Contagious

Parker tried, she really did. She tried to ignore the fact that she was sitting right next to Martin on the cold gym floor while the teacher took role call. She was already dressed in issued black shorts and blue shirt, which made her even more uncomfortable. Her knuckles went white as she clenched her fists, her heart racing. She hadn't seen him since lunch and was hoping she wouldn't have any classes with him...but as her luck would have it, she did. And it was gym. And it was not her forte.

“Pst! Parker!” Martin stage whispered, elbowing her in the side.

“Fuck off,” Parker muttered. She was definitely not in the mood to deal with him just yet.

“For today, class,” the teacher (Mrs. Cosby) started, “we will begin with basketball. It's a good start since we have to stay inside for a while. Guys with girls, get into pairs, and go over basic dribbles and just have fun, okay?”

Martin reached out and grabbed her arm before she could run off. “Please.”

Parker sighed, looking around the gym. Of course everyone else was already paired up. She jerked her arm out of his hand and took a step back. She wanted as much distance between them as possible. He was so smug—thinking she had nothing better to do than talk to him. Guys really were idiots. He might have been able to forget everything that happened the night before she left for tour, but she didn't.

Stop, she told herself. He has Dallas now. He doesn't want you. Maybe he never did...

“Can we talk?”

She shrugged.

“Look alive, Johnson,” Mrs. Cosby said, before throwing a basketball at him.

Martin easily caught it. “Parker, why won't you give me the time of day?”

“Because watching you squirm is very amusing to me,” she told him. It was only half a lie—he was really adorable when he was awkward or uncomfortable.

“C'mon, people, go!” Mrs. Cosby yelled. “I want to see you guys working on drills.”

Martin dribbled the ball easily before slowly passing it to Parker. “Please, don't ignore me.”

“Then stop trying to talk to me,” she said, tossing the ball back with a little more force—her temper was slowly rising. The emotional overload of talking to him was starting to become too much.

“Why are you so mad at me? If anyone has the right to be pissed, it's me,” he snapped, passing the ball back to her.

Parker caught it, frowning. “Fuck you, Martin,” she said quietly, throwing the ball back at him, not caring where it landed. She walked of of the gym floor, throwing the door open to the girl's locker room, kicking the first locker she saw. Running her hands through her red hair, she sank down on the locker room floor, thankfully hidden from the view of the door. She brushed her fingers over her cheeks and was surprised when she saw they were wet—she hadn't cried in three years. Not since she left for tour.

She had given up crying a while ago, deciding it didn't help anything. Crying over missing her family when she was gone wasn't going to make the time fly so she could see them any faster. Crying over her and Martin's last exchange wasn't going to change anything. Crying over what could have been only made her more depressed. So she stopped, steeling herself and refusing to let it bring her down anymore. But while Martin had the right to be pissed off, so did she. Yes, she was the one who left, but she didn't have a choice. And she didn't know how she could make him see that (especially since she didn't even want to talk to him). She pulled her phone out of the front pocket on her shorts and sent a quick message to Ross. He would understand; he always understood.

I don't want to be here anymore.

At school or near Martin, little bit?

Both. It's too much.

Only 30 min left. I'll see you tonight.

Okay.

Parker shoved her phone back into her pocket and stood up, walking to the bathroom portion of the locker room. She rolled her eyes when she saw her reflection before washing her face slowly. There was no way Martin was going to see how she had broken down because of his words.

“Man up, Parks,” she told herself, sighing. She crinkled her nose when she smelled smoke and froze when she heard someone cough. She looked around. “Hello?”

“Aye, it's stuffy in here, you know?”

She stepped back when the bathroom stall swung open and a girl walked out, her long blond hair scraggly and curly and unkempt. The eyeliner under her eyes was smudged and probably days old. Her jeans were ripped so badly in the front that more skin was visible than jeans, her Prince shirt just as dirty as the Converse on her feet. Parker looked her up and down and thought the whole look just worked for her. “Hi?”

