I Want You To Want Me

I woke up suddenly in a cold sweat; another nightmare. My alarm clock screamed with all its might to alert me another damned day was here. I groaned and rolled out of bed, slamming my fist against the clock to silence it. Getting up, I stumbled as I thought of last night's latest nightmare. Ever since I've met Kat, I've dreamt of her; the subjects being smut, death and everything in between.

I sauntered into my bathroom and started the shower. Stripping myself, I stepped in to let the warm water wash away my entire night. I don't know why I dream of Kat dying sometimes. I barely even know this girl and I'm already worried for her safety? She can clearly take care of herself so I shouldn't be wary about it but something tells me to keep an eye on her. That I will do.

After about fifteen minutes I was out of the shower and picking out clothes for the morning. I decided on jeans and a white, basic v-neck. There's no point in actually caring about what I wear. No one pays attention to that crap in high school. I threw on a grey, button down over shirt just because I felt like adding something extra. The buildings in school were always so freakin' cold I've noticed. I wouldn't complain about it aloud but damn.

I went down stairs and grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet. I sat down at the island and looked over at our overly large oak dinner table. We've never eaten around it. Home cooked meals are rare over here. It's usually take-out or television dinners. They're never home anymore. I can't remember the last time we did anything as a family. To be honest, I can't recall when I last saw my dad. As for my mom, it's usually a once a week sighting.

I pushed my thoughts aside, shoving the last piece of breakfast into my mouth. I got up and walked over to the refrigerator to get a drink of milk. Once I had taken a few gulps from the gallon, I wiped my mouth and went up stairs to brush my teeth, get my books and pull on my boots.

Finally I headed out the door and toward my bike. The only time I really get to think about the past, present, and future is when I'm riding on my motorcycle. It's something about the open air and the speed that gets my thoughts in order. It's not a freedom issue with me; I have more freedom than I know what to do with. I turned around after staring my bike and grabbed my helmet. Before I put it on, I remembered what Kat had said before.

"You guys should really be wearing helmets!" I smiled and pressed the gas. I don't know why I'm letting her invade my thoughts like she is. I hardly even know this chick. We haven't even had an authentic conversation. I have a feeling this girl will cause a significant amount of damage for me in the future.

My thoughts were interrupted by a traffic jam of teenagers backed up from the parking lot. Everyone was screaming and honking their horns. I rolled my eyes at people's impatience and immaturity. Did they really think if they cussed and honked the line would go any faster? People's stupidity is absolutely disgusting. I decided to swerve in front of everyone just to piss them off.

Once in my usual parking spot, I started towards the school. I was joined by one of my former girlfriends.

"Hey Patrick." She greeted with an annoyingly sultry voice.

"Hey Meghan." I acknowledged.

"Wanna do something tonight?" She asked, with a wink that made me want to retch.

I thought about the proposition for a moment and was about to turn her down when I saw Kat walk into the school. Maybe if I start dating I will disregard Katherine just like every other girl I've taken interest in. Don't get me wrong, I love the chase but for some reason I'm going to try and keep my distance from Kat.

"Yeah, it's whatever." I agreed. "Walk with me." She eagerly obeyed and we walked into the school together. She tried to grab for my hand but I lifted my arms to cross over my chest. Ugh, not this PDA shit again. That's the problem with Meghan. That's actually the reason I broke up with her last year.

We talked side by side to her locker. I noticed hers was dangerously close to Kat's. I snickered inside, remembering her reaction to the slut on the back of my bike that one afternoon. This will surely get her attention. Wait? Didn't I decide that Meghan was going to be a pawn in my scheme to get Kat OUT of my head? Screw that plan, I think I'm going to mess with Kat's mind a tad.

I leaned against the cool metal of the lockers, put a hand on my hip, crossed my ankles and sighed, watching Meghan try to open hers. When she couldn't she turned to me; she knew I've mastered opening these pieces of shit with a punch of my fist. I saw Kat turn the corner and knew this was my shot to make her insane for the remainder of the day.

I leaned over Meghan and hit it with my knuckles. The locker swung open and she turned to me.

With a lusty voice she praised me. "My hero. What else can you open?"

I turned to Kat and raised my eyebrows and smirked suggestively. Kat turned around, rolling her eyes in the process. Success oozed from my body. Yes, this year would be amusing.

Meghan didn't seem to notice my regard toward Kat and stared at me. I leaned down and kissed her quickly.

