Chapter One
Teal Larson stared out of her bedroom window while listening to her mother beg for forgiveness. Moving into this stupid house was supposed to be a do-over. The new start. A chance for her parents.
Which was actually her constantly listening to her mother beg for him to return. David and Bethany Larson had once been a power couple, and now they are verging on divorce because her mother had an affair.
“Look, David, I’m trying here. I quit my job. I found this house in the middle of nowhere. You have got to stop acting like this child. I did everything I told you I would.”
Teal turned toward her bedroom door to see her mother pass by as she slammed into the bedroom.
Even with her father overseas, they were still fighting. Still arguing. It was nonstop. Looking back outside, she couldn’t help but admire their neighbor, Jaxson Rebel. She nibbled on her lip as she watched him.
He wore no shirt, a pair of jeans that rode low on his body, and well, she’d never been the kind of girl to admire any boy, let alone a guy. A much older guy. There he was, for all to see. Well, for her to see, and her mother, if she paid attention.
Jaxson was cleaning out his backyard. He’d pulled up all of the old rose bushes and flowers and seemed to replace them with green ferns or something like that.
She knew he was a brand-new teacher at the local high school. Just as she was a brand-new student. Teal had never lived here before.
Both of her parents had been in advertising. Rival firms, which they thought was hilarious. They were constantly stealing each other’s clients and stuff like that. Sure, they argued a lot, but she knew her parents loved each other, immensely. That had all changed with her mother’s affair.
At first, Teal had thought her dad had been unfaithful. Over the course of the last few weeks, she had learned the truth. Her mother’s late nights hadn’t been for a client, but for her boss. It had resulted in her father taking an assignment overseas, her mother quitting her job, and them moving into this house. This was all an attempt to bring him back.
Teal had a feeling her father wasn’t coming back. He hadn’t spoken to her in days, which was unlike him. She’d sent him several texts, all of which had gone unanswered, so she had decided no more texts. No more reaching out.
This hadn’t just fucked up his world, but it had messed up hers as well. Back home, in the city, she had several tutors who helped her with the classes she’d been failing. She was the epitome of parental disappointment. Her parents were geniuses in their own way, hunted by independent companies to work for them. The names and stuff that went with graduating at the top and all of that crap.
She failed math, science, English, history, and pretty much most subjects. It wasn’t that she didn’t get it. She did. She got it a whole lot, and if someone had a conversation with her, then they would know she took it all in. Her biggest problem was that she didn’t test well. The whole pressure of sitting in silence,not able to feel like you could even glance around the main hall, had made her panic. She failed all her tests.
According to stupid pieces of paper, she hadn’t learned a single thing since she was a kid. If someone was to actually ask her the questions in a conversation-like manner, they would know she was perfectly adept to learn. She hadn’t told her parents, but she could retain and even remember where each little fact came from.
All she had to do was read the books, which she did. A photographic memory, or close to it. Teal had never told anyone she remembered it all. Whenever she got questions about her bad results, she just shrugged, much to her parents’ fury. At least it stopped them from making plans in taking her everywhere they want to go. All the parties had stopped. Nothing like taking who they considered a dumb daughter to any of their important office events. If they had, she might have been able to stop her father from opening the door to her mother’s office while she’d been deep in the throes of getting fucked by her boss.
But hey, she wasn’t one to judge, and besides, what did she know? She was stupid. That was what she heard her mother call her. If only she knew.
The sound of the doorbell pulled her out of her anger, and she made her way downstairs to find the mailman waiting with a package.
“Thank you,” she said, closing the door.
Glancing down at the name, she frowned. It was clearly for next door.
She quickly opened the door, but the mailman and his van were gone.
Teal looked up the street, but there wasn’t even a scent of an engine in the street either. It was like he didn’t even exist, which was crazy. The mailman had handed her the wrong package meant for Jaxson.
She couldn’t go and stop her parents’ fight. They would just start asking her no end of questions. Even though they’d been the ones to uproot her life, they had told her, seeing as she didn’t take her learning seriously, that it was up to her to find her tutors.
Yay. And yeah, that was never going to happen. Her tutors were well aware of what she was and wasn’t capable of. They knew. What they tried to do was create the examination environment that would help her become accustomed to testing.
It never, ever worked.
All she did was flunk, and it was so freaking weird because it wasn’t like she was any stranger to pressure. Two corporate parents. The parties. Having to study while mingling, holding conversations, and she had done it all.
Yet, out of nowhere, she had this huge problem, and she couldn’t even fathom why.
Examinations weren’t that big of a deal. It was silence, for however long you tested. It was complete and total attention.
She had passed in her old school, piece of cake. All the practice runs, everything. Then out of the blue, taking a couple of exams before the end of the year, and it was like her whole world came crashing down.
Why?