The girl smiled, stubbing out her cigarette on the wall of the locker room. “Hey. I'm Orion.”

“Parker.”

“Who made you cry?”

Parker frowned. “I wasn't crying.”

Orion looked at her carefully. “Yes, you were.”

She sighed. “Just...a big change for me,” she told her, walking away from the bathroom and to her locker, where she changed back into her jeans and t-shirt, shoving her Blackberry into her back pocket.

“You're the new girl, right?”

“Yeah.”

“The musician?”

She nodded.

“That's pretty cool,” Orion said. “Never been to high school before now, right?”

“Does everyone here know everything about me already?” Parker asked, laughing slightly, though it wasn't funny.

“Yeah, well, it's high school,” she said simply. “Word spreads fast. Especially with someone like Dallass—she's our biggest gossip queen.”

Parker shook her head. “Yeah, I got to meet that lovely girl earlier.”

Orion laughed. “I'm sorry. My cousin's a royal bitch.”

“She's, uh, dating Martin, isn't she?” Parker asked, reaching for her bag to avoid Orion's gaze. Parker's eyes always gave her away. She tried to pass it off as mere curiosity but she wasn't sure how good of an actress she was.

“Yeah, Martin,” Orion said, sighing. “Now that is one gorgeous man. No idea why he's with her, though.”

Parker shrugged. “Is everyone here lusting over Martin?”

“Aren't you?” Orion asked.

“It's different,” Parker told her. “I've known him since we were five.”

Orion's eyebrow rose. “Really, now? And you're new here?”

“Well, I went to Langston for junior high but then I left for tour. So I'm not really new but I guess that's an easier story than the real one,” she said, shrugging.

“So you knew him before his growth spurt and when he became massive hunk?” Orion asked, laughing.

Parker smiled. “He's always been adorable, trust me.”

“Oh, I do,” Orion said. “C'mon. Let's go watch the losers participate in gym.”

She laughed. “I think we're going to be good friends.”

+

“So your mom basically just up and told you that you had to finish senior year? What's the relevance of that?” Orion asked as the two of them sat outside the school, in front of the flag pole, watching the high schoolers run to their buses or their mother's minivan.

Parker shrugged. “I don't know. She wants me to live normally. But this is a waste. I had a tutor on the road, you know? I always wanted to move on faster but he wanted me to go at a normal pace. It's a waste of time. I socialize with enough people my own age on the road. I never wanted to come back here. It's fucking...” she sighed. “I just don't want to be here.”

“I hear ya,” Orion said, pulling out a crushed pack of cigarettes from the pocket of her jeans, lighting one up. “I'm doing bare minimum to pass because I don't fucking care. The only thing these high schoolers care about are the latest fashion trends, the new hairstyle, who's dating who, it's disgusting,” she told her.

“Yeah.” Parker nodded. “The road is where I want to be. I like the spontaneity of my band mates. I like driving city to city and being on a fast-food diet with three hours of sleep a night because my band mates are playing Guitar Hero and pranking one another. I like that, I miss that."

Orion threw an arm around Parker's shoulder, taking a long drag from her cigarette. “You'll be there soon enough. I have a plan.”

Parker looked over at her. “What kind of plan?”

“Get expelled,” she said, shrugging. “Then you can't come back here and maybe your mom will see that tutoring is a much, much better option.”

Parker paused. “I don't know if that would work, Orion...”

“It might. She might not think you adjusted well enough and see how bad of an idea it was to send you back here, you know?”

“I don't know,” Parker said honestly. “It sounds good in theory but that doesn't mean I'll execute it well.”

“Well, that's all I got,” Orion said, laughing.

“Put that thing out, Orion, it's a disgusting habit.”

Orion looked up at her cousin, Dallas, and stood up. She took a long drag from her cigarette, blowing the smoke in her cousin's face, smiling when she started coughing. “You're disgusting.”

