Chapter 28: I don't need you

"Hey, Nat!" Bubbles says, quickly slamming the door behind her.

"Hi Bubbles," I say and hit the accelerator.

"How was your break?" she asks, putting on her seat belt.

"Alright," I nod. "You?"

"Pretty good! I got a trampoline!" she says excitedly. I laugh. "You don't look too well, are you ok?"

"Yeah," I say quietly.

The words, 'I hate you, Natalie' have been echoing in my head since Christmas. My curtains have remained closed and I've been spending most of my time inside. I know I can't avoid him forever, school starts back again today.

"Really?" she asks.  "Its Alex isn't it. What did he do?"

"Nothing, it was just.. um, my mum being uh, mean," I say, keeping my eyes on the road in front of me. Bubbles snorts.

"Sure. What did he really do? It can't be that bad, the whole school knows he's in love with you, he won't stay away for long," she says. Its my turn to snort.

"Yeah, he loves me. I pretty sure I heard him say he hates me," I say.

"He said that?" Bubbles says. I nod quickly and turn back to the road in front of me. She purses her lips and sits in silence for the rest of the five minutes drive to school.

When we arrive we meet Meghan, Kate and Chloe and begin catching up. We walk to my locker and I take my stuff out. Walking to calculus with Bubbles and Chloe, I see Alex leaning up against his locker, kissing Amanda's face off. I gulp and keep walking. My friends give me suspicious glances as we walk into class but I quickly start talking about Maddie Zeigler's new boyfriend.

I take out my books and doodle in them.  Class begins a couple of minutes later and I take out my other notebook, the one reserved for calculus. My phone buzzes but I ignore it. Its obviously an Instagram message from Amanda. I turn around to catch her but instead see her and Alex locking lips.

Ew.

Amanda opens her eyes and looks at me through one. She smiles against Alex's lips and kisses him harder. The worst thing is, Alex kisses her back. I turn around quickly in my seat and continue listening to the teacher.

That was disgusting.

But why can't I stop myself from wishing I was the one kissing him?

***

I walk down through the tables with my tray of fries and a burger. I reach my friends' table and sit down. I stop eating when I notice someone sitting here who shouldn't be.

"Um, hi Callum?" I say, swallowing my food.

"Why the hell are you two pushing each other away?" he says, eating a piece of pizza.

"What d'you mean?" I ask and take a chip to bite into.

"He's so clearly likes you, everyone ships you. Why're you both fighting?" he says, putting his pizza down.

"He doesn't like me," I laugh and he raises his eyebrows. "And he's with Amanda. He said he hated me, the exact opposite of 'like.'"

"Are you legit, Nat?" he groans.

"Yup," I say and eat some more of my burger.

"And so why're you fighting?" he asks.

"Simple, he was being a normal person and then suddenly, out of nowhere, he just yells at me that he wishes he never met me! How do you explain that, Callum?" I say, exasperatedly.

"I thought you said it was simple?" he says. I twist the heart necklace around my neck but stop when I remember who gave it to me.

"Well, it is, really, he's a jerk and I hate him," I say and eat a chip.

"You don't mean that," Callum says.

No, I don't.

"Yes, I do," I say, munching on my food. I look over at Alex. He's talking to Bubbles who's sitting over there with him.  He's talking animatedly and runs his hands through his hair before placing his palms on his forehead and leaning his elbows on the table.

"Well, he definitely regrets what he said," Callum gestures at Alex.

"Sure," I snort and eat more chips. Damn, I'm gonna have to go on a run this afternoon.

"I'm just saying, its not doing either of you any good to ignore the other. You're like his cocaine, he's addicted to you," he says.

"He does drugs?" I ask, shocked. "And you're trying to convince me to continue spending time with him?"

"I'm just saying that he can't function without you and it'd be better if you both just talked to each other again."

With that, Callum walks away. He catches Bubbles walking back from his table and kisses her. She comes back to the table with a large smile pasted onto her face.

"I don't need you two to look after me and Alex's addiction problems," I say, biting into my burger again.

"What?" she says.

"Nothing."

***

I've always liked the practical side of music. I like the singing, playing, clapping bits of the class, not learning about BEETHOVEN (No offence, buddy).

I sit there, taping my pen against my notebook, my head on my hand, staring up at the powerpoint while Meghan hums aimlessly, looking around the classroom with disinterest. I think a couple of people have even fallen asleep. Finally, our teacher stops speaking and gives us a worksheet to complete. I don't think very many people do it, but I attempt to snap out of my bored daze and try and think about how Beethoven changed the way people saw religion. I sigh and look up at the ceiling when I can't think of anything.

