Dedicated to 3k3m1n1 for the hilarious comments they've left on the past few chapters and on my Message Board.
Could you just press the VOTE button now? I promise the chapter is juicy!
Chapter 11
Happy as I was about my date on Friday with Daniel, there was the small matter of Nate punching Theo that I still had to deal with.
The opportunity to do just that presented itself when, after stepping out of school on Tuesday afternoon, I saw him leaning against his Jeep surrounded by a few of the guys from the football team.
Better get this over with now, I told myself.
Ignoring the other football players, I walked up to Nate and calmly asked if I could talk to him.
He nodded and we made our way to one of the shady oak trees on school grounds. We were a considerable distance from other people and yet I had this sixth sense that told me we weren't far away enough.
"I didn't know you were coming back in today -" he started but I silenced him with a glare.
"I heard you punched Theo last Friday."
He looked confused. "Yeah, I did. He lost you and -"
"Nathan," I interrupted him with the name nobody, except his parents, had called him in years. "Who gave you the right to go punching people on my behalf?"
He looked at me like I was stupid and/or braindead.
"Theo lost you, Sara! He promised to look out for you. Who knows what could have happened -"
"Regardless of what could have happened, did punching him do anything about me being missing?"
"Well, no, but -"
"It was an honest mistake on his part. I fought with Julian and I got myself drunk. Before all of that, I told Theo to hang out with his friends for a while -"
"He should have gone and looked for you when he saw you were gone -"
"You mean when he came back and saw that his date and one of the hottest guys at school were missing?"
I ignored his disbelieving scoff and kept talking.
"Yeah, the rational conclusion would be to think that said date got herself over-the-moon drunk and said hot guy was running around looking for her. That's definitely what I would have thought if I was Theo."
My voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Don't you think he tried to explain that to me, Sara? I'm sorry, alright. I'm sorry I punched him but I only did that in the heat of the moment – and only because I was mad that he didn't know where you were. I was worried about what could have happened to you! I'm your best friend and -"
"No, Nathan! Just, no! You don't get to pull that card out right now. In fact, you don't get to pull it out at all!" I shouted.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down and raised a hand to tell him I had more to say.
"Three years, Nate. Three years I barely hear from you and you think a box of cupcakes gives you the right to call yourself my best friend again?"
I poked a finger at his chest, the words pouring out from a very hurt, very angry part of me I thought I'd locked up.
"I tried to stay friends with you – and don't even think about saying that you tried too!"
It looked like he was about to protest but my words shut him up.
"I came over to your house, I called, I talked to you at school. I asked if you were free to hang out but you were always, always busy! You put good ol' reliable Sara on the back burner because she'd always be there, right? Besides, she's a nerd so she doesn't really have a social life to keep her busy, right?"
"It's not like that -"
"I'm not finished!" I shouted. Once again, he was quiet.
"I was busy too. I was busy studying and getting good grades and maybe those things don't matter much to anyone else but they do to me. Still, I reached out to you because that's what you do for your best friend – you make time for them."
"Did you even notice that I stopped trying, that I stopped talking to you at school? I walked away from you after you did it to me," I spat out. "You dropped me like a hot potato. I got up and walked away after you got another life that didn't include me."
"Sara, you're making me seem like a jerk," the low volume in his voice tried to counteract my shouting. "I still talked to you, didn't I?"
"Oh yeah, right – you did," I sarcastically started to nod my head. "You talked to me when you needed help with your homework or to study for a test. You definitely talked to me when you needed a ride to school or you needed me to cover for you with your Mom when you went to parties." The crazy look in my eyes practically dared him to say otherwise.
"Sure, you talked to me alright. You talked to me when you needed me, Nate, but not once did you make me feel like you wanted me around."
"When I brought the cupcakes over, you said you forgave me for all the crap I pulled -"
"Did I, Nate? Did I really? Because from what I remember – and believe me I have very good memory – I didn't say I did," I paused to catch a breath.
"Did you really think I could forgive you that easily? That a box of cupcakes would earn you my trust again? Did you think taking me out to the movies with your friends would make it alright? Did you think I felt happy and warm when you took me with you because your girl friend wasn't available?"
I stopped to swallow a small lump in my throat and retreated into my anger.
Anger was good. Showing him the accumulation of hurt he'd brought me was not.
"Did you think punching the first guy to notice that I'm more than a nerd – that I'm actually an interesting person – would give you the right to call yourself my best friend again?"
I waited for him to try and defend himself. He did the smart thing and stayed quiet.
