Memories- Part 12
Disclaimer- I do not own any of the original Higher Ground characters. I do own all others though, like Jordan and Jill, and Aubrey and all them. I also don't own any of John Grisham's books they're his, but he is one of my favorite authors!
In this chapter- If I told ya about Jordan, I'd have to kill ya! Oh, on another note, the US mail does it's job very quickly in this chapter and we hear from Aubrey. And Scott gets bitten by the jealously buggy.
Oh Yeah and I vowed never again to wait a month in between chapters so you should all be happy :) :)
And we pick up where we left off in the last chapter...
"Ow.." Peter thought as he fell to the ground. He looked up, Sophie was ahead of him and she came running back. "Oh God." He thought "Why now?"
"Peter, are you okay?" Sophie asked running over to him.
"I'm fine Soph, go after him." Peter said, his words staggered from the pain.
Jordan looked back. Stopped in his tracks, he heard a sound all too familiar to him. What should he do? Frozen for a second he thought and then he ran.....
"Oh Jeez." He thought. "Go back, " he told himself in the back of his mind. But another voice was saying "Run, run, run."
He turned back again to look at Peter, to see how they were, and then to look if Sophie was going to come after him. She got up from Peter's side, they had been talking. In the dim light he saw Peter wince and hold his leg, Jordan got another dose of that guilty feeling he hated.
He took a step towards them, just for a moment. Then he saw Sophie coming towards him. He tried to catch her face, register her emotion, but nothing showed up. He froze again, still deciding. He saw her coming closer, and he just couldn't do it.
He turned around and ran away from them. "Sorry." He thought to himself, hoping they could hear it.
He couldn't go back to them. Not with Sophie mad and Peter hurt. He couldn't face it. If he ran and he got sent home, he could handle the beatings, he had before. But he couldn't handle what was at Horizon. What ever was back there. He didn't know. His friends, if you could call them that, his teachers, they were good, Peter and Sophie? He just couldn't handle them being so close to knowing the truth about him. He couldn't handle feeling so safe without wondering what would happen next. The longer he stayed the worse it would be when he left.
Jordan was running on pure fear and adrenaline, he knew he couldn't turn back now. They would punish him when he got back. And he knew that wouldn't be good. They'd call his parents, which would even be worse. He looked back to see if he could still see Sophie. He saw her running after him, catching up. So he ran faster, more carelessly. The muscles in his legs were beginning to ache. And it was not a pretty feeling. He was getting slower now.
Sophie watched Jordan run, he was fast when he wanted to be. She couldn't believe he had actually ran away. He had looked like he was going to run towards them, but in a split moment he turned and ran. It had stunned Sophie and Peter. They had called for Roger and he should have been there by now. He would have parked near the drive and then ran.
Finally she heard Roger coming. His speed was great, he used to be a football player. He was one of Horizon's best runners, even though he was almost 40. He was almost as good as Peter had been, and still was.
"Hey Soph, where is he?" Roger asked as he came along side her.
"Up there, near the bend." Sophie said to him pointing. "Where have you been?"
"Sorry, I called for Anne Marie to bring Peter back to school and to the infirmary. Then I had to catch up with you."
"What me to try and get him?" Roger asked.
"If you can, he runs really fast." Sophie answered and then added sympathetically "Don't scare him."
Roger took off, Jordan was a bit ahead but Roger used his speed to make up for it. He ran. As he got towards Jordan he grabbed his arm.
"Let me go." Jordan screamed wiggling out of the hold. He ran forward a bit more.
The next attempt was the one that worked. Roger grabbed Jordan by his waist and dragged the teen to the ground.
"Let me go." Jordan said kicking at Roger. "Let me go." He screamed.
'You've been caught.' Jordan thought to himself, 'might as well make it as bad for them as it is for you.'
He kicked and punched and slapped all he could, at roger, at the air, at the ground. He wanted to go down fighting. "Let me go." He said scared. "Please let me go."
Roger pinned Jordan to the ground after Jordan got a few good hits at him. Jordan was more vulnerable then ever.
Jordan hated being pinned anywhere. On the ground, on the floor, against a wall. Every part of him was left vulnerable and there was no place he could run to or any way to shield himself. He was scared now, more than he had been when Roger had just had him on the groun, more than when he had caught him. It reminded him of some pretty bad times and he could not handle that right now either.
