Chapter 7: A walk with Ruby
Police cars flooded the area of PS 38 and students and teachers were led out by officers while some of them took a struggling and screaming Gina to one of the police cars.
"It was Nate, officers! It was Nate! I'll get you, Nate, if it's the last thing I do!" Gina screamed as she put into one of the police cars.
And sooner or later, parents were called and came to pick up their grief-stricken and shaken children to their cars while other parents and other people who lost their loved ones were bawling very loudly.
And that shook Nate to the core while he was being led to police to have a conversation about what happened and why it happened. Randy was also being led to the police to have the same talk.
The conversation lasted about 8-15 minutes. Nate and Randy explained everything about Gina and the pranks against Nate and Gina and what happened during the chaos.
The police considered arresting the boys (which shook the boys so badly, they started crying), especially when Nate recognized one of the officers from the mall when the officer caught Nate using the intercom, but let them go after learning the heroism from the boys when they took down Gina. But unfortunately, the boys were lead off with a warning: should the two get into trouble again, the charges will be considered, no matter who's involved and how bad the trouble is.
A vigil was held later several days later. Friends, family, everyone one went.
"This is all my fault," Nate thought to himself as a single tear went down his face. Nate tried to ignore the upset feeling in his stomach and eye contact to his ex-friends.
"Something has to be done. We cannot go down this route anymore," Dee Dee thought.
Several more days later...
"Nate, are you ever going to come out?" Martin called to Nate from the kitchen.
Ever since the PS 38 shooting, Nate stayed in his room for most of the time (with the exception of bathrooms, breakfast, lunch, dinner) and refused to leave his room. And it really got into Martin's nerves, especially when he learned about the taser part.
Martin had enough of Nate being in his room all the time, so he marched to Nate's room and hustled Nate to put on his clothes, and get out of the house for a while, much to Nate's dismay.
"But Dad, I don't want to show my face out there! People would recognize me for what I did to Gina and-" Nate started.
"It's not your fault. Just relax and go get some fresh air," Martin interrupted Nate before kicking him out of the house.
Nate tried to get back inside the house, but the door was locked on purpose to keep Nate from getting back in. After a few moments, Nate let out a huge sigh and began to wonder what to do next, so he headed to the city park and sat on a bench for awhile.
That's when a mean voice comes in:
"What's wrong, Mopey Pants? You just sittin' around and doing absolutely nothing?"
Nate turned to see who it was and it was...
"Nolan?"
Nolan is a student at Jefferson Middle School and an enemy to Nate and his friends. He was always good at basketball, soccer, concerts, whatever. He's a bully and he's not exactly driving the helping wagon, either.
"Heard your school got canceled. Gotta say, I'm not too bothered by that," Nolan smirked.
"L...look, I don't want trouble. Not today," Nate said back politely.
"Yeah, I know. But the mud bowl is coming up soon and we are going to DESTROY you and your team," Nolan said, poking at Nate's chest.
"Like the time at the snow down? Sorry to say, but you cheated," Nate responded.
The snow down was a competition on which team can build a better ice sculpture than the other. PS 38 won, angered Jefferson, breaking the 7-year streak against PS 38.
Anyway, Nolan was outraged when Nate mentioned this.
"Actually, I changed my mind. I'm not going to destroy you at the mud bowl, I'm going to destroy you NOW! This is gonna hurt, a lot, and this will be quick too, so say a prayer!" Nolan hissed, grabbing Nate's shirt and pulling up to his level and making direct eye contact.
Just as it was about to end very ugly for Nate...
"Hey! Put him down!" orders a voice.
It was Ruby with an angered look on her face, which Nate has never seen before. Most of the time, Ruby seemed to be a very nice girl who can hardly get mad at anybody, but hey, there's the first time for everything...right?
"Why should I care?" Nolan asks.
"Do the math, pinhead. It's only you against two of us," Nate chimes in.
After a few moments, Nolan sets Nate down and begins walking away saying:
"Two against one. Real fair. You know what? It doesn't matter. We'll settle this at the mud bowl! See you later chumps! You too look like they deserve each other!"
After Nolan disappears, Nate turns to Ruby and says:
"Thanks."
"Are you okay? He looked like he was about to kill you," Ruby responded with concern.
