Chapter 19: You didn't have to do that!

I sit still and look up, trying to wipe my tears away casually.

"Huh?" I say, looking up at Alex, my eyes half closed to hide their redness.

"What's wrong?" Alex's voice says.

"Nothing!" I say.

"Really?" he sounds sarcastic and I hear the scraping of a chair as he pulls his over to mine.

"Yup," I say, confident my eyes are all good and looking up at him. His hair is more ruffled then usual and his face is full of worry. He stares down at me, his eyes darker than usual.

"No, seriously Nat, what's wrong?" he says, sitting on his chair and leaning forward towards me.

"Nothing!" I throw my hands up in despair.

"Oh, don't play around, Nat. You were crying when I walked in here, don't think I didn't notice," he says.

"I wasn't! I was laughing at a text Bubbles sent me!" I exclaim.

"Sure you were," he says with a look of despair before picking up his bag and walking away. I look after him, watching as he swings his bag down under his desk and start talking to his friends.

"Hey!" Meghan says, bouncing into the room. "Did I see you talking to Alex?"

"No," I say bluntly.

"Sure you weren't," she says, almost directly echoing Alex's words before.  "And you still haven't explained why he came and gave you a FRICKIN' daisy at lunch."

"Shut up and leave me alone," I mumble, taking out my pencil case and unzipping it.

"No! I want to know why! And you were SMILING!" she yells.

"Would you quiet down, Megsy?" I say, taking out my pen and doodling in my book.

"Nope. He was so close to you! What did he say! He totally BURNED Noah," Meghan continues.

"Noah was fine with it. He knows I hate Alex and Alex hates me," I roll my eyes.

"I think its the total opposite, woman. You love Alex and Alex loves you!" she says. I roll my eyes. "Oh, look, you're even drawing a daisy!"

I look down at my book. "Its a flower, Meghan, there's a difference."

"Sure. But you can't get him out of your mind," she winks and pulls out her books. I keep drawing in my book until the lesson starts, I ignore the smug looks I'm getting from Meghan until the end of the lesson.

"Oh, just quickly, your assignment this term will be a partnership task. You can do whatever you want, a song or a musical piece, as long as it fits in the criteria. I'll be giving you your partners today. Just so that you feel comfortable, I'll be assigning you with someone you know."

Meghan and I look at each other with relief. I wouldn't want to collaborate with someone like Glenna Walters (No offence, Glenna, although this is offensive), for instance, the whole assignment would be her composing something or singing/playing furiously.

"So Hannah will be with Sarah, Andrew with Luke and Conner with Leo," my teacher continues. "Meghan will be with Julia and Callum will be with Lachlan."

Meghan and I look at each other. She shoots her hand up in the air. "Miss?"

"Yes, Meghan?" Miss Felicity says.

"Erm, there might be a mistake... I thought Natalie and I would be going together? No offence, Julia," she waves her hand sympathetically at Julia.

"Oh, no, Natalie is going with..." she scans her checklist. "Alex."

Of course. I slump back into my chair, raising my eyes to the ceiling and groaning quietly.

"I just thought it would be best to put together my two best students, given they are a couple, I think they'll collaborate well together!" Miss Felicity continues.

The whole class sniggers. Miss Felicity is an unmarried woman in her mid forties and she likes to think she's all in-with-the-trends and on top of all the hot gossip. I hear a laugh and look away from the ceiling and towards Alex, glaring at him.

"Idiot," I mumble when I see his smirk.

***

Pick you up at 7?

Sounds good!

I slip my phone into my school bag and call out to Mum when I head into the garage. Noah has agreed to surprise me as to where we go on our date. I really hope its not at the movies, even though I suggested that the night of the party (because I had to get away and it just popped into my head), because I don't know what kind of movie he'd pick I really hope it wouldn't be a drama, romance or horror.

The rest of the day passes smoothly. In french I walk over to Alex and sit down beside him.

"Why'd you flunk your French quiz?" I ask him, glaring.

"I don't know, because I'm not good at french?" he says, flipping his ray bans up.

"Really? They say a top student like you wouldn't get anything under A range," I say.

"They?" he asks, twirling his toothpick around in his mouth.

"Yeah, students, teachers, everyone," I say and he continues to spin his little toothpick. "Could you stop that?" I snap.

"No," he says bluntly. I reach out and pull it out of his mouth. He takes it and pulls it back out of my hands.

"Do you have food stuck in your teeth?" I ask him.

"Nope," he smiles widely and I can see his teeth are as white and as perfect  as usual.

"Please take it out, babe!" I yell, causing a few people to turn and look our way, eyebrows raised.