******FLASH BACK*****
Jackson had Jordan pinned against the door going into the living room. He lifted up his fist and punched Jordan in the face. Blood pouring from Jordan's nose and onto the white shirt he had been wearing to go to church that day.
"You shouldn't have tried to sneak out Jordan." Jackson sneered.
"You wouldn't have let me go." Jordan shot back unexpectedly.
Jackson punched the teen in the stomach, knocking the air out of him.
"You wanna say that again?" Jackson asked, raising his hand for another slap.
"Please....let.....me....go" Jordan said gasping for the breath that had left him, and desperately wanting to hold his aching stomach.
"No such luck buddy." Jackson said as he brought his hand down again.
*****END FLASHBACK ******
"Let me go... Let me go." Jordan screamed and begged over and over again. "Please, please, please, please, please let me go."
Roger almost felt sorry for Jordan and almost let him go. But he didn't, he didn't want to risk him going anywhere again.
"Please." Jordan cried. "Please let me go."
But by the time Sophie had come, Roger had let Jordan go and Jordan had crawled into a ball. Now he could protect him self. But he seamed in worse shape now. He was crying and mumbling almost in coherently. He was terrified.
"Let me go... Leave me alone, please, leave me alone." He cried. "Don't touch me. Let me go." He cried and was almost shaking.
Sophie came closer to him, and tried to put her arm over his shoulder to comfort him. Bad idea!
"Leave me alone." Jordan screamed and cowered away from her. "Please."
And then it started raining. Sophie felt it first, the sprinkles. She knew it was supposed to rain.
"Roger, go get the truck." She told him. Roger nodded his head and ran back where they were coming from.
'Great, now what?' she thought to herself. 'What am I going to do about Jordan now?' she asked herself.
"Come on Jordan." Sophie begged as it started to pour. "Get in the truck. Please!"
Jordan over his mumbling couldn't hear her, and when he felt the hand on his shoulder he was startled. "Don't touch me." He cried shrinking away from her. He hoped she heard and would listen. But she didn't.
"Jordan if you don't come in this truck right now, I will carry you to it." Sophie said impatiently. She was trying to be nice but she didn't know what to do.
Jordan didn't want to go back. He kept telling all of them to leave him alone and he was crying. He didn't even notice the rain. He cried harder cause he was scared and was shaking more now. Sophie got worried.
"Shhh Jordan, everything will be okay." She said as she bent down for a minute to look at him at his level almost. "Come on Jordan, please get in the jeep and you can dry off and out of the rain."
Jordan made a feeble attempt to get up and Sophie had to help him. He was still crying a lot but something about her voice had made him get up. He didn't really know what it was.
IN THE TRUCK (or jeep, whatever :) )....
Jordan sat in the back seat, well actually laid there. Sophie and Roger were talking in the front. Jordan was still scared and still shaking, but now he was cold and tired to. He felt like whining almost, but he had already cried enough in front of them and he had to put a stop to it now.
A nice memory came back to Jordan as they made their way slowly to Horizon, because of the rain. It was when he was little, about 5 or so, when his dad was better. They had gone hiking and it started raining. They made their way back to their cabin just as it started to pour really hard. That's when Jordan was still scared of lighting. He wasn't anymore, there were worse things to be scared of now. But Jordan whined about how he was cold, and Matthew made him hot cider and they snuggled up together on the couch. It was one of the last times they had gone hiking together before Matthew died.
But the memory was gone and the fear back by the time they reached Horizon. Roger and Sophie got out. They were coming back to get Jordan and as Sophie reached for him he froze......
INSIDE THE LODGE...
The cliffhangers were now with Peter who had gone to the infirmary and gotten crutches. Though still in pain he knew he would have to deal with it, cause last time he took pain meds he had had a relapse to his drug abusing days. And he would NOT let that happen again.
He sat on the couch with his leg on the table. He wanted to tell the Cliffhangers that Jordan had been found. He though they had the right to know, they had helped search for him anyway.
"What happened Peter?" Juliet asked.
"I fell going after Jordan, I'm fine though, just a bit of pain." He said and then winced as he tried to move his leg.
"You okay?" Auggie asked.
"Yeah, I just can't move it." Peter said.
The group nodded. "So did you find him?" Scott asked concerned.
