The Beginning of Us (2 page)

"Love you too, Daddy," the tightness in my chest returned and I concentrated on breathing. Didn't need a second crying episode in less than 20 minutes.

In the car, Mom talked about her agenda for the day. I sat there quietly, staring out the window. A thousand thoughts streamed through my head so fast, I couldn't grasp them and form a solid idea. I realized the car was silent and my mom was looking at me.

"Huh? What? I'm sorry I wasn't listening." By that time she pulled up in front of a school I did not recognize. "Hey, where are we? What school is this?" I looked at Mom, whose head was tilted and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Teegan, what's wrong? Do you need to miss today and take a break? You seem so out of it."

Everything was too real. Each scene too crisp, too detailed, more so than any dream I had in my life.

I attempted to smile and leaned in to kiss mom's cheek, “No I'm fine, Mama. I'll see you later. I love you.”

The schoolhouse was a tall, four-story brick building. The courtyard out front was beautifully landscaped with lush, dark green St. Augustine grass and strong, tall oak trees. Benches were spread out and students lounged in them, waiting for the bell to ring.

The sign that stood to the left of the double-door entrance read, "Ridgecrest High, Home of the Bears."

I stopped in my tracks. While it didn't seem visually familiar, I knew the name all too well. This was Jax's school in his hometown of Seabrook, Texas. Why the heck was I dreaming of his high school?

I continued walking and entered the school through its double doors. Loud voices, laughter, teachers chiding students to move along, and lockers slamming bombarded me all at once.

I froze in the entryway, and realized that automatically I was going through these motions, but was completely lost in this foreign school. Realizations like that don't occur in dreams and fear swept over me.

Where do I go?

I turned and was about to head out the door when I heard my name.

"Teegan! Over here!" A skinny, pale redhead waved me over.. I took a deep breath and headed toward her. The girl, who I’d refer to as Red until I discovered her name, smiled and adjusted her purple framed glasses as I came closer. She was dressed in a dark green bedazzled tunic and black leggings. She was cute, in a cool nerd sort of way.

"Hey girl, were you about to
skip
just now?" she asked me in a hushed whisper.

Who are you?

I looked desperately around for a sign of her name while I shook my head, "No, I thought I dropped something outside."

Red smiled and nodded. She turned around and started to walk away. It took two seconds for me to realize that I should follow her, so I did. The hallway clock read 8:10. It smelled like a mixture of perfume and cologne. All the background noise was annoying, people were so loud, a dull thud started at my temples.

"I hope we have a sub again like we did Friday. I really don't feel like seeing Mrs. Golding and getting a bunch of work on a Monday," Red stated. I glanced over to the book she was holding to see if her name was doodled anywhere on the book cover.

"That would be ideal," I concurred. I said a quiet prayer of thanks for finding out at least one teacher's name. Soon, I would find out the subject. Red stopped abruptly and peeked inside room 108. She let out a delighted squeal.

"God loves me! Mrs. G isn't here today. This is going to be a glorious Monday after all!" Red smiled big and went inside the room. Awkwardly, I smiled in response and followed her.

However, I froze right inside the doorway, my heart beating rapidly. Chills ran down my spine and goosebumps prickled my skin.

The boy sitting in the second row, towards the far side of the room caught my attention right away.

Teenage Jaxon.

Chapter Two

Teegan

I grabbed onto Red, my breath trapped in my chest. He sat there talking to another guy, his dark brown-colored hair longer than I've seen it in years. He made a move to sweep it out of his eyes. They crinkled as he laughed and I felt the pit of my stomach grow warm.

"Oh my God, he's so cute." I whispered.

Red turned sharply to me and gave me a quizzical look. "Who, Jax? Girl, since when did your impression change?" Her question knocked me back into reality. I just shrugged, mainly because I had no answer, I had no idea what my previous opinion had been.

I followed Red to his side of the room and my heart thundered. She was going to walk right by him! I tried to stare straight ahead, but I ended up glancing his way. Everything became slow motion, straight out of a movie, as I began to walk past him and at that precise moment he looked up at me and smiled.