"No, Greg," he says and winks. I roll my eyes.

"If you don't take that out... I will, and then I'll poke your eyes out with it so you won't be able to see that bloody thing again," I groan.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please!"

"No."

That is the last straw. I take the tooth pick out of his mouth and snap it in half.

"Aw," he says, pouting.

"You're so annoying!" I roll my eyes.

"I know," he says and bops me on the nose. I wrinkle it up after he does so.

"So. Tell me. Why. You. Flunked your. French. Quiz!" I say.

"Woah, mate, there were a heap of breaths in that sentence. Was my toothpick hard to snap?" he mocks me.

"No! You are annoying me to the point where I'm about to poke you in the eye!" I yell.

"Yeah. So what were you saying about poodles?" he asks, eyebrows raised.

"EUGH!" I scream, exasperated. Before I can stop my self I pull my hand off the desk and poke him in the eye.

"OW!" he screeches.

"Sorry," I say as he clutches his face in pain. He looks at me for one second with his good eye before using his spare hand to poke me in the eye. "OUCH!"

"Oh, sorry," he says sarcastically.

"Idiot!" I yell at him, and poke him in the other eye.

"Ow!" he yells again and clutches the other eye with his other hand. I quietly slip my stuff onto the desk next to me and take out my phone. I click record on the camera and tape him.

"Nat? Nat? Dude? Mate? Brother? Greg?" he calls, looking around frantically with his hands over his eyes. I laugh silently into my arm.

"Yeah?" I say.

"You are gonna regret this," he warns, before pulling out an arm and poking it into the place I was a minute before. "Where are y-"

He is interrupted when the teacher walks in. I turn my phone off and pull out my notebook.

"Monsieur Collins? What in the world is the matter?" she asks, looking over at Alex strangely.

Alex pulls his hands off his face and looks down, red eyed and teary. "Yeah," he says in a whisper, then, more loudly, "Yeah, i'm fine."

"Would you like to go to the bathroom?" she asks, staring at him with a perplexed look on her face.

"Yeah, that would be great," he blinks a couple of times before standing and walking straight into my desk. I immediately stand up. He turns to me and holds my shoulders. "Nat, is that you? I think I'm going blind."

"Yeah, you probably are," I chuckle quietly.

"Can you save me? Heaps of people probably have their phones out," he whispers.

I look around behind me. The whole class is either watching someone else tape, or recording the scene themselves. "Erm, Madame? Could I go with Alex to the bathroom? He's blinded temporarily."

"Of course," she says and I escort Alex out of the classroom, a dozen cameras following us and my teacher's astonished gaze seeing us out the door.

"Um... I'm sorry," I say when we get outside. "I didn't think it would be that bad..."

"Don't worry about it Nat, I'm skipping class anyway," he says, wincing.

"Okay," I say and throw my arm around his shoulders, and he slings one around my waist and holds me firmly to his side as I guide him down the corridors. We get to the bathrooms and I don't know what one to turn into.

"Um, Alex... What bathroom do I go into?" I ask him hesitantly.

"What d'you mean? The bathroom?" he says.

"Er, females or males?"

"Males," he says.

"Really? Wouldn't it be awkward if someone's in there peeing?" I say.

"Nah, the only one peeing will be me," he says.

"Ew, babe," I say, rolling my eyes and walking into the boys bathrooms.

"At least I hope there won't be anyone in there..." he says just as we enter the bathroom.

"OI!" a voice calls and I slam my head against the wall.

"What?" Alex says, looking around blindly.

"There is someone peeing in here, Alex!" I say quietly.

"Damn right there is!" someone calls out from behind me.

Alex comes and leans his head on the wall beside mine. "Its fine, Nat," he says casually.

"This is not fine!" I whisper fiercely to him. "You have led me into a bathroom with someone peeing out in the open!"

"Well, actually, you led me here," he grins.

"I'm just gonna go into a cubicle and let you two do your thing," the guy says and I hear the sound of a door shutting and locking. I send Alex a look and mouth, "thank God," not that he can see me or anything...

"Ok," I say, taking Alex's hand and leading him over to the sink. "I'm gonna turn on the tap for you."

I turn on the tap and Alex leans over. He misses the water at first and I have to put my hand on the back of his neck to lead him to it. He washes his eyes and dries them with a paper towel.

"HALLELUJAH!"he screams. "I can see!"

I laugh with him. He notices me standing there, smiling, and his expression falters.

"You... you little brat!" he says playfully. "How dare you!"

"Sorry!" I raise my shoulders and hold me hands in a 'what?' gesture.

"You didn't have to poke me!"

