I love you (not), Mr. Emo.

3. Oh yeah, and here's the part where I lose faith in humanity.

3.  Oh yeah, and here's the part where I lose faith in humanity.

 I don't really know why I took Art, seeing as I can't draw.

 I really had thought that they would teach you how to, but apparently this was a class for people who already knew how and were in the class to improve.

 I was looking at my drawing doubtfully, but the teacher seemed enthusiastic.

 "That's a wonderful panda!" He clapped his hands. "In all my years of teaching, I've never seen a better panda!"

 I glared at him. "It's a shoe."

 He looked embarrassed. "Oh."

 I sighed and picked up an eraser.

 "No."

 It was plucked from my grasp.

 I looked round. "Nate?"

 He was shaking his head at me. "You shouldn't rub that out."

 I felt a little flattered. "It's not that good..."

 "No, what I'm saying is: you shouldn't even draw on the same piece of paper where you spawned that ugly thing." He ripped the paper out of the book and scrunched it into a ball and threw it in the trash. "Let's just hope it gets burned."

 I stared at him, open-mouthed. "You bitch."

 The teacher glanced at the two of us uneasily. "Uh...I'm just going to go over here..."

 Nate just glared at me. "Why are you even in this class?"

 "You know, you could show a little tact."

 "I'll show you tact if you show talent."

 "Oh that's cute."

 He strolled past. "Cute is what I aim for."

 How I wanted to choke him.

 It would be better if he was one of those mischievous flirts, instead he was just dark.

 He was dry, unfriendly and generally a jerk.

 Someone like that didn't deserve that pretty face.

xxx

 I walked to the car park after school, Amalie had told me she'd give me a ride home.

 I was twirling my house key on my finger and thinking about Nate.

 And yet...in denial that I was intrigued by him.

 Just a little.

 Just a bit.

 After all, I still hated the jerk, but surely no one could be that much of a jerk without some kind of reason.

 Then I realised it.

 He was a psycho! Of course!

 There! That was simple.

 Then I remembered the scars on his wrists and felt a little bad for thinking like that.

 I wondered what was going through people's minds whilst doing that.

 I'd read somewhere that cutting made some people feel better just because the pain felt better than everything else in their lives.

 I couldn't imagine that.

 And yet, the cuts had been right on his wrists.

 Maybe he had tried to do more than cut.

 Maybe he had actually tried to-

 "Riel!"

 I looked up.

 Caleb and a group of his friends waved me over.

 I pushed Nate out of my mind. I liked guys without issues- like Caleb, for instance.

 "Hi." I smiled, running over to him.

 "Good day?" He asked.

 "Yeah," I shrugged. "Apart from Art."

 "Why?"

 "Oh...no real reason."

 Caleb hated Nate even more than I did- I didn't want to start him off on a 'Nate' tangent.

 However, it seemed that the fates were against me.

 "Oh look who it is!" Someone shouted, pointing at someone walking down the road.

 My chest tightened.

 "Nate." I said, looking  at Caleb. "You were waiting for Nate?"

 Caleb smiled. "Yep." He patted my shoulder. "Stay here, okay?"

 "Caleb!" I caught his arm. "Y-you're not going to hurt him or anything, are you?"

 Caleb wasn't looking at me. "Stay here." He repeated and pulled away.

 "Hey, Hargreaves!"

 Nate looked up and saw all of them, Caleb and his ten friends.

 Run! I thought.

 Nate blinked at them, then actually laughed.

 "Don't you people have anything better to do?"

 "Shut your damn mouth!" One of the jocks ran at him.

 "Stop!" I shouted.

 Nate's fist blurred and the guy fell flat on his back, blood pouring onto the gravel.

 The jocks hesitated.

 Nate brushed past them. "I've actually got better things to do than deal with you right now."

 "Oh, I see!" Caleb laughed. "You're scared."

 "Yeah, the guy who couldn't hit me really gave me a fright."

 Nate saw me hovering there in the road. "Did you enjoy the show, dear?" He enquired. "They'll be bringing round the popcorn and chilled drinks in just a moment."

 "Nate!" I rolled my eyes. "Can't you at least act scared? I thought they were going to kill you!"

 "These people?" Nate scoffed. "These small-time losers? These-?"

 "Okay!" Seeing the jocks' enraged faces, I grabbed Nate's shoulders. "Enough with the insults, alright?"

 "Riel! Don't touch him!" Caleb snapped.

 "Yeah," Nate agreed. "You need my permission written in duplicate."

 I stopped still.

 "Brielle, don't touch him!"

 And then the feeling of my mother gripping my hand.

 Why did I feel like this?

 I put a hand up to my head.

 Déjà vu?

 "Riel?" Nate was looking down at me.

 "...Daddy says it's the chakra of the heart..."

 Nate shook me a little. "Riel? What's wrong?"

 I looked up at him.

 "And it leads you to your heart's desire!"

 I was staring up at him, almost in a daze.

 Then I shook myself awake.

 "Uh, no..." I pulled away. "Nothing."

 He was frowning at me and it looked like he was going to say something, then Caleb walked over and put his hand on my shoulder.

 And the dream ended.