Meghan, who is seated beside me, has her head rested on the desk. I guess no one was really ready for school to begin, and probably weren't ready for their alarms to go off at 6:30 again, either.

Just as I'm about to turn back to my notebook to complete the worksheet, I feel something hit my back. It bounces off me onto the floor. I look down at the crumpled piece of paper. I look up at the person sitting a couple of seats behind and across from me before scowling. When I turn back around I see briefly writing underneath the sheet of paper crumpled over it, but I don't bother unraveling the paper to read it.

Another piece hits my back but I keep my head down and continue scribbling down answers for the worksheet. The pieces of paper keep hitting my back until I can't take it any longer and turn around, taking a piece of paper that lands on my desk with me, Meghan giving me weird looks.

I chuck the ball of paper right in his face so it hits his cheek.

"Natalie Bennett!" the teacher says. I turn around to face her.

"Yes, miss?" I ask nervously.

"Tossing notes at other students? I expected more of you, Natalie!" the teacher says disapprovingly.

"Sorry miss," I say.

"Detention, come get a slip," she says and starts writing one and I gather my bags. I grab the note from my teacher and start to walk out the door when a chair skids across the floor and someone stands up. I place my hand on the door frame and turn around. When I see Alex I roll my eyes and walk away.

I hear the muffled voices of the teacher and Alex but keep walking, adjusting my bag strap on my back.  I walk along the corridors, my feet echoing in the empty hallway. I check the slip of paper and sigh when I see that the room is on the other side of the school.

I hear running footsteps behind me but don't turn to see who it is, instead I adjust my bag and walk faster.

"Hey!" he yells when I don't turn around. "Hey!"

I walk even faster but he catches up with me. He opens his mouth to say something but I turn down a corridor and walk even faster.

"Nat, please," he starts but I still don't say anything. I put my earphones in and turn down another corridor.

I don't understand him.

I really don't.

One second he's apologizing, the next he's telling me he wish he never met me and then he ignore me and now he's annoying me and joining me in detention.

I turn around a corner and he huffs in defeat, trailing after me. I decide that I'll just pretend he's not here.

I walk into the detention class and sit down alone. I see my french teacher supervising. Well, she isn't really supervising, since there's no once else in here apart from me. She's just doing her marking and looks up at me when I walk in.

Ok, I give up, I'll just ignore him.

A look of surprise crosses the teacher's face. "Natalie? Alex? What're you two doing in here?"

"Madame, are you seriously surprised I'm in here?" the jerk says.

"No," the teacher says but turns to me. "But I never thought I'd see you in here Natalie."

I open my mouth to answer but Alex beats me to it. "I was throwing pieces of paper at her and then she threw one back at me and the teacher got mad at her and sent her to detention even though it wasn't her fault and I then got detention for fighting with the teacher and chucking them all at her in the first place."

I look at him with surprise, so does the teacher. "Is this true Nat?" she turns to me. I close my mouth and nod, sitting down at a desk as far from Alex as possible. He comes and sits right next to me. I move to the other side of the classroom and sit down and he follows. The process is repeated a couple of times until I sit at a desk with no others surrounding it. Alex starts pulling a chair over and the teacher looks at us with amusment.

"Are you two in a fight or something?" she says, sipping her tea.

Alex shrugs and continues pulling the chair over. The teacher stands up and says she's going to get another cup of tea.

Alex pulls the chair over and I look up at him, glaring. He smirks.

I get up and walk to another desk. When he follows I turn around and slap him in the face.

"Ow!" he whines.

"Stop following me!" I say and sit down.

"Hey, you talked to me!" he grins. I glare at him and get out my music book.

"Well done, now leave me alone," I growl, reading through the questions I scribbled down.

He gets up and runs a hand through his hair, walking over to me.

"Nat, I really am sorry," he says. I ignore him and continue writing. "I didn't mean what I said."

"Really?" I look up. He opens his mouth to speak but I interrupt him. Sliding back my chair, I stand up and yell at him. "So you don't hate me? So you don't wish I wasn't in your life? Because to me, Alex, it seems like you do!"

He looks down at the ground.

"You can't just say those things, ignore me, and then try and apologize, you idiot!" I yell.

"I'm sorry! I really am! I didn't mean it!" he says, looking up at me. I walk towards him and he takes a few steps back.

"Then why'd you say those things, Alex!" I say, poking a finger into his chest and looking into his eyes.

