Nick and Charlie

Chapter 34

A whole week. I've managed to avoid Nicolas for a whole week, no joke.

It's Wednesday at lunch, and I'm sitting with the girls and we're talking about how May and Joshua are the new 'thing'. I'm wearing a grey t-shirt, the words 'life of the party' printed across it, my ripped blue jeans and my white high top Converse.

"Has he asked you out yet?" Jane asks.

"Why would he ask me out?" May says, taking the lid off her squeezie yoghurt.

Oh, you know, because he took you to formal?" Grace asks, and May rolls her eyes.

"You guys, just because he asked me to formal doesn't mean we are going out," May says, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Whatever. New topic: Charlie, I really like that shirt," Jane says, and I smile.

"Thank you, I chose it myself," I say. Jane holds her camera up to me, and I take either side of my shirt in my hands, smiling. She snaps it, then smiles.

"Jane I need to go get a cord from Brandon, I just remembered. Can you come with me?" Grace says, and they get up, walking out of the library foyer and towards the I.T. room.

May and Hannah and I keep on talking about May and Joshua, and how May won't admit that they would make the cutest couple.

Five minutes before the bell goes, I excuse myself and make the walk to my locker. I take out my Maths book, quietly complaining in my head.

Whoever made Maths the last period of my day today seriously should have rethought that.

I walk into my Maths classroom to see, surprisingly, Des and Patrick already in there.

"What are you guys doing here early?" I ask, and Des turns around to face me.

"We had nothing to do, so we just came here," Des says, and I shrug, walking over to them and sitting down next to Patrick.

"Hello Charlotte,"

"Patrick, I've known you since primary school, you can call me Charlie,"

"But everyone calls you Charlie, I want to be special," Patrick says, pouting. I shake my head, smiling, as I take out a pen from my pencil case.

Class starts and May walks in. She sits down next to me, and grins, before setting herself up.

Kids start to file in, and I see Aug walk in. He nods at me, before taking a seat on the other side of the classroom. Nick walks in closely after him. He looks over at me, and I hold his eye contact for a minute before he breaks away, sitting down next to my brother.

Ms. Matthews walks in, writing our work up on the board. Whenever she does that, it means she has a migraine and needs absolute silence. Everyone shuts up, and starts working on their work.

Evaluate these quadratic trinomials. Who the hell makes up a word such as trinomial? Probably the same person who scheduled Maths as my last period.

I try to concentrate on what I'm doing, and I manage to get 10 exercises done before I'm interrupted.

"Charlie?" Nick has appeared at the front of my desk, and I look up at him, my eyes wide. I didn't even notice him walk over.

"It's Charlotte," I say, and I notice Nick grimace a little.

"Listen, Charlotte, about what happened-"

"No need to explain," I say, cutting him off.

"I seriously think I need to though," he says, and I hold up my hand to him.

"No, you really don't. I get it-I was the stupid one. Stupid enough to believe that you, Nicolas Pardini, may actually feel something for me. I need to keep my trust on a leash, and I've finally been able to learn that thanks to you. But congratulations, Pardini, you've lost my trust and my friendship. Whatever the reason was for you to use me, you should have just told me in the first place, and I would have gone along with it. But hey, you must've gotten what you wanted, and that's great for you. Now please leave me to get what I want, and that's this work being done," I say, looking back down at my worksheet.

"Charlotte, I-"

"Mr. Pardini, is there an issue?" Ms. Matthews asks, and I look up to see Nick looking at me, pleadingly.

"No, Ms. Matthews, I just got a different answer than Nicolas, but he's made it pretty clear that my answer doesn't mean anything," I say, not breaking my eye contact from Nicolas.

"Right, well if you have finished then please return to your seat, Mr. Pardini," Ms. Matthews says. Nick looks longingly at me, and I whisper,

"I think you should return to your seat,"

Nick stands still, and I look back down at my work, tears clouding my vision. No, no more tears.

"Charlotte..." Nick says, trailing off. I don't look up, and I feel him walk back to his seat.

I try to concentrate on my work, but my mind is frazzled from my conversation with Nicolas.

"Hey, Char, you okay?" May asks me, and I look over to her and offer her a small smile.

"I should be fine, yeah," I say, and she gives me a sympathetic smile.

"It'll all work out soon enough," May says, then turns back to her work.

I can't help but feel like she's lying.

...

The next few days fly by, and before I know it it's the last five minutes of last period on Friday.

I'm in music class, sitting next to Jane and Grace, and I realize I've barely seen them for the past few weeks.

"Where have you guys been all week?" I ask, and Grace gives me a look.

"What are you talking about?" she asks, and I frown.

"I feel like you guys haven't been around," I say, and Grace looks at Jane.

"Sorry if we made you feel like that, Char. I've had my photography assignment that I've been spending a lot of my time on," Jane says.

"I've been helping Brandon in the I.T. office," Grace says, then puts her hand on mine.

"We'll try to be around more next week, okay?" she says, offering me a smile. I give her a small smile.

"Okay," I say, and then the bell rings. I pack up my things and walk out of the classroom, happy that this week is finally over.

As I'm walking towards my locker, Dillon falls into step beside me.

"Hey Char,"

"Hey Dillon, I haven't seen you in ages," I say, and she rolls her eyes.

"Year 10 exams," she says, and I nod.

"What are you doing this afternoon?" she asks, and I sigh, stopping at my locker to take out my bag.

"Nothing,"

"Not anymore," she says, smiling. If only I had as much energy as her.

"You're coming over to my house to stay the night with me and Sam," she says, and I give her a small smile.

"Okay, I'll let my dad know," I say, and she smiles, walking away.

"I'll text you the address," she says, then bounds off towards the year 10 hallway.

I'm locking my locker when a familiar figure walks over and stand at the locker next to me, opening it.

I don't even look at Nicolas, picking my bag up off the floor and walking away to the car park.

At least this sleepover with Dillon and Sam will take my mind off everything going on with Nicolas.

___________________________________________

Hey everyone! hope you enjoyed this update!

I've finally chosen my characters to play Charlie and Nick! WOOHOO!

I attached the photo that Jane took of Charlie. 

How did we feel about Nick talking to Charlie? or Charlie's response?

Am I the only one pumped for Dillon's sleepover?

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and i'll get back to you ASAP.

DON'T BE A SILENT READER, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! <3

Happy reading :)