Bruised

04.

Her own name had never scared her. Not until today.

"Natalie!"

She sped up, ignoring his voice, praying it hadn't been as loud as she thought it was.

"Natalie, wait!"

Apparently, Leon Hughes couldn't take a hint.

Natalie only walked faster, suddenly wishing she hadn't ever told him her name. The people she passed seemed to stare at something behind her and she had the awful feeling that Leon was following her down the street, right in front of her school.

"Natalie!"

She couldn't help it. She had to look over her shoulder. With that one look, his entire body seemed to change, his expression brightening at gaining her attention. But that wasn't what she was looking at. Her eyes drifted past him, over her shoulder.

Most of the girls were still distracted with Lucas, a master of grabbing attention, but out of the few girls staring after Leon, one girl was decidedly staring right at Natalie.

Veronica Brown.

Her eyes shot back to Leon as he reached forward, his fingertips just inches away from her wrist. Natalie's whole body jumped into motion as she grabbed his arm, shoving him around the corner and against a brick wall.

"What the hell? Are you crazy?" she sputtered, eyes darting around to ensure they were alone here. "We can't be seen together. Especially not here."

Instantly, his expression soured.

Where before he was looking at her with wide eyes that seemed to take in her entire being, hungrily darting from her eyes to her mouth, to her collarbones; now he was frowning, staring at her with something between disgust and betrayal.

Her grip on his shoulders loosened and she stepped back, remembering herself.

"Because of my reputation," Leon muttered.

Natalie frowned at him. "What? No, because you're a male."

His eyes cut to her, his brows lifting slightly at the statement. "What do you mean?"

"You're a boy!" Natalie exclaimed. She shook her head, calming herself down. "This is an all-girls school, first of all. You're not supposed to be here. And if my dad found out—"

"Why would your dad find out?"

"Because he's the principal," she said.

Leon's eyebrows shot up. He blinked at her. Then, as if realising how close the two were, his expression softened, and his entire body seemed to slink closer towards her.

Natalie sucked in a breath, immediately taking another short step back.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to see you," he replied.

Natalie refused to admit that the words sent her heart spiralling. She didn't want to think about them too hard. She didn't want to think about him at all—especially not here, just metres away from her dad, and Veronica Brown, and the entire school where she was exactly who Leon didn't know who she was.

She would be humiliated if Leon discovered just how unliked she was. It wasn't that people disliked her. No, she never did anything severe enough to be outwardly disliked. She never did anything at all.

She wasn't disliked, just unliked. Constantly existing in a state of neutrality, where nobody liked her, and nobody disliked her.

It was embarrassing. Where Leon attracted attention no matter what he did, Natalie couldn't get attention even if she tried.