Chapter 2
“Let me see your schedule.” I go through the pile of papers I have in my locker and hand Mandi my schedule. After we finished eating we headed straight to school and got all our information that we needed.
“We have four classes together: Math, Anatomy, Spanish, and gym.” I take my schedule back and shut my locker.
I can’t stop thinking about what Mandi said at the diner. I mean, honestly, the only thing that I could say that he does see me as more than just a girl and not another daughter is by what happened in the kitchen. Other than that, nope. There’s nothing there.
“Hey. You okay?” I look over at Mandi who has this confused, concerned and constipated look on her face.
I laugh, “Yeah. Just thinking. Are you okay?”
“No. I have to pee. I’ll see you in second period, okay?” She gives me a quick hug and walks away.
I make my way slowly to homeroom. We still have about 10 minutes before class starts. I dread this school year. I’m ready for it to be over with.
Maybe that’s why Nick has never done anything. He feels weird about me being in high school. That would make sense.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” I shake my head to clear my thoughts and turn to my right to see Mason.
Mason is Mandi’s boyfriend. They’ve been together for about a year now. They’re in love. You can tell when they’re near each other. Sometimes, it’s sickening.
“Nothing. Are you in this class?” I ask as he starts to sit beside me.
“Yep. Aren’t you lucky? Mandi and I only have two classes together. Now tell me what you were thinking about.” That’s the sweet thing about Mason. Ever since he and Mandi got together he’s been like a brother to me.
“It’s nothing. Now stop.” I get out a notebook and pen and start writing down that the teacher has on the board.
“Is it about Nick?” I whip my head around fast.
“Uhh… no?” I say more like a question. He chuckles.
“Mandi has already told me about you liking him. I think it’s cute. Ya know, I’m pretty sure he likes you too.” I don’t know why but I blush.
Yes, you heard me ladies and gents. I, Corianna Jones, blushed.
“Did you blush? Whoa. This must be serious. Not some middle school crush.”
I look over to Mason and twist just the upper half of my body and slap him on his arm.
“No one and I mean no one hears about this, okay?” I shake my finger at him likes he a 5 year old getting in trouble.
“Yes ma’am.”
“Okay students, this year won’t be much different from my last year. My rules still apply. I need you all to write down what is on the board. It’s what you’ll need in this class. Some of the things you’ll need in other classes too. The usb, just get one. You don’t need 5 different ones for 5 different classes. Since we all know each other we can skip the introductions. After you get done writing talk quietly amongst yourselves. If you get too loud, I will hand out work.”
I finish writing and turn back to Mason.
“Is it obvious?” I ask him.
“Is what obvious?” he asks confused.
“That I like Nick. Would Nick know?” I ask nervously. I don’t know why I would be nervous asking Mason that. We’ve talked about way worse things. Trust me, there’s no telling what we’ll talk about.
“I don’t think so. If he does know, he hides pretty damn well. Though, you don’t hide that well.” I let out a sigh.
“Should I tell him?” Just thinking about telling him that is something that I don’t wanna do. What if he rejects me? Then what? I continue going over to their house with him knowing that I’m practically in love with him? I don’t think I could do that.
“Well, that’s up to you. I don’t think you should right now. Try to figure out if he likes you first. Then go from there.” Mason can be wise when he wants to be. Or he just knows what to say at the right time.
I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. It’s probably Mandi. Whenever she’s bored she blows my phone up.
I grab it out of my pocket, which is harder than you think, and unlock the phone. It’s from Nick. Most people think it’s weird that my best friends dad texts me. But when your daughter doesn’t answer her phone, you really never have a choice. It’s not like we sit here and have conversations.
I open the message to see what it says.
Nick: Was it true? Is what true? Maybe he meant that for someone else.
Me: Was what true? I text back quickly not to get noticed.
Nick: What you said this morning. About your active life.
My face is on fire. Has he been thinking about that since I said it? I don’t have a chance to reply because the bell rings.
I put all my stuff up and head out. I try to search for Mandi but she’s nowhere to be seen. So I head off to second without her.
I take a seat in the back and take out my phone again and notice another message from him.
Nick: Please tell me it’s not true.
“Hey who you texting?” I look up to see Mandi sitting her stuff on the table and taking the chair next to me.
I give her my phone to let her read them. Her eyes go wide.