"Jenny's boyfriend has been a better friend to me than you have. Believe me, Louis wanted to clock Julian but he didn't. Julian actually would have deserved it but at least he was being his usual mean, moronic self that night."
I remembered the bags of fruit and tea Julian had brought over yesterday and felt myself flash a weird smile.
"And I know there's bad blood between you and Julian but he had the decency to come over yesterday and ask if I was doing alright. Did you?"
I had my answer in the guilty look in his eyes.
"No, of course you didn't."
I took out my phone from my pocket and pulled up the text message I sent him on Saturday morning.
"Do you see this? Do you see what I see? Because I see someone who texted her supposed best friend about how she had a hang over from hell and the flu. I see someone who actually apologized for all the trouble she caused and thanked him for helping to look for her drunk ass."
I pretended to scroll down the screen like I would normally when I was checking the rest of the messages in a thread.
"Now, what I don't see is a reply from said quote-unquote best friend – not even a 'Hey, I'm glad you're home safe' or 'It sucks that you feel like crap'. Hell, even an 'OK' would have been better -"
"Sara," Jenny's soft voice said from behind me.
I turned around to see her looking at me with a quiet determination before sneaking a look of mixed annoyance and worry at Nate.
"Sara, I think he gets the point." She took my hand in hers and tried to pull me away but I stood firm. She breathed out a small, frustrated sigh then smiled at me. "I'm sure Nate's sorry for punching Theo and he'll apologize the next time they see each other."
With a clenched jaw and hard eyes, Nate nodded his head.
I licked my lips, swallowed the tennis ball in my throat and nodded in his general direction.
I let Jenny lead me to my truck where Allie pulled me into the backseat and held me together in a soft hug. I didn't protest when, for the first time, Jenny sat down in the driver's seat and started the truck.
When we were a safe distance from school, Allie pulled away and wiped away the few tears I'd unknowingly shed.
"You're scary when you blow up," she laughed then turned serious.
"But I have never been more proud of you for doing what you just did."
I gave her a shaky smile and placed my head back on her shoulder, thinking of how stupid I was for craving Nate's friendship these past three years when all this time, I had Allie and Jenny's.
* * * * *
When I entered my Creative Writing class on Friday, Julian made a show of giving me a standing ovation.
There really was no need to ask why.
I'd screamed at Nate for the better part of ten minutes and contrary to what I believed and hoped, most of the school had witnessed it. For the first time ever, people knew me for more than my GPA, my brains or the infamous beaker incident.
Be careful what you wish for.
"There's the girl who handed Anderson his head on a plate!" Julian cheered.
My first instinct should have been to throw my shoe at him but the morbidly excessive amount of glee in Julian's voice made me laugh.
"So do you have any ideas for our project yet?" he asked when I'd put away all my things.
I told him about what I'd come up with – a story told only through pictures. "There would still be an actual literary story but instead of using captions like most people would, we write down the dialogue on post-its and photograph them."
"I think I like it," he said after thinking it through awhile. "Though it sound like a lot more work for me."
"Stop being such a princess. I'll carry your camera bag or something," I joked.
Julian and I were still laughing at the reactions my idea got from Ms. Lyle – "This is exactly the kind of brilliance we expected from the both of you!" – and Mr. Parker – "If you two pull this off, it would be a smash hit!" – when Allie and Jenny came barreling into the classroom fifteen seconds after the bell rang.
"Why aren't your things ready yet! We only have a few hours to get you ready!" Allie screamed at me.
"Ready? For what?" Julian asked.
Like they had been for the past week, Allie and Jenny ignored him and started gathering my things.
"I have a date," I admitted shyly to Julian and prepared myself for his inevitable mockery.
Instead, he gave me what I can only say was an impressed look. "Look at you, Preston. First you bite Anderson's head off and now you're going on a date? 'I'm surprised' doesn't really begin to cover how I feel right now."
"Come on, Sara," Allie pulled my arm before I could ask him what else he was feeling.
"You and Julian seem to be getting along better," Jenny mused as Allie propelled us through the school hallway at breakneck speed.
Allie and Jenny knew Julian came to ask if I was alright last Monday. What they didn't really know – because I never found the guts to tell them – was that I spent twenty minutes with him that surprisingly didn't involve me wanting to mutilate him.
"He's not as horrible as I thought," I declared before Allie pushed me into the driver's seat and ordered me to step on it.
