Lauren walked through the crowded hallways of Blackwell academy. Max had asked her to meet her in Mr. Jefferson's room before classes started. She said it was something important but Lauren felt like she was just going to be scolded again. As she came closer to the classroom, she noticed a very upset Kate talking to Mr. Jefferson. Lauren couldn't get close enough to hear anything before Kate took off down the hallway in tears. She went to follow her friend but lost sight of her through all the people. "I hope she's okay..." She said to herself as she watched where Kate once was.
"Lauren, there you are," Max pulled on her friend's arm, dragging her towards the classroom. "I have something I really need to talk to you about and I meant to tell you this morning but that didn't really workout," Max stopped in the doorway and looked back to her desk, "You've got to be kidding me."
At her desk sat Victoria and Nathan. Upon seeing him, Lauren remembered what Max had told her about staying away from him and how she hadn't done that at all. "You know, we can probably talk about this later. I mean, you obviously have something to deal with her and it's not a very private stop to discuss stuff." Lauren began to back out of the room but Max stopped her. "No. I'll deal with them and we can talk," she turned and smiled at Lauren, "it's my desk anyway and I'm not going to let them keep doing shit like this." Max walked confidently to her desk and stood in front of the two rich kids. Lauren, not really wanting to be there, followed slowly behind her, trying to keep out of sight.
Nathan noticed Max walking towards them. "Better be quite, Victoria. We have a master snitch and liar here."
Max glared at both of them, causing Victoria to laugh, "Did you think we were best friends forever or something?"
"Not at all, Victoria." Max was holding her ground surprisingly well. Lauren wondered when her friend had gained so much confidence. She shifted and ended up kicking one of the camera stands, causing Nathan and Victoria to notice her there.
"Oh look!" Victoria sang as she stared her down, "Max brought four eyes with her." She leaned back on the desk, seemingly confident with her insult.
Lauren let out a deep sigh and moved to stand next to Max, "If you're going to insult me can you at least try to be a little original." Shock covered Victoria's face but it quickly morphed to anger. Out of the corner of her eye Lauren thought she saw Nathan stifle a laugh but she couldn't be sure.
Victoria looked as if she had something more to say but Max took the chance to speak before she got started again, "Can you get off my desk."
"Oh of course, Max," Victoria spoke in a condescending tone, "why don't you take a selfie of this moment while you're at it." She walked back to her desk, with a triumphant smile on her face for having said the last word. Nathan watched Lauren as he walked over to join Victoria. They made eye contact but Lauren quickly looked away from him, not wanting Max to notice. Nathan, being unaware of her conversation with Max, took it as a sign that she didn't really mean what she said earlier, that she really disliked him like everyone else and had lied about it.
Lauren moved to sit down at Max's desk. She was fighting the urge to turn to see what Nathan was doing, she knew Max would have something to say if she caught her. She was grateful when Max started talking because it gave her something else to focus on. "So about what I wanted to tell you before," She paused as if debating if she should even say anything, "it's about what I tried to tell you and Warren the other day in the parking lot."
"Have you told Warren about it yet?" She questioned as it seemed like Max was struggling with finding her words.
"No, I haven't had the chance to really talk to him lately." She seemed a little sad as she explained this.
Lauren smiled as she noticed Warren walk into the classroom and make his way towards them, "Well here's your chance."
Max looked up quickly to see him walking over to her desk. He sat down at the edge of the table and looked down at them, "What up Max, Lauren." The two girls greeted him. His usual goofy smile faded as he began to speak again, "I saw Kate earlier and her eyes were all puffy from crying."
Max shifted awkwardly in her seat, "Kate has a lot on her plate." Lauren stared at the ground as they talked about Kate. She didn't want to remind about all her friend was going through when she knew there was nothing she could do to help her.
Mr. Jefferson entered his room and had everyone who wasn't in his class leave. There were a surprising amount of people who got up and left but the only one Lauren noticed was Nathan. She mental cursed herself for thinking about him so much when she knew that it was possible that what Max and Kate told her was true. She shouldn't like him but that only served to make her more interested in him.
Once in the hallway, Lauren stopped and leaned back against the lockers. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples in an attempt to stop the headache that was creeping up on her from stress and just thinking too much. The hallway was quite due to the fact that everyone was now in class and if they didn't have classes at this time, like her, they were most likely off somewhere else. The silence was broken when something collided with the locker right next to her head. She looked to her side to see a hand. She then looked straight ahead to see a very familiar red jacket.
Nathan Prescott had his hands against the lockers on either side of Lauren, keeping her from getting away. He looked down at her, his voice void of anger or any emotion it seemed like to her, "Did you lie."
She stared up at him in shock, not fully comprehending what he said, "Wh-what?" She mentally slapped herself for how stupid she must have seemed at this point.
"You told me you weren't afraid of me, and that you didn't hate me, but it doesn't seem that way at all." He sighed and continued to explain when she just continued to stare at him, "Whenever you're by yourself you seem fine around me but whenever you're around someone else you don't even look at me."
She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by one of the jocks shouting loudly down the hallway, "Yo, some crazy shit is going down at the girls' dorm! Check it!"
Lauren's eyes widened. "Kate," she said softly. It was barely loud enough for Nathan to hear even with how close they were standing, but he heard what she said and he suddenly realized why she tried to avoid him.
