Chapter 16: She looks like a frog

I hear a smash from downstairs while I'm emailing Adele. Its so loud I hear it through my ear phones. I rush downstairs. The boys' mouths are hanging open and they're staring at shards of broken glass splayed over the ground.

"Guys! What did you do?" I yell at Lucas and Paul. "IS THAT MUM'S VASE?"

Lucas and Paul nod, closing their mouths and hanging their heads in shame. "We didn't mean to! I banged the wall and it fell off the dresser!"

"Yeah! It was his fault," Paul says after his brother. Lucas turns to him and glares.

"You pushed me into it!"

"You bit me!"

"That was AFTER you punched me!"

"I did not punch you!"

"All because I won the game! You're such a sore loser, Paul!"

"You were cheating!"

"I won!"

"You cheated!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NONONONONONONO!"

"YESYESYESYESYES!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"BOYS!" I scream, glaring at them.

"Yeah?" they ask me in sync.

"Stay where you are, I'll go get the dust pan, don't move," I walk off to the kitchen and retrieve the appliances.

"Knock, knock!" someone calls from the door. Dammit, the Collins' are here.

"Shoot!" I rush back to the living room, but I'm running so fast that I don't stop in time before the glass. A million shards poke into my feet and I yell out in pain. Gosh, I'm stupid.

"Nat? Are you alright?" Lucas asks.

"No! Of course I'm not ALRIGHT!" I snap at him. I try to cool down, breathing in and out.

"Paul, go get the door, take the Collins' outside, not in here and tell them where Mum and Dad are," I say, trying to keep calm, refraining from yelling out in pain. "Lucas, go call Mum and Dad, tell them what happened, and say they need to get back from the shops ASAP!"

I can feel the blood dripping from my feet. I stay where I am, I know there'll only be more shards around me if I move. WHY AM I SO STUPID?

I bend down and crouch on my feet. I swipe up the other broken pieces with the dust pan and brush. I stand up again and try to move but the shards press deeper into my skin. I groan in pain and lower myself to the ground, placing the dust pan beside me.

I hear Paul talking to the Collins at the front door. I then hear footsteps that walk onto the patio.

"Where's Nat?" Patricia asks.

"Oh, um, she'll be out in a minute..." Paul says. The chairs are pulled in and I hear them scrape along the ground. I sigh with relief. Thank God they're not here to see me like this.

My eyes open when I hear footsteps walking towards me in the corridor. I look around in panic. It can't be Mum or Dad, I can still hear Lucas talking on the phone to them. I turn towards the figure approaching me.

"Oh my God Nat! What happened?" Alex jogs over to me. I see that he's looking at my bleeding feet and the shards of glass I couldn't reach.

"I, um... stepped on glass?"

"C'mon." Alex scoops me up, bridal-style.He carries me up the stairs and lays me onto my bed. He puts his hands beside me and I smell his minty breath when he leans in. "What happened?"

"Well, um, I, er," I keep getting distracted from the close proximity of his face to mine. "A vase fell onto the ground and I went to clean it up but then the doorbell rang and I freaked out and sprinted back to the living room but I was running so fast I couldn't stop and so I stepped onto all the glass," I say, my breath running out at the end of the long sentence.

Alex chuckles. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Um, you take a right and its the next room," I whisper, breathless because his face is directly in front of mine, not even a center meter away, I almost forget the pain in my feet. He pulls away from me and leaves the room. I flop down on my bed, ignoring the searing pain in my lower body.

Why was he so close to me?

Does he eat extra?

His breath smells good.

HE smells good.

What is wrong with me?

He has a girlfriend!

He can't be that close to me!

My eyes pop open when I hear Alex walk in. He's wearing a plain white T-shirt that hugs his abdomen, why have I never noticed how-NATALIE! Stop! He's wearing his leather jacket again and his sunglasses are pushing his dark locks back. He raises his eyebrow at me and stares at me with his piercing ocean blue eyes.

"What?" he asks.

"Nothing," I shake my head to get rid of my disturbing thoughts. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

"So, I'm gonna pick out all the shards, then clean it, then bandage it," he says. Alex holds my foot up gently, I groan when he touches the cut bits. He looks up. "All good?"