"I'm okay. See you later."
Nate began to walk away, but that's when he heard it: sniffing.
Nate slowly turned around to see Ruby and noticed a tear sliding down her cheek.
"You are ditching me again, after...after what I have done for you just now?" Ruby said with her voice shaky.
Ruby broke down and sobbed for a bit. Nate felt REALLY guilty now for what he did to Ruby and decided to rebel against leaving her alone and walked back over to Ruby and got her attention by saying:
"I'm not ditching you this time. Never again."
Ruby looked up at Nate for a bit with her face bloodshot from crying.
"Really? Are you really sure?" she asks.
Then Ruby noticed something too: Nate had a single tear sliding down his cheek too.
"I'm really sure, Ruby. Cross my heart," Nate replied.
Ruby began to feel better and a few short moments later, she smiled in relief.
"Good," she replies and wrapped her arms around Nate in a hug, which Nate feel better also.
"Do you want to take a walk with me, like normal couples would do?" Ruby asked after finishing hugging Nate.
"Um...Sure. I don't see why not," Nate replied.
And the two went for a walk and talked about how Nate got 7 detentions in one school day...
"...and I broke down laughing right after I saw my favorite pen ooze on Mr. Galvin's chest," Nate told to Ruby, who giggled while reacting to Nate's story.
...how he got Randy to detention...
"...and Randy comes dashing to the table that Chad and I were carrying to the lunchroom and tried to pin the blame on me, but Ms. Clarke sent him detention," Nate told to Ruby who slightly chuckles.
"What a moron," Ruby responded.
...won fleece ball against Randy...
"...and Gina smacked the ball with her eyes shut and got a home run," Nate to Ruby, who responded with a 'good for her'.
...got Gina her first ever detention...
"...then Gina yells at me in the library and gets caught by Mrs. Hickson and sent to detention," Nate told to Ruby, who slightly giggled.
...winning a skateboard an the Scout's fundraiser ceremony...
"and Artur and I were tied up so a coin had to be flipped, and it landed on heads, which I chose and won!" Nate exclaimed.
"Good job," Ruby complimented to Nate.
"Thank you," Nate replied.
...won in a snow down against Jefferson Middle School...
"and the judges caught Jefferson cheating so they announced that we are the winners!" Nate exclaimed to Ruby again.
"That's great!" Ruby said with ecstatic in her voice.
...winning the trivia slam against Gina...
"..and I said cats to the question and the Factoids won. Oh, did I forget to mention that Gina made a face so hilarious that I took a picture of her?" Nate asked Ruby.
Ruby giggled.
...winning a bet against Marcus the 7th grader...
"...and I volunteered Chad to be in the three-legged race with Maya (Chad's crush), and those two won against Marcus who got humiliated in the process, which destroyed my bad luck," Nate told to Ruby who laughed by this.
...and found an old mural that saved the school.
"...and my team called 'Nate's Non-stoppers found an old mural that was forgotten in time so I showed the principal and he sold it to the museum for a lot of money that saved our school!" Nate exclaimed.
"An amazing discovery, indeed," Ruby nodded with a huge grin on her face.
During the story, Ruby noticed that Nate was laughing, something that she wanted to see when she was sent by Dee Dee to cheer Nate up.
After a while, Ruby got all serious again.
"Nate, can I ask why you would act rudely towards me at school the other day?" she asks Nate.
"Well, it's because of the California pl-" Nate started but Ruby raised her hand up for him to stop.
"Besides that. Sorry to interrupt, by the way," Ruby responded.
"...because Dee Dee wouldn't talk to me when I was angry and upset," Nate replied back.
Ruby nodded and said:
"That's what I was told by your friends. And if it wasn't for the California plan, none of this would be happening. Heck, we would be going out by now."
"True..." Nate nodded.
"Look...can we just date for now and worry about that California situation later?" Ruby asked Nate.
"It's not just the California plan that I'm worried about now, it's what happened at the school that's affecting me," Nate replied.
Ruby nodded sadly then asked:
"You think this would come back to haunt you one day?"
"Absolutely," Nate responded.
Ruby nodded again.
"But you did the right thing to stopping Gina, so that's something. But for now, take a while to relax, okay?" she asked Nate.