"You didn't have to annoy me!"

"You didn't have to blind me!"

"You didn't have to ignore me!"

"You didn't have to do that!"

"You didn't have to do that!"

"Ok then," Alex rolls his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"All good, sweetcheeks," I smile sweetly at him.

"But you're still not forgiven," he says. He turns on the tap and splashes me.

"Am I forgiven yet?" I ask.

"Nope," he says, and keeps splashing me. I just stand there with my eyes closed until my clothes are clinging to my skin and I get cold. Ok, I did deserve that...

"Am I now?" I ask, wiping my eyes.

"Yeah," he grins at me.

"Bro, that's pretty uncool, bringing a b***h in here," the guy from before says, we didn't notice was standing there. He has brown hair and brown eyes and tan skin.

"Don't call me bro when that's what you call her," Alex turns and glares at him.

"Sorry, just calling her what she is," he says. I don't recognize him, but I'd say he's one of Amanda's friends' boyfriends.

"Let's go, Nat," Alex says, slinging an arm around me. He feels how cold I am and takes off his leather jacket. "You feel cold," he says, and offers it to me. We walk out of the bathroom and I thank him, pulling on the jacket. I keep walking but suddenly his arm drops from my shoulder.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Gotta go pee," he says and turns back, rushing into the bathroom. "See you in class."

Alex didn't return to class. He didn't go to lunch, either. I didn't see him until the last bell rang and I walked out to the carpark. I saw him walking to his BMW. He's sporting a slight limp and he's got a small black eye.

"Alex?" I exclaim when I see him. "What's wrong?"

He doesn't say anything, just gets into his car and turns on the ignition. I knock on his window and pull out his leather jacket.  I point to it and mouth, 'this is yours!'

He doesn't wind down the window, instead he just drives off, and I hold the jacket at my side, staring after him.

***

I didn't invite Bubbles over to help me change for my date. I know she'd make a fuss about the video of me poking Alex in the eye.

I straighten my hair, and, surprisingly it turns out OK. I put on a tiny bit of make up (because that's what Adele says I should do when I call her) and take out some silver ballet flatz from my wardrobe, laying them on my bed, going in search of a dress. I find one. Its a navy one with a lace top bit and the bottom reaches to my knees. Satisfied, I look in the mirror and place my phone in a silver purse, turning it onto do not disturb because it keeps buzzing with messages from my friends.

I walk downstairs, say goodbye to Mum, who is totally ok with me going out. "Bye!"

"See you sweetie! Have a great time!" she calls out after me from where she stands making dinner.

I walk out of the house and onto the driveway when Noah pulls up on the curb. "Hey baby!" he calls, getting out of the car. I didn't know we were on 'baby' terms now.

"Hi Noah," I say, walking over to him and leaning in to kiss him on the cheek, instead, he kisses me on the lips and takes my hand, opening the door for me and grinning. I smile politely and hop in.

"You look really nice, Nat," he says, and places a hand on my knee while he's driving. Isn't that dangerous?

"Thanks, so do you," I say, surveying his outfit, he's combed his hair and is wearing a blue button up shirt.

"Thank you. Now, I'm going to tell you where we are going! Drum roll please!" he yells, drumming on the steering wheel but stopping when I don't join in. "Cafe Extra!"

"Oh, cool," I say. Bubbles is working there tonight, since she's got Tuesdays off for volleyball, which are the days Meghan and I do. (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Saturday morning)

"Is that good?" he asks.

"Oh, yeah that's great! I just hope Bu-Claudia doesn't annoy us too much," I laugh. We drive down the streets until we get to the cafe. Noah gets out and before I can get out, he opens the door for me and gives me his hand. What am I, Meghan Markle? Sorry Noah, but that's just too royal.

"Lets go!" Noah says happily. We walk into the restaurant and see Sara immediately. She comes over and says hi.

"Nat? What are you doing here?" she asks.

"Oh, Noah said he'd surprise me with a date, and he chose here," I say.

"Oh, and you are?" Sara turns to Noah.

"Noah, Natalie's boyfriend," he slides an arm around my waist.

"Boyfriend!" Sara exclaims loudly. A couple of people turn to look towards us. "But-bu-but-bu-but?"

"Yeah, he's my boyfriend,"I say, clarifying it.

"I thought.... Al-"

I interrupt her, "How has you day been?"

"Oh, erm, good," she says, looking Noah up and down then turning to me and wincing. "I'll find you a table for two and tell Claudia not to serve you."

Sara leads us to a table directly in the middle of the restaurant and hands us each menus. "Bye," she says quietly and walks away, over to talk to Bubbles I suppose.