“Obviously he can’t stop thinking about what you said. He’s definitely jealous.” She hands me the phone back.
“Do I text back?” I ask. My voice is barely above a whisper. And not because we’re in school.
“Yeah. Ease his mind. I mean it’s not true. You’re making him worry and get jealous over nothing. Even though it’s funny because he’s my dad. But yeah just tell him you were joking.” She has this huge grin on her face the whole time she’s speaking.
I simply nod my head.
Me: No, it’s not true. I was just joking.
Nick: Don’t scare me like that Cor. I thought you were being serious.
Me: Why does that bother you?
Nick: Cause you’re like a daughter to me.
If anyone ever says words don’t hurt, that’s a fucking lie. Because those seven words hurt.
I don’t know why I’m getting so upset over it. It’s a stupid little crush anyways.
I raise my hand to get the teachers attention.
“Yes, Miss Jones?” I can see Mandi look at me with concern all over her face.
“May I go to the restroom?” my voice cracks at the end. I’m trying my hardest to not cry.
“Yes. Hurry back though.” Mrs. Adams says. If there’s any teacher that I would consider my favorite it would be her.
I look to Mandi and hand her my phone then I stand up and walk out. She’ll know what to do with it. I make it to the bathroom before any tears actually come out. Once they do, they don’t stop.
I go to the last stall and lock the door. I slide down to the ground. Our high school actually stays very clean. Our principal and janitors are OCD. Everything has to be perfect.
After about a good 5 minute cry, I decide it’s not worth it. It’s not like he was boyfriend and cheated one. It could be worse. So there’s no point in crying.
I exit the stall and walk to the sinks. I grab a few paper towels and wipe the rest of my makeup off. I dry my face and hands off just as the door opens.
“Cori?” I turn around to face Mandi.
“Hey.” She instantly comes to me and hugs me.
“I’m so sorry. I know that hurts. He is so stupid. When we get home, I’ll talk to him, okay?” I laugh at her.
“There’s nothing to talk about with him. He doesn’t even know how I feel about him so there’s no reason to talk to him. Just let it go, okay? We need to get back to class.”
I walk out before she can say anything else. I really don’t feel like talking about this anymore. Once, we’re back in the room, I lay my head on the desk. I sit there and think about everything. Like maybe he said that because he doesn’t want me to know how he feels.
I zone out the rest of the period. Actually, I zone out the rest of the day. Before I know it, it’s the end of the day.
I’m at my locker putting everything up when Mandi walks up.
“So guess who’s been blowing up your phone since this morning?” she asks while waving my phone in the air.
“How did you get that?” I ask.
“I forgot to give it back this morning and never thought about it. But guess!!” she near screams the last part.
I sigh, “I don’t know. Who?” I grab my phone from her hands just as another message comes in.
I read the name just as she says, “My dad. I didn’t read any of the messages. But the he hasn’t stop sending them. So read them.”
I unlock the phone and start reading. There are 12 messages.
“Hey what’s going on?” I hear Mason ask.
I don’t bother replying.
Nick: Cori?
Nick: Did I say something wrong?
Nick: You always have to have the last word.
Nick: Seriously? Answer me.
Nick: Hello?
Nick: Please answer me.
Nick: I don’t like you ignoring me.
Nick: Can you at least tell me what I did?
Nick: I know you’re in school but damn you can answer me.
Nick: I’ll buy you food if you answer me.
Nick: I already buy you food.
Nick: Cori, stop torturing me. Please answer me.
I reread all the messages at least a thousand times.
“Why would he send that many messages?” I question Mandi. I’m utterly confused.
“Well, I guess it’s because he thinks he did something wrong. You never texted him back after he called you his daughter.” Mandi stated. She does have a point.
Before I could respond Mason grabbed my phone out of my hands and started reading them. Normally that would bother me but I’m a little too shocked at the messages to even care.
“Oh yeah. He thinks he screwed something up. A guy doesn’t send a girl that many messages if he thinks everything is just fine and dandy. Plus the last message, yeah more than likely he’s freaking out. It was sent an hour ago so I’m guessing another one will come soon.” Mason says.
Like that would happen.
“Yeah I don-“ I receive a message. At first I don’t wanna read it simply because I don’t want Mason to be right.
But I give in. Of course. It’s from Nick.
