Chapter 12: Calm Your Compost Bin

I walk into school on Thursday with Meghan, Bubbles is sick. I explain yesterdays events to her as we walk.  We step through the school gates and immediately notice something is off.

"Oh, dear God," Meghan says beside me.

"What is it?" I get really panicked and my heart rate increases.

"The rumors have started," she says. I burst out laughing. "Why're you laughing?"

"I thought you were going to say something like: the aliens have come to take over earth and here they are. Or, pigs are starting to fly and they're watching it on their Facebook."

"Yeah, I don't think you'll be laughing when you hear what, or rather, who, they're gossiping about."

My face turns pale. Has everyone heard I'm going on a date with Noah Ross? I only told Adele, and Bubbles somehow knew. Maybe it was Noah. But Glenna also heard us and so she might've told everyone...

"Yeah, its about you," Meghan tells me, nodding and leading me through the crowd of people. "How many people did you tell about Noah?" she turns her head to me and asks.

"No one except Adele, but Bubbles somehow knew," I tell her.

"Who were you with when he asked?"

"Noah, we were doing this French thing with Glenna as well," I reply.

"Yup, it was definitely Glenna."

We walk into the corridor towards my locker. I feel an arm snake around my waist. "Why the f*** are you going on a date with Noah Ross?" Alex asks me. I turn to face him as we walk, in his blue eyes there's a hint of an emotion I can't put a name to.

A/N: SORRY, ALEX SWORE. I'm tryna keep it PG 13 here.

"Because.... I can?"

"But, dude, what about me?" he pouts.

I laugh. "You're not hot enough."

He seems shocked for a second before he smirks, "And you, mister, need to go to Specsavers."

I shove him into the nearest locker and he smashed into it before wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "But, of all people, why Noah?"

"He seems nice..."

"Just... make sure he doesn't hurt you," he lets go of me and walks off, hands in his pockets, eyes downcast. I stare after him confused.

"Trouble in paradise?" Kate sidles up next to me.

"What?" I come out of my confused state and face her.

"Why aren't you with him?" Kate says. "He's such a good guy."

"I don't know."

***

I walk home the following day and throw my bag onto the couch.

"I'm home!" I yell.

"No! Not jigglypuff!" I hear Bubble's voice.

"Pikachu!" my brothers scream. I walk into the living room.

"Nat! jigglypuff can't die!" I can see Bubbles is on the verge of tears.

"All of you are to old for Pokemon, Paul, Lucas, go study," I shoo them off and they poke out their tongues. They're 11, they shouldn't be doing stuff that only 3 year olds do, like poking out their tongues. I give them a stern look and they pout, walking away. I turn to Bubbles.

"But-but-but- jigglypuff," she sniffles.

"I'm sure Pikachu saved him," I roll my eyes.

"NATALIE! JIGGLYPUFF IS A FEMALE!"

"Ok ok, calm your farm, those cow's are probably peeing themselves," I say. Bubbles looks at me strangely. "Well, don't you get it? There are cows on farms?"

"Yeah. Not in ant farms though."

"I don't want you to calm your compost bin Bubbles," I roll my eyes.

"Ok," she's silent for a moment, she is so awkward. "Well, I have recovered from the little buggy in my tummy, so I am now going to get you ready for your little date," she claps her hands and I roll my eyes, she probably hasn't fully recovered from her stomach bug, but she is back to her usual self.

We walk up into my room and I collapse onto my bed. I hear Bubbles shuffling around and I sit up. "What're you doing?"

"I'm getting you an outfit. I'm in the do-not-disturb area of your closet that you never touch," she yells from inside. I see her emerge five minutes later with a stack of clothes pilled up on her hands, so high she can't see over the top of them, just like in movies. "So I'm going to lay out some clothes in outfits on your floor - because I'm extra - and then you're going to try on the ones that you aren't absolutely opposed to," she begins by plopping the clothes on the ground and then taking a shirt off the pile and laying it down, then a skirt below the shirt. Out of nowhere she pulls a pair of shoes from the  pile and lays them below it. She makes ten different outfits in total.

