ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴅ | ɪ.ɢ

003

[THREE]

* . °•★𝓢𝓪𝔂𝓵𝓸𝓻☆•° . * 

ᴡʜᴇɴ ɪ ᴀɢʀᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏ ᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴛᴏ ᴇᴀᴛ ᴅɪɴɴᴇʀ, ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ʀᴇᴀʟɪᴢᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴀᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɪꜱᴀᴀᴄ ᴀꜱ ᴡᴇʟʟ. Not exactly something I desired to do.

When he saw me coming, he rolled his eyes, fully ignoring everything I did. Katherine introduced me to the rest of the family, including Parker (the only girl), Jordan (Who seemed to go nowhere without his camera), Lee (the kid who seemed inseparable from his skateboard), Will (The oldest one who was apparently married? Engaged? I just knew he didn't live at the house), and lastly, Cole. Not that I have anything against blonde guys, but Cole gave me self absorbed, arrogant asshole vibes. 

But I guess I could be wrong. 

"So...what do you guys want to do?" Parker said, snapping me back to reality. We were all standing in a kind of awkward circle, with everyone looking everywhere but at each other. There was various shrugging that happened around the circle, but no one offered any suggestions. I glanced around the big open space and thought for a moment.

"We could play tag?" I suggested.

"That's such a little kid game." Isaac scoffed. I glanced sideways at him. 

"Well, no one asked for your opinion." 

"No one asked for you to be here—"  

"—Whoa. Guys, calm down." Will stepped in between us, his expression more than a little surprised as Isaac and I glared at each other. Lee elbowed his twin in the stomach.

"What's wrong with you?" He whispered. 

I looked back at Isaac, my gaze dark, "Well I didn't ask to be here either. But I guess we both have to deal with it." 

"Can we play tag now?" Benny whined, shifting from one foot to another. Will stepped back, pushing Jordan's camera down (he had apparently been filming the whole interaction). 

"I think that's a great idea, Benny. Who else wants to play?"

Parker and Benny both raised their hands immediately, and were soon followed by Nathan, Jordan, Lee, Alex, and Danny and then Cole and then, reluctantly, Isaac.

"Not it!"

After five minutes of contemplation and arguing, we determined that Nathan was It. He sat on the ground and covered his eyes, and started counting.

"One, two, three—"

And that was all I heard before I was sprinting away from him towards the other side of the house. I barely had time to catch my breath before I heard screaming and turned around to see Nathan sprinting as fast as he could towards Parker. He easily tagged her, and then she came sprinting towards me.

Laughed, I turned and high-tailed it around the yard, running as fast as I could until Parker gave up and managed to tag Lee, who in turn tagged Alex, who then tagged Isaac.

Who immediately fixed his gaze upon me.

"No." I mouthed at him. He fixed me with an evil smile, full of disdain. Then, before I could react, he sprinted towards me and I turned around, running away. I would not let Isaac beat me. 

Cole was whooping as he clapped his hands, watching the two of us sprint around the yard. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the game, and were more enthralled in watching us. 

There was something different about running away from someone who despised you. A necessity to win, to be better, to have something to boast about. I was filled with that feeling as my converse beat the ground, carrying me away as fast I could. My blonde hair fell into my face and I brushed it away. 

However, the motion distracted me just enough and I felt a hand graze my back. My foot tripped up the other and I went tumbling towards the ground, landing flat on my back, getting the wind knocked out of me.

"Oof." I groaned, blinked as Isaac crouched over me, grinning with satisfaction. 

"How's it feel?" He asked, his brown eyes meeting my blue ones. 

"What?" 

"Knowing you just lost to me. Cause from up here it feels great." 

I glared at him. "You're a dick." 

"I know you are, but what am I?" 

I flipped him off from my position on the ground as Will called out from the other side of the yard.

"Come on, man. Help her up." 

Rolling his eyes and muttering something under his breath, Isaac reached out, gripped my hand, and pulled me to my feet. The second I was upright, I let go of his hand like it was on fire and wiped it on my pants. Then, I started walking away without saying a single word. 

"Um. Hello? A thank you?" 

"Fuck you." 

I heard his laugh from behind me. "So that's the way we're doing it, huh?" 

"Yeah. Katherine can force me to stay under the same roof as you, but she can't force me to get along with you." I said, turning around at last and fixing him with a glare. "So stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours." 

"Hm..." He said, giving me a fake smile, "I don't think that's possible, Saylor." 

Heaving a frustrated sigh, I turned around and sprinted away. 

*. °•★•°. *

"Saylor?" 

"Hm?" I pulled my AirPod out of my ear to see Jackie sitting up on her bed, looking at me from across the room. 

"Do you think coming here was a good thing?" She asked quietly. 

Did I think coming here was a good idea? Well...it was difficult to answer that honestly. Sure, I was thankful that we had somewhere to stay, but...

It's hard to explain the feeling. New York had always been my home. Before I shut them out, I had friends. I had a hobby. I had a life. It wasn't fair that one little accident could take all of that away. So, in truth,

"I don't know." 

"Me neither." 

We trailed off into silence and I looked back down at my phone. I had been scrolling through my camera roll, looking through the old videos I had of me surfing, back when it was fun, and not an outlet for my anger. I missed the ocean so much. I would give anything to be able to go back, to surf one last time not out of rage, but just to remember how it felt, catching wave after wave and winning competition after competition. There was nothing interesting here in Colorado. Just miles and miles of open space. 

Then, Jackie switched off the light and rolled over, and I shut my phone off, my thoughts still racing.

This was bound to be a long night.  

*. °•★•°. *

A/N:

This chapter was just a little filler chapter for you guys! The next chapter should be out later tonight! Can't wait for you to read it! What do you guys think so far? 

Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2024 HERE WE COME!