"Yeah we did, he just got back with Sophie and Roger." Peter said.
"Is he okay?" Scott asked again.
"Physically yes, but I don't know about anything else." Peter said.
"What are you going to do about him?" Daisy asked.
"We don't know yet." Peter said solemnly and tiredly. "I need to talk to Sophie and Frank about it. Maybe we can pull a few strings here and there and let him stay. We want to know why he ran first."
"I never thought he'd actually have the guts to do it." Shelby said bitterly.
"He's been acting loco lately though." Auggie said.
"Yeah majorly wacked." Ezra said. "He tried to start a fight with Auggie and Scott today, before he ran."
"What is going to happen to him?" Juliet asked concerned, she really liked Jordan.
"We don't know yet. Now it's getting late guys, so I want you to go to your dorms. We'll hold group tomorrow." Peter said.
The group said goodnight to him and went away. Peter got up on the crutches and started hobbling the way to his office.
PETERS OFFICE- 9:00 p.m.
Peter, Sophie and Frank sat tensely in Peters office. Sophie and Frank drinking coffee, and Peter drinking tea, the caffeine doing nothing to calm their nerves.
"Where is Jordan now?" Frank asked as he sank deeper into the chair he was sitting at.
"He's with Anne Marie in the Infirmary, we wanted to keep him under supervision and he looked like he might be going into shock." Sophie answered.
"Have you gotten a hold of his parents?" Frank asked.
"Nope, not yet. It's past midnight in Vermont. They're asleep." Peter replied.
"Okay. Will you call them first thing in the morning?" Frank asked insistently.
"Yes, we will Frank." Sophie said.
"What will you do with him tonight?"
"I believe the best thing to do is to do what we do to kids on suicide watch. Keep him in the lodge with someone to look over him. Sophie and I will do it. I don't want the cliffhangers or anyone burdened with it right now, so late." Peter said.
"Okay," Frank said. "Now the rules at Horizon are simple Peter, if a kid runs he gets sent back home. Are you going to be okay with that?" Frank said, trying to bend the rules himself.
"We'll see Frank, We'll see." Peter said sipping his tea, deep in though.
"What are you thinking of Peter?" Frank asked, "I know you to well old friend, I know when you have a feeling about something. You've taken a liking to this kid. I can tell."
Peter sighed and breathed deeply. He tried to sit up and grabbed his knee in pain.
"I can't put my finger on it exactly but some things up."
Frank looked at Peter and Sophie with questioning look on his face.
GUYS DORM ROOM
Auggie, Scott, and Ezra sat on their beds. They looked at Jordan's empty bunk and felt guilty.
"Think we should talk to Peter?" Ezra asked.
"Tomorrow." Scott said. We'll tell them everything tomorrow." He emphasized while yawning.
The two nodded in agreement. They were all tired.
THE LODGE-
Peter and Sophie sat on chairs and waited for Jordan to come back, he had gone to change. They were all tired, but before Jordan went to sleep there were some things that needed to be said. Important things.
Jordan walked into the main room of the lodge. He wanted to avoid them, but he knew Peter and Sophie were going to be there all night. It was like a nightmare he couldn't will himself to wake up from. It just stayed put, and played on and on. All he could do was sit there and pretend to listen to them.
"Sit down Jordan, we need to talk." Peter said as soon as Jordan got into ear shot.
Jordan slipped to the couch quietly. He sat there across from them looking at the floor.
"Jordan, look at me." Peter said when he saw Jordan looking at the floor.
Jordan let his eyes raise slightly. "Sorry about your leg." He said softly. "I didn't mean too..." he said until Peter cut him off.
"You know what the punishment for running away is Jordan?" Peter asked him.
The word made him cringe, but he made sure it wasn't a visible cringe that Peter and Sophie would see, that would mean more questions.
"Usually when a student runs away we call there parents and they get sent home." He said stressing the words call parents and sent home. "Now I know that you like it here..."
Jordan for the effect let out a sarcastic laugh.
This got Peter a little mad. "You know what Jordan," Peter said loudly, getting Jordan's attention.
Something in Peter's voice made him look up quickly, trying to see Peter's eyes for a feeling he would recognize. He hadn't heard Peter use it before, and what he saw in Peter's eyes wasn't registering in his mind either. He looked down as quickly as he looked up.
