Warning! Some swearing in this chapter and mild (very mild but I thought I’d let you know anyway) sexual content (kinda?)

Chapter Four

Trying to Escape

The next few days passed by fairly quickly. Tiergan’s band came over almost every day to practice, and once or twice Chris and Raye managed to get Trista to come down from her room to watch. Tiergan protested every time, naturally, but his friends ignored him and after a while Trista was finding it easier to do the same.

They never spoke more than they needed to. Usually their conversations started with ‘pass the butter’ and ended with a curt ‘thanks’. Meg and Bryant tried to get them to form some kind of friendship, but all their efforts over the dinner table were in vain. Trista refused to have anything to do with the blue-haired boy, and Tiergan returned the favor. Trista wasn’t sure why he hated her so much, but she knew why she avoided him like a trip to the dentist.

Some may have blamed it on their bad first impressions, but Trista liked to think that she didn’t prejudge people. Sure, she’d automatically classified him as a ‘punk’, but that didn’t mean anything, did it? The simple truth was that he was rude and cold towards her, and he had absolutely no compassion for her whatsoever. His conversation with his father that first night proved it. He wanted her to drop down and worship them for ‘saving’ her from life in an orphanage or foster home, although this place was really no different.

Sure, maybe the Tetherlands were looking to adopt, but they would soon come to realize that an older child was simply a bad idea. Everyone else did. Young kids didn’t know any better than to blindly accept new people into their lives. People like Trista, however...they put up a bit more of a fight. Gina often told her that her unwillingness to let go of the past was what was making her so unhappy. Trista hated Gina anyway.

It was late on a Friday night, and Tiergan came stomping down the stairs after practising in the music room, hoping to veg in front of the TV for a while. He’d finally managed to get off the phone with Chris, who had gone on a twenty minute rant about the price of junk food at the local convenience store. Chris was always like that. Tiergan was pretty sure he’d called for something else, but then he mentioned something about trying to buy candy and started raving. It was amusing some times, but more often than not Chris managed to interrupt his practice sessions. Tiergan couldn’t play afterwards; Chris had killed his concentration.

He meandered into the living room and stopped dead when he realized the TV was already on. His parents never watched TV so who...he glared when he spotted the dark-haired girl lounging on the couch, TV remote in hand. Trista.

“Already making yourself comfortable, I see.”

Trista jumped and glanced at him, her eyes wide in surprise. “Oh, it’s you.” She grumbled, her eyes narrowing again.

“Yeah, me.” Tiergan replied. “Now hand over the remote.”

“No,” Trista retorted.

“Give it to me, Trista,” Tiergan growled, “Or I’ll go get Frederick.”

Trista seemed to pale at the mention of the tarantula, and Tiergan grinned, thinking he’d won. But instead of giving in like he’d expected, Trista dug in her heels and blatantly refused to relinquish the television. Tiergan grit his teeth in frustration and wondered whether or not he really wanted to carry out his threat of getting Frederick. His father gave him constant lectures about bringing the spider out in front of ‘the girls’, as he was now referring to Trista and Meg as. And ever since the incident on Trista’s first day he’d gotten at least one warning remark every time Bryant caught Tiergan alone. ‘But she doesn’t know that...’ Tiergan thought with a malicious chuckle. “Fine,” He snapped, “Frederick needs some exercise anyway.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Trista said, although her eyes betrayed her fear.

“Just watch me,” Tiergan said smoothly as he headed back up the stairs.

“I don’t believe you!” Trista shouted after him. Tiergan ignored her and had just put his foot on the first step when he heard the sound of a key being turned in the lock. He sighed with frustration and stopped still in mid-step. After a moment the door swung open and Bryant came sweeping in. “Tiergan!” He smiled, “I’m glad you’re here. Where’s Trista?”

Tiergan shrugged and pointed over his shoulder at the cowering girl in the living room. “Great! Meg!” He yelled, kicking off his shoes and joining Trista in the living room. He motioned for Tiergan to come over and with a groan he did.

“What’s this all about?” Tiergan asked.

“Wait for your mother.” Bryant replied, looking over his shoulder.

Meg came rushing out of her office with a big smile on her face. “Are they both here?” She cast her eyes over the room and did a mental head count, smiling when she saw that both Trista and Tiergan were present. “Oh good! You guys are going to love this!”

