_______________________________________________ [b]JORDAN [color=8c5bff]HENDERSON[/color][/b] ___________________________________________________________________ It was a lazy morning for Jordan. He’d been up into the early hours last night skyping friends from back home, and with the late night he’d had on Homecoming the sleep backlog was certainly ticking upwards. He’d been such a model student at Palms since he’d arrived that he was almost overdue a little lenience anyways, at least in his mind. And so the alarm clock was silent, the curtains were drawn tight, and Jordan was a happy man when he finally woke at eleven. His getting-ready routine was just as languid, and the clock had struck noon by the time he was out of the door. He checked his watch quickly on the way to his car. At this point he would have missed English and Bio, but if he rushed he could hit the change between spells and arrive to History on time. This was always desirable as Mr. Churchwood was always liable to bite off a student’s head for a minute tardy. God knew what he would say if Jordan strolled in halfway through the lesson with a crumpled uniform and easy going attitude. But as he drove along the street towards the school, the exterior was devoid of the students he had expected to see crowding the pathways and staircases. It was only as he pulled into the parking lot that the hall doors opened, letting out a flood of relieved-looking students. It looked like he had been lucky- no matter what side of the Atlantic he was on, assemblies had been and always would be a bore-fest. There was something about being confined to those shitty plastic chairs and being forced to pay attention to whatever crap the teachers were saying on stage that had always chafed at Jordan. Normal classes were bad enough, but they always ended at the bell. If this assembly had started when school did, they must have been in there for hours. He had been more hopeful than expecting when he tried the student parking lot, but it seemed the parking gods were on his side today. There was a single spot left, wedged between a battered, familiar looking truck and a Subaru. But as he tried to pull in, he noticed the door of the truck was open, blocking the park. A small cloud of smoke came from within and he leaned out the window for a better look. Perhaps the truck had broken down. Jordan was no mechanic, but two heads were generally better than one in that kind of situation. But the sight of the small girl inside the truck’s cab sent a small shock down his spine. He ducked back inside and thought for a second of backing off and parking on the street. Things had been awkward between him and Bea ever since Santiago’s party, all those weeks ago. They’d still hung out, but there had always been that elephant in the room that neither of them would acknowledge. When Julie had asked about Bea that Homecoming night, he hadn’t known how to react. And still the thought of her filled him with conflicting feelings and confusion. It was time to settle all of that. To get things off his chest. To figure out what the hell was going on. They had to talk. He leaned his head out of the window again and made eye contact with her. [color=8c5bff][b]“Bea. Mind letting me in there?”[/b][/color] he asked, motioned a closing door with his hand.