"I am laying my butt on the line to save yours." Peter said. "I'm trying to keep you here, you've been making some progress lately, minus this slip up. And I want you to stay here."
Peter didn't know what reaction he had been looking for in Jordan but Jordan seamed unemotional to it. And that was scaring Peter, he knew Jordan was slipping back inside himself like he had done before. The lack of emotion that had scared him and Sophie was back now. And it was worse given the current standings.
"Come on guys, it's late. Jordan why don't you go to sleep now."
"Yes ma'am." Jordan mumbled.
"Just one thing before you go to sleep Jordan. If you don't want to stay here, to fight for you to stay here, tell me so I can call it off now." Peter said, the same thing in his voice that he had had before.
Jordan just nodded, to show he heard. He was to tired to argue, and to tired to answer. As soon as Sophie had said sleep he was ready to do it. He rolled over and put a pillow over his head.
Sophie had the first shift from 10-2. She wasn't very tired and knew Peter needed the sleep more then her. At least when he was asleep his knee wouldn't hurt him. It was11:30 and Peter was asleep on the loveseat. Sophie heard his light snoring and laughed.
Sophie turned her attention to the book she was reading, John Grisham's- "The Client". She had nothing else to do, and plus the reading lamp next to her didn't get off much light.
She sat for a moment listening to the stillness, it was very soothing. She found herself almost forgetting what had happened today. She wished it had all been a dream, so she could look back and forget it ever happened. But she couldn't, and she dreaded tomorrow even more.
Sophie looked at her watch. She wasn't tired, she just wanted to...to...to escape the reality of the situation. The reality was if they didn't have a break in Jordan's "case", if you would call it that, then he would have to be sent home. Just one little thing, she knew and Peter would be able to convince Frank to let him stay at Horizon. She wanted it desperately.
"God, please just let something happen. Please." She whispered then went back to reading.
2:00
Sophie had woken Peter up. They switched places and Peter sat in the chair. He wasn't tired anymore, but his knee hurt a lot! Sophie yawned and then laid down in the love seat. She looked at Peter, now she was over tired and knew that there was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep now.
"Try to sleep Soph." Peter said.
Disclaimer- I do not own any of the original Higher Ground characters. I do own all others though, like Jordan and Jill, and Aubrey and all them. I also don't own any of John Grisham's books they're his, but he is one of my favorite authors!
In this chapter- If I told ya about Jordan, I'd have to kill ya! Oh, on another note, the US mail does it's job very quickly in this chapter and we hear from Aubrey. And Scott gets bitten by the jealously buggy.
Oh Yeah and I vowed never again to wait a month in between chapters so you should all be happy :) :)
And we pick up where we left off in the last chapter...
"Ow.." Peter thought as he fell to the ground. He looked up, Sophie was ahead of him and she came running back. "Oh God." He thought "Why now?"
"Peter, are you okay?" Sophie asked running over to him.
"I'm fine Soph, go after him." Peter said, his words staggered from the pain.
Jordan looked back. Stopped in his tracks, he heard a sound all too familiar to him. What should he do? Frozen for a second he thought and then he ran.....
"Oh Jeez." He thought. "Go back, " he told himself in the back of his mind. But another voice was saying "Run, run, run."
He turned back again to look at Peter, to see how they were, and then to look if Sophie was going to come after him. She got up from Peter's side, they had been talking. In the dim light he saw Peter wince and hold his leg, Jordan got another dose of that guilty feeling he hated.
He took a step towards them, just for a moment. Then he saw Sophie coming towards him. He tried to catch her face, register her emotion, but nothing showed up. He froze again, still deciding. He saw her coming closer, and he just couldn't do it.
He turned around and ran away from them. "Sorry." He thought to himself, hoping they could hear it.
He couldn't go back to them. Not with Sophie mad and Peter hurt. He couldn't face it. If he ran and he got sent home, he could handle the beatings, he had before. But he couldn't handle what was at Horizon. What ever was back there. He didn't know. His friends, if you could call them that, his teachers, they were good, Peter and Sophie? He just couldn't handle them being so close to knowing the truth about him. He couldn't handle feeling so safe without wondering what would happen next. The longer he stayed the worse it would be when he left.
