a/n: SO SO SO SO SORRY! D:
"Miley?" Melanie said, tearing me away from my thoughts, "you ready to go?" She asked as she took off her seatbelt and glanced over at me.
"Oh yeah, I'm ready…" I looked away from the group of people and unbuckled myself from the seat.
"So, do you want to go through the farther entrance or…? Melanie asked when I had gotten out of her car and paused a little and nodded toward the mob of jocks and populars.
"Oh, uhm we could always go through that one, I mean its closer and it's not like they'll say anything to me anyways." I shrugged and wrapped my arms around myself.
"Alright." Melanie locked her car and we both crossed the street and towards the entrance.
Then, I saw one of the girls look over at me and say something to Demi. Demi turned around and shot a smirk in my direction, "well, I'm sure surprised that you would even come here. I mean, look at what you're wearing. That was so last season." She stood in front of me.
"Really? Because I remember seeing you wear it a few days ago." I retorted, earning a few more stares from the people behind her. My eyes looked behind her and noticed Nick standing there, completely ignoring what was going on and continuing his conversation with his friends about cars or something of that sort.
"Hmm, you must be going blind because I wouldn't be caught dead in that." Demi scoffed. "Do you even own a fashion magazine?"
"She doesn't need one. She has me." Melanie replied to Demi from behind me. She stepped forward and stood beside me, eyeing the brunette girl that was running her mouth.
Demi looked over at the person who had just said that; her jaw dropped when she realized who it was, "Oh, my God. You're Melanie—"
Melanie cut her off before Demi could get out another word, "Yeah, I know who I am and Miley and I have some shopping to do, so if you could just…" She motioned for Demi and her friends to step aside, in which they did and Melanie grabbed my hand and brushed past Demi and her "group" and walked towards the entrance.
I looked back and laughed a little at Demi's reaction, "that was priceless."
"Nicky!" I heard Demi whine as the automatic doors slid shut; I couldn't help, but frown a little as I saw Nick wrap his arms around her waist and kiss her softly on the lips. I turned back around and stared at all the neon signs advertising their greasy and overpriced foods.
"You know it's not always good to intimidate people like her." Melanie told me as we walked past the food court.
"Yeah, I know. She's just so annoying sometimes; I just can't help, but talk back to her." I replied as we walked past Hot Topic.
"You got to fight it, ooh shoes." Melanie pulled onto my arm and we walked around certain crowds of people and into the shoe store.
I laughed a little, "Your weak point huh?" I asked as I looked around at all the assorted shoes that were on display. I saw Melanie's eyes lit up as if she were a little kid in a candy store.
"You know it." Melanie laughed a little and held up a gray colored boot, "what size are you?" She asked.
"Oh, no... You are not going to buy me shoes…" I told her as she walked over to me holding the shoe.
"Oh, come on. Please? How about I just get you one pair…" She said.
"I don't even wear shoes like that though." I said and took the boot out of her hand and studied the details on it.
"Well, there is a first time for everything…" Melanie urged on, "Just try it on at least. Come on, I wanna see how good it looks on you."
I shook my head a little and took a seat down on one of the colorful cushions and slipped the shoe on, surprised that it was exactly my size. "Well?" I asked, standing up and putting my foot out for her to see.
"It's like it was meant to be on your foot, Miles. You have to get it now." She told me and I rolled my eyes.
"I have to?" I rose my eyebrow up a little at her. She shot a look at me and I quickly nodded, "fine, but now you have to promise me you have to buy at least a pair of shoes that aren't high heels, boots, or flats." I reasoned.
"But—"
"I guess I won't be getting these…" I sat back down and started to take the shoe off.
Melanie gave a little huff, "fine, but you have to promise me that you will actually wear these boots. And I'm not saying once and then they end up collecting dust bunnies in the back of your closet. These shoes are too cute to be hidden away from the public eye."
"Okay, if you promise you'll wear the shoes that you will soon be getting." I replied, not really understanding why these pair of shoes was that important.
"Deal." We both said at the same time and laughed.
"Now we need to go find you something to match those oh so beautiful shoes of yours." Melanie handed the bag over for me from the register to hold and I sighed playfully.
"Alright." I said as we walked through JcPennys. "Don't forget about those shoes of yours."
"Yeah, yeah." She waved away the thought as we walked into Forever 21. "Focus on you before we go to me." She held a shirt up to me and I gave her a weird look, "Yeah, I don't like it either." She put it back on the rack and walked further into the store.
I laughed a little and started to go through some of the hangers, "Oh, how about—" We looked at each other and laughed a little when we noticed that we were holding the exact same shirts except mine was black and hers was silver.
"I guess we both have the same taste." Melanie said as she handed me the shirt, "you can try them both on." She continued to go through the mounds of clothes.