* * * * *
Since Becca had a doctor's appointment – she and Adam were finally finding out if they were having a boy or a girl – Allie more than willingly volunteered to help me get ready for my date with Daniel and, in a very bossy sort of voice, declared that Jenny would be her assistant.
Jenny spent a good thirty minutes braiding my hair into a mussed-up-yet-still-neat-looking side fishtail braid and the make up Allie used was reminiscent of the what Becca did for the Opening Dance – natural and light.
At the twins' insistence – and because, in Allie's words, I have a problem with dressing appropriately for any kind of formal occasion – I wore a dress that didn't come from my closet. Though it was technically Jenny's, it was thankfully nothing like what I wore to the Opening Dance. I might have even picked it out for myself.
It was a classy sleeveless black dress with see-through lace at the shoulder and neck and a belt with elaborate golden loops that cinched it at the waist. It was long and loose enough for me to be comfortable in yet, as Allie pointed out with wiggling eyebrows, showed off my 'killer set of legs'.
After a lot of digging through Becca's shoe collection that consisted mostly of stiletto death traps, Jenny found a pair of flats with a slight gold sheen. The shoes complimented the dress and placed a few choice bangles on my wrist to complete the ensemble.
Allie threw in my phone, wallet, keys and an unnecessary amount of makeup into a small black purse, handed me my pale gray cardigan and went to find her sister so they could witness Daniel's arrival from the kitchen window.
The door bell rang at six-forty-five and, after a few calming breaths, I plastered a wide smile on my face and yanked the front door open.
My smile froze.
"Nate," I blinked. "This is ... a surprise."
He gave me a long look. "Didn't you get my text?"
Since I'd been busy being Allie and Jenny's Barbie doll for the better part of a few hours, I hadn't had a chance to look my phone.
"I haven't checked my phone for a few hours," I shrugged. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I, uh, wanted to ask if you were okay for a movie night with me? You know, just like we used to when we were ... friends." He tacked on a shy smile at the end.
I cringed. "I'm sorry. I can't -"
But before I could explain why, he started to ramble.
"What you said, last Tuesday, you weren't really wrong. And I don't know if it's too late for me to try winning you back but I know that I need to at least try. I'm making an effort here -"
I cut him off when I saw a familiar blue sedan pull up in front of the house.
"I really appreciate that you're trying, Nate, I do. It's not that I don't want to make .. this friendship," I said hesitantly, "between us better but I can't right now. I have plans." I was talking to Nate but my eyes were fixed on Daniel as he stepped out of his car and flashed me a wide smile.
By the time I finished talking, Daniel was standing on the front porch in his dark blue blazer, white button up shirt, dark jeans and black loafers.
"Sara," he breathed my name. "You look wonderful."
Daniel walked up to me – Nate had stepped aside a few seconds ago – and took my hand in his. He gave me the usual kiss on the cheek that still managed to make my heart flutter and jump.
When he pulled back, he had a twinkle in his eyes and a small, secretive smile on his lips. "No, let me say that again in the most appropriate of ways: you look gorgeous."
I felt my cheeks warm up and in an effort to direct everyone's attention away from me, I gestured to Nate and Daniel. "Uhm, let me introduce the two of you. Daniel, this is Nate. Nate, Daniel."
Daniel smiled at Nate and held his hand out so they could shake. "Ah, you are the boy who Sara used to be close with up until middle school. Or did I remember differently?"
Daniel looked to me for confirmation and I gave him a nod. "I can't help but notice that my arrival seems to have interrupted your conversation."
Nate shook his head. "No. I just came over to see if Sara was free to hang out."
"Nate wants to reconnect," I explained to Daniel.
"Ah, well, you did have her up until middle school," Daniel said teasingly. "I think it's about time Sara enjoyed the company of other men?"
I blushed once more and, to his credit, Nate's answer came only in a grim smile.
Sara's dress is on the side, FYI.
So do you want to find and shoot me since the date isn't actually here?
I just felt like this chapter had to be written - in fact, the first half of it practically wrote itself.
Special props to @_BrianaNicole for telling me that I have yet to disappoint (which I hope wasn't just flattery) and for staying up to get to read this as soon as it came out.
Awesome-st people on Wattpad a.k.a. people who actually leave briliant comments: @Jessie_Baby, @purple_cookie333, @TheRealZ, @PsychoStars.
Don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE.
The more votes, comments and reads this thing gets me more excited I get to write and update. Why do you think I've been writing so much the past few days?
Thank you for still reading :)
- Chompy
P.S. Go check out WORST STORY ON WATTPAD. I dare you to not laugh while you read it. Haha.