"Ok, so here we have the-" she begins.

"I don't need the extremely creative names you have decided on. But thank you," I say, raising my eyebrows. I look down at the outfits. Every single item of clothing lying on the ground is from one of my Mum's shopping sprees. I have a quarter of my cupboard dedicated to the clothes I'll never wear. I know its rude... but Mum needs to understand that I actually don't wear these clothes!

I pick three outfits that I, surprisingly, don't despise. I go to try on the first outfit. Its a pair of dark, navy jeans with a button up blouse, army colored,  tied at the bottom with high heels, which completely ruins the outfit. I try it on and walk outside, stumbling on the 5 inch heels - honestly, how does my mum think I would like to wear these?

Bubbles giggles as I collapse on the ground, the heels turning my ankles around. "Okay, show me the outfit without the shoes," she laughs. I take them off, massaging my feet before standing up. "Hmm, OK, I will mentally assess the situation," she rubs her temples, eyes closed, before opening them and looking up. "The jeans don't reach your ankles, the shirt doesn't match your watch, and you can't stand in high heels. Take it off and try again," Bubbles says the last sentence in a deep man's Russian voice and I can't help but laugh.

I return to my bathroom and try on the second outfit. Its a short navy skirt with a white lacy halter neck top and ballet flats. I try it on and walk out. I keep pulling on the skirt that looks like something only Gretchen Wiener from Mean Girls would want to wear. I think Bubbles sees that I'm uncomfortable, and her happy expression turns to a disappointed one. "Okay, that looks good, but maybe your Mum bought that skirt a couple of years ago..."

I turn on my heel and walk back to the bathroom. The next outfit is a navy dress. Its got lacy patterns below the halter neck top that then flares into a skirt that reaches mid-thigh. Its not as low as I'd like it to go, but its better than the last skirt. I try on the Nike ankle socks and the classic Converse shoes. I walk out. Bubbles claps her hands and smile. "This is it! Do you agree?" she says excitedly and I turn to the mirror. Its not the sort of thing I usually wear but I must admit that it does look pretty nice...

"Now for your hair, I'll call Adele and see what she thinks," Bubbles walks over to my computer but I stop her before she calls my best friend.

"How about we just do a high ponytail. I'm already wearing a dress and its only a rugby game," I say.

She nods. "Yeah, lets do that," she leads me over to my desks and sits me down. She leaves a strand out of my hair and styles it up into a high pony tail before looping the loose strand around the hair tie and securing it with a bobby pin. I suddenly notice what she's wearing.

"Bubbles? Why're you all dressed up?" I ask, my eyebrows raises, already knowing what the answer will be.

"Well... Erm...I kinda, also....have a date?" she says, twiddling her thumbs.

"Knew it!" I study her outfit. She's wearing a beige jumpsuit and her hair in a messy bun, and a splash of eyeliner and lip gloss. She doesn't have on blush and you can see her faint freckles. "I'm not gonna ask who it is. I already know. I saw the way he looked at you when you were eating pizza, and even though you were eating it like a flobabobabobing donkey, I could tell her liked you."

I see her smile at the ground. "Yeah. This is my first date."

"You're going to the rugby game too? And the after party?"

"Yeah."

"Bubbles, stay away from that-"

"I'm not gonna drink! I swear, you know I'd never do that! I swore it in my 10-year-old oath."

"-lemonade," I finish, raising my eyebrows.

"Oh," she says, staring off into the distance before smiling. "Let's go!" her pink lips widen and she pulls me out the door.

***

I arrive at the football game and I see Noah out on the field training. Its a home game, so most of the school is here. And, from what Bubbles tells me, I gather that it is the first game of the season. Noah waves at me when he sees me and the crowd's heads turn towards me. I immediately look down and start tapping on my phone aimlessly.

"Dude, you understand you're emergency dialing: five five four three eight A D G one C E J eight eight three five four nine zero O?" Bubbles shakes me. I snap out of my daze and look at my screen.

"At least it wasn't 911!" I smile at her.

