Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue, yo. ;) Title inspired by Lady Antebellum's Need You Now.
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews; you guys are way to kind! Hope you enjoy this next little bit. A bit of a filler chapter but I promise it'll start getting interesting soon! Also I dunno if anyone was curious about the timeline but this takes place before Twilight and will extend through new moon and possibly eclipse but I won't be following much of that storyline. Just the relevant bits. Okay, one with it! ;)
Chapter 4: It's a Quarter after Wednesday, and I Need You Now
Wednesday came and went with no word from my parents. Thursday brought with it a fresh covering of fog, smothering the reservation in downy, frigid air.
I gazed out my window, my stomach clenched with worry, another kidnapping having been reported over the news just last night. My parents tended to be scatterbrained when it came to checking in, but generally I got some sort of email. But there was still no word and as I feverishly refreshed my browser, I was met with a consistent but disheartening lack of news. The downstairs clock chimed eight and I resignedly packed my things and headed out for school, double-checking both the alarm and the house phone for messages on my way out.
It was colder than I had expected, my dark violet pea coat fluttering in the breeze, pushing arctic air against my legs. I would have to start breaking out the thermals.
A crash echoed out behind me and I whipped my head around but the streets were empty, stray leaves burned with autumn orange fluttering around the sidewalk. The houses on my street were some of the larger ones on the reservation but their windows were blank and their doorways even more so. The streets were deserted.
The woods towered on the edges of our cul-de-sac, the evergreens swaying gently in the breeze, their mighty branches far too sturdy to submit to the winter wind. Another crash rung out into the air and I whipped forward this time, but still nothing. My heart started to race as I quickened my gait and made my way towards the main road that led through town to our quaint school located on the western outskirts. I glanced behind me one more time and the woods seem to beckon, their mischievous leaves whispering against each other and darting here and there. The edges began to blur and it was almost as if the entire forest were changing shape.
I let out a deep breath before starting to jog. So what if the woods weren't supposed to be scary in broad daylight, they were starting to freak me out. I hurried along, almost breaking a sweat.
And as I crossed the street into town, and people started emerging around me, I couldn't help but feel relieved. I smiled at Billy Black as he wheeled passed me into a store, yelling for Jacob.
And as the wind whipped my cyan scarf around my neck, I turned back once more and gasped. I could've sworn I saw a pair of eyes gazing at me from the woods, but when I looked again, they were gone. I felt the hair on the back of my neck prickle and the unease at my parents' sudden disappearance doubled. Something gave me the feeling that I was next.
I didn't like it.
My locker brought with it another unwelcome surprise, a blue note from my art instructor informing me that my proposal session was today. I had yet to find a model. Looks like I had three hours to come up with one.
My mind briefly remembered my encounter with Jared over the weekend.
"I owe you one."
But I shoved the mutinous idea to the side as soon as it had appeared. I could barely handle being around Jared for a few minutes let alone the several hours it would take to paint him. Although, I suppose as far as aesthetic appeal went, he was without question my number one choice. I could even say it was a topless photo shoot. Who was I to question the rules…?
A locker slamming down the corridor brought me back to my senses and I tinged pink, fanning myself slightly with the envelope. It was getting a little warm, wasn't it?
"Thinking of me?" I almost shrieked at the sudden shadow that fell over me.
"What? Uh, no-" I could barely string the words together, my mind jumbled. There was no way he could actually know, right?
"Chill, I was just kidding." Jared smirked at me, before leaning against the bank of lockers that extended out past mine. I took my time to pull out the books I'd need for the day, wanting time to still my shaking hands.
"Yeah, sorry, just a little out of it today, I guess." I chuckled nervously before pushing some of my hair out of my eyes.
I snuck a glance at him but he seemed perfectly content just to stay there.
"Can I-uh, help you?" The words were out before I could stop them, and I could have smacked myself. If the boy was fine just lingering, who was I to question his judgment.
"What?" He looked at me in surprise, as if he hadn't realized I was still there.
"You're still here, did you want…?" I trailed off, my words coming out mumbled and inarticulate but he just grinned suddenly and shook his head.
"Nah, I'm just waiting for Nina." He motioned to a locker about two down from mine. I almost moaned at my stupidity, off course he was. I let out a soft chuckles before nodding at him.
It was an odd sense of loss that I felt at that moment and I could not put my finger on it. But it was later, when I was at home in my bed, tucked under the covers that I realized that some small part of me had been hoping that we would strike up some sort of friendship. Perhaps we would not be the secret-handshake-simultaneous-spitting-to-the-side kind of friends; but, at the very least, the kind of acquaintances who talked in the halls and shared a mutual hatred for homework on Friday afternoons.