Jordan was running on pure fear and adrenaline, he knew he couldn't turn back now. They would punish him when he got back. And he knew that wouldn't be good. They'd call his parents, which would even be worse. He looked back to see if he could still see Sophie. He saw her running after him, catching up. So he ran faster, more carelessly. The muscles in his legs were beginning to ache. And it was not a pretty feeling. He was getting slower now.
Sophie watched Jordan run, he was fast when he wanted to be. She couldn't believe he had actually ran away. He had looked like he was going to run towards them, but in a split moment he turned and ran. It had stunned Sophie and Peter. They had called for Roger and he should have been there by now. He would have parked near the drive and then ran.
Finally she heard Roger coming. His speed was great, he used to be a football player. He was one of Horizon's best runners, even though he was almost 40. He was almost as good as Peter had been, and still was.
"Hey Soph, where is he?" Roger asked as he came along side her.
"Up there, near the bend." Sophie said to him pointing. "Where have you been?"
"Sorry, I called for Anne Marie to bring Peter back to school and to the infirmary. Then I had to catch up with you."
"What me to try and get him?" Roger asked.
"If you can, he runs really fast." Sophie answered and then added sympathetically "Don't scare him."
Roger took off, Jordan was a bit ahead but Roger used his speed to make up for it. He ran. As he got towards Jordan he grabbed his arm.
"Let me go." Jordan screamed wiggling out of the hold. He ran forward a bit more.
The next attempt was the one that worked. Roger grabbed Jordan by his waist and dragged the teen to the ground.
"Let me go." Jordan said kicking at Roger. "Let me go." He screamed.
'You've been caught.' Jordan thought to himself, 'might as well make it as bad for them as it is for you.'
He kicked and punched and slapped all he could, at roger, at the air, at the ground. He wanted to go down fighting. "Let me go." He said scared. "Please let me go."
Roger pinned Jordan to the ground after Jordan got a few good hits at him. Jordan was more vulnerable then ever.
Jordan hated being pinned anywhere. On the ground, on the floor, against a wall. Every part of him was left vulnerable and there was no place he could run to or any way to shield himself. He was scared now, more than he had been when Roger had just had him on the groun, more than when he had caught him. It reminded him of some pretty bad times and he could not handle that right now either.
******FLASH BACK*****
Jackson had Jordan pinned against the door going into the living room. He lifted up his fist and punched Jordan in the face. Blood pouring from Jordan's nose and onto the white shirt he had been wearing to go to church that day.
"You shouldn't have tried to sneak out Jordan." Jackson sneered.
"You wouldn't have let me go." Jordan shot back unexpectedly.
Jackson punched the teen in the stomach, knocking the air out of him.
"You wanna say that again?" Jackson asked, raising his hand for another slap.
"Please....let.....me....go" Jordan said gasping for the breath that had left him, and desperately wanting to hold his aching stomach.
"No such luck buddy." Jackson said as he brought his hand down again.
*****END FLASHBACK ******
"Let me go... Let me go." Jordan screamed and begged over and over again. "Please, please, please, please, please let me go."
Roger almost felt sorry for Jordan and almost let him go. But he didn't, he didn't want to risk him going anywhere again.
"Please." Jordan cried. "Please let me go."
But by the time Sophie had come, Roger had let Jordan go and Jordan had crawled into a ball. Now he could protect him self. But he seamed in worse shape now. He was crying and mumbling almost in coherently. He was terrified.
"Let me go... Leave me alone, please, leave me alone." He cried. "Don't touch me. Let me go." He cried and was almost shaking.
Sophie came closer to him, and tried to put her arm over his shoulder to comfort him. Bad idea!
"Leave me alone." Jordan screamed and cowered away from her. "Please."
And then it started raining. Sophie felt it first, the sprinkles. She knew it was supposed to rain.
"Roger, go get the truck." She told him. Roger nodded his head and ran back where they were coming from.
'Great, now what?' she thought to herself. 'What am I going to do about Jordan now?' she asked herself.
"Come on Jordan." Sophie begged as it started to pour. "Get in the truck. Please!"
Jordan over his mumbling couldn't hear her, and when he felt the hand on his shoulder he was startled. "Don't touch me." He cried shrinking away from her. He hoped she heard and would listen. But she didn't.
"Jordan if you don't come in this truck right now, I will carry you to it." Sophie said impatiently. She was trying to be nice but she didn't know what to do.