"Because... I-I-I-" he stutters.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," I say harshly and turn around swiftly, my hair whacking him in the face.

"Nat," he pleads. I roll my eyes and sit down just as the teacher walks back in. She looks from Alex to me.

"Did you two have another fight?" she asks. Neither Alex nor I say anything. She sighs and sits down. She does her marking for fifteen minutes. I've been sitting doing my music, not bothering to look at Alex once.

The teacher says she needs the bathroom and leaves. I continue with my work until I hear Alex approaching me.

I turn away and bend right down over my work so that my hair falls into my face. I move my hand to tuck it behind my ear but another hand reaches it first. I side-eye Alex before turning back to my work. He sighs and crouches down beside me. I try and ignore the amazing smell of his cologne intoxicating me. I turn even further away from him. He leans his head on the desk and looks at me.

I continue ignoring him and keep scribbling down answers.

"I really am sorry," he whispers.

"I hate you,"I whisper back. He laughs quietly.

"Really?" he says.

"Really," I deadpan back.

Before I know what he's doing, he scoops me up by the waist and puts me on my feet. He rests his forehead against mine and pulls me into him

"Stop!" I try and push him off me but he doesn't let go. All I can see is his bright blue orbs and all I can smell is his cologne.

"You know," he says. "I don't hate you."

"I hate you," I say for the second time in a minute.

"Then why're your arms around my neck?" he asks. I realize where my arms are and pull them off him quickly. The bell rings and he lets go.

We freeze when we see the french teacher standing in front of us, sipping her tea. "You know, I always shipped you two," she say before walking away.

I turn and glare at Alex before quickly closing my books and shoving pens in my pencil case. Unfortunately, as I do this, I drop the pencil case and all my pens fall out. I sigh and bend down to pick  up my pens. Alex does the same and I growl, "I don't need your help."

"Sure you don't," he says, stuffing some pens inside my pencil case and zipping it up. He pulls me up but I quickly walk out of the classroom once I've gathered my bag and books. He keeps following me.

"Alex," I groan, turning around. "Please stop following me."

"I don't want to!" he says. "I don't ever want to!"

I look at him. "C'mon Alex. We're not even friends, we're hardly even acquaintances. Just stay away from me, please. You don't need me. I don't need you."

He stares after me in despair as I walk away and when I look back I see him leaning his head against a locker, the people around him looking at him strangely. I gulp and turn back around. Its probably for the best that I don't talk to him.

***

Strangely enough, Alex does stay away from me. My friends have stopped asking questions about him and I and taken to pouting at me we walk past each other in the hallways with our heads down.

Its Friday, homecoming is tonight and my friends have invited me to get ready with them, so we're going over to Kate's place to get ready. I'm really not looking forward to it, to tell the truth. I've probably got to put layer upon layer of makeup on and sit in a chair for hours to get my hair done.

I turn the corner, walking to my guitar lesson when I see a sight that makes me want to puke.

Against the lockers, Amanda and Alex I kissing. I frown in disgust and walk quickly down the hallway. As I turn my head to look at them one last time, I see that its not Alex Amanda is kissing. Its another jock from the NFL team. I gape at them. The jock stops kissing her when he sees me.

"Um... can we help you?" he says when they pull away. Amanda turns around.

"What're you doing out of class?" she sneers.

"Did you and Alex break up?" I ask, confused.

"Of course not," she rolls her eyes.

"Then why're you- why're you," I gesture towards the jock, frowning.

"Natalie, get to wherever you're supposed to be, Natalie," she says and turns back to the jock.

"You can't do that to him!" I yell. She turns back around, annoyed.

"But he'll never find out. He never actually kisses me like he means it and he always pulls away far too early, especially when you walk by," she spits. I glare at her.

The jock rolls his eyes. "See you in class Amanda, have fun with your cat fight."

He walks off and she turns to glare at me. "Now look what you've done!"

"Oh, I'm sorry I stopped you cheating on your boyfriend!" I say. "Alex deserves so much more."

"Oh, so Alex deserves you then?" she says.

"Of course not, I'm just saying that Alex is way too good to be treated like that," I say.

"Oh yeah-" she's interrupted when someone walks around the corner.

"What's going on here?" Alex says.

"Nothing," Amanda says. I check the time and send Amanda a disapproving glare.

"I'm late. See you," I say and run off down the corridor.

_________________________________________________________

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. This was an extremely short chapter soweeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

And it was bad. I updated the prologue again because it was poop.

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP VOTING! I get all these notifications and I'm so happy so thanks!

Ok. Bye