Loved or Unloved?

Loved or Unloved?: Chapter 10 - One gone, one gained

CHAPTER TEN: One gone, one gained

“Nice legs,” Zac commented, eyeing my skirt. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Hey there little puppy. You are so cute,” I cooed while ruffling Zac’s hair, just to annoy him. Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.

“Okay then. What is your command, owner?” asked Zac in a husky voice, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Zac, let go. Everyone is staring,” I said. Once Zac took his arm off my waist, I got up and pulled Jade’s hand. The both of us then made our way out of the lunchroom and towards my locker to grab my Chemistry book. After I got mine, I walked with Jade to her locker to get hers. While waiting for her, I saw Nick leaning against his locker, smiling at his friends. Suddenly, he turned his head to my direction and saw me. He held my gaze for a couple of seconds before something flashed in his eyes. I couldn’t catch what because he regained his composure immediately and turned away.

“Hey Jade, Nick is acting a little strange today, don’t you think so?” I pointed out.

“Yeah. He didn’t even have lunch with us,” Jade added.

“Maybe he’s in a bad mood?”

“Still, he shouldn’t act like that.”

“Yeah, let’s go over and ask hi-” the bell rang before I could finish my sentence and Jade grabbed my arm, pulling me to the Chemistry lab.

“If he wants to act like that, let him be,” said Jade.

“Okay,” I replied in a quiet voice. I let the subject go with Jade, but I kept thinking about it throughout class. The day before yesterday, he was still so friendly with us. What changed? What happened? Did we do something wrong?

Slowly, my thoughts drifted from Nick to Zac. Zac called and texted me over and over again yesterday night just to check if I was okay. Why is Zac being so nice? Why did I feel butterflies in my stomach whenever I saw him?

***

I signed on MSN the moment I turned on my laptop. Scrolling through the online contacts, I saw Nick. I quickly clicked on his name and typed ‘hi’ before I could change my mind.

Soph Meyers says: Hi.

NickNicholas says: hi.

Soph Meyers says: So… how are you??

NickNicholas says: Fine. I need to tell you something.

Soph Meyers says: What is it?

NickNicholas says: I’m leaving the country in 2 hours.

I stared at the screen in horror. What does that mean? A vacation? Or is he leaving for good? Where was he going? Before I could ask him more, he signed off. I grabbed my phone and texted him.

‘What do you mean by leaving the country??’ I sent the message and flopped on my bed, waiting for a reply. After 10 minutes of waiting, I couldn’t take it anymore so I called him.

“Sorry, but the number you have dialed is unavailable right now, please call ba-” I hung up on the robotic voice and threw my phone on the bed, frustrated. I closed my eyes and sighed. Does Zac know about this? I quickly dialed his number and he picked up on the fourth ring.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Zac?”

“No, this is Narnia, how may I help you?”