{EDCT} Turn My Back

[Kaylee Miller]

Plumping down in the seat next to none other than Jace Webster , Kaylee offered the younger boy a smile before putting her backpack under her seat. She didn't bother turning as she heard the hooting and rooting coming from a few seats behind them. She was certain she already knew the source of it - Jace's obnoxious friends. Now, had Kaylee been any other person, she would have forgotten everything her father ever taught her, but alas, no. She wasn't about to go down that dark road just yet.

"Hiya," she greeted him, finally turning to offer him a proper glance. She shrugged then, as if to assure him she didn't mind the hooting still coming from his friends. In fact, why would she care? A boy and a girl could easily be friends without there being anything else to it, and it wasn't as if her father would ever allow her to have a significant other. 

She'd seen movies where daughters of policemen got boyfriends, after all.

"Looking forward to the trip?" she asked curiously. She couldn't wait. She enjoyed the woods and being active and on top of that, she had a chance of getting away from everything still lingering back home. Moving hadn't exactly helped chase all the memories away, even though she wished they would. If she could just forget her mother ever existed, she'd be thrilled.

But she wasn't quite that lucky. And she had to be strong for her father.

[Jace Webster]

Jace's friends had all paired up well before he got on the bus, and honestly, he wasn't completely disappointed that they had. Sitting alone wasn't the worst thing. It gave him room and it also presented the opportunity of someone else sitting with him and perhaps making another friend. And just as the thought had crossed his mind, a body plopped down next to him in the seat and he turned to see that it was none other than Kaylee Miller. He offered her a smile and then cringed as all the guys behind him started making obscene comments and whistling obnoxiously. Times like this, he wished he was a little bit more confrontational so that he could promptly tell them to shove it.

"Hey, Kay. S-sorry about th-them. I swear they h-h-have nothing b-better to do," Jace frowned and rubbed the back of his neck with the arm closest to the window. Friends. That was all Kaylee and him were, so why the guys thought that hooting and hollering about the two of them k-i-s-s-i-n-g-ing was beyond him. Seriously, what were they, in middle school? Most of them were older than he was and yet they acted like they were barely hitting puberty. Maturity was lacking heavily in the group of jocks that snickered.

At her question he smiled wider, "Yeah! I'm p-pretty pumped. I j-just am h-happy to be outta school. How b-bout you?" He turned to look over his shoulder and what he saw made him turn around quickly and shake his head. Jace's face burned. One of his friends had mimicked a make-out session, winked at him and pointed at Kaylee all in the short time that Jace had looked back. It was nothing against Kaylee, but Jace's innocence won out over all hormones. The idea of making out and the idea of anything further was enough to make Jace even more incoherent and an awful shade of red.