I nod. After a couple of minutes, Alex looks up from surveying my feet. "Some of them are in pretty deep, you might need a couple of stitches."

"WHAT! On my feet!"

"Yeah. I'm gonna start pulling them out, it might hurt," he says.

"Why can't your parents do it!"

"Don't you trust me, Greg?" he smirks.

"Nope."

"Okay, then," he raises his eyebrows and goes to get the tweezers. I hear him wash them in the bathroom sink. He comes back and doesn't say anything. Before I can object, he shoves the tweezers close to my foot and yanks out a piece of glass.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WHAT THE HELL ALEX?" I scream.

He winces. "Do you want to hold onto something?"

"What?"

"To squeeze?"

"Huh?"

"Like your pillow or a blanket?"

"Um... no?"

"Okay then, lets continue."

"Lets continue," I mutter, mocking him in a high pitched voice.

"Three, two, one."

"Wha-AHHHHHHHHH OWWWWWWWWWW!" I glare at him as he places a large piece of glass on the towel next to him. "Isn't this just ripping out more of my skin?"

He huffs and comes to lie down beside me. I flop down on the bed beside him. "You're so difficult."

"Shut up, Patricia," I snap.

"Why do you want to be a doctor when you can't deal with someone pulling glass out of your feet?"

"What? I'm fine with pulling glass out of someone else's feet. But it hurts on mine. And ALSO, I'd like to help ease people's pain while PULLING FREAKIN GLASS OUT OF THEIR FEET. Because now I know their pain and I'd doing it gently, not just full on ripping shards out of their feet!"

"Okay, calm down," he smirks at me and I narrow my eyes at him and his perfectly tussled hair.

"You're so annoying," I say.

"Treat em' mean to keep em' keen," he winks at me.

"You're tactics, REALLY don't work- Wait! Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Then what do you suggest?" he asks me, ignoring my question about his relationship status.

"Okay, so you want some advice? All girls like boys that buy them things, especially food. They like boys that do romantic things and go on great dates with them. They like boys that do little gestures like buying them roses, giving them jewelry, complimenting them and brushing their hair back. Stuff like that."

"I've done that!"

"What?"

"I've brushed you hair back," he says. I turn my head to the side and look at him, and blush.

"Um," I curl a piece of stray hair behind my ear and sit up. "So, please pull them out gently!"

"You don't want my parents to do this?" he walks around to my feet after he sits up and gets off the bed. I see him grin as he looks down and walks.

"Nah, its fine," I say quietly. He looks up at me from under his eyebrows, before quickly looking down and grabbing the tweezers.

He removes them gently this time and I breath a sigh of relief as I lie down on my bed again. Sometime, when I feel like I'm about to scream, I take my pillow and stuff it into my mouth. I don't look at Alex while he's taking the shards out, I feel like it'll be too awkward. I probably shouldn't have said that girls like it when boys brush their hair out of their faces...

"Okay! I'm done!" Alex says after a while.

"Thank God," I sigh and prop myself up on my elbows.

"I'm taking you to the bathroom now," he walks over to me and picks me up. He carries me into the bathroom and sits me on the seat in the bath. He starts running the water.

"Why is it cold?" I complain. He looks at me from under his eyebrows again.

"Do you want feet infection?"

"No," I mutter and cross my arms. He smiles at me, his toothy smile that lights up his eyes and shows his dimples. Oh, I didn't know he had dimples, they're so cute! Ok, that's weird Nat. STOP!

"Ok, I don't think you need stitches," he says, after putting the plug in and taking a closer look at my feet.

"Did I ever anyway?"

"No, I was just trying to scare you," he looks up and smirks at me.

"Douchebag!" I kick him where I know it will hurt.

"OUCH! DUDE!" he bends over his groin. "What was that for?"

"Sorry," I say.

"You're so mean!" he yells and shoves my head into the bathroom wall behind me.

"Ow!" I clutch the back of my head and glare at him.

Alex raises his eyebrows, sitting up and wincing. "Now we're even," he smirks.