I smiled at what she said, "how about a dress?" I asked. I was feeling optimistic today and I didn't look that bad in a dress.
"I was waiting for you to finally ask." She smiled and nodded over to a light blue, pink, and light green flowery dress that had a black belt attached around the waist.
"It looks flowery…" Was all I said.
"I know, but it would look really nice on you." Melanie grabbed it before this other woman that was also admiring could.
The woman gave us a dirty look before moving on. "Wow, people are animals in here." I giggled a little.
"It's because they know everything will be gone if they don't grab it." Melanie started walking again and I quickly followed after her. Suddenly, I heard a round of laughter come from the entrance of the store and I turned around to see Demi and a few other girls marching their way into the store.
I rolled my eyes a little, muttering "Why do they always seem to know when to come out of nowhere and burst my bubble?" I pretended to look at a few shirts as they walked past me, probably not even noticing who I was. When I was sure they were on the other side of the store or at least really far away from me, I turned and ran into a pile of shirts that Melanie was holding for me to try on, "that's sure a lot of clothes…" I said as I eyed the clothes in her arms.
"I know, but it's always fun to try stuff on." Melanie laughed, "I found a few more dresses for you to try on if that's okay."
"Yeah it is thanks." I told her.
"Why don't you head over to the dressing rooms and see if the clothes fit you, I'll be right over there." She told me as she looked at a pair of black jeans.
"Alright." I said and walked over to where the dressing rooms were. After 5 minutes of arguing with the girl who was in charge of that section; she finally let me go in to try on my clothes. After slamming my curtain close, I dropped all the clothes onto the floor and picked up the flowery dress that Melanie had picked out earlier.
I kicked my shoes off of my feet and slipped my jeans and shirt off of my body. I undid the zipper of the dress and pulled it up my slim figure. After adjusting the zipper and the belt of the dress a little; I turned to the side to see how the dress looked. It looked alright. I guess.
Melanie probably wanted to see how I looked in the dress, so I opened my curtain a little and peeked my head out. I didn't see her, so I decided to go out and see if she was waiting by the entrance. I turned, hoping to see Melanie seated in one of the chairs waiting for me, but instead I saw Nick. He looked up at me from his phone and we stared at each other for a few minutes before I turned around abruptly, mentally wanting to slap myself.
"That looks good on you." I heard him say from behind me.
I turned around slowly to look at him, "uhm thanks." I said slowly.
"Are you going to get it?" He asked me and I shrugged my shoulders a little.
"I don't know." I answered.
"You should." He told me, "It matches your eyes." He complimented.
I stared at him, sort of surprised with his compliments, "oh okay. I guess I will." I said.
He shot me a small smile, then turned back around to look at something else. I stood there for a few more seconds, trying to take in what had just happened. "That was weird." I said to myself as I padded back to my dressing room. I stood in front of the mirror again and just admired the dress. Maybe I did like it more that I thought I did. I shook my head, "what am I doing? I am not getting this because Nick liked it. I'm getting it because it's cute and Melanie likes it. Yeah, that's it." I told myself as I stripped out of the dress and picked up the next article of clothing off of the floor.
--
I pushed the dark navy blue curtains opened and walked out, giving the girl in charge a dirty look, "none of these fit." I smirked as I placed the pile of clothes into her arms.
"You have got to be kidding me." She said wide-eyed.
"But I'm not." I said as I walked out holding the flowery dress and a few other shirts that I thought looked pretty good. I expected Nick to still be seated at where he was earlier, but saw Melanie there instead.
"So, how'd you like the clothes?" She asked, standing up.
"I liked these the most." I showed her the clothes that I had in my arms.
"So, you did like the dress?" She asked, raising her eyebrow a little, "what happened to it 'looks so flowery?'" She asked with a laugh.
"I guess I changed my mind when I actually put it on." I told her.
"And I knew you would."
"Sure, you did." I laughed.
"How about some accessories?" She asked, her fingers gliding over some of the shiny looking necklaces hung up on their little display hooks.
"Isn't a dress and boots enough?" I giggled a little.
"I guess you're right, but this necklace…" She glanced over at me and I sighed, walking over to where she was. She smiled and unhooked it and placed it around my neck.
"Please don't say it looks perfect." I rolled my eyes playfully at her.
"Fine, it looks good on you. Happy?"
I pushed her a little and unhooked the necklace from my neck, "thanks."
"For what?" Melanie asked as she rummaged through the small glass that was holding a few rings.
"For taking me here and buying me clothes, I have to find a way to repay you somehow." I told her.
"Well, the only thing you have to do to repay me is to actually wear the clothes." She laughed.
"Don't worry, I will." I promised.
