The next week went by in a blur.
Xavier dropped by the house every other day to see Lily, even if it was for a couple minutes.
School had been. . . different. Norah made it very apparent that she had been with Xavier any time he wasn't with me, doing only God knows what.
I knew her Get a Guy plan. It always started out with her flirting and giggling, which had happened back at the house a week ago. Then she would move on to the Sleeping With Him stage. Which, by the way she hung off his arm and kissed him, I was pretty sure had already happened.
But that wasn't what was off. She acted almost as if she was flirting and kissing Xavier to piss me off. She would stare at me over his shoulder any time she kissed him, like she was seeing if it affected me. What she was doing wasn't pissing me off, not in the least. No, it was the fact that she was doing it in the first place that was starting to get on my nerves.
". . . right, Bea?" My head snapped up as Norah's voice pulled me back into reality. She was resting her head against Xavier's arm as she scowled down at her phone.
"What?" I asked. She rolled her eyes and set her phone down in front of her.
"I said that you don't want to go to Homecoming, right? I swear, Bea, you're worst then my brother. At least he listens to half of what I'm saying." She muttered, shaking her head at me. That was it, that little word was what sent me flying off the edge.
Being sleep deprived because of the last few nights of Lily keeping me up all night, and the way Norah had been acting all week, I couldn't take it anymore. I could feel myself starting to snap.
"Maybe I would listen to you if you stopped talking shit about people. If you actually looked in the mirror for once and saw that the problem is you not Rachel or Evan, you!" I exploded, shoving my food into the trash, "And stop shoving your relationship in my face, Norah. I get it, I'm a loser! I don't have a boyfriend and I don't have a life. Are you happy now?" I stormed out of the cafeteria before she or the rest of the cafeteria could say a word.
It wasn't until I was out in the hallway that I leaned back against a locker and buried my face in my hands.
Why the hell had I just done that?
*
"Beatrice? Are you in here?" I fixed my hair and lifted my head, my breath catching in my throat.
"Bea?" I shook my head to myself as I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Go away." I grumbled, glaring at the door to the stall. My eyes lingered on the phone numbers and curse words that were scribbled all over it.
"Beatrice, come out here." I only sniffled in response to his words.
"No. You shouldn't even be in here, Xavier. It's the girls bathroom." I snapped, my voice cracking. I heard a sigh outside the door and a second later Xavier slipped under the small space beneath it. I stared in horror and awe, my vision starting to blur again.
"Why are you crying?" He asked, scratching the back of his head as if he were slightly uncomfortable.
"Why are you in the girls bathroom?" I whispered. He stared at me for a second, his eyes darkening.
"Because you ran out of there and nobody seemed to care. I wanted to make sure you were okay." I couldn't help but feel a little shook by his words. Xavier was worried about me? The guy that didn't care about anything, was worried about me?
"I'm fine." I assured him, "You can go back to your girlfriend now." He crossed his arms over his chest, his lips parting.
"Girlfriend? You mean Norah?" He started laughing before I could say another word. "God, Beatrice. You are so naive." He shook his head, still laughing at me.
"What do you mean?" I growled.
"I mean that Norah is a bitch, Beatrice. I may not care about a whole lot, but I sure as hell don't walk around acting like I'm better than everyone else." I stared in shock, ready to fight what he said.
"I've watching people like her crumble and fall to the ground once karma comes around and bites them in the ass. Look, Beatrice. I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but whatever Norah says to you isn't true. She thrives on seeing you cringe, Bea. I don't know why you're even friends with her." I tried to pull away, but it only resulted in his grip tightening around my wrist.
"I saw how happy you were when she was in Miami, Beatrice. Just because you don't see me doesn't mean I'm not there. Now I want you to promise me something." I stared at him through my lashes, afraid he's see how shocked I was.
"What?" I whispered. A smile tugged at his lips as he brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes, and for a moment I wondered if he had done this before, comforted a girl.
"The next time she says a word about Lily," He paused, letting the grin finally stretch across his face, "Slap her, please."
*
After about fifteen minutes, I somehow Xavier talk me into leaving early. He forced me to go to the nurse and before I could even say a word, the nurse said I looked sleep deprived.
"That wasn't hard." I stated the obvious, laying my head against the seat. Xavier nodded, laughing quietly.
"No, but it ruined your perfect record, sweetheart." He replied, glancing sideways at me. I could see amusement twinkling in his eyes.
"Eh, it's one day in. . . my whole life." I didn't have enough energy to do the math, and I honestly didn't really care enough to try.
"How does it feel, you little rebel?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow. I snorted and turned to look out the window. He's the one that had pretty much ditched, but was that really a surprise? I'd seen him ditch before, I guess that it was just strange that he had ditched to help me.
"Great." I muttered sarcastically, "Can you please stop looking at me like that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Like what?"
"Like I'm Lily trying to figure out how to use a rattle." I laughed, feeling my cheeks starting to warm in embarrassment. He didn't even try to hold back his laugh, another grin stretched across his face.
Being this close and seeing him smile, I could finally see why so many people had found him attractive. He had this lightness about him, when he smiled it seemed to light up his whole face and cause his hazel eyes to glisten. He even had a dimple on his right cheek, and I had always been a sucker for dimples.
"Why are you looking at me now?" He questioned, his eyebrows drawing in confusion.
"No reason," I lied, smiling, "I just kind of realized something about you that I didn't before." He raised his eyebrows again, looking a little offended.
"Is it a good thing or a bad thing?" He wondered aloud. I yawned and reached over to pat his shoulder.
"A good thing. Definitely a good thing."
I must have passed out sometime during the ride home, because I woke up in my bed, under my blankets. I bolted upright once I realized what that meant.
Xavier had been in my room. He could have gone through my diary, saw all of my writing and saw my secret obsession with old movies. He could have enough dirt on me to last him the rest of high school, and college.
"Lily?" I whispered, glancing toward her bassinet. She wasn't in it.
"Lily?" I repeated, a little louder as I jogged over to it. The blankets were ruffled, but she was no where in sight. I darted out of the room and down the stairs, running straight into my brother.
"Wow, slow down there, gunpowder." He joked, gripping my shoulders. I looked around the room and peaked into the kitchen.
"Lily? Where is she?" I breathed out, searching my brother's eyes. To my surprise he started laughing quietly to himself.
"Calm down, Bea." He ruffled my hair as he started to walk past me, "Xavier said he was going to take her to his house, so you could get some sleep. I have to hand it to you, I didn't know that he was a pretty decent guy." He said, jokingly. I stared at the front door for a long second, my lips still parted and my heart slowly starting to fall back into its normal rhythm again.
"Yeah." I replied, "Neither did I."
***AN***
*Edited*
I hope you guys enjoyed! Sorry for the wait!
Let me know what you thought!
~ChasingMadness24