Chapter 24: A Hippopotamus From Another Planet

I stand, looking at myself in the mirror, tugging at the skimpy outfit that I've been forced to wear. The shorts are literally NOTHING. I mean, seriously, designers put prices on shorts that are actually not there. And to top it all off, there's frickin' rips in these stupid, short denim shorts. I tug on them and glare at myself in the mirror.

Its better then what I have to wear tomorrow.... I shiver at the thought. I am not looking forward to that.

To draw attention away from the skimpy pants, I've tied around my waist a checkered shirt that's too small for me to wear now. I'm wearing a black shirt tucked into my pants - if you can call them that, I don't really think that they're there. They're just a bit of fabric with a zip and button. And I'm wearing my hair to draw attention away from my legs again. I add a black hair band, pushing my hair back and chucking on the flats I wore yesterday. I place my watch from Adele onto my hand and gather my stuff, taking an apple from the kitchen and some money for the cafeteria.

"Bye!" I call to my parents before I jump into my car and drive off. Oh, if my family see me in this outfit. Boy, I would hate that. I can just picture Mum's face.

"Oh, honey, you've finally grown up," she'd say. I refrain from rolling my eyes at the thought. The pants - excuse me, piece of material - keep riding up as I drive, siting on the leather seat, hands on the wheel.

The head band is seriously starting to annoy me and so when I pull into the car park I take it out and scavenge around for a hair tie. I can't find one so I settle on a bobby pin in the glove box and pull two strands behind my head in a sort of half-up half-down style. I sling my black backpack onto one shoulder and walk into school. I feel my phone ding as I reach the school gates so I lean against a pole and take it out. It's a message from Instagram, from a girl I don't follow but recognize as one of Amanda's blonde haired goons.

Ugly, go back to Paris, you're not wanted here. They can work on your style and maybe get you a new face?

I frown at the message. It doesn't make a load of sense, but I'd expect that from Amanda or one of her barbie dolls. I think she's basically saying that I'm ugly and that I need  serious makeover. I roll my eyes, blocking the girl and putting my phone back into my bag.

I start walking when I see Bubbles racing towards me out of the corner of my eye. "Woah! Are you trying to impress Alex!"

"What? Bubbles, no!" I say, tugging on the pants.

"Well, I doubt that its Noah you wanna impress," she says, continuing to walk with me.

"I'm not trying to impress anyone!" I say. "My mum gave me these clothes because she packed all my other ones!!!"

Bubbles raises her eyebrows but doesn't say anything.

We walk into English together and take out our pencils, ready for the exam. I handed in my Physics and Religion assignment and had a Geography exam yesterday, so that's three things ticked off my exam list. Today I've got English, History and calculus.

Dad's started moving the boxes and he says he has fully set up a couple of rooms. We are completely moved in tomorrow afternoon, which puts heaps of stress on all my subjects.

We finish the test and walk out of the classroom. I wave goodbye to Bubbles for a few seconds, heading towards the cafeteria line. I start placing my food on a tray when someone sidles up to me and does the same.

"Hey babe," I say, already knowing who it is.

"Yo dude. How was your english exam?" he asks.

"Oh, I think I did pretty good," I say, throwing him a sideways glance as I shovel some pasta onto my plate. He squirts tomato sauce onto his meat pie.

"You look different today," he says, taking the barbecue sauce and squirting it on top of the tomato sauce. I scrunch my face up in disgust.

"Yeah, well," I say, trying to come up with a witty reply. It doesn't come. "My mum packed all my clothes except for a few things," I say.

"Well, she certainly didn't choose the right clothes for the weather did she? I guess you'd be in the air con in here so you won't get cold. Or do you just have lots of insulation?" he laughs. I look down and shovel some mince onto my pasta. I gulp at what he's just said, that hit pretty close to home.

I think he notices my change in expression because he puts a hand around my shoulder as we walk away from the cafeteria bench. "Hey, I'm sorry," he pushes a strand of hair back from my face and looks down at me. I smile at him.

"It alrig-" I'm interrupted when I'm wrenched away from Alex by a hand that threads itself around my waist. I turn and look at the person that pulled me into them. "Oh, hey Noah."

"Hey babe," he says, kissing me on the lips. I pretend not to notice Alex's wince when Noah says the word 'babe.'

"See you Nat," he says, hanging his head and walking away. I look after him before Noah's makes me drag my attention back to him.

"I think that the movie we're seeing will be an action with the rock in it!" he says. "Is that ok with you?"