Tiergan could feel the dread building up in his stomach. Whenever his parents called a ‘family meeting’ like this it usually meant something bad. The last time it happened they had happily declared that they were going to foster a child, and maybe even adopt. Tiergan had nearly had a heart attack and then promptly went over to Chris’s house to whine about it.

Chris hadn’t understood what the problem was, though. He seemed to think it was cool. And Raye and Kale had agreed with him. “Adoption is a wonderful thing that gives orphaned and abandoned kids a chance to have a loving and supportive family. It’s wonderful to see your parents participating in it.” Raye had gushed in a rare burst of eloquence. She did that sometimes. But abandoned and orphaned kids also had issues and that was the part Tiergan couldn’t get them to understand.

“What is it?” Tiergan groaned. Trista looked frightened.

“Well,” Meg started brightly. “Trista has been with us for a week now, but we haven’t really had a chance to get to know her yet.” She grinned at the girl in question, who pressed herself deeper into the couch she was sitting on in a vain attempt at disappearing. “So we’ve decided that we should all go on a family picnic together and get to know one another!” She finished with an excited clap of her hands and look at the teens expectantly. “Well? What do you think?”

Trista abruptly stood up, keeping her face surprisingly calm, “I’m tired,” she announced, “I’m going to bed.” She marched out of the room and neither Meg nor Bryant attempted to stop her.

“What about you, Tier?” Bryant asked his son. “What do you think? Maybe if you spend a little time with her you’ll come to realize that you and Trista could be really good friends.”

Friends. Sure. He could be friends with the depressed little orphan. Never mind the fact that she was annoying and refused to even attempt real conversation with them. That would work out perfectly. “I forgot to feed Nina.” He said shortly, referring to his pet snake. “I should go do that before she starts mashing her head against the cage again.” And then he, too, was gone.

Meg looked at her husband and sighed. “This is going to be very difficult, isn’t it?”

“Most assuredly.”

Trista couldn’t believe she was doing this. She stood outside on the back porch of the Tetherlands’ house, holding Storm’s leash as the huge dog panted excitedly and tried to take off into the distance. “Stupid dog,” Trista grumbled sleepily. For some bizarre reason, Meg and Bryant had insisted on getting up at eight o’clock so they could pack for the picnic and hike into the backyard and start their hike to the pond at the back of the property.

Just how big was their property if they had to hike just to get to the other end of it? Too big, in Trista’s opinion.

“Do we have to do this?” Tiergan complained from Trista’s right. He was slouched against the wooden table on the back porch, blue hair still stringy and wet from his shower. Tiergan had just rolled out of bed fifteen minutes ago and had therefore avoided doing any work whatsoever. Trista had helped Meg in the kitchen that morning while Bryant was upstairs yelling at Tiergan to get out of bed.

“Yes, we do.” Meg told her son firmly. Now get up and carry this.” She tossed a large backpack at him which he caught with some difficulty. Trista bit back a chuckle as he fumbled with the bag, still grumbling as he slipped it onto his back.

Meg and Bryant wasted no time leading the way through the lush green grass of their property. Trista wondered how they managed to keep it looking so pristine, even in the sweltering heat of midsummer. They must have had a landscaper.

In the distance she could see the line where whomever cut the grass stopped mowing and the weeds and long grass shot up, probably as high has her waist. ‘I certainly hope there’s a trail through that,’ Trista thought to herself.

Tiergan dragged his feet far behind her, lugging the large backpack Meg had unloaded on him and generally being in a very sour mood. It gave Trista some pleasure to be able to appear like a more reasonable and mature person. She wasn’t going to be caught complaining about lugging junk through the heat and long grass and swarms of bugs. Just this once she would bite her tongue.

Storm barked happily as he bounded from Tiergan at the back of the impromptu line they had formed, to Bryant in the lead. Once or twice the dog ran off to chase some unseen prey, but always remained visible. Trista entertained herself throughout the long walk by staring at the picturesque mountains in the distance or at Storm’s form when he suddenly leapt out of the grass, snapping at flies.

“Stupid dog,” Tiergan scowled. Trista rolled her eyes and wondered what his problem was.

It took more than an hour to reach the treeline, and according to Meg they were only halfway there. Trista almost wanted to join Tiergan in his moaning and complaining, but her determination to one-up him remained, so she squared her shoulders and picked up the pace, glad to at least be in the shade.

“We used to come up here all the time when you were younger, do you remember, Tiergan?” Meg ambled on, oblivious to the fact that her moody son was glaring holes in her back. “You loved to play in the pond with Storm. Why don’t we ever come up here anymore?”

