Horizon? That's the name of the school right? I wish I could say that I couldn't believe they sent you there. But I guess it's for the best... maybe. I just don't get why. I mean there is nothing really totally wrong with you is there Jordan? I mean you would tell me wouldn't you. Maybe it was your stealing, or the running, or the cutting. I wish you wouldn't do that, cutting. I hate to see you do that to yourself. I hope you aren't doing it there Jordan, I want you to get better. But I guess I'm glad you're out of there though Jordan. Jackson was going to ruin you. I see you becoming like him everyday. And I don't want them to do that to you, to ruin you like that Jordan I mean he's not that bad really but he's definitely NOT like your dad was.. I want you to be like your dad. Wasn't he cool. Remember when it was your birthday and he took us to the mountains? Now that was awesome. I hope that you tell them at horizon about him. Make yourself remember when it was good and not crappy. I miss you so much Jordan. I miss seeing you there in your yard outside my bedroom window in the morning. I miss your smile, well when you did smile. I miss talking to you and knowing how you are. Even though I know you kept stuff from me. I know there's something that your hiding from me Jordan. I just wish I knew what. Just do me one favor if you love me and my family and your brother and sister as much as I know you do. Tell the people what your secret is. Like the old saying 'The truth will set you free.' I think you need a dose of the truth. Love ya, Jamie!!"
"'The truth will set you free.' What kind of line is that." Jordan said to himself. "They also said 'The truth hurts.' If I remember correctly."
Jordan reread the last part of the letter.
"She knows." He said to himself. "She knows, but I have no idea how she knows. But she knows about mom and Jackson and 'it'."
The idea that Jamie might know the truth about his home life sickened him. They had been friends forever and after Jackson and Kendra had started hitting him real bad and stuff Jordan had tried to hide "it" from her. He wanted her to think he was safe now. She had always cared so much about him, even when they were little and the thought of her worrying so much about him if she knew that they hit him. His mind wandered back for an example to reassure that he was "justified" in not telling her. An earlier memory came up.
******FLASHBACK*******
Jordan sat on the steps in front of his house. It was late spring. His dad was getting worse and Jordan, even at 6, knew he wouldn't last much longer. Tears fell from his eyes. His dad was everything to him. His whole world. But Jordan knew he'd die soon. He started crying. He tried to wipe his tears on his navy blue top but they kept flowing.
That's when he saw Jamie coming from 2 houses down. He tried harder to wipe the tears away cause he knew that would make her cry to. By the time Jamie came the tears were gone.
"You were crying." Jamie said sadly. "What's wrong?"
Jordan looked at her. 'Girls' he thought. Boys weren't supposed to like girls when they were six. But Jamie, he couldn't stop liking Jamie. She looked as sad as he felt.
"Daddy's gonna die." He said solomly, looking intently on a piece of leaf on the grass so he wouldn't have to see her eyes.
"Are you sure? I don't want your dad to go away." She said crying to.
"Mommy says so."
That's when Jamie started crying. Jordan couldn't cry cause he didn't want her to cry harder.
*********END FLASHBACK**************
"Maybe she doesn't know." Jordan said trying to convince himself of the idea. But that wasn't working. 'I mean how could she.'
Another good question. How could she have known about "it". But before he could think of an answer Peter and Sophie came in.
"Sorry I'm late Jordan." Peter said as he sat down in his chair. "I had to go to town to pick up some stuff for our meeting."
Jordan winced at the idea of what Peter might have. Police reports, medical reports, school documents what? Not knowing what Peter had and what he could use against him made Jordan feel uneasy, and more than that vulnerable. And Jordan hated that feeling cause it meant that you could get hurt more easily. He needed to swallow hard because his mouth got so dry.
"Wha...What kind of stuff?" he said almost choking on the words.
Sophie and Peter sent a look at each other over Jordan's head. They could feel how tense Jordan was and it was kind of worrying them.
"Nothing really. We just got a hold of some sources back home. Mainly the police station. I wanted to know what could be the problem because we really can't identify a real reason that you're here." Sophie said, trying to be serious but comforting.
"Cause they wanted me off their backs. My parents. They never wanted me" He said to them in reaction.
Peter and Sophie looked at him. He had no anger in his voice. Well just a bit but for the reason that they didn't realize what he thought they should know. But besides that it held no emotion. It was like, Peter and Sophie thought, that he really believed it was true.
"By the way. They sent me this." He said throwing the letter on Peter's desk. "I DON'T want it."
Peter looked at the letter and then at Jordan. "Okay. We'll keep it for later then. Just incase you change your mind."
"Whatever." Jordan said giving up. He didn't care. The letter cold sit there in Peter's desk for all of eternity and he would be affected by it one bit.
"Anyway." Sophie interjected trying to change the subject. "We would like to talk to you about you."
