Nathaniel Likes the Weird Girl

5. Worry

With shaking hands, I rifled through my trunk, looking for the case of waters I always kept there, absently pushing aside all the piled-up junk and cursing myself for not keeping my car cleaner.

"What am I even doing?" I asked myself aloud.

Being a decent human, the voice in my head responded cuttingly. I sighed, tucking one water bottle into my jacket pocket and grabbing another.

Walking back as quickly as my legs would allow me without breaking into a run, I was surprised when I didn't find Sami in the spot I had left her, at the bottom of the steps. Instead, I saw a snickering Stephanie, surrounded by a few of her friends, and my stomach dropped. My pace immediately slowed, feet dragging across the concrete as I drew closer.

"Oh, hey, Nathaniel!" Stephanie waved and smiled when she spotted me wandering over. "Everyone inside was wondering where you went."

I tried to smile in return, but my focus wasn't entirely on her. Mt eyes drifted around the surrounding campus, searching for where Sami might be.

"What are you guys doing out here, anyway?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

Stephanie looked at her friends and the giggling multiplied once again. "Oh, nothing. We just came out to have a little chat with Snotty Bauer."

I tried to hold the smile on my face, but it felt more like I was grimacing. "Oh? What did you have a chat about?"

"Not much," Stephanie sighed dramatically, shrugging. "We just let her know what we thought about her rude behavior, earlier. And that we didn't think it was very appropriate for an underage student to get drunk at a school fundraiser." As she said this, she lifted her silver canteen to her lips and took a cheeky sip, resulting in more laughter from her friends.

"I see," I said, only nodding. If I gripped the water bottle in my hand any harder, I was afraid the cap might fly off.

"She didn't like what we had to say very much, though," Stephanie continued with a smirk. "She stomped off before I could even finish talking. So rude," she shook her head and joined her friends in their laughter.

But I was only half-listening. My eyes were still scanning the the buildings and walkways nearby, looking for any sign of the drunk girl I'd foolishly left alone.

"What are you doing out here?" she suddenly asked, raising an eyebrow and looking down at the bottle of water in my hand.

"Oh, y'know," I mumbled, trying to think of something to say. "Trying to sober up before I drive home. I don't want to get pulled over. So I was gonna drink some water and go for a walk before I left. I've got a history test tomorrow, so I don't want to get home too late."

She nodded, already distracted by something on her phone. Lying is a lot easier when the person you're lying to doesn't care about you.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow, then," I said, turning to walk away.

"Tell me if you see Sami crying in the bushes somewhere," she called after me. "She walked off in that direction."

She pointed towards the football field, the exact place I had been headed. I only nodded and waved in response, going on my way. Hopefully, she wouldn't follow and attempt to torment Sami anymore than she already had. I just hoped I could find her before anything bad happened.