“Because it takes all day just to get here!” Tiergan yelled. “Why can’t we get one of those ATV’s?”

“Like you’d do anything but trash it,” Bryant frowned back at the boy, “You and Chris would be driving it off ramps within minutes.”

“Probably,” Tiergan admitted, finally grinning.

“Oh! We’re here!” Meg cut in suddenly. Trista snapped her head up, away from the two men and peered through the trees were she could clearly make out the still water of the pond. With a big smile, Trista dashed ahead to take a better look.

“Ooh, swans,” She smiled, noticing immediately the family of elegant white birds drifting lazily on the water. She dropped her bag near the bank and walked out onto the small dock where an old rowboat with peeling white paint was tied. It looked like it hadn’t been used in years and was badly in need of repair, but it added to the cozy feeling of the pond.

“Yay, we’re here,” Tiergan intoned, “Now we can sit around and put off having to walk all the way back.”

“Oh please Tiergan,” Meg said, a touch of anger in her voice, “at least try to enjoy yourself.”

Tiergan scowled and followed his mother over to the picnic table where she was spreading a tablecloth and unpacking the lunch and snacks they’d brought. Tiergan slouched over on the bench and pulled out his Game Boy, which Meg promptly removed from his hands.

“Mom!” Tiergan whined.

“Really, Tiergan, you’re acting like such a child today. Grow up.” She tucked the Game Boy into a pocket of one of the bags and placed her hands firmly on her hips. “Why don’t you take Trista around to that cabin on the other side of the pond? I’m sure she’d like to see your old hide-out.”

“Do I have to?” Tiergan scowled.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Meg lowered her voice enough so Trista, still sitting on the dock watching the swans, couldn’t hear her. “Because you two need to get along if she’s going to be staying here. And you’re getting on my nerves.”

Tiergan groaned but stood up and headed over to where Trista was sitting.

“Just take down those pin-ups before you let her in!” Bryant yelled after his son, earning dangerous looks from both Meg and Tiergan.

‘How the hell did he know about those?’ Tiergan wondered as he slowly made his way over. Even he had forgotten that he and Chris had put those up years ago, back when they still hung out back there and had sleep overs, staying up until all hours of the morning telling stories and looking at dirty magazines. Back then such things felt pretty rebellious. Now they had outgrown giggling over the Playboy magazines they found in their parents’ rooms. Tiergan happened to know that Chris now had a subscription under his father’s name that had him racing to get the mail once a month before his parents were up. His parents were sort of prudes.

“Hey,” Tiergan said as he came up behind Trista. She looked over her shoulder and scowled at him.

“What do you want?” She snapped.

Tiergan tried not to roll his eyes. “Mom wants me to show you the cabin,” he told her, pointing across the pond to where the small wooden building was partially hidden behind the trees.

“Why?” She asked.

Tiergan shrugged, “They probably want to do some canoodling.” It was just like his parents to plan this trip out into the woods to ‘get to know Trista’ and then load the girl onto him. Sometimes they were too much the teenagers for his liking.

A quick glance over his shoulder told him that he was right. His parents were already snuggling closer to each other on the bench. They said this was for all of them to become more comfortable with each other, but it seemed pretty obvious to Tiergan that this was more for his ‘benefit’. They wanted him to like Trista. But he wasn’t going to do it.

“That’s cute,” Trista said softly, blinking at his parents. For some reason, there was a hint of sadness in her eyes, maybe even of...longing? Tiergan quickly shook his head free of any potentially deep thoughts and looked back at Trista, who was getting to her feet and leading the way around the pond towards the cabin.

The silence on the walk over was pretty unsettling, even for Tiergan. Even though he had no desire to converse with Trista, the uncomfortable atmosphere was making him twitch. He wondered if Trista felt it too. She must have. She was walking with her back so straight she could have been tied to a board. Before Tiergan could decide if he should clear his throat or just say something Trista beat him to it.

“What do you use this place for, anyway?”

Tiergan looked up from studying his feet and saw that they’d arrived outside the cabin. Remembering his father’s advice about the posters that were probably still up inside, he quickly stepped in front of Trista to open the door. “Chris and I used to camp out in this place when we were younger.” Tiergan explained as he scanned the walls and quickly ripped off any posters featuring half naked women. Trista, at least, pretended to be fooled, although she chuckled at the poster on the back of the door that he’d missed. At least that girl had a swimsuit on.