"Yeah, that's good," I say as we walk towards my table. "I like action."

"Ok, see you there," and with one last kiss (that went for a little bit too long, in my opinion - sorry Noah) he walks over to where the jocks sit with the cheerleaders. I put my tray down and start eating my pasta with a fork. My friends are all doing the same but I see Kate, Meghan and Bubbles all looking at me at different moments as they eat. When I'm halfway through my pasta I my fork down and sigh. "Guys, what is it?"

Kate groans. "Anyone can see you and Alex are meant to be together! You call him babe, for God's sake!"

"That's just a stupid nickname. Its like me calling you guys babes," I shrug and eat some pasta. My friends just sigh and pack up their stuff.

We walk off to History together to sit yet another exam.

***

I feel sick.

Really sick.

Oh, gross this outfit is disgusting. I'm freezing cold but I don't have a jumper and the checkered shirt I wore yesterday around my waist it far too small. Maybe I should wrap a blanket around me. Sometimes I wish that my school just had uniforms.

I literally feel bile rising up in my throat as I look at myself, so I turn away. My mother has chosen the skimpiest cropped, cami top she could ever buy. Its a V-neck red shirt - if you could call it that, because, again, it is just a piece of fabric. And for the pants my mum's bought pieces of denim shreds that are ripped and the back of them almost doesn't reach the bottom of my underwear. The things fit, and they're supposed to be tight, something I'm not used to. I sigh and grab my bag, braiding my hair into two dutch braids and then stuffing essentials into my backpack.

I run out of my room, fetching a blanket and wrapping it around myself. I run down the stairs carefully, trying not to slip. I dash out into the garage and into my car after calling a hurried goodbye to Mum and Dad.

I reverse out of the driveway and drive to school.

I arrive at school and let out a sigh, hands still on the wheel. I take off the blanket and step out of the car locking it behind me. Wearing a blanket would be even more embarrassing then wearing this to school. I keep my head down as I walk into the school. I feel eyes on me, to many eyes. Oh, god, this is too embarrassing.

I'm almost at my locker when I see a head of dark brown hair and sunglasses. I sprint over to him in my converse I found hiding in Mum's closet.

I run about 25 meters before I have to stop, unfortunately I can't stop and so I run forward a bit and he catches me. I look up at him and dust myself off, dropping my bag.

"Alex," I breath.

"Woah," he whips off his Ray Bans and looks me up and down. I blush.

"You've gotta help me!" I say, folding my hands over my chest.

"With what?" he asks.

"Alex! Look at me!" I gesture to my clothes.

"What's so wrong with what you're wearing, dude? You're the best looking boy I've ever seen," he says, his eyebrows raised. I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Could I-um, borrow your jacket?" I ask. I know he loves his jacket, and so its pretty big of me to ask for it, but this is an emergency.

His eyebrows raise even more before he surveys my face. He must recognize the uncomfortable expression on my face because he nods and starts taking of his jacket. "Yeah, here you go."

I take it. "Oh, thank you Alex, you're my savior!" I say, putting on the jacket. "I'll do anything for you!"

"Anything?" he raises his eyebrows again.

"No," I say before quickly hugging him and placing a kiss on his cheek. I let go of him and look to the side, where Amanda is, standing ten feet away. "Gotta go," I look back at Alex, who looks suprised. I smile. "Thanks again. See you in french."

I zip up his jacket and sprint away, around a corner to my locker. I sigh, smelling the smell of Alex through his cologne on the jacket. My eyes widen. I was too embarrassed to think about anything. Oh, no, I kissed him! Like legit just threw my arms around his neck and throw a kiss onto his cheek. Oh well, that's what friends do, right? As a thank you...?

I sigh and pull out a few books. I turn around to walk towards my French classroom, but see sparkly blue eyes dazzling happily in front of me. Bubble's long blonde hair is in a high pony tail and her lips, which are stretched into a creepy smile, are painted with a splash of lip gloss. I raise my eyebrows. Was she standing there the whole time?

"You're wearing Alex's jacket," she states, her mouth stretching into an even bigger grin. I busy myself in closing my locker door shut.

"No, er, this is my dad's jacket," I mumble, knowing the excuse isn't even believable.

Bubbles scoffs. "Yeah right," she rolls her eyes. "Alex's most precious possession is his jacket! everyone knows that! They're gonna ship you even more, now!"

"Er, well... um, Mum gave me a really skimpy outfit and he was the first person I saw that had a jacket to cover me!" I say, pulling the jacket around me. "Do you have a jumper, Bubbles? Because I'm sure Alex wants his back."

