Chapter 13:-Anything?...Anything
"I know dad, I know and yes I should have called more" Aaron said into the white iPhone 5 that was rested against his cheek. "Yeah, everything is going great, I'm loving it. I know, defiantly, I will. What about before Christmas? Think we can do that? Ok dad, great, I'll talk to you soon. I love you too, bye"
Aaron crashed down on his bed with a sigh. This was the third time he'd spoken to his father since starting Blackwell and he felt terrible about it. He loved his dad so much but had just forgotten to call. Their relationship was closer than most-the two had endured a lot of emotional pain and they had relied on each other to get through it.
Aaron had relied on his dad for most of his life and now he was finally becoming more independent-still, he would love to go back for a visit soon. Just one more thing on my list Aaron thought as he scrolled through Facebook from his horizontal position on his bed. The question of joining Varsity football was still clear in his head. He had no idea if that was something he'd want to pursue-sure he liked playing it recreationally but he didn't know if he could be bothered to play games on the regular.
Aaron just thought of himself as too skinny; sure he had the muscles but the build was something he was lacking. This train of thought led him to the fight he would be taking part in tonight. He knew the same thing for this fight that he knew for the others-nothing. All he knew was he'd turn up, have loads of people bet money on him, fight someone random and win. All Aaron could do was close his eyes and try not to think about it.
Sometimes they were fun, great ways to blow off steam and get all the built up stress out. Other times, Aaron was just not interested and didn't want to bother. Today was one of those days. Hell, he'd just come from a drama class. He had to ask how he always found himself stuck with a vast number of options to choose from, yet he never has any answers.
Reluctantly, Aaron dragged himself off his bed and sat down at his desk. He opened up his laptop and decided he was going to work on his autumn portfolio. He opened his folder and was met with pictures of Kate on his screen. He couldn't help but get lost looking at her. He was really smitten with her, yet too scared to do anything about it. For the first time in his life, he was scared to make a decision.
Aaron let out a sigh as he stared endlessly at the photos of the beautiful girl on his screen. She must think I like her, I spend every chance I can tryna do something with her. He though as he scrolled through the photos. Fuuuuck, why am I such a loser?! He asked no one in particular before resting his face in his palms.
The quiet ambience of his dorm room rang out, making everything seem like it wasn't moving at all. Aaron wanted to move, do something-feel active before going to where he needed to be when the sun goes down. Max and Chloe were sorting out what they needed to do, he didn't wanna pester Kate any more than he already had so that left Zack, Logan and the boys or Warren, Brooke and all of those guys.
Aaron had spent most of the day with Zack earlier but didn't wanna continue the conversation over playing varsity football. Chilling with Warren seemed like the better choice. Aaron picked his phone up off of the desk and sent his friend a message.
Hey dude, anything going on with the guys?
Hey man, uh, I don't think so, Brooke said she was busy with...something, Stella has a project she needs to work on and I haven't heard from Luke. Warren send back almost immediately.
That decided Aaron's night for him. Jock central with your resident meatheads. He couldn't complain, they were tidy guys and he enjoyed their company. Aaron couldn't help taking pride whenever he convinced them to leave people alone and not be asswipes to anyone.
Brooke Typed furiously at her computer while Nathan sat beside her, taking notes on his laptop. They had been getting together most days of the week and Nathan had considered himself to be making progress. Brooke's attitude had become a lot more relaxed; she was less hostile to Nathan, but still resented having to do additional Physics.
The room was dead quiet; the only sound coming from the hum of their machines and the faint noise from Brooke's headphones that were once again around her neck. Nathan liked working in these conditions, they made him feel calm and the quiet did wonders to his concentration. The humming reminded him of the Whale sounds he would listen to as an aid to go to sleep in the nights.
Brooke's face was fixed in the resting bitch emotion as she printed out another piece of paper. She leaned over to her left, crossing in front of Nathan as she removed the inky paper from the printer.
"Here, this should help you on Atomic theory and red shift" Brooke said dryly as she handed Nathan the paper without looking at him.
"Thanks, I did an essay on the gravitational pull of the atmosphere and…I'd like you to take a look at it, tell me how I did?" Nathan replied as he placed the paper into a folder.
Brooke was shocked at what she had heard. She slowly turned away from the computer screen and looked at an expressionless Nathan to her left. "You did what?" she asked.
"An essay…" Nathan replied as he looked at the work he had done. He slowly extended his hand to pass it over to Brooke.
"I didn't even ask you to do one" Brooke was confused as she scanned over the work in front of her.
"Well I wanted to make sure I was actually learning shit so if you could read over it and tell me how I did, I'd appreciate it" Nathan said, less hostile than you'd expect.
"Sure, I'll look over it now if you want, see if you're making progress. If you're not learning, these sessions are pointless" Brooke replied as she started scanning the paper.