“I’m sorry for what I said.” I read the message out loud. I lock the phone shut and put it in my pocket.
“Are you not going to reply?” Mandi asks a little disappointment in her voice.
I shake my head no, “No point. Don’t know what to say anyways. Are we staying at mine or yours tonight? My parents will be home late probably around 12 or so. They left us money for food.” I’d rather stay at mine tonight. I kind of want to avoid Nick at all cost.
“It doesn’t matter. But I’m going over to Mason’s to help his mom with painting and redecorating. Wanna come with?”
As fun as that sounds, I’d rather not.
I sigh. “Nahh. I’ll just head home. We can stay there tonight. Just text me when you’re on your way, okay?” I fumble around in my purse hunting my keys.
“Okay. Sounds good. I’ll see you later tonight.” I wave bye to them and walk off to my truck while still looking for my keys.
I swear I put them in here somewhere. I go around to the back and let the tailgate down and dump my purse on it. No keys to be found. Good thing I hid a key in the toolbox. Stupid really if you ask me cause anyone could find it but oh well.
I slip everything back in the purse and hop up on the tailgate and fumble around the toolbox looking for the key.
“Ah ha!” Found it.
I finally make my way to my house. I’m looking forward to a nice hot shower. I could really use one.
The good thing about where I live is literally five minutes from the school. I could walk but that’s too much work. Plus with me being lazy I’d turn that simply ten minute walk into about 30 minutes. Just because of pure laziness.
I pull into the driveway and cut the truck off.
‘WHEN I THINK ABOUT YOU, I THINK ABOUT SEVENTEEN’
I jump at the sound of my phone going off.
How in the hell did the ringer get turned on?!
I look at the caller I.D and its Mandi.
“What?” I answer.
“Well, miss cranky ass.. I was going to say that it will probably be around 8 or so before I’m home and there’s a storm rolling in. Will you be okay?” She asks.
I look at the sky and notice dark clouds. And I mean DARK clouds. Have I mentioned I’m deathly scared of storms? I haven’t? Well, I am.
“Uhh.. yeah I’ll be fine. No worries.” Anyone who can hear can probably tell that my voice was nothing but a shaky whisper.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can I promise!”
I sigh. “No, Mandi. I’ll be fine I promise.” I say with a bit more confidence in my voice. Hopefully she’ll by the lie.
“Ugh.. okay. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you soon!” and with that she hangs up.
I make my way to the front door only to realize I don’t have my keys.
For the next ten minutes I spend my time looking for the spare. What kind of family doesn’t have a spare key?!
“I give up.” I say to no one.
I send a message to Mandi saying we’re locked out and we’ll have to stay at hers. I hop back in the truck and start making my way back to her house.
I’m a little nervous. I never responded to Nicks messages. What if he’s here and wants to talk? What am I supposed to say? I’ll say my phone got stolen! Yeah, that’ll never work.
I pull into her driveway and notice the police car is gone. So he’s not home. That’s a good thing.
I go to where they hide the spare key and let myself in. I trudge up my way up the stairs to the guest bedroom which is really my room. Mandi has a claustrophobic problem. She can’t sleep in the same bed as someone else. You know how normally after sex sometimes the couple with cuddle? Yeah, she can’t do that. She’ll have a panic attack. Weird right? It’s whatever though.
I go into her bathroom that’s connected to her room. She has the best shower. It’s like a shower with a sauna. It’s amazing.
I go to turn the water on but nothing happens. I try again and nothing happens.
“What the hell?”
I walk to her room and flop on her bed. I swear nothing is going right today!
“Cori?” well, shit. Nick’s home.
I make my way out of Mandi’s room and too the kitchen. I see Nick still in uniform going through the mail on the counter.
“Hey.” I don’t really know what else to say. He seems startled by my voice.
“Damn. I didn’t hear you come down the stairs. What are you doing here? I thought Mandi was at Mason’s?” he raises an eyebrow. Seriously he looks so hot doing that.
Who am I kidding? He looks hot period. Even in that uniform. Sexy as hell.
“Cori!” I snap out of my train of thought.
“What?” I question back.
“Stop staring at me like that.” He whispered.
“Like what?” maybe if I play dumb he’ll let it go. He lets out a frustrated sigh.
