Wonderful Pain

Chapter 6: New Girl

Chapter 6: Theo's P.O.V

School the next day was weird. Well everything normal was weird, or at least it was when compared to what I had learned. Now I expected the abnormal, so in comparison the normal was weird.

I know; crazy, right?

But I had been called crazy before, so it was nothing new to me.

I was scared out of my mind about Ashley. Siren or not, she was still intimidating and she had a way of getting what she wants. I ate lunch at the very back of the cafeteria, and whenever she approached I sprinted into the boy's bathroom. My friends called me paranoid, but I wasn't taking any chances. I didn't want her to kiss me, or touch me, or caress me, or grab me, or...anything else that she might attempt.

Over a couple of weeks though, she seemed less and less interested in me. I was finally able to move back to my regular table. The tension between John and I, the rift about his secret life, had disappeared, and we were back to being regular old buddies again. Chris, James, Roy, and Daniel seemed more at ease now that I knew about the pack, and it was easier for us to joke freely about things that wouldn't make sense to anyone else.

My life was finally getting back to normal.

That is, it was getting back to normal.

Until Natalie came.

Natalie's P.O.V.

I walked up to the new school building and sighed.

Another school.

Another life.

We had to move again, my mom and I, just because our secret was too hard to keep. Once people knew what I was, they didn't accept me anymore.

I snorted at the memory of how my last group of so-called "friends" reacted.

Really? They had to call 911?

They said that they would always be there for me, but they were the first ones to try to turn me in. It didn't matter that I escaped; it was that fact that they tried.

I stopped at the front doors, suddenly hesitating. A new school, yeah, but was it really a new start?

Wouldn't these people treat me like the others before? Wouldn't Junior year this year just end like all the other school years of my life - people running and screaming? Having to move again?

As I pushed open the doors, I had my doubts about even making new friends. People were crowding the hallways, separated into their different cliques. I could pick them out easily; the cheerleaders, the jocks, the bad boys and the skater dudes, the ner- I mean, smart, goody two shoes (I didn't like the term 'nerd'; the always ended up with the most money at the end), the goths; and a group of kids that seemed to fit.....anywhere. They looked cool enough to be popular, had that dark, awesome vibe like the bikers and skaters, were fit enough to be jocks; and the girls were prettier than any cheerleader that I had ever seen.

I knew immediately that if I didn't want to be teased for being new, I had to be in that group.

I started walking over to them when one of the boys caught my eyes. He didn't have a girl around his arm; I guessed that he was single.

Single and hot. It was my lucky day.

I walked over to him and he blushed. I stuck out my hand for him to shake it. "Hi, I'm Natalie."

He grabbed my hand awkwardly. "Um, hey Natalie, I'm...I'm...."

"Theo!" someone whispered.

He blushed again. "Yeah, I'm Theo." He dropped my hand and took a step back.

One of the other guys sighed and took over for him. "Hi Natalie, I'm James, and this is my girlfriend Janice." Janice smiled and said hi.

They all introduced themselves. James, Janice, John, Denise (John and Denise both being Seniors) Sasha, Chris, Daniel, Emma, Claire, and Roy. And Theo.

I noticed that all of the boys had brown hair and blue eyes. It was kinda weird, but i guess that it didn't matter.

Theo was the only different one. That long, jet-black hair, those piercing green eyes...

Jeez! I just made friends with Harry Potter!

I smiled. The others may have thought that it was because I was feeling welcome, but it was a comination of that and my lame joke that no one heard.

Maybe this school wouldn't be so bad.

Maybe.....Just maybe.....I could find people like me.....

*   *   *

We hung around all day, and I was overjoyed to find that I had classes with almost all of them (with the exception of John and Denise - I didn't see them very much because they were in a different grade). We sat at the same table at lunch and we talked, and we all laughed a couple times at jokes the boys made. I found that although the boys were great, I got along with the girls a little bit better. Maybe cause we were actually of the same gender, appriciated fashion, gossiped, and, well, talked about boys all the time.

Theo was.....well, I didn't know how I felt about him. He was shy, stared at me all the time (although I honestly didn't mind), and seemed kind. Everytime I saw him, my heart fluttered a little. I told myself that it was because he was just so nice and sweet, always opening doors for me and things like that. A real gentleman.

Yeah.

That's why.

A few days passed. I was walking to second period with the girls when Emma pulled me over. The other's followed. "Hey, do you have any idea what's gotten into Theo lately?" she asked me.

I frowned. "No, why?"

Janice smirked. "Well, he's not always like this. He's loud, outgoing, messy...But he's still nice and sweet. Except now he's even nicer and sweeter."

"I think that he's got something for you, Natalie," Sasha chimmed in.

"Yeah, definitely," Claire agreed. "You should give him a chance. Theo's a great guy. You can trust us."

They all nodded their heads, and I smiled.

A guy?

Falling for me?

I nodded my head too. "Alright, I'll give him a chance. Thanks for the tip."

Janice smiled. "Anytime."

They walked away, leaving me to my thoughts. I walked slowly, taking my time, to second period; so that I could think.

Yeah. I would definitely talk to Theo. It would be nice to date a guy that didn't want me for my body, or crush my heart into pieces.

And I knew that Theo was definitely not one of those guys.

Right?