Bubbles smiles knowingly at me and nods. We walk over to her locket and she pull out a jumper. "Thanks. Oh, remind me to store a jumper in my locker, won't you?" I say, taking the hoodie. I think about putting it on in the hallway but I think it'd be better in a classroom, for privacy. Obviously, my first option would be the bathrooms, but given the bell has just rung, I have to get to class. I wave goodbye to Bubbles and thank her again.

"All good," she smiles and waves, skipping over to some randoms walking in the hallway who she quite obviously knows. I think Bubbles is like a little grasshopper, watching her walking over to different groups and starting to chat. More like a butterfly, actually. A social butterfly.

***

When I get to french I see Alex sitting in the back row, ready for our test, tapping his pencil on the table anxiously, his hand rubbing his cheek. I walk over to him.

"Hey," I say, startling him. He looks up and grins.

"Hey yourself," he says before pouting. "I feel naked without my jacket."

I laugh and unzip it, taking a deep breath before wrestling it off myself in record time. I put on Bubble's hoodie, which fits almost perfectly, because the arm material doesn't quite reach my wrists. I hold it out to him. "Here you go."

He has his mouth wide open and is staring at me like I'm a hippopotamus from another planet. Well, I mean, I am hip, so I get it. Ha, I'm so funny. "What?" I ask, sitting down.

He shakes his head an continues tapping him pencil on the desk, rubbing his cheek. I look at him strangely as I bend over and take out my pencil case. "Do you still need me to tutor you?" I ask.

"Er, no," he says, almost awkwardly. "Unless I get another B on this test."

He sits there tapping his pencil while I furrow my eyebrows and stare at the board in contemplation. We stay like this for a long time until I turn back to him. "What's wrong?"

"What'd you mean?" he asks, acting clueless.

"You seem nervous. What's up?" I say.

"The test," he says immediately.

"The Alex I know would be flicking on his ray bans and smirking before he takes a test," I tease. "Not anxiously tapping his pencil on the desk."

Alex sighs. I look at him, puzzled. "Alex?"

He turns to look at me. "I'm going to go and get a drink," he says quickly and stands up, walking out of the room. I raise my eyebrows after him. I shrug and take out my doodling book because my teacher is late.

When Alex walks back into the classroom he smiles faintly at me and I look back at him, what the hell is wrong. I lean over, rocking on my chair and leaning on his desk. "Boop!" I bop him on the nose. He turns to look at me but the chair slips on the ground and I go tumbling onto the ground, banging my head on his desk in the process. "Ow," I moan.

Alex looks down at me, laughing his head off. "Shut up," I groan, clutching my head. God, that hurt. I blink a couple of times, listening to Alex's laughter and getting rid of the upcoming headache. When I look up I see Alex bending over me, still chuckling.

"Jerk," I mutter. He gives me his hand and I untangle myself from the chair and spring up. "Ow."

He laughs, showing his cute dimples and making his blue eyes sparkle like the sun. "Four feet on the floor Nat."

I pout at him. "You could've caught me."

"Did you want me to?" he grins before his mouth twists into a smirk. I roll my eyes.

"It would've helped my head," I say. "I've already got enough brain damage."

He chuckles at that too. He opens his mouth to say something, but the teacher walks in and he turns back around in his seat and I sit down.  We are given the exam and I finish it before everyone else. After a few minutes Alex puts his pencil and paper down once he checks it. I raise my eyebrows when he turns and grins at me. I thought he needed tutoring? He can't be done that quickly!

He quickly scribbles something onto a sticky note from his pencil case and shows it to me.

You're done?

I roll my eyes and take the note from him.

No, duh.

He smiles at me and takes it back from me, turning it over and writing on the back.

I feel like chicken wings.

I laugh quietly.

That's random.

I give the note back to him once he reads it.

Sorry, I'm, craving them and I couldn't think of anything else to write. I'm bored, dude.

I smile when I read it and take it back from him, scribbling a response.

Well then, babe I dunno how to entertain you.

I draw a small stick man with his arms raised in an 'i dunno' pose. He smiles and takes it back from me, writing back a reply.

Ok then. We're getting out of here.

Before I can ask what he means by that, his hands shoots up and he calls for the teacher. She comes over to his desk and they speak in hushed tones. The teacher glances sympathetically at me before nodding her head. Alex takes my hand and drags me out of the classroom, earning us a few blank stares from people taking the test still. We stumble out into the corridor and he leads me down the hallway.