"You better." She threatened me playfully.
After a few more hours and many shopping bags later, we finally decided that it was time to head home, "my dad's going to have a freaking cow when he sees me walk into the house holding so many bags." I laughed as I slid into the passenger side of the car.
"Well, if he does. Now, Mary Lou will have a life partner." Melanie joked as she got into the driver side.
I placed all the bags at my feet and looked out at the setting sky as Melanie put the car in drive and we started heading back to my house. I closed my eyes, enjoying the cool breeze blowing through my brown locks. I was trying to savor the fresh air, knowing that by tomorrow it was going to go back into the scorching hot temperature.
"We should do this again some time, I always have such a good time when I'm with you." Melanie said as she pulled into my driveway.
"Yeah, we should. Let's go to the beach next time or something." I suggested.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea and we can invite your dad too and hopefully Peter will be back in time for a quick visit or something." Her eyes lit up as she said her husband's name.
I shot her a sad smile and nodded, "thanks again, Mel."
"It's no problem, really. Have a good night and tell your dad I said hi again." She told me as I got out of the car with my bags.
I nodded once again and waved as I watched her shiny car pull out of the driveway. When I saw that her car was out of sight, I walked back into my house, "hey dad!" I called out to the quiet air. He was probably in the back with Mary Lou or something.
"Hey bud, what did you buy?" He walked out of the kitchen, wiping his wet hands onto the apron that he was wearing.
I stared at him for a few seconds before shaking my head, "dad, are you wearing mom's old apron?" I asked.
"Yeah… I know pink isn't my color—"
"It really isn't…" I stared weirdly at him.
"Well, thanks for the compliment." My dad said sarcastically.
I laughed, "Sorry."
"So, you never answered my question." My dad said as he tried to peer into my bags.
"It's just girl stuff, dad." I told him and pulled my bags away from his glance, "you'll get to see some of it next week."
He sighed a little, "Are you hungry?" He asked.
I shook my head slightly, "Mel and I had pretzels at the mall. I think I'm just going to go do some homework or something." I shrugged and started toward the stairs.
"Mile, today was your first day…"
"Dad, its high school… We always have homework on the first day." I said, half lying.
"Well, it sure wasn't like that when I was in high school." I heard him mumble as he walked back into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes slightly and took off running up the stairs, nearly tripping over my own feet. "Dang flabbit." I covered my mouth and groaned, "I'm sounding more like dad everyday…"
I switched the lights on when I walked in and dropped the multiple bags that I was holding in my hands down by the door. I glanced over at the flashing red numbers on the clock and saw that it was about to hit 8. I yawned, suddenly feeling really tired. I trudged over to my bed and fell right onto it and before I knew it, I was slowly dozing off into a deep slumber.
**
My alarm went off annoyingly and I dragged my hand over to my side table and felt around for my alarm button, knocking a few things over and onto the floor in the process until I finally found the button and quickly hit the snooze button. I groaned a little and snuggled back down to my pillow and yawned tiredly until I heard a few loud footsteps enter my room.
"Get up, Mi." My dad's irritated voice filled the room.
"5 more minutes," I mumbled and turned over onto my stomach, my face flat on my pillow.
"You know if I gave you 5 more minutes, it'll turn into 10 more minutes and before you know it, you're going to miss school." He was standing at the foot of my bed now.
"Dad…" I whined into my pillow.
"Come on, I made some bacon downstairs. Get up."
"I don't want to." I sighed and felt his hands grasp around the end of my blanket. He wouldn't. I thought and just then, my dad pulled my blanket off and threw it onto the floor. I guess he would. I sat up and glared over at him, "I'm up." I said through clenched teeth, feeling my hair fall onto my face.
"Good, now hurry up before you're late to school." He walked over to the door and folded his arms over his chest and waited for me to get out of bed.
I rolled my eyes. "I think I'm capable of getting ready without being watched, dad." I pushed my hair out of my face frustrated.
"Are you sure? Do I need to pick out your clothes for you like I had to in 1st grade?" He asked in a mocking tone, making me scowl a little.
I knew not to push it because we were both tired and crabby at the moment and getting into an argument right now would only make it regret it later knowing that my dad was just doing what was best for me. I stood up from my bed and walked over to my closet and began flipping through the hangers to find something comfortable to wear. I listened to my father's footsteps faintly step down the stairs.
I attempted to run a hand through my tangled hair while grabbing a pair of light colored skinnies from the closet. I then pulled a plain gray t shirt down from its hanger and got a fresh pair of clean undergarments and shuffled into the bathroom across the hall, feeling disgusting from not showering since the two nights ago. I turned on the shower and shimmied out of my clothes, knowing that I was really limited on time. I stepped into the warm water and quickly washed my hair and body, letting the water release some of the tension that was built up in my body.
