{Chapter Four}
“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” --- Dr Seuss
Monday morning, I woke up with a bad cold and red eyes. I barley got any sleep last night. My thoughts were too busy revolving around Nate. And the conversation we had.
And the lemonade we drank.
And Ben's face when Nate kissed me.
This was one of those things you couldn't forget. My alarm clock went blaring off and instantly woke me up with a start. When I looked in the mirror- I almost fell back in shock. My mouse brown hair was tangled up in a curly mess, making me look like Ronald McDonald. But my eyes looked ten times worser.
It looked like I got drunk and had ketchup sprayed all over my eyes.
Grumpily, I went down the stairs and made myself a bowl of cereal. Halfway through it, the computer made a beeping noise signaling that someone wanted to chat.
Just like I assumed, it was my dad.
"Hey honey!" He wove frantically with a huge grin on his face. Just as I was about to reply back-he spoke up. "Jesus Christ. You like a zombie. What happened?"
"Well, good morning to you too," I mumbled under my breath. Dad let out a chuckle.
"Kidding kiddo. Oh, lol that sounds cool. Kidding kiddo, kidding kiddo." Dad seemed like he was in a whole new different world.
"Dad," I spoke up. He glanced at me for a brief second as if to say, what? "You don't use text language out loud while you're talking."
"Oh really?" One of his eyebrows went up. "Omg, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
I rolled my eyes. I knew he was trying way too hard to be sarcastic. I peered closer into the screen and asked, "Where's mom?"
Dad sighed. "She's out again. Some kind of business meeting I guess."
Of course she would be. "But she did say to tell you hi. She said you sounded kind of upset when you talked to her. Wanna talk about it?"
I grabbed a tissue and wiped my nose. "No," I answered, my voice sounding stuffier with each word. "Not really."
Dad shifted a little in his seat. His eyes were deep brown with worry. "Are you sure?"
I nodded before letting out a cough. "I'm sure."
"Okay then...well you don't sound so good. Are you going to school today?"
I pointed towards the cereal bowl. "Yeah, I'm going. Oh crap, I gotta go now."
"All right then. Drink some medicine, don't hook up with any boys"
I rolled my eyes. "I won't. Bye."
"Bye sweetheart."
Then the screen went blank turning into a black sheet. Grabbing my book bag, I headed out towards the door. The rain had already started. And I forgot my umbrella. Damn.
This was going to be a long day.
Ben was ignoring me, and it was seriously starting to piss me off. First of all, he didn't even bother to show up at my locker. And that was just the beginning.
In Chemistry, he sat with some Alison chick. I was left all alone with twice the lab work. Every time I caught him looking at me, he turned back with a hard look on his face. By lunch time, I was more then just pissed.
"You look like hell," Danielle commented as she put her tray down. "Like seriously, what happened?"
I groaned, pushing my food away from me. My head collapsed into my hands and I let out a long moan. "Natekissedme."
Danielle's forehead wrinkled into a complicated maze. A flash of confusion spread all around her eyes. "What?"
I took a deep breath. You could do this, Scarlet. She is your best friend after all. I leaned in a little closer, smelling her flowery-like perfume and expensive hair spray. She looked really...bewildered at first, but then her face changed into surprise.
"No. Way." She drew out each word slowly. "He KISSED you!!"
I couldn't tell if she wanted that to sound more like a statement or a question. I decided to go with the question. "Keep it down," I hissed. "I don't want the whole school to know."
But Danielle didn't listen to me. Instead, she pulled me over to the side of the cafeteria. Her face looked like it could explode any second. I wouldn't be surprised of she burst out singing in front of the whole cafeteria.
"So that's why Ben's not-"
"Talking to me, I know," I finished for her. "He knew that I didn't pull away. What sucks is that I knew I could pull away, I chose not to. And he knows that too."
Danielle pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes as she bit down on her lip hard. "Oh. Well sorry."
I let out a small-okay, sorry, huge-sneeze right in front of Danielle. I let out a small giggle and said,
"Sorry."
She had a slight disgusted look on her face. "Err-are you sure you don't wanna go home?"
"Yes," I hissed. "I'm fine, seriously."
But I should've gone home right when I said that. Why? Because then I wouldn't have thrown up right next to Ben in Pre-Calc. It was right after lunch when my oh-so-caring teacher decided to pair us up for some "Social skills lesson"
I guess it was preparing us for interviews with our bosses for later on in the future. She didn't even think it through. Half of us in here probably won't even PASS high school, forget graduating college.
Plus, this had nothing to do with math.
Anyways, while our class was half asleep, she assigned us partners. Totally forgetting that Ben was in this class, I grumpily agreed. That was until I saw who I was working with.
"No," I stubbornly disagreed. "I'm not working with him."
I couldn't bring myself to even say his name. My teacher, Ms. Anderson, didn't give a crap about my complaining. Instead, she had a cross look on her face.
"Miss Caraway, I do not care about your whining. I already assigned everyone their partners, and you are working with Ben."
"Whatever," I muttered.
"What was that?" She tilted her head towards me.
"Oh nothing." I plastered a fake smile on my face and nodded towards Ben. "I'll go now, thanks."
"Good. Now, we're not going to have any problems, are we?"
"No, of course not," I answered. Sighing, I turned around and headed towards Ben. He was talking to the same Alison girl that he was talking to in Biology. I would die to be anywhere other then here.