"What exactly did you tell her?" I ask as we walk in sync to a destination that is unknown to me.

"You bumped your head and you have a serious headache," he says.

"True," I say, referring to when I fell off my chair like a dumb as peacock. "But were are we actually going?"

"You'll see," he grins and walks faster.

"Ale-e-ex," I whine, pulling on his arm. "We're we actually going?"

"Not telling," he smirks and I whine after him, not getting any responses until he opens the door to an empty music classroom. He walks in and I follow. "To do our music assignment!" he says. I groan.

"Shoot, holy mother Mary, mother of Jesus, only begotten son! That's today!" I gasp.

"Yup," he says, slinging his bag down on the back of a chair and pulling out his laptop. I sigh and plop down next to him.

I feel my phone buzz in my pocket and take it out. Its another message on Instagram from one of Amanda's cronies.

Hey Fat Pig, you're a loser, no one loves you. Go back to where you came from, ugly.

I frown and bite my lip, blocking this girl as well. Alex sees my change in expression and comes to look at my phone over my shoulder. I shut it off quickly and stuff it into my bag, turning to him and smiling, he frowns back and I yawn.

"I'm tired," I say, covering my mouth.

"Yeah. You must've had a big week. You're moving in tomorrow, right?" he says, opening his laptop to the website we made the song on.

"Yeah, more like this afternoon, though," I say, scooting over closer to him.

He turns the laptop towards me and lays a hand on his cheek. "We just need to type up some lyrics and practice."

I nod along, yawning. "I'll play the guitar and yeah, sing stuff," I yawn again.

"Yup. I'm pretty sure there are two guitars in the music room," he says.

I am vaguely aware that Alex is talking to me, but my eyes keep shutting close. I don't let them snap shut, though, because I know I need to do this with him. After about five minutes Alex shakes me from where I sit, head on my hand, eyes fluttering open and closed.

"Nat, you need to sleep," he says. I sit up straight.

"Nope. Nope, no. We have to do this!" I say, rubbing my eyes.

"Bro, seriously, you are so tired," he says. "You are so tired!"

"No, I'm not! I can't let you do this by yourself. Let's do it, babe!" I say, but even though I say this, I still cover my face to hide my yawn.

"I'll be doing it all anyway, you're too tired to function, Nat," he says softly. I sigh and lay my hands on the desk, putting my head on the table and closing my eyes.

***

"Nat. Nat, time to wake up,"  a soft voice says, a warm hand on my arm, shaking me. I open my eyes and sit bolt upright.

"What time is it?" I ask, looking outside and seeing dark skies. "Woah, I slept in."

Alex chuckles. "Nat, its just raining," he says and smiles. I sigh with relief.

"But seriously what time is it?" I say.

"The bell after first lunch just rang," he says. I spring up.

"Did you stay in here all lunch?" I ask, glaring at him.

"Um," he runs a hand through his hair. "Yeah?"

"Alex! You should've just gone out to eat," I say.

He shrugs. "You were tired, I didn't wanna wake you."

"You could've just left me in here," I say.

He laughs. "Ok dude," he stands up and slings a hand around my waist, guiding me out of the room. "I got the music done at least."

"You shouldn't have done it all by yourself!" I groan.

"Nat, you were so tired, you had to sleep," he says, pulling me into him so that we're joined at the waist. I shove him off me, smiling.

"Thank you."

***

Our last lesson of the day is music and as I step inside I see everyone frantically cramming in some last minute practice. Oh, no. I haven't practiced at all! How the hell am I going to play guitar without learning the chords before hand.

"Hey dude," Alex walks in casually behind me, a  guitar strapped to his back.

"Yo sweetpea," I say, turning to him. "Um, we haven't practiced."

"Oh I know," he says neutrally. "I'll just play the guitar and you can sing you bit, you know? You don't have to play because you haven't really learnt it."

I nod gratefully. "Damn, Alex, you've done so many things for me today. What can I do for you?"

He shrugs and walks into the classroom, taking out the guitar. He hands me a sheet of paper but before I can read it, the teacher comes in. She marks the role. And gives us a brief overview of what will be happening this afternoon.

"And first up is Alex and Natalie," she turns and smiles at us, clapping a welcome with the rest of the class. My eyes go wide and Alex stands up casually, offering me his hand. I take it and stand up, walking to the front of the classroom with him. I'm in full on panic mode and I can feel the tips of my ears turning red as we turn and face the class.

