Chapter 2: She'll Run Around Like a Child at Christmas

When I get home from school, I toss my keys onto the key table and walk into the kitchen, taking a chocolate bar from the fridge and walking into the lounge room. I take out my laptop and work on my English and French homework.

Just as I'm about to finish my work, the front door unlocks, and I hear Paul and my mother's voices. I walk into the foyer to greet them.

"Hi Nat!" Paul says and continues talking to Mum, who leads him into the kitchen. He obviously had a good day. I look over at Lucas and walk over to him.

"How'd your first day go, Lukey?" I ask him.

He shrugs and plays with his shirt buttons again. "Paul's friends don't like me."

"Who says you have to be friends with Paul's friends?" I ask, and he shrugs again. "Did you meet anyone else?"

"I met another boy called Anthony," he says. "I think he likes me. He only started at the start of this year."

I smile at Lucas. "That's great! You guys can be B-F-F's!"

He laughs and hugs me. "How'd your day go, Nat?"

"Normally, I met this annoying guy, though."

"Guy?" Lucas wiggles his eyebrows at me and I shove his head backwards. He laughs and follows Mum's voice into the kitchen.

I really hope this Alex guy leaves me alone, from what I've heard from Chloe and her friends, he's a big player. I do not want to get involved with this guy.

***

The next day I get up super early to make sure I didn't look like I did yesterday, people would probably recognize me as the 'weird hoodie girl that shouted about trash in the cafeteria' and I didn't want that happening. I take my hair out of its fishtail so its curly and tie a bit of it up in a half-up-half-down style. I then pull on some leggings and a shirt, taking a denim jacket out of my closet and tying my laces. I stuff my belongings in my bag and call out a good bye to my parents before hopping into my car and connecting my phone to the speakers. I play "Crazy in Love" by the Beyoncé on repeat all the way to school.

I pull up at school and plug in my head phones as I walk to my new locker. I think I'm adjusting to this school pretty quickly. I unlock it and put some books in and take some out. I feel a hand snake around my waist and I look up, slamming my locker door closed. Its Alex. I roll my eyes and push him off me. He starts speaking. I wait about five minutes watching his expressions, some seem sympathetic, sometimes he raised his eyebrows or smirks, others he looks at the ground. I push my hair back and take out my ear phones.

"Sorry, what were you saying, babe?" I ask, locking my locker. He looks crest fallen.

"You -you- you didn't hear any of that?" he splutters.

"I saw it," I say. He rolls his eyes. I start walking to my next class and he walks along beside me.

"Where're you from? You've got an accent," he says. I roll my eyes.

"Everyone's got an accent, girlfriend."

"But yours is British, and most of the American population has an American accent," he shrugs.

"I'm American," is all I say and he huffs.

"How'd you get an accent, then? Are you parents british?" he asks.

"No," I only respond to the second question, and ignore the first, this guy doesn't need to know anything about me.

"Then why do you sound British?" he asks again.

"Because I have a weird disease that gives me a British accent," I say and walk away quickly.

"You're so difficult," he sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I don't even know your name!"

"And you never will!" I salute to him and leave him standing there as I turn a corner.

***

I walk into my next class and sit down. The girl next to me raises her head and look at me. Blinking, she asks, "You're new?"

"Yeah," I nod and take out my notebook and a pencil case.

"Where're you from?" she asks curiously, brushing her brown, straight hair behind her ear with a pencil.

"Oh, I'm American. But I moved to Paris, now I'm back," I say.

"That's so cool!" she says. "When did you move?"

"When I was nine," I tell her.

"Did you befriend and Parisians?" she asks.

"A couple, yeah. My best friend's Australian though, she migrated there when she was five."

"That's so awesome!" she exclaims. I smile. "I'm Kate, by the way."

"Natalie," I say. She stops smiling. "What's wrong?"

"You're Natalie Bennett?" she asks.

"Um, yeah. How'd you know?" I say.

"Do you happen to know Amanda Harper?" she asks, fidgeting with her rubber.

"Yeah. We used to be best friends," I say quietly.

"Yeah, I know," she says. "Amanda's been spreading rumours about you since she came here."

"What?" I ask surprised.

"She never said you moved to Paris though..."

"What kind of rumours?" I ask.

"Like... Natalie Bennett is so mean! Natalie Bennett made me move schools! Natalie Bennett is such a fat cow."

"Does anyone believe her?" I ask.

"Psh, no way," she laughs. "You're safe."

"Thank God," I smile. The class starts and I start taking notes, grateful that Amanda hasn't forced anyone to believe anything.

***

Kate and I walk out to lunch when the bell rings and she introduces me to a couple of girls.

"Hi! I'm Claudia," says a small blonde girl, with a smile on her face. She looks like the kind of girl who would always be positive.

"I'm Natalie," I say and smile at her.

"Do people call you Nat?" she asks, looking at me from over her burger.

"Yeah."

"That's so cool! I wish I had a nickname. But, no, my parents just had to choose 'Claudia,'" she frowns.

I take a seat next to Kate, in front of Claudia. "A nickname doesn't have to be something associated with your name. It could be associated with your appearance or personality or something."

"Yeet," she says. "What about Bubbles? I like that. Bubbles are bouncy. Everyone! Call me Bubbles!" she says to the table. All the girls roll their eyes. I smile at Bubbles.

"Bubbles it is," I say and take a bite of my food.

"Yeah, she's like, REALLY crazy. Don't give her that much sugar, she'll run around like a child at Christmas," Kate tells me. "But we kind of hog her because she's friends with everyone, even the boys." Kate shrugs and places the spoon full of yogurt into her mouth.

