[Old Version] Playing for the Other Team [Old Version]

Chapter 18

Jennie was already home and watching TV when Nathan got back. She looked away from the reality show she was watching and smiled at Nathan when he entered the living room. "Hello, Nathan." She said happily. "How was school?"

Nathan, still a little angry over what had happened to Jonathan, sat down next to her. "Not too good..." He said. "Everyone thinks Wendy and I broke up. We never even dated but she's telling everyone I dumped her." He sighed, and shook his head.

Jennie frowned. "Yeah... I heard that..." She said.

Nathan turned to stare at her. "You heard it too?" He exclaimed.

Jennie wrinkled her nose. "Yeah... I heard it from one of my coworkers. I'm sorry, sweetheart. It's just a rumor. It'll blow over fast." She told Nathan. He nodded slowly. "How's Jonathan?" She asked him instead.

Nathan felt the anger bubble up in him again. "He..." He started, but decided that he wouldn't tell Jennie about everything that had happened. "He's good. We ate together at lunch today." Nathan smiled. "I'm going to pick him up before school tomorrow."

Jennie smiled. "That's wonderful, Nathan." She said.

Nathan excused himself, and went upstairs to his room. His head was spinning with thoughts of Jonathan being hurt. He turned his xbox on and spent a few hours shooting at grunts and crawlers before switching over to reading.

When Jennie called him down for dinner he brought the book to the table. "Nathan, no books at the table." Jennie told him, and he quickly finished the page and put the book away. They ate in the kitchen, the table in there was much smaller and more suitable for the two of them.

They small talked while they ate the dinner Jennie had cooked. After dinner they sat down in the couch and watched TV together. It was family time Nathan liked better than anything else.

Nathan fell asleep on the couch, and Jennie woke him up the next morning by ruffling his hair. "You'll be late if you don't get up soon." She said.

"What time is it?" Nathan yawned.

"It's almost eight thirty, you're not late yet, but I made some toast for you." Jennie said. "I have to go to work, but I'll see you after school, all right?"

Nathan nodded and got up from the couch. "All right, see you later."

Jennie kissed his cheek and left. Nathan ate breakfast, and changed his clothes before going out to his car and driving to Jonathan's house where Jonathan was already waiting outside. He had his hood up and looked down a the ground, but smiled weakly when Nathan pulled up to his driveway.

"Hi." Nathan smiled. "How are you feeling?" he asked when Jonathan jumped into the car.

"A little sore..." Jonathan admitted with a sigh.

"Remember what I told you yesterday." Nathan reminded him. "If anyone gives you trouble. Anyone. Come to me."

Jonathan nodded and smiled. "I will. I promise."

Smiling at the honesty in Jonathan's voice, Nathan nodded. "Good. Now let's get to school." Nathan drove to school, but parked further away from the entrance than he usually did. He turned the engine off and turned to look at Jonathan. "Do you want me to follow you to your locker?" Nathan asked.

Jonathan shook his head. "No, I'll be fine. You're my friend, not my bodyguard." He said. "Um... are we still having lunch together?" He asked. "Then maybe we could meet up somewhere?" He suggested when Nathan nodded.

"Yes. How about the old music room?"

"You mean to room by the basement door? With the instruments?"

Nathan chuckled. "That's the music room." He nodded. "We'll meet there by lunch, all right?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you then." Jonathan jumped out of the car. "See you later." he said and then hurried out of the car and into the school building. Nathan lingered, like usual, making sure that his heart wasn't making back flips, or his cheeks were warm enough to cook on.

When he finally got out of the car, a group of girls spotted him, and waved at him. He smiled back, grabbed his backpack and walked towards the school building. The group of girls caught up to him and followed him.

Nathan wasn't in the mood for talking. He couldn't help but wonder if any of the girls had been one of those who'd beat Jonathan up. Nathan kept smiling until the girls had to go to their classes, and another group walked towards him.

"Nate, my bro." Josh called, slinging a heavy arm around Nathan's neck. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Hey, listen. Now that I'm dating Wendy..." He started. "You know about that, right?"

Nathan repressed a sigh. "I had my guesses yesterday." He said.

Grinning, Josh gave Nathan's shoulder another pat. "You're not mad, right? I mean... you two broke up, and I thought-"

"We never dated." Nathan corrected him. "And no, I'm not mad. You can date her all you want. She's a... um... sweet girl." He forced a smile.

Josh grinned again. "Thanks, bro. I knew you wouldn't be mad."

"Speaking of you, Nate." Oliver piped up. "Where have you been lately?"

Nathan chuckled, shoving his bag into his locker. "What do you mean? I'm right here."

"I don't mean now." he sighed. "Where have you been? You vanish everyday after school. Rumor has it you're driving someone around." Oliver said. Nathan tried to act innocent. "Who is it?"

"No one special." Nathan lied. "A friend." He glanced at his watch and cleared his throat. "Oh, look at that. We're late!" He hurried past his friends without looking at them.

Nathan knew that he couldn't hide Jonathan from the world forever, but he wanted to try for as long as he could. In reality, it wasn't even Jonathan he was hiding, but himself. He wasn't ready to step out into the light just yet, he was sure he'd die if he did.

When the bell finally rang for lunch, Nathan raced down the corridor but his friends were too clingy for him to get away. He could only throw longing looks down the hall when he was dragged to the cafeteria, and forced to sit through lunch with Josh and Wendy's sweet talk.

Eventually he managed to get away from his friend, and made his way to the music room. "Jonathan?" He called, looking around. He was out of breath, and very disappointed in himself. "Jonathan?" He tried again.

Jonathan peeked out of the music room. "Oh... hi..." He muttered. "What do you want?" he asked.

Nathan panted, shaking his head. "Jonathan, I'm sorry." He began. "Josh and Oliver dragged me to the cafeteria. I would have come here, but they wouldn't let me out of sight." He explained.

"You promised." Jonathan glared at him, hurt barely visible in his eyes.

Nathan felt like crying. "I know! I know that I promised, but please... don't be mad." He pleaded. "Have you eaten anything?" He asked.

Jonathan crossed his arms over his chest. "No, and thanks to you I've been sitting here during lunch, and the cafeteria closes in two minutes." He sighed. "I'm going down town to get something."

"I'll go with you!" Nathan offered. "I'll drive you."

"Nice try." Jonathan shook his head. "You've got class in five minutes."

"I'll skip it." Nathan blurted out. "I've got perfect attendance in English, one lesson won't matter." he said. "I promised that we'd eat together at lunch, so I'll drive you down town and get you something to eat."

Jonathan looked unsure at first. "All right." He then said.

Nathan lit up into a smile. "Cool! Let's go."