I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, hearing my father screaming my name from downstairs, "crap." I muttered and dried myself as fast as I could. I threw my clothes onto my body and grabbed the comb as I walked out of the bathroom.
"What?!" I yelled back.
"You better be getting ready!"
I couldn't help, but roll my eyes. My dad was really beginning to push my buttons and I wasn't really in the mood this morning. "I am!" I hollered back and walked back into my room and over to the mirror. I grabbed the mascara and tried to put it on, only to have it smeared on my eyelid. I sighed, grabbing a tissue and trying to fix my mistake only to make the same one again. After the fifth try, I was began to grow impatient with myself and decided to just go to school with a fresh face.
I rubbed some moisturizer onto my face and grabbed my backpack from where I dropped it yesterday afternoon, making sure that my schedule and binder were in it before dashing out the door. I ignored my dad's protests about eating breakfast before leaving, but I knew I'd miss the second bell if I did. I practically ran across the street again, getting honked at by the angry drivers. One even yelled at me as they drove by, spitting out the harshest words they could, but it's not like I care.
I walked into school, remembering what class I had to start the day with and I sighed, placing my head on my locker when I reached it.
"Having a bad day already?" Someone asked and I jumped a little, surprised to see Zac Bolton leaning against the lockers with his arms folded across his chest.
"Uhm, yeah…" I answered hesitantly, not quite sure to why he was standing by my locker. He must've planted a stink bomb in my locker. I thought negatively to myself. It was the typical thing a popular would do.
"Why's that?" He asked and it shocked me that he was even talking to me.
"I don't want to sound rude, but why do you care?" I questioned.
"You seemed upset and I was curious." He shrugged, "is it a crime for wondering?"
I shook my head no, "it's just no one ever really cares, so it just surprised me. That's all." Zac continued to stare at me and I began to feel a little uncomfortable.
"People care. Trust me." He said out of nowhere.
"Like who?" I asked.
"Me." He answered.
"Why? You barely know me." I said astonished by his answer.
"I'm not the only one, I'll tell you that." The first bell rang and before I could get a response back out, Zac had turned around and started walking away from me, leaving me standing there with a dumbfounded expression on my face.
"Get to class." I heard someone order from behind me and I slammed my locker shut and readied myself for another dreaded day of high school.
I entered my first class quietly, getting the same stares that I had gotten the previous day. I trailed down the aisle of desks, cautiously stepping over the foot that had tripped me the day before, earning growls of annoyance from the people around me. I slumped down into my desk, but perked up slightly when I saw the familiar curly hair of a certain boy seated a few seats away from me.
Wait, why am I so happy to see Nick? Then, I realized what I was thinking and shook my head in disbelief, slumping back down into my seat. What the hell am I thinking? ... I repeated to myself as the teacher began to rant on, but I already taught myself to tune her out as well as the rest of the class, especially as I thought back to the events that had happened in the class the day before. I already dubbed this class as one of the worst classes that I would ever have this year. I despised most of the people in this class.
I dug my hand into my backpack and felt around for my ipod; I soon noticed that it wasn't in there and began to panic. "It was here yesterday." I said quietly to myself and began rummaging through my backpack. I hadn't realized how much noise was making until I heard a loud clack! sound hit against the chalkboard and my eyes automatically looked up to see my teacher with an annoyed look on her face.
"I'm in the middle of a lecture and you're here making jingle jangle noises? Didn't your parents ever teach you any respect?" The teacher said, putting me on the spot. "If what you're looking for is so important, why don't you step out of the class and search for it."
"That won't be necessary." I answered softly and shifted my eyes down to the little doodles that were on my desk, taking great interest in them.
She gave me another "teacher" look before turning back to the board and continuing. A few people seated in front of me turned back and laughed, some muttering quiet "losers" towards me. I slumped farther down in my seat, now remembering that my ipod had fell onto the floor when I picked it up earlier this morning. This day was just getting worse and worse as the minutes went on in a crucially slow pace.
I literally praised the lord when I heard the bell ring and dashed towards the door. I nearly knocked someone over as I ran out of the classroom, but instead their drink spilled all over my clothes making it seemed like I had just peed myself. To my luck, I looked up to see Demi laughing loudly.
"Wow, you had to go so bad that you couldn't hold it? What are you 5 or something?" She raised her voice and everyone in the hallway turned to see what had happened.
"You know your drink spilled on me." I spat back angrily.
"Whatever PeePee Stewart." Demi cackled again and soon everyone else joined along.
I felt my blood boil a little inside as I stared angrily at Demi, my hand instinctively forming into fists at my sides. From the corner of my eye, I could see Nick walk out of class and ask a random guy what had happened, but I wasn't going to just stand around and let Demi make me look like a complete fool. I turned and walked down the hall, ignoring all the laughter that was following right behind me.
