Chapter 11
The next day, Maddie sat down at an empty lunch table and tossed her food around her plate with her fork. Then, someone came up to her and sat down beside her. She was thankful that it wasn't Nick. It was Chip. "Oh, hey Chip. How are you feeling?" she asked. "Better," he said. "I heard about what happened with you and Nick," he said sympathetically. "I don't want to talk about it," she said, looking down at her food.
"But I do," said another voice. Maddie looked over her shoulder and saw Nick. "Go away," she said. "Maddie, just give me a chance to explain," he said. "Explain what Nick? That you made me look like a fool while you made out with Kuinn?" she said loudly, standing up and facing him. Chip got up and slowly walked to another table and murmured something to his friends that sat next to him.
Almost everyone in the cafeteria became silent and looked in Maddie and Nick's direction when she said what she had out loud. Maddie grabbed her bag and pushed past Nick, bumping him hard in the shoulder. Nick winced.
Maddie stormed off and walked to her locker. After she put her books inside, she closed it and saw Kuinn standing there. Maddie jumped when she saw Kuinn. "Don't scare me like that," she said to Kuinn. "Look, Madison. I just want you to get something straight. You need to stay away from Nick," the blond girl said. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere near that… that…" she trailed off as she couldn't find the right words to say.
With that, Maddie walked off, leaving Kuinn satisfied, obviously. Vida then came up to Maddie and opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. "Does this mean you hate Nick again?" she finally asked. Maddie nodded. "Yes," she said simply. Vida sighed. Maddie turned to face her sister with a hurt expression. "Vida, you don't think I'm being unfair, do you?" Maddie asked. Vida shrugged her shoulders, giving her sister a look that told her she honestly didn't know. "I don't know, sis. But I do know that what he did was wrong, even if he forgot about the ice cream thing. No body can really blame you," said Vida, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder.
While the two sisters walked down the hallways, Maddie saw Nick pass. He was with Kuinn, who was smiling brightly and hand her hand in Nick's. For some reason, Maddie felt a surge of jealousy and anger rush through her. She caught Nick's eye, but instead of glaring at him like she used to, she just looked down at the ground, and you could see the hurt flashing in her eyes. Vida looked over at Nick with an unreadable expression and the two sisters continued to walk to their classes. Maddie sighed and sat down, focusing on her work. Later that day, she felt much better and was starting to act like her normal self, but whenever she saw Nick; her face darkened, but in a few moments she lit up again, but mostly it was only because Chip kept on making her laugh.
Xander flashed Vida a look and Vida shrugged. Chip whispered something to Vida and then Vida said something to Xander. Maddie rolled her eyes. They were acting all suspicious again. She didn't really care about what they were planning, and she didn't want to know. Instead, she finished her work and then the bell rang. Chip and Vida had gone to see Transformers since they hadn't gotten to see it. Maddie walked home with Xander. "You know Nick is really sorry, right?" he asked Maddie. Surprised, Maddie nodded. "Yeah, I know," she sighed. "Then why won't you forgive him?" he inquired to her. She bit her lip. "Xander, I don't know… how to forgive him," she admitted. "I mean, that night, I felt really angry for some reason, but I don't know why. But still, he promised he'd be there and then…" she trailed off.
Maddie shrugged. "I don't know why I haven't forgiven him," she said honestly. Xander nodded. "You like him, don't you?" he said with a smile. "No!" she said. "Why would I like Nick?" she asked. Xander gave her a look. "You are always talking about him… and you got jealous when you saw him making out with Kuinn," he said.
Maddie's cheeks turned the reddest they could possibly ever turn. She shook her head. "Xander, honestly, I wasn't jealous and I don't like him," she said, trying to sound as firm and convincing as possible. But she didn't know of it was really the god honest truth, but she'd rather find out later than now. Instead, the two friends walked down the blocks. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Maddie," Xander said when they came to his house. She smiled and waved goodbye to Xander and then continued to walk home by herself.
She suddenly sensed somebody walking behind her. "Nick, I'm not stupid," she said, turning around. Nick was standing there looking guilty. She shook her head and turned back around and continued walking. "Maddie, please, I'm sorry," he said. "Yeah, well sorry doesn't always cut it," she said, spinning around to face him. Then she turned back around again and started walking again. Nick caught up with her and he stepped in front of her and faced her, blocking her way. "Maddie, what will it take to prove to you that I'm sorry?" he asked. "I know you're sorry, but I don't think anything with make me be able to trust you or believe you again," said Maddie. Her tone wasn't harsh or angry. It was softer and when she talked, you could tell she was really hurt.
"Now move," she said. When she tried to go around him, he blocked her and wherever she moved he blocked her. "Maddie, please just let it go," he said. But as soon as he said the words, he wanted to snatch them back. "Let it go?" she said, her voice becoming angry. She opened her mouth to say more, but she didn't know what to say, so she clamped her jaws shut and pushed past him. He rolled his eyes with irritation. "Why are you so stubborn?" he asked angrily. "Why are you such a jerk?" she asked. He winced at what she said, but he then breathed an irritated sigh and walked off. Enemies again… he thought.