"Well…not totally pointless…" there was a shyness in Nathan's voice that Brooke had never heard before. Brooke wasn't sure what he meant but she froze as pretended she didn't hear it. She did, however, go red in the cheeks.
The sun had set and Friday was moving on. The students of Blackwell have stopped working but for Marcus, his work is just beginning. Angrily, he paced back and forth just outside of Blackwell's common grounds before discarding his fourth cigarette butt of the past hour. He waited for any sign of his target but nothing appeared and he was getting stressed out.
Jake was keeping a look-out; making sure no one crept up on them to disturb their business. He was almost as fed up as Marcus but he had orders to follow and knew Marcus would bite his head off if he said anything.
The cold air of the night blew as the two men in sleeveless red jackets waited for Aaron Heartfield. They had done this thing time and time again but did not expect their next mission to take them back to Blackwell so soon. It seems fate just held the best candidates here.
"Has he showed yet?" Jake asked as he scanned the grounds.
"No, for the ninth time, he's not here" Marcus replied. He sounded agitated.
"Why can't we just go in there and drag the bastard out?"
"Because Alpha gave us orders!" Marcus barked. "She told us to observe for now and that's what we'll do. You want to go against her orders then I might as well kill you know and save her the words!"
Jake shrunk into himself as Marcus stared him down. He was afraid of him, hell everyone was, that's why he was so damn effective at his job.
"How long will that take?! We know nothing about this kid and it seems we get less and less info each time we come up here" Jake protested as he took a swig of a black water bottle.
"This is how we operate, you've done it for years so stop your fucking whining before I shove your arm down your throat" Marcus huffed as he lit up another cigarette. "Fucking long haired wanker" he muttered as his lips held the cancer stick between them.
Jake pretended not to hear him as he knew crossing Marcus was a very bad decision. If anyone would be able to get this kid properly, it would be Marcus so the best thing to do would be to co-operate with him and make his life as easy as possible.
"There" Marcus called out. "Target is coming from the car park" he said as they ducked behind the wall.
Aaron was with a group of boys; Logan, Zach and a few of the other jocks as they were laughing and joking their way across campus.
"We need to get out of sight" Jake called as the two men made a dash for cover. Marcus had been spotted once and he wasn't gonna let it happen again.
"Where do you suppose he's been?" Jake asked as he rested his back against the wall.
"I don't know, but he hasn't been here" Marcus replied as he eyed Aaron head off to the boys dormitories
Nathan typed away as Brooke finished reading over his essay he had handed her twenty minutes prior. He started off resenting these sessions he'd have to attend but now he couldn't see himself doing anything else. It added something that was missing into his life, it gave him the chance to actually do something with his empty days.
Brooke had noticed he seemed more relaxed as their sessions went on. Nathan almost looked happy sometimes which would be a first from Brooke's perspective. She couldn't lie, she wasn't too thrilled about the whole ordeal but she did feel a sense of accomplishment as she was able to make Nathan's life a little better, well, it seemed so anyway.
"Damn Nathan, this is actually pretty good!" Brooke said, breaking the silence in the room. "I mean it needs some work with detail but you've got a lot of the key points down anyway at least"
"Thanks, glad to see I'm learning something" Nathan called up from behind his laptop.
"Tell you what, we'll work more on this now and fill in the gaps so this is even better. Then once this is done, we can move on, sound good?" Brooke asked as she took a swig from her coke can.
"Yeah, I'd like that" Nathan murmured with a slight smile.
Brooke exhaled with relief after she put her drink down: "I'm gonna go grab some air; it's getting late, you can head back if you want and we'll finish this tomorrow" She called as she walked through the door to her dorm.
Nathan was left alone in her room and for the first time, he felt confident enough to do the work without asking Brooke to make sure it was ok. He typed a few more sentences before looking up at her wall. It was filled with all sorts of nerdy posters that made him smile. They were so 'Brooke' that all he had to do was take a photo and caption it 'who lives here?' and everyone would know the answer.
He noticed her brush on the couch in front of the wall and picked it up. Her black hair with dyed strands were recognisable amongst the bristles as Nathan pulled one of them free. He knew what he was about to do was wrong but he couldn't help himself. He placed the strand of hair to his nose and inhaled Brooke's scent, sending a shiver down his spine in the silent, dark room. He let it fill his nostrils before moving it away and looking at it. Realising what he'd done, Nathan dropped it to the floor before picking up his bag and heading out the door.
Nathan hurried out of the girl's dormitory and across the grass with haste, he didn't wanna relive or explain what he had just done so thought it would be best to finish the study session for the night and come back with a clear head tomorrow. The wind blew faintly as he hurried through the gate and past the walls, only stopping to investigate the sound of voices he could hear just up the steps.
"C'mon, do it" Zach heckled as he crossed his arms.
"Leave me alone you hulking gorilla" Brooke spat back as she rolled her eyes.
"I don't wanna do the work so you do it for me" Zach's loud voice was unmistakable.