"But..but.." Nate started.
"Please, Nate. For me? For your friends? They have forgiven you for what you did to me, just like you would do the same to your friends, right?" Ruby asked looking directly into Nate's eyes.
Nate sighed. He had to stop the conflict sooner or later for Ruby's sake and friends' sake.
"Okay, I'll relax for awhile," Nate replied to Ruby.
Ruby smiled.
"Great. Hopefully, you stay put," she says before, believe or not, her lips met Nate's in a passionate kiss, much to Nate's surprise.
It's almost like Nate finally got his first kiss from his true love for the very first time.
Black hair met brown hair.
Black eyes met blue eyes.
Nate finally found someone who truly understood him.
After Ruby stopped kissing Nate, she looked at him and giggled for a bit, mainly because Nate's cheeks were blushing cherry-red. Not to mention Nate's legs felt like they were made of pudding.
And a few seconds later, Nate fainted in dazed happiness.
Ruby giggled a few more seconds and began to...
Okay, let's hold on that one for now, and turn our attention to Nate's friends, shall we?
Later, Francis and the gang were talking strategy about the mud bowl when Chad was the one to notice Nate first.
"Oh hi, Nate! We are just talking..."
Suddenly, Chad's sentence derailed, because...well, because...
"Is that lipstick?" Randy asks in surprise.
"Yuuuuuuppppp," Nate responded with...well...happiness, is it?
Yeah, it is.
Mainly because Nate's face is covered, and I mean COVERED with lipstick.
Where did he get it, you ask?
From Ruby, of course, who just happened to have fallen in love with Nate all over again after he cheered up and said he would relax for awhile and was blushing and giggling at the same time.
And after that, Nate went to say his sorry to his friends, as they said sorry to Nate back. Nate's friends swore they would never, under any circumstances, mess with Nate again, much to Nate's delight and relief.
But unfortunately, one person wasn't happy that Ruby likes Nate.
And that person is Randy Betancourt.
"Hey, guys! I have an idea! Let's go the Krazy Kone for ice cream to celebrate that Nate's not...wait...Nate, are you still moving?" Teddy asked Nate.
"Possibly," Nate replied, returning to his cruddy mood.
Then out of the corner of his eye, Nate saw Randy walking away.
"Hey, guys. You go on ahead. I'll catch up as soon as I can," Nate said to his friends before catching up to Randy.
"Hey, Randy! Wait up! Going somewhere?" Nate called out to Randy.
"Ruby DEFINITELY likes YOU," Randy replied back while not bothering to look back.
"Guess so," Nate muttered.
"So, put it the gossip column! 'READ ALL ABOUT IT, EVERYONE! NATE AND RUBY ARE A OFFICIAL COUPLE, WHILE RANDY IS A SORE LOSER!" Randy replied with sarcasm in his voice, whilst STILL not bothering to look back.
Nate felt bad for Randy and without him, the Bobcats would lose against Jefferson, AGAIN.
So Nate went all out.
"Well I hate to burst your beautiful bubble, but I'm NOT going to do so. Not to mention that I might be moving, still," Nate hollered to Randy, which actually did the trick by stopping him from walking any farther.
After a few moments, Randy turns around and asks:
"Well, what's stopping you?"
"...because we're teammates, now," Nate responded.
"We? WE? There is hardly a 'we' between us because we HATE each other SO MUCH," Randy replied back with sarcasm again.
"Not as much as we hate Jefferson Middle School! Want to stick that to Nolan?" Nate asked Randy.
"And WHO is Nolan?" Randy asked.
"A kid from Jefferson," Nate replied.
"Oh yeah. Now I know who you are talking about. Yeah, I'd like that. But they will be tough to beat," Randy responded after a while.
"Then let's meet up with the gang at the Krazy Kone and talk strategy!" Nate urged to Randy.
"Okay," Randy replied before the two made their way to the Krazy Kone when suddenly...
Rumbling...like...
"Thunder," Randy says looking at the sky while a few raindrops fell out of the sky.
"Well, bring it on. This is MUD BOWL weather!" Nate exclaimed.
*Done! Pretty sweet, don't you think? Hope you liked it and (terminator's voice) I'll be back!