***

Bubbles and I walk to our calculus lesson together. I didn't even notice that she was in my class. We sit down as a teary-eyed Chloe walks in. Bubbles stands up and comforts her. I hear Chloe laughing after a few moments as she sits down, and I hand her some tissues. I seem to be running out of those.

"Her boyfriend broke up with her," Bubbles whispers to me. "And he's in her friendship group so all of them took his side," in an even smaller voice she whispers, "drama," and I smile.

I take out my notebook and wait for the teacher to arrive. Bubbles taps me on the arm. I look up when she points to the door.

"I hear you know him," she says. I guess Chloe must've told her about him.

Alex walks into the room with his two buddies. He looks around the room and spots me, mouthing, "hey dude."

I mouth back, "go away."

He rolls his eyes. "I'm in your class I can't."

I see him smirk and narrow my eyes at him before turning back around and looking back down. Bubbles grins at me.

"Do you like him?" she asks.

"What!" I say. "No!"

"You so do!" she says, clapping her hands.

"I only met him yesterday! And I already hate him!"

Bubbles shakes her head at me and whispers, "I ship it," before the lesson starts.

***

"Mr Collins, Miss Peters," our teacher says, halfway through the lesson. Everyone's heads turn to the back of the classroom. Alex and some blonde barbie doll are making out. His hands are in her hair and hers are in his. Ew.

He keeps kissing her and opens an eye. He looks around and spots me watching them. I swear I see him smirk against the girl's lips. He completely ignores the teacher's warning and continues swapping saliva with the girl.

"MR COLLINS! MISS PETERS!" the teacher yells. They finally pull away and Alex swivels back around in his seat, pushing the girl away from him. She has a big, dreamy smile on her face as she straightens her skirt and combs her hair with her fingers.

"Yes Miss?" Alex smirks at the teacher and copies a few notes from the board into his notebook. The teacher glares at him and continues with her lesson. Before I turn around, I see Alex wink at me quickly before returning to his notes.

The lesson continues for about five minutes before the teacher is interrupted by Alex again.

"Miss," he says and she – along with the class – turn to him. He looks down at his book and back at the board, taping his pen. "Shouldn't x equal negative 2?"

The teacher gives him a glare and puts on her glasses, checking the text book. She looks utterly bewildered when she looks back up, as well as annoyed.

"Yes," she mutters and rubs out her working and answer. Alex looks smug and a couple if girls sigh at him.

I roll my eyes and turn back around in my seat. The lesson continues until the bell rings.

We walk out of class and are corned by Alex and his buddies.

"Hey dude," he smirks.

"Hey babe," I say.

"Saw you staring at me in class," Alex says.

"Saw me? You were looking at me?" I ask. Before he can say anything, I sneeze. His friend steps forward and takes my hand.

"Bless you, angel," he says, bending down to kiss my hand. I wipe it on my pants. "Did it hurt?" he begins.

"When she fell from heaven? No, duh, stinky-pot, falling from the sky wouldn't hurt," Bubbles says, rolling her eyes. I laugh.

Just as I make eye contact the barbie from before walks by, waving flirtatiously at Alex. He smirks back and her and she walks off giggling.

"You saw me with her didn't you? Are you jealous, dude?" he smirks.

"Babe, there are some remarkably dumb people in this world. Thanks for helping me understand that." I take Bubbles by the arm and lead them away. "See you, Alex."

***

I'm at home with my siblings, Lucas and Paul, we're making card houses and everything is quiet, we're deep in concentration.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Paul yells. Causing both mine and Lucas's houses to fall over.

"Paul, I had one level left!" I say to him.

"Yeah Paul, I'd only just gotten my first one up!" Lucas says.

"Haha, loser," Paul grins at Lucas.

"Paul!"

"Its ok, Nat, he's just looking in the mirror." I grin at Lucas, a proud mother I am. Paul makes a face and keeps going on his house.

A few minutes later my Mum walks into the room. We don't hear her coming and when she yells out: "Kids I'm home!" Paul jumps and shakes the floor, causing all our houses to plummet.

"MUM!" we all yell. She turns and looks at our aggravated faces and smiles.

"Sorry kids, calm your farms," she says. We glare at her before she turns and unpacks her bags. When she speaks again its me that jumps and the process is repeated.

"Sorry kids but I have some news!" we glare at her before I ask:

"Good or bad?"

"Well, I'm hoping you think its good, I certainly do," she says.

"Ok..." I reply.

"Get on with it mum," Paul says. Mum gives him a stern look before continuing.

"So, you guys remember the Collins right?" she asks.

"No....." I say.

"Well, when we lived here we did spend a lot of time with them. They actually introduced me to your father," she says, I vaguely remember these people, they had two children, a 3 year old girl who must be 12 now. And they had a son my age. The had dark curly hair and pimples, I never liked him.

"So, they've invited us over, we're going Saturday night." she says. "I expect you all on your best behavior and we're going on a shopping trip tomorrow because they're a wealthy family and we're expected to dress nicely," at this news the three of us groan loudly.

"They've got a daughter your age boys, her name's Felecia, be nice and you'll get along, she was very nice and polite. And there's a guy your age Nat."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yup, you guys played together when you were tiny, but when you got older I think you really didn't want to talk to each other and always walked in the other direction when you went anywhere near each other. It was really cute actually."

"Ok... What's his name?"

"Alex."

Oh no.

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this chapter was so bad and short, I'm really sorry!