My chest heaved up and down from the anger that I was bottling up and I looked over my shoulder a brief second and saw Demi pulling Nick close to her. I turned back around, suddenly feeling really sick to my stomach. I sat myself down on the wall and wrapped my arms around my head, "it's not fair…" I mumbled to myself as the silent tears rolled down my cheeks. "It's never fair." I cried silently. I didn't care who watched, who laughed, who stared. I didn't care at all anymore.
I felt someone's presence beside me, but I didn't feel like peering up to see who, but once they spoke, I knew exactly who it was. "Hey." Zac's soft voice echoed in my ear, "Are you okay?" He asked.
I shook my head, "not really." My voice quivered.
"What happened?"
"How did you not see?"
"I was peeing, duh."
Then, I looked up at him. His hand absentmindedly rose to my face and wiped the wetness from my cheeks, "crying only makes a person look more beautiful. Did you know that?" He asked, in hopes to make me feel better.
"How did you find me then?" I asked, ignoring his comment.
He pointed toward a door and I saw that it was the boys' restroom, "I walked out and saw you sitting here with your head down and I figured something must've happened." He replied.
"Demi's a jerk." I muttered.
"They all are, what do you expect?" Zac replied.
"I don't know, you're different, why can't they be?"
"I don't like to be considered as one of them." Zac said coldly.
"Why not?"
"Just because I was on the baseball team doesn't classify me as one of the cloneheads." He shook his head.
"But you hung out with them and everything…"
"So?"
"I don't know, I just you were like them." I shrugged slightly.
"Well, I won't be one of them anymore. I'm sick and tired of the bullshit that every one of them causes. All the guys care about is how many girls they scored over the weekend and all the girls seem to give a crap about is trying to stay in with the latest trends and making themselves look like dolls for guys who could really care less." Zac ranted on angrily and I just sat there, surprised to see how much anger was bottled up in him.
"Sorry…" He said a minute later, "That just needed to be let out."
"It's okay." I said just staring at him, "I thought I was the only one who noticed that about them." I cracked a small smile.
"Well, now you're not the only one now." Zac returned it.
The bell rang out of nowhere, reminding me that we were still in school, "I guess we have to go now." I sighed.
"Well, we don't have to." Zac said and I looked at him.
"What?"
"There's a thing called ditching." He replied.
"It's the second day; my dad will have a cow. Literally."
"You always say that." Zac chuckles.
"Because he really will." I join with him and push myself off of the floor and put my hand out for him Zac to take.
"I think I should've been the one to help you up." Zac said as he handed me my backpack.
"It doesn't matter." I shrugged again, "what class do you have?"
"Art? I think. What about you?"
"History." I replied in a mumble.
"I'm guessing you're not a big fan of it?"
"It's alright, I just don't like school anymore in general and I can thank Miss Lovato for that." I roll my eyes when her name leaves me mouth. We walk down the empty halls silently. "And now when I walk in, everyone's going to stare at me." I sighed.
"You shouldn't care."
"I don't." I reply.
"And if something happens, tell me." Zac ordered. I nodded, not quite sure if I would or not. He waited by the door and watched as I walked into the classroom and close the door behind me.
"You're late." My teacher points out the obvious, "do you have a note?"
I shake my head and I hear him sigh, "Do you want me to go get one?"
"No, it's fine, but don't let this become a routine of some sort, Miss Stewart." He told me, "we're doing another little group exercise and I need you to find a partner." He instructed.
I nodded, wondering why he was finding ways to torture me. I walked away from his desk and looked around the classroom, already knowing that no one would even want to talk to me, let alone want to be my partner. I was pretty sure everyone had their own partners now, leaving me the odd-man out.
"Mr. Gray needs a partner." My teacher was now standing beside me, nodding over to Nick who was seated at his desk, isolated from everyone else. "Nicholas." My teacher called out, "Miley would love to be your partner if you don't have one already."
I felt like strangling the life out of my teacher as I saw Nick look up and nod a little. I clenched my mouth a little and walked around the desks of the other students and pulled a spare chair that I saw and sat down by Nick's desk. A weird silence fell over us since he hadn't said a word to me since our little encounter at Forever 21 yesterday.
"Uhm, what are we doing?" I asked, dropping my backpack down to the dirty classroom floor and tried to look at his paper, but his arm was covering whatever he was working on.
Nick continues to do whatever he was doing, completely ignoring that I was sitting a mere few feet from where he was. Minutes went by and not once did he look up at me and I began to feel that anger from earlier with Demi boil up inside me again. This was a partner assignment and if I got a bad grade for Nick's stupid attitude, I was going to be pissed.