"So, is she your co-worker?" Noah asks.

"Yeah," I nod.

"Seems a bit salty doesn't she," he says casually and opens the menu. I gape at him and close my mouth when he feels me staring.

"Something wrong?" he asks.

"No, nothing," I fake smile and hide my grimace in the menu.

"Natalie!" Rosemary comes up to me and I stand to give her a hug. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend, I just suspected you like Ale-"

"NICE TO see you too Rosemary," I say, cutting her off.

"OH, um, ok," she says, glancing at me, eyebrows slightly raised. "Would you like to order drinks?"

"I'll take a lemon lime bitters and he'll take a..." I turn to look at Noah, who is completely ignoring Rosemary.

"Oh... ale, please," he says.

"Lovely," Rosemary claps her hands and walks off.

"And that's your boss?" Noah asks. I nod. "Got lots of insulation doesn't she," he laughs at his own joke but I can't even find it in me to fake laugh, let alone smile.

Rosemary returns a couple minutes later with our drinks and we order food. "Thanks Rosemary!" I say and she smiles and waves as she walks off.

"So, did you hear about George Hudson?" Noah asks me, taking a sip of his beer.

"No? Who is that?"

"Oh, he's just a guy at our school, brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin, girls drooling over him? Yeah, well, apparently he got beat up pretty bad.."

"By who?" I ask.

"Oh, I think only a couple of people know, but the whole school'l probably know by tomorrow," Noah says taking a sip of his beer.

I almost spit out my drink when I connect the dots. I think my face goes pale because Noah asks if I'm ok. I just nod. Brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin....

I'm interrupted when Noah starts speaking again. "I don't think it was that bad though, broken arm, bruises, black eye, that kind of stuff. Not hospital worthy, you know?"

I just nod quietly. Noah keeps talking about NFL and George Hudson, things going on at school. I always add some yeah's and oh's and cool's when I'm meant to, but the whole conversation is kinda one sided.

We get our meals and Noah comments on the good tastes, squeezing my leg under the table and saying:

"Did you give them this recipe? Tastes as fantastic as you look tonight!"

Wow, that was cringy, but I smile politely anyway. Noah keeps talking until some music starts. I wasn't even aware people were setting up the stage for a performance, I was too concerned in eating, thinking and replying to Noah's stories. I look up and see Alex standing at the microphone. I mentally groan and picture myself stabbing him in the eye with that toothpick.

"Oh. Alex Collins is hear, what a surprise. Hey, would you mind telling me about what happened yester-" he's interrupted when Alex starts singing.

"Easy come, easy go, That's just how you live, Oh take, take, take it all but you never give, Should've known you was trouble from the first kiss, Had your eyes wide open, Why were they open?" he sings. Just like the last time I heard him, he's wearing a button up white shirt and a black tie and black pants. He definitely rocks the look better than Noah, even with a black eye.

He hasn't seen me or Noah yet and he keeps singing. "Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash, You tossed it in the trash, yes, you did, To give me all your love is all I ever ask, 'Cause what you don't understand is-" he pauses when he makes eye contact with me, seeming surprised when he sees me. He then notices Noah and looks away and sings louder.

"I'd catch a grenade for ya, Throw my head on a blade for ya, I'd jump in front of a train for ya, You know I'd do anything for ya," his eyes return from the side of the restaurant and make contact with mine. "I would go through all this pain, Take a bullet straight through my brain, Yes I would die for you baby, But you won't do the same," his eyes flick away from me and back to the other wall.

"Got a pretty decent voice, doesn't he?" Noah says, interrupting Alex's performance.

"Yeah, he does," I say, and look down. I take out my phone and start playing candy crush on it. I try to ignore the melodic voice that rings through my ears.

When he gets to the chorus, Alex sings louder and I can't resist the urge to look up at him from under my eyebrows, not moving my head. He's looking at me as he starts it, but we both quickly look away, "'Cause what you don't understand is, I'd catch a grenade for ya, Throw my head on a blade for ya, I'd jump in front of a train for ya, You know I'd do anything for ya," thats the point where I tune out and play candy crush, because I can't look at Alex anymore. Watching him sing makes me forget what he did to George Hudson, and I can never forget that.

I continue with my meal when the song finishes and Noah starts eating again too. When I think he's not looking, I look at Alex, he's talking to some random backstage guy but feels my eyes on him. He looks my way but I turn my attention back to Noah who's talking about how he did on the calculus test and nod when he says it was a hard one when I probably should have shook it because I found the test easy.

