Maddy and Me

Chapter 37: The Girlfriend v. The Ex

The gossip floating around East Highland had reached Nate's ears like a tsunami. Both Teddy and Maddy didn't expect anyone to have ties with a person who, even allegedly, tried to choke the life out of someone. But it turned out that there were girls who were horny enough to want to get an assaulter's pants, girls who had seen Teddy being at Maddy's cheer practice and girls who had seen them hanging out together at the mall and heard that they had gone to Lovers Nook to come out holding hands. There was even a girl who saw them sitting on the bleacher earlier that day. They all reported their findings one after the other, wave after wave.

The last one was his last straw when she told him that Maddy said 'I love you' to Teddy at one of his and Maddy's former spots; they only hung out there once. He got up from his bed, pulled on a gray full sleeve shirt that hung on his desk chair and stormed out, not uttering a single word to his mother who started getting worried sick. She had heard the news of Maddy dating a new 'guy' from a young gossiper who had newly joined the town and her social circle. She tried to call her husband, but his phone was switched off. She wanted to go behind her son, but she was afraid.

Nate drove to Teddy's home with a plan in mind on how to intimidate a girl into running away, but his plan depended on her being alone. He was absolutely thrown off by the fact that her front room was filled to the brim by people and he was absolutely disappointed that he couldn't use his unique combination of his scary stance and line 'Do you know who I am?' directly on her. He thought of it as a move that inspired fear in the hearts of those who were unfortunate to receive it.

When her father opened the door and expected him to be a pizza delivery guy, he got a bit fazed but only till he saw the absolute shock on his schoolmates' faces. He took his sweet time to feed on it. To him, fear was power.

He had expected a better-looking girl from the bunch on the floor. The fact that Teddy was not up to Maddy's standards gave him even more power.

She crossed her hands and asked, "What do you want?"

He delivered his line after putting on the menacing pose of leaning on the door, except he couldn't lean on the door frame since her father was right beside. So, he was just awkwardly leaning forward with crossed hands. "Do you know who I am?"

"Maybe," she said nonchalantly.

"Then I'll introduce myself. My name is Nate Jacobs. What are your intentions with my girlfriend?"

"My name is Sonia Rosenberg. What I intend to do with your ex-girlfriend is none of your business."

Fancy speaking = smart? Not necessarily. He chuckled. "You know I'm quite surprised that you're a girl. I could've sworn Friday night that you were a guy."

"And what if I am?"

"What?"

"What if I am a guy?"

"Uh... doesn't matter because either way, you're way below her level. She isn't taking you seriously. I'm sorry." All the adults, out Nate's view, couldn't believe that what they assumed was a proof of their theories presented himself to them. Paul was expressionless.

"I'm sorry? What do you mean?"

Charm oozed off the minute movements of his every muscle and every syllable that left his tar black mouth and heart. "I... don't think you know that this is a part of her routine. She pretends that she likes someone else every time she gets mad at me for the tiniest of things." He chuckled and glanced between her father and her saying, "Like, last time she got mad at me for not getting her water exactly when she asked!"

Sonny put on a fake grin. The exaggerated jerks of her head made the shallowness obvious to even the dumbest. She replied, "Oh really! Well, what happened this time?"