I Won't Give Up (6 page)

Cooper

I did a lot of thinking while I was away and I knew deep down my mom would be seriously pissed if I kept living life like before. I promised myself after I got back from my summer away that I would turn over a new leaf so to say and try my hardest to make her proud, I needed to do it for myself too. While I was on the road I started getting tattoos, things that reminded me of her. She loved cherry trees so that was my first on my forearm, I added some stars and got the Galileo quote on my ribcage, I found it comforting surrounding myself with things that reminded me of her, I felt like I carried a part of her with me where ever I went. Before I knew it I had filled up most of my forearms, I thought of them as the scars that I chose.

When I got back I pulled into the driveway of our new house.
Of all the places my dad had to pick to relocate his practice he chooses this place. Prescott, Tennessee. Every woman looked like a Stepford wife and all the husbands looked like they belonged on the golf course
or glossing up the pages of GQ. He
moved
us
into one of the way too big cookie cutter houses with manicured lawns on Magnolia Drive. I was not going to fit in here with motorcycle and all my tattoos. He called it a “fresh start” I called it running away.
When I returned my dad was already pretty much sett
led in our new house
, he left all my things in boxes because I told him I wanted to go though everything myself.
We hadn’t really talked much lately
with him setting up his new practice and me being on the road
but h
e seemed to be doing okay and I was glad
, I was just hoping I’d feel that way again too. It was
hard to think about her not being here but I did have to agree that being in a new house was easier than being in my childhood home where no matter where I went I was reminded of her.

“Hey Coop don’t forget to go register for school today. It’s bad enough you’re missing the first day.” My dad Kurt said before grabbing his briefc
ase and walking out the door.

I
finally
finished unpacking my stuff before
I threw on my leather jacket and grabbed my helmet heading out to the garage to my
baby, my Ducati Monster,
was she a beauty. I opened up the garage door and started her up heading towards Prescott High. I walked around in circles until I finally found what I was looking for
,
the office.
Damn this was a big school.

“Excuse me ma’am I need to register for school. Can you help me with that?”
I asked politely.

“Sure. Fill out these papers and then I will need your driver’s license to make
sure that you’re a resident
and then you’ll be good to go.”

I grabbed the clipboard and took a seat in the
posh leather
chair and started filling out the paperwork.
My old school
had hand-me down everything,
this place had everything top of the line
everything. I
t was going to take more than some getting used to. I filled out the name and address portion of the paper work then
I felt my throat close up and the beginning of tears start to come on when I got the parent/guardian part. I was only eighteen and I didn’t have a mom now. It was still too fresh. I hurried through the rest of the forms so I could get home and mope some more.
It seems that’s all I’d been
doing lately.
The final bell was about to ring and I wanted to get out of here
before I had to start meeting people
,
there was going to be enough of that tomorrow. I made it to my bike seconds before I heard the bell ring. I threw on my helmet and revved the bike to life
pulling out onto Prescott
Boulevard. D
id everything in thi
s town have to do with a Prescott?
I was at a red light when I saw an expensive looking Audi come flying up behind me it nearly
clipped
me. What the fuck, crazy woman drivers! She pulled of to the shoulder and I rolled up next to her, fuming.

“What the hell! You need to watch where you’re going!” I yelled
resisting the urge to punch out her back window
.
Then I looked at the driver.
Wow she was really pretty and her car, an Audi R8 Spyder with a price tag of a whopping two hundred grand.
She wasn’t smiling
she looked to be a world away.

“Me! How about you pay more attention to where you’re going! You’re the one on the death trap!” Was she serious
?
I was stopped at a red light.
My anger flared and I saw
red.

“You’re the one that almost hit me!”
Cooper she’s a girl
you
dumbass.
I needed to try and calm myself down
because
she was starting to look really upset.

“What
ever no damage done right.”
I saw the tear slid down her cheek
and wanted to

punch myself for acting like such an asshole, even though she was wrong
.

“Right. Just be more careful next time.” I said as soft as I could muster before I sped off.
The whole ride home
I wondered who the sad beautiful girl was.
At least I wasn’t going to be the only sad one in town
, I found the thought comforting
.

I tried the next day to get her to talk
to me and she just blew me off. S
he
barely even ga
ve me the time of day
.
Something was definitely wrong for her to look so sad.
The school wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. A bunch of pe
ople introduced themselves;
others just stared and kept their distance.
I guess they were scared of the tattoos and piercings.
For me tattoos were a form of expression
.