"Hey, ladies and gentlemen," I hear Alex say into the microphone. I look up from my meal and stare at him. "Hope you enjoyed that last song. I'd like to invite a ... friend of mine onto the stage to sing the next song with me. I know she can sing," he says, and makes eye-contact with me. "Sara, please go and get her," he gestures to Sara.

Sara walks over to my table and grabs me by the hand. I look back at Noah and mouth, "sorry," to him.

"Do I have to do this?" I groan at Sara.

"Yup," she says.

"But what if I have anxiety, you can't force me to get up there."

"Because you said 'but' at the start of that sentence I know you don't have anxiety," she says and pushes me up onto the stage. I decide I'm just gonna get this over and done with, it'll be more embarrassing if I refuse. I walk over to Alex, glaring and snatch the microphone out of his hands. I don't say a word, and I walk  to the far side of the stage, picking up a wooden box in the middle and placing it as far away from Alex as possible. I sit crossed legged on that.

We never discussed this! What if I don't know the song? God, I hate Alex.

The music starts and I'm glad that I know it, it would be totally humiliating if I didn't.

"Taking it slowly, I'm afraid to be lonely, Nobody told me, It's harder than I thought to tell the truth, It's gonna leave you in pieces, All alone with your demons, And I know that we need this, But I've been too afraid to follow through."

Just like on Monday, I feel butterflies in my stomach when I sneak a glance at him, breaking my ignoring Alex rule. I continue with it though.

"Hold me close and I won't leave, 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody, So much to say but I don't speak, And I hate that I let you stop me, 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody," I hear him sing. And I feel him sneak a glance at me but I don't look. He might be wondering if I'll sing. That's stupid, of course I will, it would be humiliating if I didn't.

"Don't know where the time went, Stuck in the wrong mindset, And I let the rules bend, When I know that all along they're made to break, hey," I sing after him, I don't want to look at him and his DISGUSTING, UGLY FACE.

"Hey, you got me searching for reasons, To keep me from leaving, And that I have trouble breathing, I give myself another chance to stay,"  I look out at the crowd and see Amanda's made-up face staring angrily at me.

"Hold me close and I won't leave, 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody, So much to say but I don't speak, And I hate that I let you stop me, 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody, One day before you know it, you will see, All of the pain and all the irony, You'll feel the stinging and you think of me, 'Cause it hurts when you hurt..." I sing, Alex joining in on some words. I can't fight the feeling that our voices go together so well, and its giving me goosebumps to think about it.

"Hold me close and I won't leave, 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody, So much to say but I don't speak, And I hate that I let you stop me, Hold me close and I won't leave, 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody, So much to say but I don't speak, And I hate that I let you stop me, 'Cause it hurts when you hurt somebody."

Now we are singing together, and Amanda's face is redder than before. The song finishes and I walk off the stage quickly, not even looking at Alex.

"Hey Nat, so I was thinking for our assignment-" Alex walks down the stairs of the platform to me. Before he can finish his sentence I shove him with all my might.

"What the hell Alex?" I yell at him, grateful I turned my microphone off. "You tell me you're gonna go pee, and you'll see me in class. Then I don't see you in class, at lunch, or in calculus. And then I see you walking out of school, I try to give your jacket back, but you refuse. You don't even talk to me and just drive off! Then, Noah tells me that the same guy we saw in the bathroom almost had to go to hospital-"

"It wasn't that bad!" Alex says.

"It was Alex! It is! And then you see me out there, look at Noah like he's Satan incarnated and then invite me up there to sing with you. And now you're pretending everything is ok!" I scream at him.

"I-I-I didn't think .... you know, I knew you could sing," he says quietly, stuttering.

"Yeah, but I'm here with my boyfriend Alex, and your girlfriend, who has told me countless times to stay away from you, is here too, looking like a volcano who's about to explode! And how do you explain punching someone up!"

"He called you a b***h!" he yells at me.

"That doesn't matter Alex! Its not worth the risk of you getting hurt!" I scream at him. My heart starts to pound when I realize what I've just said. He looks up at me and then turns around. I think he's walking away when I see him stop at a flower arrangement. He comes back to my and gives me a lily, whispering in my ear:

"I'm sorry," before walking away.

________________________________________________________________________

Hey!!!!!!!! hullooooooooooo! Hi!!!!

Thanks to all my friends for a heap of ideas in this chapter.

may I just point out that THE B WORD WAS USED 2 TIMES IN THIS CHAPTER! I prayed to God that you'd all forgive me.

Anyway, I like rain. Its raining. Rain smells good.

VOTE!

COMMENT!

BYE!

PS: Sorry about all the mistakes I make!