Forcing down a blush - he refused to let Trista see he was embarrassed about his boyhood endeavors - he coughed into his hand and stuffed the crumpled posters under the bunked.

“Not Kale?” Trista asked.

“Huh?” Tiergan blinked intelligently.

“Didn’t Kale stay over too? I’d assume Raye didn’t...”

“Chris and I have been best friends since forever,” Tiergan explained, while simultaneously wondering why he was having a civil conversation with Trista of all people. “We didn’t really hang out with Kale and Raye until we started our band.”

“I see,” Trista said quietly. She made a slow round of the cabin, inspecting the bunk bed without sheets and the dirty folding chairs, the remains of a Doritos bag and a McDonald’s wrapper. “It must have been a cool spot if you don’t mind the walk.” She noted.

Tiergan didn’t say anything and Trista left the cabin without a word, strolling over to the water’s edge to look at the swans again, who were now joined by a group of ducks out in the middle. She walked to the end of the second, shorter dock outside the cabin and looked down at the school of fish swimming underneath it.

Tiergan was pretty sure this outing was getting entirely too comfortable. The last thing he wanted was for Trista to think that he was willing to be friends with her. He still wanted her gone. This whole foster child thing was a stupid idea from the start. And anyway, seeing Trista bent over the water like that was far too tempting.

Across the pond, Meg and Bryant were still cuddling together at the picnic table. “This is nice, isn’t it?” Bryant whispered. “I’m glad I thought of it.”

“You!” Meg joked, poking him in the ribs. “I believe this was my brilliant idea.”

“Well, whatever,” Bryant shrugged, “It was a good plan. We get some time alone, and the kids...what are Tiergan and Trista doing anyway?”

“They’re getting to know each other, remember?”

“Shit!” Bryant cursed suddenly, bolting upright.

“What!?” Meg gasped.

“You have seen those two together, right? They’re worse than Storm and Tex when we first inroduced them!”

“Oh will you relax?” Meg sighed, “I read somewhere that sometimes teenagers need some time to sort of...get used to each other. Just let them fight it out a bit and they’ll come around.”

“Fight it out? You make it sound like they’re wild animals something.” Bryant frowned.

“They’re teenagers, Bryant,” Meg giggled, “How else would you describe them?”

Bryant laughed as well and agreed, “So how do you think they’re doing over there?” He wondered.

Meg didn’t have a chance to answer, because there was a short screamed from across the lake, followed closely by a splash and Tiergan’s laughter.

Trista wasn’t able to comprehend what had happened until after she’d pawed her way to the surface of the pond and coughed up the water she’d swallowed, only to see Tiergan stand over her, laughing. “Why you...you...you...” She stuttered, coughing over another mouthful of water. Tiergan doubled over with laughter. He was practically slapping his knee in mirth!

“Asshole!” Trista screamed. “Jerk! Immature brat!” She dug up a fistful of mud from the pond and hurled it at him. Tiergan tried to duck but the mud still hit him in the shoulder.

“Now, that was uncalled for.” He scowled.

“UNCALLED FOR?!” Trista screamed, throwing more mud. “How could you push me in? What the hell is your problem?” Trista struggled to her feet and waded over to the dock, moving slowly with her water-laden clothes weighing her down. “I’m going to get you back for that.” She hissed.

“Wow, I’m shaking.” Tiergan chuckled, and started to laugh again. His laughter, however, was cut short when Trista jumped up and grabbed his shirt, pulling him into the pond with her. Tiergan yelped comically and plunged headfirst into the murky water and came up moments later sputtering for air. Now it was Trista’s turn to laugh.

“Bitch!” Tiergan snarled, hurling a fistful of mud at her face.

Trista hissed as pebbles in the mud scratched her face and retaliated by smearing two handfuls of mud into Tiergan’s hair.

“Fucking whore!” Tiergan roared. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her head underwater, not letting go under Trista managed to knee him between the legs. Tiergan doubled over and Trista shot away from him. “Serves you right, you little shit,” She snarled.

“Bitch!” Tiergan bellowed, “Stupid bitch!” He lunged at her and tackled her down, causing her to scratch her palms and knees to break her fall. She quickly tried to force him off by throwing mud and even small rocks at him, but Tiergan was relentless. Obviously he didn’t believe in being gentle with girls.

Across the pond, Meg and Bryant watched the chaos in stunned confusion.

“Fight it out, eh?” Bryant asked his wife coyly.

“Yes, well...I guess that book I read wasn’t meant for teenagers like Tiergan and Trista.”

