As arranged, Nathan came to pick me up for school twenty minutes before the bell was going to ring. Even though he was due to arrive at 8:40, which he did, I was already waiting by my door at 8:30, peering through the glass of my living room window every two minutes.
When his car did pull up, a spark ignites in my heart. "Bye mom!" I shout whilst flying back to the door.
"See you later Paige." But I am already gone.
"Ready for school?" Just the mere sound of the tone of his voice is able to set my heart on fire, the flames burning up to the surface of the cheeks. I don't even know why I'm blushing but it results with Nathan smiling even wider.
"You bet I am," I laugh with a hint of sarcasm. I plug my seat belt in as Nathan pulls off the kerb. "And anyway, I should be asking you that question."
"How come? Oh yeah, Josh." He answers his own question with the roll of his eyes. "Don't worry," Nathan takes a careful hand off the wheel to hold mine daintily in his, squeezing it with reassurance. "Paige, I'll be fine. No one can take me away from you. Not now, not ever."
My throat tightens, almost speechless as his eyes glisten with the reflection of the light refracting from his eyes. "I have no words," I giggle.
"Then don't say anything, just sing."
At first I am puzzled by what he meant- I can't sing to save my life (an expression I use often.) However when Nathan pulls out a familiarly looking CD case from his pocket, and slots the disk into the car, I know exactly what he meant.
"You belieber," I laugh while he changes the song to track 3, my smile expanding with the amusement of how he knew which song was which.
"What do you mean?" He sings along to the music, lyrically correct as he continues to nod his head to the beat.
"Oh I love you," I crack into another outburst of giggles, my eyes close as I keep laughing to his voice. But when I notice he is no longer singing, my eye lids raise with the curiosity for his reason of stopping.
His eyes are flickering from the road to me. When he stares deep into my eyes, a sincere and genuine look came about his face. "I love you too." His lips creep into a smile, my face mirroring the happiness in his eyes. I let out a sigh, able to let go all the insignificant worries and allow them to evaporate from my mind. Nothing matters when I'm with Nathan; nothing but us.
"Why are you parking round the back?" I comment on how Nathan takes a left turn as we arrive through the school gates, driving behind the school building to the overflow car park. There were no cars around, apart from the two cars already parked by teachers. "Your not scared of Josh, are you?"
His face turns to mine. "Of course not. I already told you that."
"Well, you have no reason to be. I'm here." I take his hand in mine one last time. We both lean in and share a kiss before getting out of the car. With our fingers still laced together, a symbol of our blossoming relationship, we enter through the back entrance and up some steps that lead us into the main corridor.
Immediately, without time to blink, I detect the back of Lacy's head, her mid-length blond hair bouncing around her shoulders as she chats with a couple of girls from our year. I call her name from a few metres away, catching her attention as her head turns with a knowing expression on her face.
"Paige," I hear the skip in her voice. She abandons the girls she has been with to sprint down the corridor to join us, Nathan still by my side.
Lacy's eyes jump from Nathan to me, then back onto Nathan. Her grin can't extend any further, a flourishing excitement overwhelming her face. "Nathan!" She exclaims with open arms, gesturing her happiness. "You're back."
"Yes, I am," he beams down towards me. I catch his smile and return it with big eyes. "But I must go and do something before class starts." He leans down to peck the top of my forehead, releasing his hand slowly from mine. "Will see you later."
"Ok," I reply as he sends me a sweet smile. I watch him leave around the corner before turning back around to Lacy.
"I can't believe he's back!" Her hands were physically shaking with delight.
"I know, it's crazy. I'm just so happy he is though."
She eyes me up and down, studying me with a hinted smirk. My eye brows cross in a questionable confusion.
"What?"
"Are you two dating by any chance?" Her smirk enlarges as she jumps up onto her tiptoes. "I knew it!" She sings with joy. "I knew this would happen. I told you to never give up. One ticket to Washington was all it took, I knew it would work."
"Pardon?" My cheeks fall back into place as my smile softens. "Knew what would work?"
"My plan," she states. "I knew if I sent you that ticket and arranged you to go to his apartment, you would be able to persuade him to come back. I know I wrote it as Nathan, but I thought it would be more romantic that way."
I let out a sigh of relief, my shoulders relaxing as the weight is lifted off them. "It was you who sent me the ticket."
"Yeah," she beams with pride. "Good idea wasn't it, ay? Why, who did you think sent it?"
"Josh," I admit with a timid whisper. The way Lacy grimaces at the idea was as if I had said Lord Voldemort. "Hey! He does want to fight him, its not a crazy idea. Well, I did believe it was Nathan, that was, until he had no idea what I was doing at his door step when I arrived." I send her a look.
"Yeah I'm sorry I never told you, we wanted it to be a surprise." Lacy goes onto tell me.
I tilt my head. "Who's we?" I ask, interested in who else was apart of her master plan- which seemed to work out to her expectations. Well, their expectations.
"Me and Bailey," she reveals. "I passed her house last week and we got onto talking bout' you and Nathan. She told me all about how Nathan missed you and how convinced she was that he still loves you. A couple of hours later, I had the ticket in an envelope and sent to your door step. I'm so relived it got to you in time. And since you told be about your mom leaving for the weekend, I thought it was the best time."