"Hey Teegan," he said with a nod of his head and a slight smile, then turned his attention back to his friend.

He was oblivious to the fact that those two simple words nearly made me lightheaded. I took a deep breath, muttered an unintelligible response and kept walking.
What was going on?

Red took a seat on the row Jaxon was sitting so I sat beside her in the next row. I had a totally clear view of him.

Dizziness took hold and I put my head down on my desk.

"Tee, what's wrong honey?" I heard Red whisper. I just sat there stunned,

What the hell was going on?
That question had become my motto since waking up. I concentrated on my breathing and slowly raised my head. Red was staring at me, wide-eyed, and all I could offer her was a meek smile as I sat upright.

"I'm fine. Just hungry." I explained. Nodding, she brought her book bag up in her lap and went to dig through it and producing a granola bar. She gently tossed it to me and smiled apologetically.

"Here, that's all I have. Hurry and eat it before the bell rings."

Whoever Red was, I could tell she was a good friend. I smiled appreciatively and unwrapped it as quietly as I could.

All the while, the fact that I was in the same room with a teenage version of my husband took control of my mind. If this was a dream, which is was, it was the most vivid and strangest dream I had ever been subjected to.

***

After what seemed like hours, the bell finally rang and the English class stood as the substitute rattled off a list of homework. Nobody paid attention. I felt appalled at the lack of respect these kids were showing to an adult. Was high school really like this? It had been so long for me, I’d forgotten.

I needed to escape and regroup. I wish I could run on autopilot like so many days, but this was new. I was a teenager at some weird school during a school day.

"Hey Red –" I started but stopped short, realizing what I had just called her.

"Is that a new nickname?” she asked with narrowed eyes, “Tee, you're a mess this morning. I thought that granola bar helped?"

I shook my head as a group of normal girls walked past us. Just like any other high school, there were the usual cliques; the cheerleaders, the band nerds, the jocks. But this group looked, thankfully, normal.

"Hi Teegan, hi Raegan. Is there a sub in Mrs. G's class?" a pretty, but plain, the blonde asked.

I rejoiced silently at learning my best friend's name.

"Yes! It was great," Red, or rather Raegan, answered. The blonde girl smiled, gave another blonde in the group a high-five and they proceeded on their way.

"Raegan, um, can I ask you a question?" I asked as we came down the hallway. Bright posters were tacked up all over, advertising things like school dances and pep rallies. Anti-drug and anti-bullying posters were everywhere too. The perfume-cologne mix was so strong. Did these kids bathe in the crap?

"Yes of course. But hurry up because the next bell is about to ring."

"What's my next class? Or better yet, what's my schedule?" I sounded like an idiot. The question made Raegan stop dead in her tracks. She pushed her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose and frowned.

"Teegan, what is
wrong
? Whatever it is, you know you can tell me."

Hot tears sprang to my eyes and spilled down my cheeks in a split second and I hurriedly wiped them away. "I'll tell you at lunch okay? But please, I need you to tell me."

Concern swept across her face and it made my heart soar. She pulled out a rectangular sheet of paper and thrust it at me. "Mulberry, Government, room 205. Hurry up 'cause he hates tardies." She pulled me in for a hug and whispered, “You owe me a big explanation at lunch. I'm worried Tee!"

I released her and smiled, "I promise." I took off down the perfume-choked hallway. I turned to wave when I got to the classroom and noticed she was still standing there, head cocked to the side with eyebrows furrowed. She wiggled her fingers at me and turned down another hallway.

This was going to be the longest day of my life.

I found the classroom and another realization hit me. I had no idea where I was supposed to sit. Who I presumed to be as Mr. Mulberry, a short, stocky man sat at his desk reading the newspaper.

"Morning Teegan!" he greeted as I crossed in front.

I looked up and smiled nervously. "Hi, Mr. Mulberry." A light bulb moment went off and I turned around and came close to his desk.

"Mr. Mulberry, I had a question." I announced.

"Please don't tell me you need an extension on your paper." he frowned. I shook my head slowly.
I sure hope not,
I thought.

