Free Scattered Colors by Jessica Prince

perks of our friendship, Freya. You’ll get used to it.” He smiled genuinely and I felt my heart skip a beat or two. Parker cut his eyes over to where Michael was sitting next to me, watching on in rapt fascination.
    “You’re Michael Pavlock, right?”
    “Uh, y-yeah,” Michael stuttered, obviously unsure why Parker was speaking to him. If I had to guess, I would have been willing to lay money on the fact that Michael was another one of the kids Parker hadn’t bothered talking to until right at that moment.
    What Parker said next floored me. “Keep your hands off my girl or I’ll break your arm.”
    My eyes shot to his as I let out a startled laugh. His lips were tilted up in a smirk but there was no laughter in his dark brown eyes. I couldn’t help but feel that, while he tried to brush it off as a joke, there was a definite underlying seriousness to his threat toward Michael. It led me to question what I’d gotten myself into by agreeing to become friends with my mysterious neighbor.
    “Go away, Parker,” I ground out between clenched teeth.
    He returned his gaze to mine, his eyes smiling at me even though he’d just been slightly terrifying. “See ya later, sweetheart.”
    He walked away, leaving me reeling from his new endearment. First it was gorgeous , then sweetheart. I knew I was in a whole mess of trouble when I wasn’t able to tamp down the giddiness building up inside of me.
    “So, are you two dating now or something?” Michael asked in a hushed voice as he watched Parker walk back to his own table.
    “No, we’re just friends. He just likes to be an asshole sometimes.”
    “Oh, okay. Good.” Michael sat in contemplative silence for several seconds before turning back to me. “Do you think he meant it? You know, the whole breaking my arm part?”
    I laughed nervously. “Of course not.” The truth was I couldn’t get a read on Parker well enough to know whether or not he’d been joking. God, I really hoped he’d been joking.
    “’Cause, I mean, he doesn’t have anything to worry about. Not that you aren’t pretty!” he rushed to add, ratcheting the discomfort at our table up tenfold. “I mean you are…pretty, that is. But, um…I kind of like someone else.”
    “Oh. Well…that’s good.” Thanks to Parker, Biology was going to be a complete disaster. On one hand, I had a tablemate so keyed up I was afraid a loud noise might cause him to wet himself. On the other hand, I couldn’t quit playing Parker calling me ‘his girl’ over and over in my head. I liked that way more than I should have.
    “You know Stella, right?” Michael cut in, interrupting my internal musings. “Aren’t you two friends?”
    “Uh, yeah. We’re friends.”
    “Do you…” he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?”
    At his question, my face split into a grin so wide my cheeks began to ache. “As a matter of fact, I have it on good authority that she’s very single.”
    The excitement on his face was just too cute. I had a feeling I was going to enjoy playing matchmaker.

    The moment I walked into the cafeteria, the whispers and sideways glances started same as every other day. I was really starting to despise being the new girl, and I knew a part of the fascination was my newfound friendship with Parker. My cheeks heated and the tips of my ears burned as I tried to ignore everyone around me while I made my way through the line. I kept my focus trained on the lunch lady as she piled mystery meat onto my tray, feigning calm collectiveness even though my heart felt like it was about to beat right out of my chest. The worst thing that could ever happen to someone as uncomfortable with attention as me was to move her to a small town where gossips ran rampant.
    “Ew! What are you eating?” Stella scrunched her nose as I slid my tray onto the table and took a seat in front of her.
    I glanced down at my plate. “Uh…meatloaf?”
    She leaned in closer to get a better