Naia's POV

"Hey, I'm supposed to take Soph to the park after school today, you wanna join us?" Nate asked me the next morning while I was doing my usual organizing.

Should I tell him I'm not interested or make up another mediocre excuse?

"Uh, I wish I could, but Gabby already planned a girls night with some other people. Maybe next time?" The last part I didn't mean. I didn't want to join Nate because I didn't want to, I couldn't. Not if it meant Sophie was involved.

Nate nodded, unconvinced since I was a terrible liar. "Yeah, okay...next time."

Awkward silence.

I shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to do next. Should I start a different conversation? Try to back up my excuse?

"Tell her I said hi," I finally added, just as the bell went. Our walk together to homeroom was silent. We were both unsure of what to say to each other. When we got to homeroom, we took our usual seats but instead of talking about something, as usual, I pulled out my schedule, even though I already knew what classes I had today. I have never been so grateful to start the day off with science, a class that Nate and I did not share.

Once attendance was taken, I wished Nate a good day and hurried off to the science classroom without another word.

"So we have history after lunch right?" Nate asked as we took our normal seats in the cafeteria. I nodded and took out the chicken wrap I had made this morning. I didn't feel like eating though and just stared at my lunch.

"I'm so happy we got that test over with, it was a nightmare," Nate commented, groaning at just the thought of the test. My hands involuntarily clenched my wrap at the mention of it.

"Yeah," I agreed, "It was terrible."

More like, I was terrible.

"I heard you failed that history test," Olivia snickered as she walked by. "Didn't even pass. What an idiot."

How did Olivia manage to find out I had failed my history test? It was probably the reason why Mrs. Smith told me about my test after school, so nobody would know and it would be confidential.

"Come on," Nate said, "Let's go eat somewhere else."

I stubbornly shook my head, "No, I'm not letting this girl chase me around anymore. I'm staying right here."

I could tell Nate didn't think it was a good idea but he slowly sat back down and continued eating his lunch.

This was going to be interesting.

As usual, Olivia blabbered on about the gossip going on and then moved her topic to, guess who, me.

"Everybody thinks Naia is so smart, newsflash, she isn't," Olivia threw a smirk in my direction. I knew she was trying to get a reaction out of me and as hard it was, I continued to stare at my chicken wrap.

"Maybe we should go to another spot," Nate suggested quietly.

I shook my head, adamant to not let Olivia push me around anymore. I hated the way she pushed me around. I've had enough of that in my life.

"It's no brainer why she was kidnapped. She's too stupid to know any better," Olivia went on, clearing enjoying herself.

"Shut up, Olivia," Nate glared.

Olivia laughed, oh, that annoying, horrible laugh, "Please, don't waste your time."

I definitely wasn't in the mood to eat anymore and decided to just toss my wrap. Just looking at it made my stomach churn. I got up and made my way to the trash can before throwing my wrap in it. I knew it was a waste of food but I couldn't stand it. The chicken wrap that is. I was going to head back to the table where Nate was still seated since he hadn't finished eating, but something made me stop. I'm not sure what, but I stopped where I was.

"Everything's going to be okay,"

The phone number.

How long was that ago? A week? Two? I couldn't remember anymore.

"I'm starting to think that the Freak cooked up this whole kidnapping thing. Probably was too ashamed about herself that she wanted everybody's sympathy. It worked too, Mrs. Smith's letting her rewrite the history test. We all know Mrs. Smith would never let anyone redo anything, especially tests."

My stomach started to churn again. Like butter. That didn't make sense. Butter didn't churn, you churned butter. Before I could get myself even more confused with the whole butter churning thing, Olivia's obnoxious voice rang out.

"She's so weak, what a baby," Olivia continued, "Are you sure you're still going to be adopted? After what happened, I think your foster parents wouldn't even want to see you."

My hands clenched into fists and I had to take deep breathes to calm myself. Tears had started to form in my eyes but I refused to let Olivia win this. I stayed turned away from everyone so nobody would see them.

"See, she's not even standing up for herself," Olivia spat, clearly enjoying all of this, "Come on, do something. Just make a bigger fool out of yourself."

I stayed facing away from everyone though the irritating pokes at my back were very tempting me to turn around.

"Who was the other girl? Jane?" Olivia asked and I tensed at the subject of Jane. I guess Olivia noticed because she kept going. "Did you guys hear she was shot? No wonder. If the Freak can't even stand up for herself, there's no way that girl had a chance."

I was starting to lose patience but I closed my eyes and tried to soothe myself.

Deep breaths.

"Though only an idiot would rely on the Freak so I guess Jane had it coming. Got what she deserved for being so stupid,"

That was it. Something in me snapped and before I could stop myself, I whirled around to face Olivia.

My fist went flying and I punched Olivia in the face.