"Nick." I grabbed the paper out of his hand and his head snapped up, finally acknowledging my presence.
"What the hell?" He hissed. I felt myself wince a little. That was the first time I had heard him to speak to me in a tone like that, "I was working on that!" He snatched the paper back and I felt my thumb hurt and I knew instantly that I had gotten a paper cut, but that was the least of my worries.
"I'm supposed to work on it too!" I told him.
"I think I'm perfectly fine without your help."
What the hell? "This is a partner assignment, Nick."
"And I didn't ask for you to be my partner." He said coldly and I felt my stomach clench a little.
"I didn't choose to be your partner, okay." I replied.
"Then, why are you here?" He asked.
"The teacher put us together, it didn't seem like you had anything to say 15 minutes ago." I retorted. Why the heck was he so mad at me for? "What the heck is your problem?"
"You want to know what my problem is? My problem is you." He seethed. "Why are you always starting so much shit with my girlfriend?" He asked.
"She starts it, not me."
"That's bullshit."
"Bullshit? She's bullshit, Nick—"
"Don't talk about her like that. You think you're so big and tough talking shit about someone, why don't you just go find some fucking friends or something. Maybe then you'll actually have someone that cares about you and can talk some sense into that mind of yours." He spats angrily at me. He stared at me with an icy stare before looking down at the paper, continuing the work that he was doing earlier.
I felt myself shrink back into my small shell as I rose my hand shakily, asking for permission to leave the classroom. I didn't look back over at Nick as I was soon granted some and I quickly left the classroom, feeling like I had been suffocating in there. I pushed my way into the closest girls' bathroom and lock myself inside a stall. Why did it seem like Nick's words hurt so much? I shouldn't care. I shouldn't care." I told myself and swipe my hand across my face when I noticed a few of them fall from my eyes and land onto my jeans. I don't care what he says; she's a liar and a backstabber. I sob silently. I continue to wipe my eyes every now and then, feeling the tears come out more and more as I replay Nick's words in my mind over and over again, feeling it hurt more than the first time.
--
I finally decided to walk out of the bathroom and back into the classroom. Everyone looked at the door when they heard it open and I ignored everyone's glances at me. I walked over to where I had dropped my backpack and picked it up. I then, made a beeline to my desk in the back corner of the room.
"As I was saying…" The teacher continued from my little interruption. I withdrew a small hair tie from the small pocket of my backpack and placed it around my wrist. Nick's words were now burned in my ear as they echoed through my ears. I absentmindedly grabbed the rubber-band at my wrist and quietly snapped it continuously against my exposed skin throughout the remaining class time.
The bell sounded off and we all got up at the same time as if we had practiced to do so. I brushed past the many bodies and slipped out of the door and started walking to my art class. I tried my best to avoid Zac, knowing that if he saw my face he would know in a microsecond that something had happened and I wouldn't hear the end of it after that.
I took my seat at the usual empty desk in art class, pulling out my sketch pad. I didn't listen to anything that the teacher was saying and concentrated at the drawing displayed in front of me. The tip of my pencil graced gracefully across the paper as I continued the detail of my grandfather's face. I was glad that I at least had art to turn to when I needed an escape. Slowly, I could start to see the details of my picture starting to piece together, but I knew that I was far from being finished.
My teacher's presence peered from above me, but I just continued to draw and I saw her nod in approval before moving on to the next table to see what the other students were working on. I felt a smile appear on my face as I continued on and before I knew it, students were pushing their chairs into their tables and walking out the door. I glanced up at the clock that was tacked up above the teacher's desk and noticed that it was lunchtime now. Time sure went by.
I threw my sketch pad into my backpack and zipped it up, saying a quick goodbye to my teacher before walking back out into the jungle. I heard my stomach grumble loudly from under my stained t-shirt and I grasped my arms around it tightly when I saw a few people turn to look at me. I decided it would be a good idea to go to lunch since I hadn't eaten anything since last night.
I forcefully pushed the stuck door of the cafeteria open, getting annoyed that it had taken so much time to get the stupid door open. I stepped in line with the others and waited as it inched closer to the food and I wrinkled my nose in disgust when I took a swift of what we were having.
After 15 minutes, I had my tray of lunch and I was knowing scanning the lunchroom for an empty seat. I settled for a table in the middle of the cafeteria. I pushed the trash that the earlier occupants had left and sat down. I tore the plastic off of the bowl that was containing some weird looking macaroni and cheese and fought off the urge to gag a little when the smell entered my nostrils.
"I think I just lost my appetite." I pushed my tray away in disgust and looked around at the other people that were stuffing their faces. They must've been starving or something because I wouldn't ever eat something like this unless I was dying of starvation.
