Meet Me Halfway

Chapter 19

A stabbing feeling in the depths of her ribs and upper abdominal area is what jolted her out of sleep on her first Monday back after the winter break.

Her final trimester was just around the corner, so she was prepared for all the changes that would come to her body. She'd read all the books, taken all the advice she could from doctors so she was confident she was ready.

This feeling however, was unusually extreme, and it didn't appear to only effect her abdominal area, she felt it slowly but surely take over her whole body, her head, her chest, her lungs, every part of her body felt like a fire ripping through her, weakening her from the inside out. This certainly wasn't something she had prepared for.

However, despite feeling like she was seconds away from fainting and taking her Dad's advice to stay home, she adamantly made her way to school that morning anyway, and everything appeared to seem normal and tolerable at most, until she was approached by Hal Cooper. This was all she needed today.

She caught him at the corner of her eye, his facial expression switching from cocky to mild curiosity when he laid eyes upon her. He waltzed on over to her locker, narrowing his grey eyes towards her and leaning up against the locker next to hers.

"Hey." He simply states, starting slow and hoping to build things up to an actual conversation.

She flashes a quick annoyance filled glance his way, shifting her gaze back to the books in her locker as she took them out one by one. "Hey nothing." She snapped back sharply, before swinging her bag over back, the mildly vigorous action making her twinge in pain, that remarkably went unnoticed by Hal.

"I'm trying to be friendly here Alice." He protested, feigning such innocence as if he hadn't subtly insulted her the last time they spoke.

"You can 'try'-" She added, making quotations with her fingers. "As much as you want, it's still mission impossible when you're a fucking asshole." She retorts, slamming her locker shut and storming off down the hallway.

His beady blue eyes widened in fury as he watched her, tightening his wide jaw and clasping the strap of his bag into a wrinkled state before power waking after her. "You're lucky I didn't report your little violent outburst to Weatherbee and get your ass kicked off the newspaper." He subtly threatened in her ear.

She spun around, her golden locks practically whipping him across the chest. "So why didn't you?" Her eyes widen in curiosity, feigning an interest into why, despite slapping the life out of him, he was still here pursuing her and had kept her on his newspaper, but she believed she already had the answer, and just wanted confirmation. To hear it straight from the horses mouth.

He pauses, loosening his tightened and scowled face after she speaks. "Because-" He stammers before she swiftly interrupts

"Because what? You still think you've got a chance with me?" She laughs, taking enjoyment in his mild embarrassment on his face as he glared down. That's exactly why he was being persistent and seemingly nice, he really thought it would result in getting her out of her panties.

"Think I'll stick to my own kind, they really know how to get a girl going." She taunted, sticking her tongue out between her teeth to really add emphasis to her aim.

His face remained straight, besides the blatant anger, jealousy and hit to his inflated ego, but it was more so out of confusion. What on earth did she mean by that. "Your kind?"

"Southsiders of course." She states confidently as she turned, her blonde locks again practically hitting him in the chest, which she of course didn't give a calm about. "Don't tell me you never knew?"