"Sure," I narrow my eyes at him and return to my arms crossed position on the bathtub seat.

"Good," he settles back into his seat on the bath's edge. Alex picks up my right foot and holds it under the cold water. I shriek, pulling my foot away and wincing. "Sorry, I forgot to mention it would sting," Alex said.

"Some warning would have been nice!" I say. He sighs and picks up my foot again. As he holds it under the tap I yell inside my mouth, my lips closed so only muffles noise escapes. My hands clench open then closed. I see Alex laugh at my face, but I'm too distracted to pay attention to him. I see Alex extend his hand to me and I take it, squeezing with all my might.

He finally removes my foot from under the tap. I let out a breath, opening my mouth and freeing Alex's hand from my tight grip.

"Damn, Bro, you have a tight grip!" Alex shakes out his hand after her placing my foot back down on the bathtub's floor.

"Yeh, well, you hurt ME more," I say. "I feel like I just gave birth."

"Really?" he chuckles. "I think its much worse than that."

I roll my head to look at him. "You would know."

"So would you, right?"

"I wasn't prego, and I wasn't devo, Patricia," I say.

"Good," he smiles at me and picks up my next foot. The process is repeated again. When Alex puts my foot down, I think I see a couple of bruises forming on his hand.

"Sorry," I mutter.

He laughs and shows me that million-dollar smile. I look down and blush, hoping that he doesn't notice. His smile was directed at me, I wish my face didn't heat up. I wish I was one of those people that never blushed. I wish Alex wasn't so good at smiling. I wish Alex wasn't a Greek God.

"Its all good," he says, I look up and see him smirking, dammit, he must've seen my blush. OOPS. "I'll take you downstairs," he offers me his hand. I take it and try not to notice how our hands fit together perfectly.

I try to stand but fall back down with a yelp.

"Here, get on my back," Alex gets back into the bathtub and crouches down in front of me. I put my arms around his neck and wrap my legs around his front. He stands up easily and walks down the stairs. Wow, that was almost way to easy for him. He jumps off the last step and I yelp.

"Naw, mate, you're scared," he teases me.

"Well, Patricia, you've just ripped shards of glass out of my feet. Should I not be scared of what you will do with me on your back?"

"Well, firstly, I only ripped two out, and secondly, I forgot to bandage your feet up," he turns on his heel and sprints up the stairs. I shove his head forward when we reach the top.

"Hey!" he takes one of his hands that he's using to hold me up and rubs his head.

"Don't do that, dimbo!"

"Oh, look at you, Dr Seuss," he says. I shove his head forward again. "Okay, okay," he takes both hands off me and throws them up in surrender, I instinctively curl my legs around him and cross my feet over his front. "Kay, now you're a monkey, calm down Nat! Where are the bandages?"

"In the bathroom," I grumble. He walks into the bathroom and sits me on the vanity. "They're in the cupboard."

"Okay," he goes and fetches the bandages and comes back to pick up my foot.

"You do know how to bandage my foot, right?" I ask him before he starts.

"Of course," he rolls his eyes.

"Okay doctor," I hold my hands up. He starts bandaging my foot up. His ray bans fall off his head and fall into the sink. He places them next to me. When he's deep in concentration I pick them up and try them on. He finishes with my feet and looks up. I just stare at him with a blank face, the shades covering my eyes.

Alex bursts out laughing and my mouth twists to keep from smiling. "We need to take a picture," he laughs. Alex pull out his phone and hangs an arm around my shoulder, putting the camera in selfie mode. I make a kissing shape with my mouth and raise an eyebrow, the most beautiful pose, perfect for a selfie. Alex just smiles his too-handsome-to-be-real smile and clicks the button. He chuckles and shove's his phone in his back pocket.

"Lets go back down," he says, bending over so I can climb back onto his back. I may be able to stand with the bandages on now, but I kind of want to get onto his back again. I would never admit it, but it was fun.

As we reach the bottom step he jumps off and I close my mouth to refrain from squealing. He turns his head around when we're safely on the ground.

"You enjoyed that didn't you?" he smirks.

"I'd kick you in the balls right now if you had any," I glare at him. He snorts.