Jordan didn't want to go back. He kept telling all of them to leave him alone and he was crying. He didn't even notice the rain. He cried harder cause he was scared and was shaking more now. Sophie got worried.
"Shhh Jordan, everything will be okay." She said as she bent down for a minute to look at him at his level almost. "Come on Jordan, please get in the jeep and you can dry off and out of the rain."
Jordan made a feeble attempt to get up and Sophie had to help him. He was still crying a lot but something about her voice had made him get up. He didn't really know what it was.
IN THE TRUCK (or jeep, whatever :) )....
Jordan sat in the back seat, well actually laid there. Sophie and Roger were talking in the front. Jordan was still scared and still shaking, but now he was cold and tired to. He felt like whining almost, but he had already cried enough in front of them and he had to put a stop to it now.
A nice memory came back to Jordan as they made their way slowly to Horizon, because of the rain. It was when he was little, about 5 or so, when his dad was better. They had gone hiking and it started raining. They made their way back to their cabin just as it started to pour really hard. That's when Jordan was still scared of lighting. He wasn't anymore, there were worse things to be scared of now. But Jordan whined about how he was cold, and Matthew made him hot cider and they snuggled up together on the couch. It was one of the last times they had gone hiking together before Matthew died.
But the memory was gone and the fear back by the time they reached Horizon. Roger and Sophie got out. They were coming back to get Jordan and as Sophie reached for him he froze......
INSIDE THE LODGE...
The cliffhangers were now with Peter who had gone to the infirmary and gotten crutches. Though still in pain he knew he would have to deal with it, cause last time he took pain meds he had had a relapse to his drug abusing days. And he would NOT let that happen again.
He sat on the couch with his leg on the table. He wanted to tell the Cliffhangers that Jordan had been found. He though they had the right to know, they had helped search for him anyway.
"What happened Peter?" Juliet asked.
"I fell going after Jordan, I'm fine though, just a bit of pain." He said and then winced as he tried to move his leg.
"You okay?" Auggie asked.
"Yeah, I just can't move it." Peter said.
The group nodded. "So did you find him?" Scott asked concerned.
"Yeah we did, he just got back with Sophie and Roger." Peter said.
"Is he okay?" Scott asked again.
"Physically yes, but I don't know about anything else." Peter said.
"What are you going to do about him?" Daisy asked.
"We don't know yet." Peter said solemnly and tiredly. "I need to talk to Sophie and Frank about it. Maybe we can pull a few strings here and there and let him stay. We want to know why he ran first."
"I never thought he'd actually have the guts to do it." Shelby said bitterly.
"He's been acting loco lately though." Auggie said.
"Yeah majorly wacked." Ezra said. "He tried to start a fight with Auggie and Scott today, before he ran."
"What is going to happen to him?" Juliet asked concerned, she really liked Jordan.
"We don't know yet. Now it's getting late guys, so I want you to go to your dorms. We'll hold group tomorrow." Peter said.
The group said goodnight to him and went away. Peter got up on the crutches and started hobbling the way to his office.
PETERS OFFICE- 9:00 p.m.
Peter, Sophie and Frank sat tensely in Peters office. Sophie and Frank drinking coffee, and Peter drinking tea, the caffeine doing nothing to calm their nerves.
"Where is Jordan now?" Frank asked as he sank deeper into the chair he was sitting at.
"He's with Anne Marie in the Infirmary, we wanted to keep him under supervision and he looked like he might be going into shock." Sophie answered.
"Have you gotten a hold of his parents?" Frank asked.
"Nope, not yet. It's past midnight in Vermont. They're asleep." Peter replied.
"Okay. Will you call them first thing in the morning?" Frank asked insistently.
"Yes, we will Frank." Sophie said.
"What will you do with him tonight?"
"I believe the best thing to do is to do what we do to kids on suicide watch. Keep him in the lodge with someone to look over him. Sophie and I will do it. I don't want the cliffhangers or anyone burdened with it right now, so late." Peter said.
"Okay," Frank said. "Now the rules at Horizon are simple Peter, if a kid runs he gets sent back home. Are you going to be okay with that?" Frank said, trying to bend the rules himself.
"We'll see Frank, We'll see." Peter said sipping his tea, deep in though.