"No. I was just going to see if I could sit in the in the front today. My eyes have been giving me some problems. My mom is probably gonna take me to the eye doctor this week to have them checked."

"I don't see why that would be a problem dear. Go ahead and take a seat. But don't put that appointment off, I started having problems when I was your age," he gave me a tight, apologetic smile and then continued with his paper.

Crisis averted, I sighed with relief. I took a seat right in the front row in the middle, and started looking through my backpack. I took hold of it and started flipping through its contents.

I heard him before I saw him.

"Hey Mr. M., any good news in the world?" he asked. He sounded happy and cheerful.

"Just a tad bit, Jax." Mr. Mulberry answered.

I started taking deep breaths and looked up casually. His backpack was slung on one shoulder with a grin on his face, and then he sat in the chair right next to me.

I almost dropped dead. I continued to breath deep and turned my attention to my folder.

"Teegan, what’cha doin' up here? You trying to earn brownie points with Mr. M.?" Jax joked. I turned my head in his direction and gave a smile. Everything inside me fluttered and I was shocked at how handsome he was.

"No, I just got bad eyeballs. Can't see anymore."

Jax nodded, "Well, in that case, I volunteer to be your Seeing Eye dog the rest of the day." He winked at me and dug out his textbook. "You gonna get glasses like Raegan? You'd look hot."

I giggled. Actually giggled and then I threw my hand over my mouth. He was totally flirting with me. What a ballsy little punk. But then that's how teenaged boys were, weren't they?

His smile was wide, "Teeg, you're blushing. That's cute." He bit his bottom lip and shook his head slightly.

During class I would catch Jax stealing glances at me from the corner of my eye. Our hands touched as we reached for my dropped pencil at one point, and butterflies attacked my insides. It was like the first time we’d met in college, and every time I was around him my nerves were erratic. I wanted to hug him and kiss those beautiful lips of his.

I was excited when Mr. Mulberry asked us to pair up for a section read-and-answer and Jax scooted his desk closer to mine.

“This cool?” he asked, facing me head on. His hair was in his eyes, in a sexy surfer boy type of way and all I could do was nod. I wanted to reach out and touch his hair, kiss his lips. Everything in me tensed and it took all I had to contain myself. I lost my train of thoughts several times during the pair reading, but finally relaxed towards the end.

Finally, the bell rang. While nerve wracking, it was also nice to be in such close proximity with Jax.

I was up before him and had started to walk out the door when his hand gently tugged at my elbow. A shiver went down my back as I turned towards him.

"Hey, there’s a party this Saturday at Blythe's place. A barn party. You and Raegan should come.” He bit the bottom of his lip and cocked his head to the side; his hand was still at my elbow. And something in me snapped, and I finally relaxed. The gesture seemed way too familiar, but also comforting.

“Why is that?” I asked playfully.

“'Cause it’ll be fun,
duh
. But for reals though, it would be fun to hang out, you know, um, outside of school.” Nervousness clouded his icy blue eyes, and I smiled. The tough Jax Donney was nervous, around me, how cute.

After a few moments, I nodded, “Okay, I'll tell Raegan.”

“Awesome. Text me if you do, so I can look out for you. Where's your phone?”

Such a simple question left me a bit panicked. I didn't remember grabbing a phone, but instinctively I reached in my backpack pocket and produced one. It was a smart phone with a cute purple case and I handed it over to him.

He expertly swiped his finger around the screen for a moment and then handed it back to me. “Later, Teeg.”

He gave me one last smile before trotting off to join a group of guys in front of us.

My heart was beating double-time, but in a good, giddy way. I got my schedule and double-checked my next class, a little sad to see Jax go.

Lunchtime came after Stats (which actually wasn't that bad of a class) and thankfulness washed over me. Then dread followed as I thought of having to explain my weird behavior to Raegan. Amnesia? Loss of long-term memory? Home trouble? I didn't know what to tell her because I sure as hell couldn’t tell her the truth. Why did it even matter if this was a dream? Wouldn't my answer be automatic and instant anyway? There were way too many questions and not enough answers. I spied the red hair as I neared the end of the lunch line.