"Woah. Greg, that was low," he raises his eyebrows. I roll my eyes at him and he turns around and walks out onto the patio.

Everyone looks surprised to see me on Alex's back, but they quickly look down to hide their smiles. What are they laughing at? MY FEET HURT! Don't smile!

"Hi Sarah, hi Nick," Alex walks over to the table and pulls out a chair for me. He stands in front of it and bends his knees, placing me gently on the chair. Then he walks around and lifts the chair off the ground, with me on it, and pushes it into the table. He winks at me and then walks around to the seat beside mine.

"How're your feet Nat?" Michelle asks me.

"Oh, actually, Alex fixed them up pretty well," I turn to Alex.

"Yup," he says. "She loved spending time with me."

"Good to hear," Mum says, smiling at us and dabbing her mouth with her napkin. Posh old French woman.

"Have you all finished?" Alex asks, looking around at the table.

"Do you want me to make you some more? The boys devoured it all!" Mum says, gesturing to the crumbs around the boys' mouths.

"Actually, I'll be right, I had a little bit before we came, so I'm good," Alex tells her. She smiles at him. Ew, go away, charming Alex, Mum likes you, don't put ideas about you and I in her head. Oh, damn, she's looking between us.

"If you're sure, sweetheart," she nods at him. "Do you want to all come inside? I have a photo book I'd like to show you," she tells Michelle and Jackson. They nod and my parents take them inside.

The boys run inside and sit down on their beanbags, beginning to play Fortnite. Felecia rolls her eyes. I hear Mum yell at them from the kitchen and they huff, walking outside to fetch Felecia. They go out onto the driveway to play on their skateboards, and Felecia starts playing on mine.

Liam claps his hands at me from where he is on his high chair.

"He wants you to get him out," Alex gestures to the fidgeting baby. I take him out of my old chair and place him on my lap. He leans his head on my arm and falls asleep.

"I haven't said thanks for .... you know, you taking care of me? So... thanks," I say awkwardly.

"Its all good," Alex laughs and puts on his ray bans, looking out towards the sun.

Damn.

He looks like a God. The sunlight is splayed across his face and I can see his hair turn lighter. His jawline looks like it's more defined than a right angle. He notices me staring at him and turns to me, smirking.

"Like what you see?" he raises an eyebrow.

"No," is all I say. He smirks again.

"Okay. Sure," he continues staring at the sun, and I look down, avoiding the face of the most blessed person on earth, if Aphrodite was a man, that's who he's be. My phone rings and I take it out of my pocket. Its Noah.

I stand up, ignoring the pain in my feet, but its better than when I stood up in the bath. Alex looks at me. I hand Liam to him and walk a few meters away, answering the call, damn, my feet hurt.

"Hey," I say.

"Hey yourself," I hear Noah say on the other line. "How's your day been?"

"Oh, you know, the usual I just stepped on some glass."

"You did what?" Noah questions.

"My brothers dropped a vase and I stepped on all the glass shards."

"Woah. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm all good now," I look over at Alex who is looking at me with an angry expression. He turns away when I look at him. What is his problem?

"Will you be at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'd say so, maybe I'll get some crutches. Not that they'd help that much, but they would help somewhat."

"That's good. I hope you'll be better for our date on Thursday."

"Yeah. Sure will! I'm really looking forward to it," I lie.

"That's actually what I was calling about, what move would you like to see?" Noah asks.

"Oh, I don't mind! As long as its not a thriller, surprise me!"

"Ok, cool. I'll see you at school, but I'll pick you up at 7. Is that cool with you?"

"Yeah, sounds awesome. See you."

"Bye."

I hang up and walk back over to were Alex and I were sitting. I stop when I see he's not there. I hear voices inside and walk towards our front door. Everyone's saying goodbye, so I rush over and join in. Alex ignores me and walks away without even saying goodbye.

Idiot.

***

I didn't go to school yesterday, with a dozen deep cuts in my feet, it hurt to work. Despite my efforts to convince them otherwise, my parents forced me to lie in bed all day. My mum bought me food and water every few hours, but I felt useless just lying there, so I convinced my parents to let me go to school. I tried to walk down the stairs like a normal person, and apparently it convinced my parents, though I think it caused more bleeding. I strapped them again and tied my converse really tightly.