"We're doing an original song," Alex tells the teacher. I stand there, frozen. I don't know the words. Alex walks over to me, smirking. "You'll be fine."

I nod cautiously and sit down. Alex starts strumming the guitar and I quickly look down at my piece of paper with the music and lyrics written on it. I wait a few moments until its my queue to begin.

"Oo-oh, oo-oh, oo-oh oh,

Oo-oh, oo-oh, oo-oh oh," I sigh. Oh, thank God, that's all I have to do for now. Few.

"When I first saw you,

I could tell you had the most beau-tiful smile, o-woah-oh

That I've ever seen, your eyes sparkled like the sun.

The sound of your voice makers my heart ache,

But you're with someone else,

And I'll never ever be your guy

You make me stop and stare, even though you don't think I care,

The sound of her voic-e, makes my heart ache,

She don't think she's.. goo-od enough enough,

But she doesn't see herself the way I see her..."

"When the wind blows through your hair,

The way you don't even care,

She doesn't know how gorgeous she is,

Her eyes spar-kle like lights on Christmas night,

And the way she ties her hair,

Makes all the guys stop to stare,

I know she don't feel the same,

But she's gorgeous all the same,

And I can't get over her beautiful person-al,ity,

It's like living in a dream and I never, ever, ever want to wake up."

I stare at him as he sings. He must've memorized the words because he's looking straight down at his guitar and singing. I look at the top of his curly head. Oh, his hair looks so soft and silky...

Oh, right! I'm supposed to be singing now!

"Hey, boy,

If you think that you might have a chance,

You're dead wrong, ba-be

We're just friends,

So please just move on and stop think-ing about me-e-e,"

Woah, this is harsh stuff, I look over at Alex as I sing. Gosh, this is depressing!

"Even when you run your hand through your hair,

And all the girls stop and stare,

I am never, never ever gonna be your guuuurl!

If you think that we belong together,

you must be mistaken,

So I'm begging you please move on and don't think about me-e-e."

WOAH. That was harsh. Alex sings again and I sing some of the words higher than him.

"When the wind blows through your hair,

And you don't even care,

You don't know you're gorgeous baby,

And your eyes spar-kle like lights on Christmas night,

When I see your face, I can't help but smile,

I know you don't feel the same,

But your still so gorgeous, baby,

And I can't get over your beautiful person-al-ity,

It's like living in a dream and I never want to wake up," we harmonize together. Alex strums the guitar and I sit back. He sings again softly.

"I know you love someone else,

But that doesn't even matterrrrr,"

There is a pause without music before he sings again.

"Because when the wind blows through your hair,

And you don't even care,

You don't know that I'm in love with you."

The classroom erupts with applause and we take our seats and listen to the rest of the class' songs in silence.

***

"Babe, Patricia, honey, that was a pretty deep song," I say as we walk out of class after the last bell of the quarter rings, ready for Christmas break.

He shrugs and keeps walking. I catch up to him and lean against the locker next to his while he gets out his bag. "If you think you have a chance, then you're dead wrong, baby? Sweet cheeks, that's pretty mean, who would say that?"

Alex shrugs again, keeping his head down in his locker as I speak, determined to keep looking at the inside of the small box. I frown at him.

"See you, Alex," I say, turning and walking off.

_____________________________________________________________________

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! How did y'all find the chapter?

Thank you to @belle9890 who editted the song for me.

She wrote a really cool book called a Teenage Secret, its teen fiction and has a great storyline, go check it out!!!

I had a lot of fun typing up the first draft of the song with my AMAZING friends, Ali, Ruby, Ten, Ellie, Imogen and Liv. Here is the first draft. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oo-oh oo-oh oo-oh oh,

Oh-oh oo-oh oo-oh oh,

You make, my heart ache whenever you-'re around,

You know, the sound of you-r, voice makes me tre-e-emble,

You think you're not goo-od enough,

But you, don't see-e it,

when wind blows through your hair,

and you don't even care,

because you're gorgeous, baby,

and you're eyes sparkle when you smile,

because you make me feel like I'm your everything.

You make me feel like i'm the only one in the world

you're so gorgeous, baby,

And I can't get over your beautiful person-al-ity

You're just a dream, and I can't wake up,

Until you break up.

Hey, baby,

If you think that I might give you a chance

You're dead wrong, honey,

We're just friends,

Please ust stop thinking about meeeeeeeeeeeee

Sorry for the mistakes in the chapter ! Hope you enjoyed it anywaysssssssssssssss byeeeeeeeeeeeee!