"It really was, thank you so much."
"Well, I did tell you never to give up," we exchange a laugh and a friendly hug. Words can't describe the gratitude and appreciation I feel towards her deed. Without her and Bailey's help, Nathan may still be I Washington with that girl I'm so glad is only a friend, if that. "So, what are you going to do about Josh?"
"Hopefully he won't bother us. Wait, where did Nathan say he was going?" A sudden pain explodes in my chest, a surge of nerves shooting through me.
"He didn't, just said there was something he needed to do..." Lacy trails off, her eyes drawn to the corner of the long narrow hall way.
"He's fine, right?" I beg for her reassurance.
"Of course he is."
The bell then chimes, students flooding into the corridor not wanting to be late to class.
"Let's go."
To say the least, the first three periods were a drag. Despite my best efforts of distracting myself by gazing over to Nathan- catching his eye a few times and exchanging a heart fluttering smile- I wish the hour would hurry up and be over.
"We sitting at our usual table for lunch?" Lacy whispers from beside me as she glances up at the clock about to strike twelve.
"Yeah, as long as Nathan can join us."
"Done."
Finally the sound of the bell interrupts Mrs Simpson and her droning voice, everyone making a run for the door. I manage to cling onto Nathan's arm on the way out. "Hey Paige," he says as we all make our way to the cafeteria. "Where we sitting at lunch?"
I open my mouth to reply however get beaten to it by another. "Not with you, you nerd." The voice spits.
Emerging from behind, Josh appears in front of us, blocking our path with his gang surrounding us. I tighten my grip around Nathan's hand. "What do you want Josh?" Nathan looks past the glares and sniggers from the guys he once used to hang out with. Under the control of Josh, his gang begins to snarl at Nathan's remark.
They are acting like a pack of wolves, only obeying their leader- which appears to be Josh.
"I want my girlfriend back, if that's not too much trouble," Josh smirks with a devious grin. My eyes roll in disgust.
"We broke up Josh," I remind his denial.
"Face it scumbag, it's over with you too!" Lacy defends whilst childishly sticking out her tongue. Me and Nathan both laugh at her confidence. I'm so lucky to have a best friend like Lacy.
"Don't stick up for her and that pathetic nerd," Jace narrows his eyes at Lacy.
"I can do what I like, you asshole!"
"You wanna fight?" Jace challenges, his fists clenched with a fury burning within his eyes.
"Hey, there will be no fighting, apart from me with the nerd." Josh cracks each of his knuckles, one by one. Approaching Nathan with a stern glare, I watch as Nathan remains calm with his hand not leaving mine.
"You wanna fight, blondie?" Nathan then asks. It takes me by surprise, Nathan's eye brows frowning with a challenging stare piercing through Josh as if he was armed with a thousand arrows.
"What are you doing?" I hiss under my breath to him, my bottom lip close to quivering with the fear of what is yet to come.
"Proving this douche that you are mine, and that you always have been."
Nathan's words only result with Josh marching closer, his arms flexed. "What did you just call me?" Josh grits his teeth.
The crowd formed around us responds with silence, tense and anxiously awaiting the outcome of this monstrosity. "You don't have to do this," I whisper to Nathan, holding his arm tighter.
"But I want to. This is me," Nathan announces to everyone spectating. "I am Nathan Johnson. I like learning new things, I like being free to make my own decisions, and most of all, I'm in love with Paige Heartfield. And I don't care who knows it, because it's true." His eyes magnetise with mine, a connection so strong I feel as if nothing could break it.
Nothing, apart from the punch Josh suddenly throws between us. From the force of his swing, I stumble back from Nathan, Josh launching himself at him with his fists flying towards the ground. I scrunch up my eyes, the sight too painful to witness.
A cloud of gasps fills the air as soon as I hear the thud of a fist colliding with a stomach, a deep grunt of agony coming from one of their mouths. Another punch is thrown as I hear the stumble of ones feet fall to the floor. I pry my eyes open.
There, lying on the floor, I see Josh.
His nose is bloody and eye swollen. It looks as if Nathan had caused a lot of damage by the way a puddle of blood forms below him.
My eyes search for Nathan. He is stood beside Josh's body, withdrawing his fist back to his side. Untouched, Nathan backs away from him with his nostrils still flared, a heavy breathing coming from his mouth.
Nathan turns his head and our eyes join. We spend a moment in complete silence, no one daring to utter a word. He walks towards me, my legs giving way as I collapse into his body, his arms wrapping around me as I feel safe and loved.
"Oh and another thing about me," Nathan calls out as Josh sits up with his hand glued to his rib. "I also love Justin Bieber."
And with that said, the crowd of students part to either side of the corridor and create a path for us to walk down. I look from side to side and find Lacy giving me the thumbs up. I giggle.
With Nathan's arm around my shoulder, Josh still limp on the ground, justice sweet in the air, everything just feels perfect.
A/N-
YEY JOSH IS DEFEATED!
But what did Nathan have to go do earlier???? Hummm (any ideas)
We found out Lacy & Bailey were the ones to send her the ticket and note. No one suspected Lacy- that I know of...
Please vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter.
More coming soon... Xx