"I forgot I can't go out tonight…Maybe another time." I assured her falsely. She nodded in disappointment and walked away before me. I followed behind hoping to catch Kat again. To my surprise I actually did get to see her again. She threw Charlie Woo out of the girl's restroom. Man, that pervert just doesn't know when to quit. He's gotten so many restraining orders; I'm thoroughly surprised he's still at this school. He's the type of guy who'd see on Dateline's 'To Catch a Predator'. I looked over to where Kat was standing. She glanced at me and rolled her eyes then shut the bathroom door.

I kept my pace all the way to first hour. I actually made it before the tardy bell rang, too…well…about a second before anyway. I set my books down and sat down in the back. I noticed Kat's Gothic friend was two seats up from me. She turned in her desk to stare at me, eyes as wide as they could possibly be. I raised my eyebrows at her and she hid her face. Whatever.

Just as Mr. Davis had started to speak the door opened. To my astonishment Kat Stratford walked in. Mr. Davis stopped teaching and glared at her.

"Ms. Stratford, tardiness isn't tolerated here at Padua High. I'll let you off with a warning this time and this one time only. Next time the consequences will be harsh."

The way he spoke to her angered me beyond what I thought could handle. How dare he threaten her like that! I see him saying that to me but as for her? She didn't deserve a bit of that.

She nodded, but didn't waver. She walked over to the seat behind her Goth friend and in front of me, resting her head on her fist.

The skin of my fists turned white and I had an insane urge to get up and destroy Mr. Davis. He obviously noticed and called me out.

"Mr. Verona, do you have anything to add to the matter?" He asked, condescendingly.

"No. Mr. Davis. I don't." I said through gritted teeth. Bastard. I better not ever meet his ass in a dark alley.

I Kat turned around and searched my face for any sign of emotion. She looked straight at me, her eyes boring into mine. She nodded gently and cracked a meek smile, knowing I was angry for the way he spoke to her. I blinked and she turned back in her seat to glare at Mr. Davis some more.

Suddenly, the screen of the class TV faded in and the morning announcements started. I saw a blonde girl on the monitor and she was holding a yellow and red flower. I had trouble hearing what the girl said at first because everyone takes advantage of the morning announcements by using the time to talk about pointless gossip. Mr. Davis silenced everyone with a snap of his fingers.

"..With one of these beautiful carnations. Red is for romance and yellow for friendship. Each fragrant blossom is only two dollars and all the money collected goes to a very important cause; The FeedTheSkinnyChildrenPomPom Memorial Foundation. Don't wait; tell that special someone just how you feel!"

I spent the next two hours debating whether or not to buy Kat a carnation. At lunch I sat in a different area just to think. God, why am I stressing over her? She's nothing special! Okay, that was a total lie. She has something that no other girl possesses. If it's the last thing I do, I'll find what that attribute is.

I suddenly grabbed my wallet out of my back pocket and went to stand in line. What am I doing? Everyone stared at me in disbelief. I glared at those who held their reactions for too long. I wish people would just leave me the hell alone. When I got to the table Chastity's eyes widened. I picked up a red carnation and she handed me a card.

"Two dollars pa…pa…please." She stumbled.

I grabbed a sharpie from her and smiled, just to ease her and it worked for her eyes went back to their natural size. I gave her the money and started to fill out the card.

To: Kat

I paused and thought about the next space. Since they were going to be handed out in first hour I decided to write something clever.

From: Look Behind You.

Yeah…that'll do just fine. I smiled inwardly and handed her the tag, walking away feeling proud of myself.

I walked through my front door after I had gotten home from school. It was another afternoon in an empty house. There was a note posted on the refrigerator with a twenty dollar bill under it. It read:

"Won't be home tonight. Order pizza?

Xoxo Mom"

Typical. I plucked the note from the fridge, wadded it up and threw it in the trash. I swiped the twenty and headed back out the door, grabbing my bag in the process. Starbucks time!

When I arrived at my haven, I ordered my usual. Once my drink was ready I took it and headed towards the seat with a window that was facing the traffic. I don't know why I enjoyed watching cars go by. I figured it made me feel more human to see others do the same thing at the same time. Sipping on my tea I overheard a few cheerleaders gossiping about the football team drinking Vanilla Bean Frappuccinos. Damn. Even when I'm away from school, it always snakes back into my life.

I pulled a book out from my bag and flipped open to where my bookmark was placed. I quietly started to read only looking down from my book to take a drink. I was so swept up in my reading that I didn't notice that an hour had flown by. The first time I looked up from my book, the sky had faded to a light pink with blue streaks. I threw my empty cup away and returned to my seat, deciding to finish my chapter before I headed to a vacant house.