Jordan took a breath. He closed his eyes for a minute. He didn't want to talk about himself. That lead to secrets being told and stuff. Almost like the first day when Peter had asked him why he cut.
"Jordan?" Sophie asked, shaking Jordan from his thoughts. "You okay."
Jordan didn't look up but nodded his head. "yeah. I'm fine. Talk."
"Jordan, who was your social Worker back home? Did you have one?" Peter asked.
Jordan laughed sarcastically. Usually case workers dropped faster than flies around him. Things always happened that made them leave his case. "Max Anderson." Max said naming his last social worker. "My brother and sister, theirs is Helen Bradley. If that was the second question you were going to ask. And I know it was." He said.
Peter wrote the names down. He'd have to call them later. He looked at his watch. The meeting was nearly finished and they hadn't covered anything yet. Especially not the idea of the solo hike. But it seamed like Sophie read his mind because the next question she asked was;
"Jordan, how do you feel about going on a solo?" Sophie asked.
A smile crept on Jordans face and then disapeared quickly. Hikes brought back so many memories of his father that even brief ones, like the short quests the Cliffhangers went on, reminded him of the camping out he had done with his dad.
Jordan hoped no one had seen his smile, but Sophie had. "I guess that's a yes." She said cheerfully. But there was no cheerful response from Jordan.
Memories hurt. Jordan knew that hiking alone would make this happen. And he had heard about solo hikes. You have to reconnect to your "inner child" and Jordan's childhood hadn't been the best. As much as he wanted the hike he didn't want to face the memories.
"I didn't say anything." Jordan said. He looked down at the floor again and just shut up.
A few more questions were asked. But Jordan wouldn't answer. He didn't look up from the floor and he wouldn't respond in the slightest. Finally Sophie and Peter gave up.
"You can go Jordan." Peter said hiding the disappointment that he was feeling.
As Jordan got up and walked out of Peter's office, Sophie gave a disappointed look to Peter. The smile had meant something. But after that Jordan shut down. That was the scary thing. The shutting down.
"I don't like this Peter. I don't like this one bit." Sophie said as she too left. She had Kitchen Supervision next.
And Peter had to agree with her. Something was definitely wrong with the way Jordan was acting and neither of them liked it very much.
LATER ON THAT DAY
Jeff sat at a table at Rusty's. A country song playing in the background. Jeff was on his 2nd glass of Coca-Cola. He sat in a book along fidling with the straw wrapper. Jill was supposed to have met him 1/2 an hour ago.
"Maybe I'm early." Jeff thought. Then he checked his watch. 7:30. The date was to have started at 7 on the dot. "Or maybe she's just extremely late."
A few more minutes past before Jeff thought he should call Jill. He went to the back of Rusty's and dialed but just as the first ring came, Jill ran in.
"Sorry I'm late." she said tripping over her own feet and falling into Jeff's arms, causing him to fall over also.
Everyone in the restaurant turned to look what the noise was. Jeff and Jill got up shyly and brushed themselves off. They went to the booth Jeff had set aside for them laughing.
"Sorry I was late. My nephew was over and he's a teenager. So I had to take him to his mom's. And my sister insisted I stay for a while." Jill said babling. They were both nervous.
"It's okay" Jeff said, reaching for the pitcher of Soda. "Coke?"
"Sure." Jill said as she handed her glass to him.
But of course Jeff spilled it. It got all over.
"I'm so sorry." Jeff said blushing.
As they went to pick up the soda they both bumped heads. And they started laughing more. By the end of the date they were both sticky from the soda, had bruises on their heads and elbows from bumping into and falling onto each other, and their stomachs both hurt from laughing so much. And the sad thing is is that they set up another date.
"See you next Thursday." Jeff called as he walked away from Jills house. Almost tripping into her plants. It had been a great night.
BOYS DORMS
Auggie, Scott, Ezra and Jordan got ready for bed. They brushed their teeth and covered themselves up with blankets. It was 10:00. The Cliffhangers wondered how long they would sleep tonight,.
"Remember. Another dream and we're telling Peter." Scott said, giving him the same ultimatum that Auggie had given him not long before.
Jordan looked at him and then turned over. He was to annoyed to say anything. "Whatever dude."
Auggie clicked off the light. And all was silent.
PETER'S LIVING ROOM.
Peter and Sophie were sitting on Peter's couch eating mint chocolate chip ice cream (*remember the ice cream from seductions!!*). They were looking through the file that they had gotten from The police office in Jordan's home town. It was going to bea while before they found what they were looking for.
"What are we looking for again Peter." Sophie asked yawning and then taking a bite of ice cream.
"I don't know, but I'll know when we see it." Peter said smiling to her.
To be continued!!!
In the next chapter- Another dream perhaps?? Or maybe another secret?? Or a solo hike?? Another persons story plot?? You'll just have to read and find out :) :) :)