"Or what, Zachery, what are you possible gonna do?!" Brooke was fed up but at the same time concerned. Zach was stupid and that made him dangerous in the right capacity.
"Or-." He was cut off when Nathan spoke.
"What's going on here?" Nathan yelled as he approached the two, stopping just short of them.
"Nathan, tell this little slut to do my work for me, she'll probably do yours for you too bro" Zach seemed happy to Nathan, as if he'd have some backup on the matter. That wasn't the case.
Nathan wanted to defend Brooke but he didn't want to leak the possibility that he might be getting tutoring from her. He didn't know what to say so just said the first thing that came to his head.
"Why don't you go fuck yourself? Fucking big gay"
Zach was almost as shocked as Brooke with what Nathan said. Luckily for Nathan, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed so just looked at him with confusion before rubbing the back of his head and walking away.
"Why did you do that?" Brooke asked as she walked closer to Nathan.
"You're helping me, I'll help you" he replied, that same dryness ion his voice she was used to hearing had returned.
The two stared at each other but only one of them was confused. What did the future hold for them?!
Aaron dropped on his bed with a sigh. He was happy to have done something else on a Friday night instead of his usual fighting routine. It was a fresh change and he welcomed it warmly. He didn't realise hanging out with the jocks could have been that fun. They drove around, drank some beer and made general places look untidy. It wasn't something Aaron had done for a while but he was glad he was able to enjoy it.
The sun had set and his room was dark, only brightened by the light by the side of his bed. He realised he should call his dad again before the weekend was over, he had promised after all. The exiting weekend was ahead of him and he wondered what to do with it and who to grace with his company. He laughed to himself at the little joke he made before sitting up and finishing his beer off. As he was drinking, his phone pinged.
Hey, I'm outside and I need to talk to you xx
Messages from Kate always made him smile. Without replying he jumped up, zipped up his trademark black jacket and headed downstairs. Leaving the dorm building, Aaron was greeted by the lovely smile of the girl he could never stop thinking about. The air was chilly but neither of them minded as they were in each other's company.
"Hey, how you doing?" Aaron asked with a smile before placing his hands in his pockets.
"Good, thank you" Kate replied as she smiled some more "Did you go to, y'know, that?" she asked shyly.
"Nah, I hung out with Zach and some of the guys; we went into town and hung out. You're right, I didn't have to it"
"You mean Zach as in the jock? Aaron why would you wanna bother with them, they're not nice people" Kate scolded but she was visibly disappointed.
"Come on, it's not like-." He was cut off
"And is that beer" Kate sniffed the air "Aaron have you been drinking?"
"Yeah we had a few cans, so what?" he replied innocently, Aaron couldn't see that he'd done anything wrong.
"Because I thought you were different, that's why! I get called horrible names day in and day out but none of that mattered because I was friends with the coolest boy at school. Someone who made me smile and make me feel worth a damn! If I don't have you by my side, what do I have Aaron?" Kate sounded distraught and Aaron could tell. She seemed to be on the verge of tears, something he hated seeing her pretty face do.
"Kate, I'm friends with everyone, I don't see what the big deal is?" he defended.
"The deal is those Vortex assholes are the ones who bully me the most! I thought you'd understand how I'd feel. I guess I was wrong" Kate stormed off without another word.
Aaron wanted to go after her but decided it was best to let her go. He marched back to his dorm, slamming the door behind him before kicking his wash basket over in frustration. He couldn't believe that Kate hated him now. The one person he didn't want to lose now didn't wanna bother with him. He blamed himself mostly as he knew he should have told her how he felt but didn't.
He was so angry he couldn't sit down; after pacing back and forth for a few seconds, he pulled his phone out and texted the last person he'd ever see himself messaging.
You up? Was all he'd allow them to have.
For you, always Victoria replied.
Aaron left his dorm and went where he didn't really want to go. He was so mad that it didn't matter, he had to vent his frustration somehow and since it was too late to go fighting, this was his only option. His great night just got one hell of a lot worse.
A/N:-Before you castrate me, Aaron is not gonna get back with Victoria! I know its potential spoilers but so many pf you hated her in my story so this is my way of saying sorry for such a shit upload time.
The reason for the slow upload is that I haven't been getting much feedback on this story. The same two people are the only ones (You hero's know who you are) and as much as I love you guys for doing it, I need other opinions to make sure everything is working. If you like it, say. Review or PM me and I'll make 1000x more time to this story because I love writing it but don't wanna waste my time.
If you are enjoying so far, I'd have no problem with you guys adding this to a community if you really want. The more people who read it the better. If you wanna see another chapter by next week, please, please, please let me know and I will deliver.
If any of you can guess the film where Nathan's quote to Zach comes from, please let me know, I'm curious to see if anyone knows. Apart from that, thank you and I'll see you for the resolution to all this bullshit. Awayyyyyyy