“Nothing. Where’s Mandi?” Well, he let it go. Thank goodness.
“At Mason’s. I would be at home but I lost my keys and couldn’t find the spare so I came here. I hope you don’t mind.” What if he had a girl coming over? Uh oh.
He chuckles. “Why would I care? You practically live here anyways. I should probably get you a key made.”
“Nahh. Don’t worry about it. I know where the spare is.” I say simply playing it off. Hopefully he won’t bring up the messages.
He gets quite. I’m assuming he’s thinking. I walk to the fridge and look for something to eat. Not sure what I’m in the mood for.
“You never texted me back today.” I jump at how close his voice is. I can feel his breathe on my ear. As much as I want to turn around, I don’t. That would only lead to things happening and if that happens I’ll have heart attack.
I don’t wanna talk about this. No. I can’t talk about this.
“I think I want chinese tonight. I’ll call it in. You want the usual? I’m pretty sure Mandi wants the usual. Yep, I need the phone.” I shut the fridge door and with keeping my back turned to him I search for the phone. “Where’s the phone?” I ask.
“Look at me and I’ll give it to you.” My heart skips a beat. You could take that is any way you would want too. There’s definitely one way I wouldn’t mind taking it.
Seriously need to stop thinking about that. I slowly turn around. He has propped against the counter with the phone in his hands. He motions with his finger to come here. I slowly make my way to him.
I look anywhere but him until I feel his fingers under my chin, forcing my head up.
“Why did you not text me back? Don’t give me that crap about your phone dying, being stolen or lost either. Please tell me why.” His voice at the end sounded a bit strained. Like he forced himself to say it.
“Well, I was going too. Then the bell rang and I got to my second class and forgot. Then Mandi wanted it to play games since we had nothing to do and I didn’t get it back until school was over.” That’s mostly the truth.
I can’t think with him being this close. All I want to do is move in a couple more inches and kiss those lips of his. I want to so involved is making out with him that everything else is just nothing.
But luckily he lets go of my chin and places the phone in my hands then walks off.
“Why does it matter?” I ask before I could stop myself. No turning back now.
“Why does it matter that I didn’t text you back after all those messages? Why does it matter if I do have an active sex life? It shouldn’t matter. You shouldn’t care that much about me. I’m not your daughter.” Obviously my brain and mouth are not communicating very well.
“It doesn’t. You’re like the other daughter I never had.” He’s not telling me something. I don’t like this.
“I might be like the daughter you never had but I’m not your daughter. I’m not hungry anymore. I’m going to bed.” I place the phone on the counter and quickly make my way up the stairs.
I plop down on the bed. Or my bed. However you wanna think about it.
There’s something he’s not telling me. I don’t know what it is. But I don’t like it.
After about 20 minutes there’s a knock on the door. I look at the clock. It read 5:23pm.
I know Mandi wouldn’t be home so there’s only one other person.
I sigh and hop off the bed. I open the door to come face to face with Nick. Who obviously has changed clothes.
“Supper is on the table. I know you said you weren’t hungry but I got you some anyways.” He looks tired.
“Okay.” He simply nods his head and walks away.
At that moment my stomach growls. Guess I’m going to eat anyways.
I walk over to my bag and take out shorts and a t shirt. I quickly change before putting my hair up in a messy bun.
I take my time getting to the kitchen. When I finally reach it Nick is nowhere to be found. That’s when I hear the tv on. I guess we’re eating in there. I grab my food and a water bottle and go to the living room.
The only thing I hate about their living room is that the couch is the only place you can sit and eat and watch tv at the same time. And the couch is where Nick is.
We eat in quite. The only thing making a noise is the tv. I’m hardly paying attention. I never do when Nick is sitting with me. The couch is pretty small. So you don’t really have a choice but sit close to each other.
I finish eating and sit back for a moment to let my food settle. It’s pretty dark already with it being only like 5:45 in the afternoon. Plus it being August, it shouldn’t be this dark. The only source of light is the tv.
Just then the show cuts off and the news comes on, reporting a severe thunderstorm is an effect. Everyone is to remain indoors. Just as the weatherman says that a loud rumble of thunder cracks through the sky.
Oh shit. Okay. Stay calm.
Then the tv goes out.
A/N: I didnt know where else to end it. lol it had to be somewhere.
anywho, did you like it? hate it?
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