"Hey." I heard suddenly.
I look up to see Zac standing by the lunch table I was sitting at, "hey."
"Can I sit here?"
"Uhm, sure." I clear my backpack off of the table, allowing him some room to play his tray.
Zac dropped his tray onto the table and pulled out a chair, seating himself in it, "why aren't you eating?" He asks as he pops a few grapes into his mouth.
I try not to make a face as I answer, "not really hungry." I replied.
"Oh." Was all he said before he quietly began to eat his lunch.
The two of us sit there quietly. I'm not really paying attention to anything, just staring down at the table as I hear Zac chew loudly on his potato chips and it's slowly starting to irritate me, but I don't say anything.
"Why are you here, Zac?" I turned to him.
"What do you mean?" He looked over at me.
"I mean we've been going to the same school together since kindergarten and not once did you ever try to become my friend. Why are you all of a sudden wanting to become my friend? Is this all a joke or something? Am I being filmed right now?" I shake my head lightly.
"I—"
"Is this your little plot just to embarrass me even more?" I asked in a louder tone.
"It's not like that, Miley." He finally gets his say in. "I honestly want to be your friend. I swear on my grandparents' graves and trust me, I don't say that often." He sighed inwardly.
I looked into his blue-green eyes and I could immediately tell that he was speaking the truth and I instantly felt horrible for accusing him of doing such things, "Sorry." I whisper softly.
"It's okay."
"No it isn't. I shouldn't have accused you of any of that." I look away from him, now feeling disgusted with myself.
"I know how it feels to not be able to trust anyone, it's really okay Miley. IT just takes time to let someone in." He reassured me.
"If you say so." I sighed and picked up my plastic fork, picking at what was supposed to be macaroni and cheese.
Zac gave up trying to make me feel better and picked up his sandwich again, taking a gigantic bite out of it.
"Zac?" I heard someone's shock voice come from behind me. We both turned to look at who had spoken. Standing before me was Nick, wearing a surprised expression on his face, but his eyes seemed emotionless when his eyes went from Zac to me. I felt my stomach turn a little.
"Nick." Zac pursed his lips a little, "What's up?" He asked.
"Miley?" Nick's voice came out in a whisper, but I could sense the annoyance in it.
I turned back around and continued to play with my food; I felt Zac's gaze on me, but I didn't dare look up again. The look on Nick's face when he realized who Zac was sitting at sort startled me; he was mostly likely still angry from what had happened two class periods earlier.
"I thought you were going to have lunch with us?" Nick asked.
"Change of plans." Zac answered.
"Why are you with Miley?" Nick questioned.
"She's my friend and I want to have lunch with her." Zac shot back, "is there a problem with that?"
"No." I heard Nick answer shortly, "I was just hoping we could talk about some stuff."
"Talk then."
"I—"
"Where's Demi?" Zac asked suddenly, cutting Nick off.
"With everyone else, like always. The guys and I were just looking around for you." Nick answered.
"Well you found me, so sit down then and let's talk about whatever." Zac pulled a vacant chair from another table and slid it next to him and I waited and wondered if Nick would actually sit down. He did and stared right at me as he did. "So, what's up?" Zac asked again, but Nick didn't answer. I kept my attention down at the food in front of me, swirling it around with my fork, causing a scraping noise.
"Demi wanted to see—" Nick started.
"And Demi couldn't ask me, why?" Zac asked.
Nick shrugged his shoulders, "you know how she is and I suggested the idea of asking you anyways."
"Mhm, right." Zac popped another grape into his mouth and waited for Nick to continue.
"She was wondering if she could throw a party at your house. She heard somewhere that they were going of town tomorrow and came up with the plan." Nick explained.
"Let me guess who the little teller was." Irritation dripped in Zac's voice, but Nick didn't seem to care.
"So, what's the answer man?" Nick asked.
"She can do whatever she wants as long as the house is back to its' original state after." Zac replied.
"Deal," Nick replied and they did a quick handshake before Nick arose from the table. I looked at him from behind my eyelashes and saw him stare down at me. I looked down again and I heard him push the chair back into the table a little too hard and walk away.
"I'm guessing we're going to a party tomorrow." Zac stated.
"We?" I asked, looking up at him. "What is this we?"
"Yeah, we. As in you and me. Zac and Miley." Zac continued and I put my hand up to stop him.
"I got the picture, Zac. Are you sure Demi would even want me at her party? I mean, she hates me if you haven't noticed already."
"It's my house. I think I have a say in who comes and who doesn't." He replied, "And you're coming, that's for sure and I could care less what she thinks about it."
"And what if I say that I don't want to go to this little shindig of hers?" I questioned.
"You have to come." Zac said.
"You can't make me go, Zac."