I pulled up a chair next to him and breathed in his smell. He smelled like fresh shampoo and spicy cinnamon axe. The scent made my stomach twist and turn.
After a few seconds, I finally got the nerve to talk to him. "Hey."
He did a double take and his eyes finally landed on mine. The question- What is she doing here?, laid on his eyes. I swore he let out a small sigh before he replied back, "Hi"
A hi. Just a hi. There was no "Hey, I totally forgive you." or "Hey what's up?"
It was just a plain freaking "Hi"
"So I guess we're supposed to be doing this paper." I waved a piece of paper in my hand.
"Yep. Guess so."
I sunk down in my chair. So much for starting a conversation. My stomach was starting to get a little more upset each time I talked. So I decided to shut up.
"Do you think-" I stopped talking when I realized that Ben was still talking- no, flirting- with Alison. He stared right into her eyes as she giggled and curled her stupid blonde hair with her finger. My stomach was now doing flips.
Alison laughed out loud as Ben whispered something into her ear. I bit my lips hard enough to draw blood. I stared at the paper in front of, long enough to pierce a hole. How could Ben move on so quickly? We definitely were not over...were we?
Frustrated, I grabbed the paper right off the desk and tore it into a million pieces. Unfortunately, Ms. Anderson saw.
"Scarlet Caraway! What in the world do you think you're doing?" she strictly yelled at me. The whole class-including Ben- stopped what they were doing to turn to me. "Do you realize that was my last copy?"
Ben met my eyes. A few bizarre questions rose in them. By now, my stomach was mixing into a tornado. I could've sworn that Ben was about to say something right before I dumped out my crazy stomach.
Everyone in the class froze as I vomited all over Ben's chair, his clothes, and his shoes.
That was just the beginning of my horrible day. I was forced to go home; earning a million calls from my dad. None from my mom, of course.
I laid on the couch the rest of the day watching re-runs of Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game. I tried eating, but everything I consumed came right back up. So I sat there on the couch, starving waiting for something exciting to happen.
And something did.
Around one o'clock, there was a knock on the door. Based on how tired I was, it could've been a robber for all I know. But it wasn't, thank god.
It was Nate.
"Hey," He chirped happily. His smile shrunk a little when he saw me lying on the couch. I thought about how pathetic I looked.
I was in sweatpants with a mess ponytail. My face looked like it had been trampled on by a bunch of elephants. Plus, there was no makeup on it at all.
"What happened to you?" Nate asked, closing the door behind him.
"Nothing," I mumbled. "Just a little sick."
"A little? Jeez Scarlet, it looked like a cat scratched up your whole face."
"Thanks," I said back to him in a sarcastic way.
"Seriously though. What happened?"
I motioned for him to take a seat across from me.
"I threw up."
One of his eyebrows raised. "Oh really? So that's why you aren't in school."
"Neither are you," I pointed out.
"Yeah, but I had bags to unpack. So why did you throw up?" he asked.
"Hmm. I don't know." I scratched my chin and pretended to think about it. "Maybe 'cause my body just felt like it!"
He rolled his eyes. "I don't mean it like that, Skittles." My mouth hung open. Did he just call me- "I mean Scarlet. Sorry, forgot."
Skittles was a nickname he used to call me. It was a pretty long story. But then again, all of our memories have long stories that go with them.
"Yeah, well it looks like I'm single now." I don't know why I just blurted that out. Something had gotten over me.
"Oh really" Now both of his eyebrows went up. "So I'm assuming that you and what's his face- Barry, Bob?-didn't make up?"
I sighed. "Ben. And no, we didn't make up. Part of the reason could be because I threw up all over him."
Nate's eyes grew wide and he had a serious look on his face, I swear, right before he burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh my god! You-you actually thr-threw up on him. Ha ha ha."
I buried my face in a pillow. "Shut up! It's not like I meant to do it. I'm just really sick."
Nate stopped laughing and got that serious look on his face. "Oh, right. Sorry about that."
I shrugged. "It's okay."
"Is there anything I can do?" He asked, worriedly.
"Umm no, actually. But my head really hurts." Okay, that was a lie. My head didn't really hurt, but I was dying for some company. I didn't want Nate to leave.
"Hold on," Nate said, heading towards the kitchen. "I'll be right back."
"Okay?" I frowned, wondering what he might do.
A few minutes later, he came out with a bottle of Aspirin, a wash towel, and water.
"What are you-"
"Shh," Nate said cutting me off. He pressed the cool towel against my forehead, making me smile in delight. He massaged my temples a little bit in a back and forth motion. "Better?"
I gave him a broad smile. "Much, thanks."
He nodded, taking the pills out of the bottle. "Eat this," He ordered.
"But I-"
"Just eat it." He rolled his eyes, placing a pill in my hand.
I obeyed silently. A few moments later, I began to feel very tired. I yawned. "Nate I..."
Nate didn't say anything. Instead, he bent over and brushed his lips against my head. It was so soft, so gentle, that I could barley feel it. Then he went away and shut the door behind him leaving me in alone with me and my dreams.
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A/N-
Yay another chapter:D I'm being extra nice and updating for you guys extra early. Hehe and I also won't be able to upload this weekend soo...
(: Anyways, I'm thinking about putting this story in for the 2012 Watty Awards. It's my first year but it never hurts to try.
ALSO- For this story, I do NOT write on word. I write on my phone and my phone only. Haha I wrote most of this in school so tell me if there's any mistakes xD
Shoutout to NatalieYeung for being my 100th fan!!