Chapter 7

Steph walked into school the next day with the biggest smile on her face that she ever smiled. She wore a pair of denim jeans and a pink tanktop. She went to her locker and opened it, taking a few of her books out for her classes that she was to go to.

"Hey, Steph." Gia walked up to her friend, wearing a beige short sleeved shirt and khaki shorts.. "You look happy today."

"Oh, I am too happy today..." Steph grinned as she closed her locker.

"Oh really?" The young brunette folded her arms over her chest and smirked. "May this have anything to do with Nate?"

Steph sighed happily before speaking. "I guess I can tell you." She began. "After we got out of the nurse's office, Nate walked me to his house. His dad's pretty cool." She said. "We sat down and began talking. I never knew that he had so much in common with me...He told me about his mother and how she died and we wound up kissing on the couch."

Gia's jaw practically dropped to the floor. "Tanner, you animal!" She teased, hitting her friend lightly in the shoulder.

"It wasn't anything else, though, Gia." Steph added quickly. "We just kissed and hugged."

"Yeah, I know you wouldn't do anything further." Gia nodded solemnly. She looked towards the entrance of the school, seeing Nate walk in, who was wearing a black t-shirt with a few tribal designs on it and a pair of denim jeans. "Looks like your knight in shining armor's here. I'll see ya later." With that, she left Steph to go to her class.

"Good morning, Steph." Nate greeted as he approached her, backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Hey yourself." Steph leaned up and lightly pecked him on the lips. "How you doing?"

"I'm doing awesome." Nate said as he leaned back against the lockers. "Talked with the coach over the phone when you left yesterday. He told me that I should take some time off to recover from the previous game and come back to play when I'm ready."

"That's pretty smart on his part. Can't have the star player getting sick or anything." Steph smiled, seeing Nate as just that. The star player.

"Well, thanks for the ego boost." Nate chuckled lightly. He kissed Steph lightly on the forehead and smiled. "But I don't think I can be the star player yet. I'm still new to the team and I got to work at it."

"Indeed you do. But you're awesome either way." Steph replied. "So, ready for history class?"

"Ready for class? Yeah. Ready to work? Not so much." Nate lightly teased. The young blonde rolled her eyes.

"Typical school boy fashion." She joked, sliding her fingers inbetween his as they walked to history class together. They were a couple and they were going to do whatever a good couple would do.


It was a pretty simple day for the students in history class. The teacher was out of the room so the students all had an assignment to do from their textbooks. Rich, who was in the same class as Nate, Steph, and Gia, looked towards the volleyball star in the making. "Hey, Thompson..."

Nate turned his head to face him. "What do you want?"

"During the game..." Rich began innocently.

"I don't want to talk about it." Nate quickly cut him off, not wanting to start anything.

"You fainted, right?" Paul chimed in, who was sitting beside Rich. "I mean...You actually fainted during the game?"

"Back off of him, will ya?" Gia glared over at the two in defense of her friend. "He just said he didn't want to talk about it, so drop it."

Rich couldn't help but smirk at all of this. "Oh, look at me, I'm Nate Thompson." He said mockingly, which Nate went red in the face at. "I'm the star volleyball jock, but I faint real easily during the games because I'm so weak and untalented." He added before making a fainting mock at his own desk. That little 'imitation' made a few of the students giggle.

Nate slammed his pen down on the desk and shot his head around to leer at Rich and Paul, just about fed up with the both of them. Steph turned her head as well, hoping it wouldn't get ugly.

"Oh, look what you did, Rich. You hurt the little fainter's feelings." Paul played along with a mocking frown.

"GO TO HELL, BOTH OF YOU!" Steph snapped, causing the whole room to become silent for a moment, not expecting an outburst like that from the usually reserved Tanner girl.

"Steph, it's fine..." Nate said softly.

"No, it's not fine!" Steph shot up from her seat and stormed over to Rich and Paul. She hauled her hand back and brought it back down, slapping Rich right across the face with as much force as she could muster. The slap left a big red hand imprint on the smug jock's cheek.