"Well I think that's what we should be dialing," she points over to a bunch of people below us in the stands. Two girls are sitting down giggling at a bunch of boys in front of them with their shirts off dancing widely.

"I agree," I raise my eyebrows at the group.

"Oh look," she points to the field. "Its starting!"

"Yipee!" I throw my hands up in the air sarcastically and she giggles.

The cheerleaders run out onto the field and ruffle their pom poms. They're wearing the school colors, blue and white. They start their routine and I immediately recognize the girl in the front, the captain of the squad. Amanda. Surprise surprise. I feel like ruffling my pom poms sarcastically.

They do the weird pyramid thing. I actually don't understand why boys think cheerleaders are that weak, dumb, and blonde. They actually have to be strong, apart from the girl on top. Cough, cough. Amanda. Again, surprise, surprise! *Pom pom ruffle*.

The cheerleaders finish their routine and I swear I see Amanda flip the bird in our direction. I elbow Bubbles. "Hey, Bubbles, does Amanda know my name?"

"Actually, I forgot to tell you! I saw this clip on Instagram, Alex randomly walked up to Amanda, kissed her, said something into her ear, then she got really, happy. But then, randomly, after Alex said something to her she was like. 'Natalie Bennett? Natalie Bennett?' " she puts on a fake, girly voice. "And Alex explained who you were," she shrugs and continues eating her fries.

I think my face goes pale. Not only because Amanda has figured out who I am, but because of what Alex did. I see the game is about to start. I nudge Bubbles again, from where she is talking to Callum, her date (!!!). She looks at me and immediately notices somethings wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just one more question," I begin. "When did this happen?"

"Well, the video was posted yesterday morning, so I guess it happened around then?"

"Around nine O'clock?"

"Probably."

I nod. I think my face goes paler. It was probably around the time when Alex spoke to me yesterday. Actually, now that I think about it, he hasn't even spoken to me since then.

"Oh yeah, and Amanda's updated her status to, in a relationship," Bubbles alerts me. I nod quietly.  "Its a real shame though, I was totally rooting for you and Alex. Speak of the devil..." Bubbles points to the field and my head shoots up.

"Alex plays rugby?"

"Yup," Callum pokes his head around Bubbles. "Best on the team," he says proudly.

"I thought Noah was captain?"

"He is. I think Alex got on the wrong side of the players on the team, so they voted in Noah and made sure Alex didn't get the limelight that he should've," Callum shakes his head.

"Oh," I say quietly.

***

The game is almost over and the score is 4-4 to Lakewater high, our school. Its been pretty boring to be honest. I've just been playing candy crush saga on my phone. I feel Noah looking up at me about a hundred times and always look up and wave. I stop playing when Bubbles nudges me.

"Look! This is the best bit!" she says excitedly. "Whoever gets this point wins!"

I raise my eyebrows and wiggle my head from side to  side, pushing my head back and widening my eyes. "Yay!" I say sarcastically, waving my hands around.

Bubbles rolls her eyes. "Look! Look! That guy-that-I-have-no-idea-who-he-is is running! We're gonna win!" I look up and see the dude get cornered by a player and passing it to Noah. He runs forward, but everyone knows he's not going to make it. Alex stands open by the try line, waving his hands and shouting Noah's name. If he catches it, we win. Noah looks at him for a few seconds before running forward, trying to put the ball down. He knocks the ball on and a person from the other team runs forward and catches the ball, running down the field and scoring a try. Running back to his team, he's congratulated by his friends and the home team shakes their head in defeat.

That was quick.

I stare in shock at Noah, why the heck did he not pass the ball to Alex? I see Alex walking off the field, his head hung low. I would go after him, but I know Amanda will find him and they'll be making out somewhere in the change rooms. I wouldn't want to interrupt that.

I stare after him, watching his lean figure walk away from the field, knowing there's nothing I can do.

____________________________________________________

Hi! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Thanks for almost 1000 reads in less than two months!

Thank you soooo much to all my friends who've supported me! I know that sounds real cringy so don't talk to me about that tomorrow.

Also, the dress on the top is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy  too short for what I pictures it to look like.

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