Dallas rolled her eyes, linking her fingers with Martin. Her eyes fell on Parker and she smirked. “Well, I see idiots hang out with idiots.”

“We can smell our own,” Parker said, standing up and brushing the dirt off her pants.

“Why are you even here? You should just go. None of us want you here,” Dallas said.

“Trust me, I want to be here as much as you want me here,” Parker told her. She felt her pocket vibrate and she dug out her phone, reading the message from Ross.

Turn around, little bit.

She laughed and turned around, seeing her best friend and band mate standing ten feet away, dangling car keys in his hand.

“You needed a ride?” he asked, pushing his Ray Bans to the top of his head.

“I fucking love you, Ross,” Parker said, running over to him and hugging him tightly. “I hate this place.”

Ross laughed, rubbing her back. “I know.” He pulled away from his friend and shook his head. “Why do you already have people glaring at you?”

She shrugged. “It's a gift. C'mon, I want you to meet my new friend,” she told him, grabbing his hand and dragging him over to the little group. “Ross, this is Orion; Orion, this is Ross.”

Orion nodded. “Sup?”

Ross smiled. “Pleasure.” He looked around at the rest of them. “And...who are they?” he asked.

Parker bit the inside of her cheek as she looked at Martin and Dallas. “No one important,” she said quietly. “Let's just go. See you tomorrow, Orion.”

“Maybe,” Orion said, shrugging, before dropping her cigarette to the ground and stomping it out. She waved at Parker slightly before digging her car keys out of her pocket and walking into the parking lot.

“Nice girl,” Ross said.

“She's an annoying little bitch,” Dallas said, sticking out her hand. “I'm Dallas Spalding. I'm sorry you had to meet my cousin like that.”

Ross took her hand lightly. “Pleasure.”

“This is my boyfriend, Martin. He sometimes forgets his manners,” she told him, elbowing her boyfriend in the side.

Martin laughed before holding out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure,” Ross repeated, trying to keep the frown out of his voice. He let go of Martin's hand quickly, finding Parker's arm. “Let's go. We got practice and Sylvia keeps talking about something for Rolling Stone?”

“Yeah, a new cover,” Parker said, picking up her bag. “We better not have the same photographer as last time. That man was a pervert.”

Ross laughed. “It was hysterical the way you were so uncomfortable though!”

Parker rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the small smile on her lips. “Yeah, of course you were comfortable—he didn't want you to take your shirt off.”

“Oh, he wanted me to, Parks. He just didn't vocalize it.”

She laughed. “Idiot,” she muttered. “Okay, let's actually go this time.” She turned away from Martin and Dallas without so much as a goodbye and started walking towards Ross' Mazda.

“Uh, nice to meet you guys,” Ross said, “uh...yeah, goodbye.” He nodded quickly before turning to catch up with his band mate.

“Parker, wait!” Martin called out, running over to them. He reached for Parker's arm to stop her and turn her around.

Parker frowned. “What?”

He paused and shook his head. “I'm sorry.”

“For what?” she asked.

He looked between Ross and Parker, silently wishing her...friend would leave them alone so they could have this conversation in private. But he didn't feel comfortable asking for privacy. “For...Dallas' behavior. And the rest of the kids here. They're...not the best people in the world.”

Parker scoffed, shaking her head. “You know, Martin. You have a lot more to be sorry for than your shitty taste in women and your surroundings,” she told him. “Let's go, Ross.”

Martin's hand fell to his side as he watched Parker and Ross walk away, climbing into his car, before they drove off out of the parking lot. He sighed. He wanted to make things right, he really did. He wanted to put...certain events of their past behind them and try to start over. He was hoping that since she had come back it would have been a new beginning for them...but he should have known better. Parker always held grudges but he didn't understand why she was holding one against him.

After all, she was the one who left and broke his heart. Not the other way around. Martin never left her; he never went anywhere. She did.