"But I want you to come."
"Why?" I questioned.
"Because I'll be lonely without you there."
That hit me out of nowhere, "what?" I asked.
"I already told you that I don't like any of them, why would you do this to me and force me to be with them alone?" He whined a little.
This kid was good. "Come on, there must be one of them that you like. I mean you talk to Nick, you must like him." I stated.
"Just because I talk to him doesn't mean that I like him." Zac replied back.
"That is true… Why don't you like him?"
"Why don't you?" He asked, turning it back on me.
"I never said I didn't."
"You never said you did either." He put me on the spot once again.
I shrugged, "He's Demi's boyfriend and I know for a fact that she already brainwashed him into hating me as well, so what's the point in liking him?" I look down at my plate.
"That's not the only reason." Zac pointed.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Because you keep staring down at your plate every time something about Nick pops up. You were practically staring a hole into the table when Nick was sitting here with us earlier. What happened between the two of you guys?"
"Nothing."
"You know that's bullshit, Miley." Zac said.
I flinched a little at the tone he was throwing at me, "don't yell at me." I said.
Zac's features softened a little when he saw the look on her face, "sorry. I just wanted to know what had happened between the two of you to make you like this. I really didn't mean to upset you…"
"Too much happened, that's what." Was all I replied before I stood up from my seat and put my backpack on. I grabbed my tray and walked away from Zac before he had a chance to react to what was happening. I dumped my trash into the can and walked out of the noisy cafeteria and into the even more noisy jungle.
Kids were throwing footballs across to each other and I was trying my best to dodge one as I walked up the trail of the quad. I heard a swerving sound and soon I was knocked down to the ground. I held my head in pain, feeling my head throbbing from the impact. I opened my eyes a little and saw someone hover over me. I wish I hadn't woken up when I realized who it was.
"Are you okay?" Of course it'd be Nick.
"Fine." I brushed the hand that he had offered away and pulled myself up. I dusted off my clothes off and continued walking down the path, holding my head as I rubbed it. The throbbing seemed to have gotten worse from before and I was now having hard time concentrating.
"Hey, wait." Nick called after me.
I rolled my eyes as I felt him pull onto my arm and make me turn to him. He pulled my hand away from my head and gently touched where the football had hit my skull. I winced again and moved away from his hand, "I'm fine. Go away." I told him.
"If you were fine, you wouldn't have winced." He told me and attempted to touch my head again, but I moved my head away from him again.
"I don't need you to check if I'm okay or not." I snapped at him.
"Look, I'm sorry." He sighed.
"For being an asshole or for drilling a football to the side of my head?" I asked with attitude. "Because it's not like it really matters anyways."
"For both, okay. I shouldn't have said the things I said to you earlier and me throwing the football at you was an accident. My friend was supposed to catch it." He explained.
"Right. I'm sure that's what happened. You probably told him to not catch it, knowing that it would ram right into my head!" I said, trying to forget his hurtful words to me from earlier.
"I already said it was an accident!" He retorted when he saw people beginning to stare, but I ignored them all and narrowed my eyes at him.
"Whatever." I started to walk away again, but he grabbed onto my wrist. I shook it away from him and shot him a dirty look, "don't touch me." I said through clenched teeth and he let go, reluctantly.
I pulled my hand to myself and continued to walk away, feeling a bit light-headed, but I wasn't going to stop walking until I was as far away from Nick as I could get. My vision began to blur a little in front of me and I shook away, telling myself that my eyes were just getting watery from the pain that wouldn't leave my head. I mistook one of the steps that I was walking on and tumbled down onto the cement, my hands making a hard impact with the ground.
I was pretty sure that my hands had scraped against the pavement because I could feel the rush of blood swarm into the palms of my hands, but I couldn't look down. My vision was getting to blurry for me to see anything.
"Miley!" I heard someone's worried voice call from behind.
I tried the best I could to pull myself up, but all I could feel my body was crumble down to the floor and lay flat on my back. My limbs were beginning to feel numb as my eyes began sliding shut as I let the pain of my head get to me and everything began to darken and soon I was out like a light.
a/n: OMG OMG OMG D: You guys are allowed to slap the living lights out of me because this chapter is long past overdue. I AM SO SORRY D: School just started taking over and I found it easier to update my youtube stories, but I whipped myself back and I began to work on this chapter and I tried my best for a 9,000+ word chapter, but it's only around 8,500. I don't deserve any reviews since I was so late, but I'd appreciate it if you still did. I'm going to try my best to update WAYYY quicker. ): Slap me. I'm trying my best to come up with more ideas for this story, Nick wasn't even supposed to be in this chapter much, but I figured you guys deserved SOME Niley interactions =/ I again apologize for such a big delay ):