“Should I go break them up?” Bryant wondered.

“I think that might be best,” Meg agreed with a nod, watching the two teens viciously trying to drown each other in the pond.

“Those two better have bonded or we may have to long them in a padded room until they get all this animosity out of their systems.” Bryant grumbled as he jogged around the pond to stop the fighting before one of them really did drown.

Twenty minutes later, Tiergan and Trista sat shivering at the picnic table picking at potato salad and glaring icy daggers at each other. Both were muddy, bruised, scratched and soaking wet, and both were pointedly ignoring Meg as she went on about how immaturely they were behaving. Trista wasn’t overly concerned about being punished, usually foster parents were hesitant over punishing a foster child so early after taking them in. Tiergan, however, would get the brunt of the punishment, not only because he was their own child but also because he had obviously started it. What worried her was what Tiergan was going to do to her after Meg decided he was going to be grounded for the rest of the summer or something like that. The last thing she needed was to wake up to find Frederick in her bed. Maybe she had better start locking her door at night.

“Since neither of you had the foresight to bring a change of clothes, or even sandals, I think having you walk home in those wet clothes will be punishment enough.” Meg announced finally. “I certainly hope you two will refrain from throwing each other into ponds in the future.”

Tiergan muttered something unitelligable under his breath and looked away, while Trista just sighed. It wasn’t as bad as she’d expecteded it to be, at least. And she agreed with Meg, walking back to the house in wet clothes, with all the scratches and cuts she’d acquired stinging like they had been dipped in lemon juice, certainly was a suitable punishment. She never wanted to see another dirty pond again. Right now all she really want was to take a nice long bath and curl up with a nice book in her room.

“Maybe we should just send them home?” Bryant suggested.

“Together?” Meg gasped, “No, we’d just end up finding one of them dead in a ditch somewhere. They’re going to stay here, and we’re all going to have a nice, family lunch and get to know one another.” Nobody had the strength to argue, so the two teens sat around the table, cold, wet, and bruised, grumpily answering questions as they prayed for the whole thing to be over so they could get back to the house and relax.

As it would turn out, it would be another hour before Meg was satisfied with their ‘get-to-know-each-other’ time and announced that it was time to pack up and leave. They’d asked Trista all kinds of questions about what kinds of hobbies she had, what kind of books she read, where she’d learned to sew. Mostly safe topics that didn’t lead into her past life. Nothing about her old friends, her old foster homes. Definitely not about how her parent’s died. The whole conversation was kept light and somewhat impersonal. Trista was glad for that. She didn’t want to talk about her parents, and she was sure that bringing up her old friends who’d mysteriously disappeared after she was orphaned, would reduce her to tears. No, it was best to stay away from topics like that.

The walk home was long, boring and uncomfortable. Trista nearly groaned in relief when they walked in the door and she could kick off her shoes and trudge up the two flights of stairs to her bedroom to shower. Tiergan actually did moan something that sounded like “Finally!” and dashed up the stairs behind her, slamming the door to his room. Trista heard the water running in his room even before she reached the second staircase.

“What a stupid day,” She sighed as she finally made it up to her attic room. Tex was dozing on her windowsill in the sun and she scratched his ears before peeling off her still-damp clothes and stepping into the shower. The water turned brown with mud for a minute while she rinsed it out of her hair. It felt so good to be clean again. He heard had been itching all the way back because of all the mud.

She stood under the pleasantly warm torrent of water for a few moments, enjoying the sensation. Then she heard a toilet flush downstairs, and the water turned scalding hot. Trista shrieked and jumped out of the shower so quickly she nearly fell on her nose. “TIERGAN!” She screamed.

Author’s Note: Yeah so...8 pages today. Sorry this took so long (). I’m a bad author. I ought to be horsewhipped. But please don’t...If I were horsewhipped I think I’d be in too much pain to write. What with my new job it seems I only have time to work and sleep. Never mind eating. I swear, getting a night job is the perfect way to lose 5 pounds. Which is bad if you’re already bordering on being underweight anyway. Gotta remember to start eating again. Also, my internet keeps going down. Bugger.

Anyway, it feels so good to write again. I was almost afraid I’d forgotten how. I hope this chapter doesn’t disappoint.

Much love to everyone who reviewed!

Next chapter: I Yelled Back

Raye and Trista do some bonding, Frederick makes another appearance, and we learn a little bit more about Chris! Woo Hoo! Hopefully this one won’t take as long.