"You crazy bitch..." Rich seethed coldly, resting his hand over his reddened cheek. "Didn't your mother ever teach you how to act like a lady?"

Those words hit a little too close to home for Steph. Tears beginning to well up in her eyes, she quickly fled from the classroom without another word said. Nate swallowed hard, knowing that some bad feelings had been touched due to those comments. Shaking his head in disgust at Rich and Paul, Nate rose from his seat and left the room after his girlfriend.

"You just don't know when to stop, do you?" Gia hissed angrily at the two troublemakers in Rich and Paul, who couldn't offer a rebuttal. Before another word could be said amongst the students, their teacher, Mr. Carson, walked inside the classroom. He was a skinny man in his 40's and wore a pair of thin-rimmed glasses on his head.

"What just happened here?" Mr. Carson questioned cluelessly, noticing the tension in the room. He then spotted two empty desks. "Where did Mr. Thompson and Ms. Tanner go?"


How could they be so cold, Steph wondered to herself. She slumped down against a wall in the hallway, sitting down against it. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged herself gently. It wouldn't matter so much to other people if a mother comment was made to them, but to Steph, it was very personal.

"Steph?" Nate's voice echoed throughout the building, who was trying to find her. Turning a corner, he managed to see the figure of Steph, who was sitting by herself in the dark hallway. He raced over to her. "Steph, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay!" Steph sniffled, burying her face against her knees to hide her crying eyes from him. "They didn't have a right to say those things!"

"I know, baby. I know..." Nate nodded and sat down beside her, leaning against the wall. "But I guess we both have to face the fact that some people just aren't good people after all."

Steph only nodded, the tears continuing to stream down her cheeks. Nate moved closer and wrapped his arms around her.

"It'll be okay, Steph...I promise." He said softly.

Steph buried her head against his chest, finding a genuine love in the feeling of Nate's arms around her. It made her feel safe and that nothing in the world could ever harm her. She clutched the hem of his shirt for more comfort in him. "They shouldn't have said those things about you, either." She whispered.

"They're just words. I'll get over it in time." Nate ran his hand through her long blonde hair, brushing loose strands of it behind her ears. "Steph, I just hope you know that I do care about you. It hurts me to see you sad..." He placed his fingers lightly over her chin and tilted her head upwards to look into her eyes. "You shouldn't be sad. You're always more prettier when you smile."

Steph soon found herself smiling again; Nate's words found their way into her heart and it was a great comfort for her. She looped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. "Thank you, Nate...I feel better now."

"Good to know." Nate smiled softly. "Do you feel up to coming back to class?"

Steph pondered that question and sighed. "This feels nice...But I know we got to get back. I think a teacher coming down here and finding us is a good chance anyway." She stood up and offered a hand to Nate, who took it and pulled himself up slowly. Hand in hand, the young couple walked back to the classroom.


"Now, can someone tell me the year when the Germans used Nazi concentration camps to eliminate the Jews?" Mr. Carson asked his students as he pointed to the blackboard behind him. Gia raised her hand.

"1941, sir." She replied.

"Good, Ms. Mahan." Mr. Carson nodded in approval. "Now, can someone tell me..." He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Steph and Nate walk into the classroom.

"Um, we're sorry about this, sir." Nate apologized quietly.

"Where have you two been?" Mr. Carson folded his arms over his chest. Steph and Nate looked to one another and then to the floor, short on an explanation for their teacher. That was when Gia spoke for her friends.

"A teacher came by when you were gone." She lied. "He wanted two people to help him put up a poster for a talent show coming up in a month."

Mr. Carson nodded, knowing that he could probably trust a student's word on this. "Well...If that's what it was. Mr. Thompson, Ms. Tanner, take your seats please." He demanded. Nate and Steph nodded, taking a seat at their desks, letting their teacher continue on with the lesson.