"What are you thinking of Peter?" Frank asked, "I know you to well old friend, I know when you have a feeling about something. You've taken a liking to this kid. I can tell."
Peter sighed and breathed deeply. He tried to sit up and grabbed his knee in pain.
"I can't put my finger on it exactly but some things up."
Frank looked at Peter and Sophie with questioning look on his face.
GUYS DORM ROOM
Auggie, Scott, and Ezra sat on their beds. They looked at Jordan's empty bunk and felt guilty.
"Think we should talk to Peter?" Ezra asked.
"Tomorrow." Scott said. We'll tell them everything tomorrow." He emphasized while yawning.
The two nodded in agreement. They were all tired.
THE LODGE-
Peter and Sophie sat on chairs and waited for Jordan to come back, he had gone to change. They were all tired, but before Jordan went to sleep there were some things that needed to be said. Important things.
Jordan walked into the main room of the lodge. He wanted to avoid them, but he knew Peter and Sophie were going to be there all night. It was like a nightmare he couldn't will himself to wake up from. It just stayed put, and played on and on. All he could do was sit there and pretend to listen to them.
"Sit down Jordan, we need to talk." Peter said as soon as Jordan got into ear shot.
Jordan slipped to the couch quietly. He sat there across from them looking at the floor.
"Jordan, look at me." Peter said when he saw Jordan looking at the floor.
Jordan let his eyes raise slightly. "Sorry about your leg." He said softly. "I didn't mean too..." he said until Peter cut him off.
"You know what the punishment for running away is Jordan?" Peter asked him.
The word made him cringe, but he made sure it wasn't a visible cringe that Peter and Sophie would see, that would mean more questions.
"Usually when a student runs away we call there parents and they get sent home." He said stressing the words call parents and sent home. "Now I know that you like it here..."
Jordan for the effect let out a sarcastic laugh.
This got Peter a little mad. "You know what Jordan," Peter said loudly, getting Jordan's attention.
Something in Peter's voice made him look up quickly, trying to see Peter's eyes for a feeling he would recognize. He hadn't heard Peter use it before, and what he saw in Peter's eyes wasn't registering in his mind either. He looked down as quickly as he looked up.
"I am laying my butt on the line to save yours." Peter said. "I'm trying to keep you here, you've been making some progress lately, minus this slip up. And I want you to stay here."
Peter didn't know what reaction he had been looking for in Jordan but Jordan seamed unemotional to it. And that was scaring Peter, he knew Jordan was slipping back inside himself like he had done before. The lack of emotion that had scared him and Sophie was back now. And it was worse given the current standings.
"Come on guys, it's late. Jordan why don't you go to sleep now."
"Yes ma'am." Jordan mumbled.
"Just one thing before you go to sleep Jordan. If you don't want to stay here, to fight for you to stay here, tell me so I can call it off now." Peter said, the same thing in his voice that he had had before.
Jordan just nodded, to show he heard. He was to tired to argue, and to tired to answer. As soon as Sophie had said sleep he was ready to do it. He rolled over and put a pillow over his head.
Sophie had the first shift from 10-2. She wasn't very tired and knew Peter needed the sleep more then her. At least when he was asleep his knee wouldn't hurt him. It was11:30 and Peter was asleep on the loveseat. Sophie heard his light snoring and laughed.
Sophie turned her attention to the book she was reading, John Grisham's- "The Client". She had nothing else to do, and plus the reading lamp next to her didn't get off much light.
She sat for a moment listening to the stillness, it was very soothing. She found herself almost forgetting what had happened today. She wished it had all been a dream, so she could look back and forget it ever happened. But she couldn't, and she dreaded tomorrow even more.
Sophie looked at her watch. She wasn't tired, she just wanted to...to...to escape the reality of the situation. The reality was if they didn't have a break in Jordan's "case", if you would call it that, then he would have to be sent home. Just one little thing, she knew and Peter would be able to convince Frank to let him stay at Horizon. She wanted it desperately.
"God, please just let something happen. Please." She whispered then went back to reading.
2:00
Sophie had woken Peter up. They switched places and Peter sat in the chair. He wasn't tired anymore, but his knee hurt a lot! Sophie yawned and then laid down in the love seat. She looked at Peter, now she was over tired and knew that there was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep now.
"Try to sleep Soph." Peter said.