"I guess I'll see you around, Jared." I said, my voice startlingly composed and he smiled at me, but it was slightly strained as if he was doing it out of obligation.
"Yeah." His face melted into a warm smile then and my heart quickened before I followed his line of sight over my left shoulder and onto the face of an equally sunny, Nina Russet. Feeling wistful, I backed away and walked out of the hallway quickly, blinking a little harder than usual; the air just seemed so much colder now.
But my mind was occupied with other things than Jared and his most recent girlfriend; my parents still hadn't called me. I checked my phone again before turning it off for class, wishing desperately that the next time I checked it; I'd see a missed call.
Lunch came quicker than I thought it would, considering my state of distraction, but after darting into the library, and turning on my phone I was still met with disappointing results. I sank down onto the carpet by the fiction aisle and racked my brain for places they could have gone.
The last time I had heard from them, they had been on their way to my father's charity ball. I could call his firm to check in with his secretary to see if he made to work today. And if not, find out what his schedule was like. My mother would be harder to locate, she ran the boutique alone, a Herculean task but her profits, she claimed, made it completely worth it. But I knew some of her more regular customers from when I worked for her over the summer and so hopefully they could clue me in. Next would be the neighbors.
I kept compiling and lunch was over before I realized, but I felt slightly better if not in more control of my life. I had a plan, which was far more than I had before. My parents were fine, I told myself. I would make the calls and find out what I already knew: they were just busy.
I walked into my advanced art classroom, waving a quick hello to Miss Martequoi who was under a large frame attempting to mount it on the wall.
She waved off my offer of help, almost losing her purchase on the wooden frame but catching it at the last second.
I seated myself and waited patiently for class to begin, resolutely turning my phone off.
"Welcome class, I trust you all had pleasant weekends." There was a murmur of agreement before she continued.
"Well, we're going to continue with the one to one meetings about your final projects so in the mean time, I advise anyone not meeting with me to be working on preliminary sketches and color identification."
My stomach dropped. I had forgotten all about the search for my model. I cast a look around my classmates but no one else looked that concerned. I scanned the room for anyone I could convince to model for me but not a single person came up. Besides, it seemed almost like cheating to use a student in your art class.
"Kim, if you'd like to come up here, we can get started with you. Everyone else, get to work."
I got up shakily, nervously scanning through something, anything to say to her.
"Sit down, dear." She offered kindly, her delicate black eyes, sparkling and I felt a rush of gratitude. I was forgetting myself. She was not the type of teacher to take laziness lightly but I'm sure she'd understand my inability to locate the perfect subject. A mutinous corner of mind reminded me of Jared's offer but again I shoved it aside.
"So, what have you got so far?"
"I, um, I've purchased my water colors but the subject has been evading me." I looked up at her, apologetically, my hands wringing together on my lap. Her smile tightened almost imperceptibly but then she nodded.
"I thought this might happen. Kim, you need to be active, you have to talk to people, you have to seek out their source. It will not just fall to you."
"Yes, ma'am."
She paused for a second.
"Take this afternoon to seek out someone who you puts you out of your comfort zone. Talk to them, find a point of connection, and then draw that. I want to see a kindred spirit in your work Kim, you're sketches are beautiful but they lack the power of persuasion. I need to see someone in your artwork who you make believable because of the connection you feel to them, okay?" I nodded numbly.
She smiled then.
"You've got incredible potential Kim, I just want to see you connect with someone, I know you don't find that easy." I nodded again, blinking quickly.
"I'm trying."
"Is everything alright, Kim? At home, I mean. I know your parents are gone a lot." I suppose I could have told her everything then, explained my worry, described the loneliness I felt. But I didn't. I just nodded again.
"No, everything's fine! I speak with them almost every night." The lie was startling easy to give and the smile I plastered on my face even more so.
"They're coming home this weekend, it's my birthday." That was partially true, it was my birthday on Sunday, but I was less sure that they were going to make it.
She seemed to see through me but she nodded anyway, her smile darkening.
"That's wonderful. I'll speak with you again on Tuesday, try to have a subject for me by then, okay?" She reached forward then, her hand engulfing mine and I had to blink hard to stave off the tears. It had been a long time since I'd had that much personal contact with someone.
"I'm here Kim, even if you just want to talk about your homework, you know that right?"
"Yeah." The word came out a little strangled but I nodded.
"Thanks." That one was more of whisper.
She pulled back, her eyes a little misty, before giving me a final smile.
"Get Stuart, will you? He's up next." I nodded weakly before getting up.
My fingers ached to switch my phone on, but I resisted, sitting on them firmly once I'd gotten back to my seat.
'My parents were fine, my parents were fine,' I chanted over and over in my head.
They had to be.