Not Your Typical Love Story

Chapter 28: Nate; Master Secret Keeper? Or Failed Match-Maker?

Chapter 28: Nate; Master Secret Keeper? Or Failed Match-Maker?

The end-of-school bell went off, waking me with a lurch. Thank god I was sitting in the back row. I gathered my stuff and started towards the door with the rest of the students when Mr. Holland stopped me. "Ms. Pierce?" He asked. I winced and then plastered on a fake smile, turning to face him. 

"Yes Mr. Holland?" I asked. He gestured for me to come closer and reluctantly I walked over to his desk. He opened a drawer and flipped through some files before he pulled out the last math test I took and placed it in front of me. There was no grade yet, just a lot of red marker. Not a good sign. I bit my lip. 

"I'm sure you've noticed your grade slipping again," He said. I nodded. Carson had stopped tutoring me, more or less. It's been awkward between us for a while and I can't say I blame him. 

"Mr. Holland, I swear-" I started, attempting to explain it all away. He held up a hand, silencing me, which was probably a good thing because I didn't know what I was going to say. 

"Is there something wrong with the tutoring?" He asked. I didn't want to explain, not to my teacher. I weighed my options. 

"Nothing," I replied with as real a smile as I could manage. He raised an eyebrow and I hoped he couldn't see through my facade.

"Then I expect you to bring your grade back up, I don't want to have to fail you," He said. I nodded and smiled weakly.

"You won't have to, I promise," I told him. He sighed.

"You can go, Ms. Pierce," I turned to leave. "Oh, one other thing," He added. I turned around slowly. "Try to stay awake next time," He said and I nodded again. He waved a hand for me to go and I hurried out of the now empty classroom. 

This was the last thing I needed. I knew my grades were slipping. I hadn't really been paying attention to it but now I had to. I couldn't fail math. What would I do next year? A Junior repeating sophomore math, and the whole school knowing. Someone would make a big deal out of it and frankly I didn't want to deal with that. At all. Not to mention what my parents would say. While it was true they hadn't really been around, I was sure they'd notice if I failed a class. If things weren't so awkward with Carson, I'd ask him to help, but they were awkward beyond belief, so I guessed I'd just have to find a new tutor all on my own. 

I wasn't an idiot. I knew why Carson was avoiding me. I'd be avoiding me too. I asked him to forget what was probably one of the most intimate moments between us. Right after he told me he'd liked me for basically forever. Yeah, like that wasn't going to implode. I don't know what was wrong with me. I liked Carson, he was a nice guy. It's not like there was anything standing in our way. No other guy, Noah and I had kissed and whatnot but we weren't getting together, I couldn't imagine us together, and he was cool enough to completely ignore what had happened. Cole, while he was an ass and completely in my face and told the school we were going out, we weren't. And maybe I'd never be over Cole because he was the first guy I ever dated and I thought I loved him, maybe I really had, but we were over. That chapter of my life was done. There was nothing standing between Carson and I except me and my inability to accept him, whether or not I wanted to. 

So what the hell was wrong with me?

Betsi stood by my locker, walking in a circle, texting and smiling like an idiot at her phone. She didn't even look up when I came over until I attempted to pull the phone away from her. "What?" She asked, scowling, then realized it was me and the expression dropped from her face. "Oh, hey Scar, what's wrong with saying 'hi Betsi'?" She asked, even now still glancing at her phone.

"Devin?" I inquired, opening my locker. She stuffed her phone in her pocket.

"Maybe,"

"Oh come on, you were smiling like an idiot, who else could it have been?" I asked, wearing my own smile as I put away my math textbook, then reconsidered and stuffed it back in my bag, shutting my locker. I should try to bring my grade up by studying.