I awoke the next morning; my muscles were screaming profanities at me when I sat up to smack the alarm clock. I shouldn't have sat in the coffee shop for three hours. Ugh.

I finished my morning routine and got to school in record amount of time. I was impressed with myself when I got to class with five minutes left to spare. The bell rang and Mr. Davis gave us the daily history assignment. Most of us completed it in about twenty minutes so he gave us the rest of the hour to just mess around.

I kneeled in my seat; one foot on the chair and one of the floor with my forearm resting on my knee. I was talking to a kid who sat beside me about music and watched Kat take pictures of people who were too involved with their conversations to notice. Mr. Davis took this time to pass out the flowers people had received. Kat didn't notice at first that she had gotten one; she was too busy taking pictures of a girl in the front row who was sobbing that she didn't get one.

After Kat had returned to her seat, my heart pounded with anticipation. Why I let myself get the least bit excited, I haven't a clue. Once I was sure she noticed the flower, I got up and walked to the front of the room, sitting in an empty chair beside the girl who was crying. There's no way I'm going to let Kat blow my cover so I left her to sit and wonder who it was really from.

My plan was shot to shit once she turned around and Charlie had taken my desk.

"I showed you my flower, now you show me yours." He said in a perverted suggestive manner that pissed me off…not that I was going to show it.

"Leave. Me. Alone." Kat demanded. She picked up her bag and walked out of the aisle. When she passed the girl who was whimpering she threw the flower at her and said, "Just take this one and shut up." I watched her as she walked out of class. Damn. Well…that went marvelous.

As for the rest of my day, I don't remember much. I spent the rest of it thinking of ways that I could have planned first hour so it would have gone in my favor. When I got home I was so tired of thinking about Kat, I actually fell asleep at five.

When I entered Padua the next day everyone was gushing about whom all gave them flowers from the day before. Why isn't everyone over this crap yet? I rolled my eyes so many times; I started to get a headache. I was approached by three different girls while on my way to first hour and asked what I was doing that night. Too bad Kat wasn't around; I love to see jealousy drip from her being even though she would probably claim she was sickened.

First hour went by quicker than usual. Kat didn't even look in my direction. She seemed to be the last one in and the first one out. Even at lunch she seemed to avoid me like I was the Black Plague or something. I did notice, however, that Mandela (I learned her name from roll call in first hour) kept looking over at me and speaking to Kat with a whispered tone. I rolled my eyes. Here we go again and the elementary school level diversion.

When the final bell rang, I ambled out of the building. I met up with an old girl friend of mine and we exchanged numbers- Not that I would ever call. I arrived at my bike and turned the engine on and smiled when I heard her purr. I was almost out of the parking lot when I spotted Kat and drove dangerously close to her, stopping in her wake.

"Let me guess officer, I should be wearing a helmet?" I asked with a smile. I didn't notice in first hour or at lunch but she looked really good today.

"I just have one thing to say to you. I'm not that girl." She stated confidently.

"What girl?" I asked tilting my head to the side to show my confusion.

"The girl who is turned on by this 'bad boy' crap. I'm not skipping home to scribble in my journal that maybe you're a vampire."

"No duh." I said, not amused by her reference. It's not like I haven't heard it before.

"You don't have to beat people up for me. I can do that myself."

I laughed and straightened my back. "Hah, I'm sure you can…but I didn't beat anybody up." I wonder what she's talking about. I mean, I wanted to beat Mr. Davis and Charlie Woo's ass for being douches but I decided against it since I already had detention for being late the first day.

"Yeah right." She countered.

I smiled, looking into her eyes. "Scout's honor."

I glanced over her shoulder. "Now you do mind?" I asked, stepping on the gas pedal to rev the engine back to life.

"Helmet!" Kat shouted over the motor.

"I'm sorry, what?" I childishly shot back. She scoffed at me and narrowed her eyes. I put my helmet on and stepped on the pedal nearly knocking her down in the process. I sighed as I pulled out of the lot and onto the highway. The second thing I hate about Kat Stratford is her annoyingly quick judgment.

To clear things up: YES, I am writing every single 10 Things... episode in Patrick's POV.

:) Thank you to those that have read, favored, reviewed, and alerted this so far.

UPDATE!!: I would like to thank everyone for your support with this story so , but I'm just letting you know that it will be awhile until I complete another chapter. My family and I are moving to another house so most of my free time will be spent packing. Please don't give up on this story, for I WILL continue this when I get a chance.

Thank you all. -Rachel