Finally
Saturday
rolled around
.
I had
a date
tonight
with Tabby that I really didn’t want to go on
. We were supposed to meet up
at a local dive
in a couple hours. Maybe I should call her and pretend I was sick
.
She
had
bugged me
relentlessly
all week until for some reason I finally relented and agreed to go.
I showered and dressed in a pair of faded ripped jeans and a black t-shirt and
my
black
motorcycle
boots. I went back into the bathroom and ran some pomade through my hair not that it was going to matter because the helmet was just going mess it up anyway, besides I wasn’t in the market to impress her. I started up my bike and headed towards downtown. I found a parking space and headed inside. I was
definitely
early
,
I scanned the room to familiarize
myself with my surroundings;
old habit
s die hard
I guess.
That’s when
I saw her
, Fiona. She was
sitting at a booth with a boyfriend? Maybe that’s why she wouldn’t talk to me
. M
aybe he’s the jealous type
. Everyone I asked about her
when I was digging for information
said that Tabitha
’s BFF Ashley was dating her ex
Jack and that they didn’t think she was dating
anyone
.

I decided to go say hello and see if maybe she’d talk to me today.
I walked up and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned to look at me, she took my breath away. She looked like an angel but her eyes were slightly puffy like she’d been crying.

“Hey C
rash.” I said.

“What do you want?” She asked. What the hell was she
wearing?

“Are you going to eat all that food?” I asked before sliding into the
booth next to her. “Are you her
boyfriend?” I asked the big guy sitting across from her who looked strikingly similar
and I assumed he was a relative of some sort
.

“No. I’m the brother who are you?” He asked in a friendly but protective manner.

“
Cooper Kinley.” I said extending my hand. “Nice to meet you…?”

“Luke, Luke Prescott.” He
smiled
returned the handshake. “How do you know Fiona?”

“Crash here almost killed me last week. We haven’t actually had a real conversation since she’s always running away from me.” I smirked and started digging in eating her
untouched
buffalo wings. She smacked my hand but I ignored it and kept eating. She was feisty I’d give her th
at but I liked the challenge.
I had a feeling that she was definitely worth it.
She was gorgeous, tall and with curves in all the right places. Her long brown hair accentuated her heart shaped face
,
she had eyes that were so blue
they reminded me of a Husky and her pouty lips that I was dying to kiss.
Wow I sound lame.

“Do you mind?” She spat
trying to seem annoyed or maybe she really was annoyed, I smiled
.

“Crash what the hell are you wearing? You look like you’re for sale.” I chuckled
and she rolled her eyes at me, she looked HOT!
Short shorts that would probably barely cover her ass when she stood up and a tight t-shirt that ended right above her belly button.
Stop looking.
I warned myself praying I could
keep the
now
very excited
‘little Cooper’
concealed. That would be embarrassing
especially with her brother sitting across from us
. 

“Move. I need to go to the ladies room.”
Damn.
I quickly adjusted myself before I stood up. S
he scooted out and headed for the door
,
not to the ladies room but to outside
.

“Has she always been such an ice queen?”
I asked Luke as soon as she was out of view.

“No.
She’s
going through some personal stuff right now.”

“Aren’t we all.” I stated hating how true it was
, at least in my case
.

“Yeah I guess. So you go to Prescott High too?”
I was getting the big brother grilling.

“Yeah
I
just st
arted. I’m a senior this year
.
My mom passed away in May and they thought it would be a good idea for us to have a fresh start so here I am.
M
y dad
just moved
us
here from
Delaney.”

“
Sorry about your mom man. I’ve
never been
to Delaney but I’ve
heard it’s nice though.
”

“It was home.”

“So w
hat brings you to The Barn?
”

“
I’m supposed to be meeting Tabitha Davenport.
”
I said rolling my eyes.

“
Ugh, Tabby… and
I know what you mean, except this place always felt like home up until recently.”

“So
your last name,
Prescott
,
does that have anything to d
o with the name of the town
?”
I asked curiously.

“Yeah
,
one of our ancestors founded it in like the 1700’s or something.”

“That’s neat
.” What was I supposed to
say?
No wonder she drove a two hundred thousand dollar car she was way out of my league I guess I should enjoy my time with Tabby since Fiona was out of the question.

“Just give her some time, maybe she’ll come around
. S
he’s kinda going through a man hating stage right now, me included.”

“Thanks Luke but I think C
rash is way out of my league.”

“I think you’re wrong
.
I think she likes you but she’s afraid right now.” He looked at his phone.

“You
want to offer
me any insight as to why?”

“She’ll tell you if she wants to. I’ll keep trying to work on her though.
Listen,
I gotta run.
” He threw some money on the table. “H
ey careful with Tabby
,
she’s got claws.”