"Bye!" I take my keys from the kitchen bench and walk out the door and towards my car. Wearing shoes helps, so it doesn't hurt as much. But still I am very relieved when I get into my car.

It doesn't help that my first day at work is this afternoon. Oh, well, at least I get a lift pass. Having demented feet isn't the end of the world, and I'll force myself to walk properly. The doctor in me tells me that I shouldn't be going to school today, but if I want to get an Oxford scholarship, I need to learn my stuff.

When I arrive at school Bubbles runs up to me. "Where have you been? I've been texting you all weekend! What were you doing yesterday?"

"Oh, I stepped on some glass and couldn't walk, that's all," I tell her, stepping out of my car and wincing.

Bubbles' mouth falls open. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, my phone was on the charger, so I couldn't get it."

"Okay. Are you okay? Should you even be at school?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I wave her off. We walk into school and with every step I wince.

"Natalie, are you sure you're okay?" she asks, concerned.

"Bubbles, I'm fine!" I snap, hobbling away faster, into the office where I can get my lift pass. I bump into someone when I walk into the office. He knocks me over and I bang my head.

"Ouch," I rub the back of my head. I groan when I see who it is. "Again?"

Alex offers me his hand. I stand up and wince. His sorry expression turns into an angry one. "What the hell are you doing at school?"

"I can't just skip school for the whole week, I have things to do!" I explain.

"But your feet aren't even healed! Actually, why're you standing?" he sweeps me off my feet and holds me bridal style with ease.

"I'm fine, Alex put me down!" I cross my arms over my chest. "I'm just in here to get a lift pass."

"I cannot believe you're at school," he grumbles, shaking his head. Alex turns on his heal and walks back into the office. "Natalie Bennett needs a lift pass," he yells into the office. I glare at him.

"I'll get it myself," I push against him and try to escape his tight hold. "Let me go!"

"You shouldn't be standing, let alone at school!" he walks towards the lady behind a desk and takes the lift pass out of her hands, moving swiftly and walking out of the office. Bubbles smiles as we leave.

"I'll leave you two to it!" she says and runs off.

"No, don't leave me!" I yell after her, I turn to Alex. "I'll be walking around all day, Patricia, you can't carry me everywhere. Put me down."

Alex shakes his head at me, but puts me down anyway. "You'll wish I could carry you around all day," he walks off, pushing up his ray bans and chewing his toothpick. I roll my eyes.

The rest of the day passes pretty smoothly, until I go for a bathroom break before lunch ends. I'm washing my hands when I hear a pair of 5 inch stilettos echoing on the tiled floor. I groan mentally, already knowing who it is.

"Oh, hello," Amanda says, her louis vuitton bag hanging off her arm, her hand flipped down and her red-lipstick-ed mouth pointed out like Kim Kardashian's. She looks like a frog. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Hi Amanda," I try and walk past her but she sticks out her fat bag.

"Natalie. I have told you countless times to stay away from Alex. So why is it that you're always by his side?" she cocks her head to one side, questioning me.

"I don't think you should be asking me why he keeps annoying me, but rather, you asking him that same question," I try and push past her again but she stops me.

"He also tells me that you are also as disabled as you are ugly." Oh, bless her dumb soul.

"Yup. Would you mind stepping out of the way maybe? Just so I could... you know... get out?"

"I'm not finished talking to you yet, b****," she shoves me back.

"Amanda, its no wonder you failed third grade, you don't now the difference between a girl and a female canine," I roll my eyes.

Her face goes red. "Listen hear you-"

"I don't wanna listen Amanda, what I want to do is get to class. You should be the one listening. To the bell," I finally push past her, rolling my eyes as I walk out of the bathroom.

What a delusional frog head.

______________________________________________________

Hey everyone!

Hope you enjoyed my chapter! Sorry about the slow update again. Comment you thought. What do you think should come next in the story? Remember to vote as well!

Please tell me:

SHOULD LILY JAMES OR EMMA WATSON PLAY NATALIE?