Chapter 30 || Secrets
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*Nicole's POV*
Alice shrieks causing me to slam my locker door shut in fear.
I whip my head around and place my hand over her mouth, "Shhh" but she continues to mumble into my hand.
"Eww!" I shriek as I pull my hand but moments later, "You licked me!?"
Alice laughs and wipes her mouth, "Yeah. How else would you have moved your hand?"
I wipe my hand on Alice's sweater, "Uhh by being quiet."
Alice playfully rolls her eyes, "Yeah that's never going to happen Nicole and you know that."
I laugh as I sling my backpack over my shoulder, "One can hope."
Alice goes back to shrieking again, "Jake almost kissed you!!"
"SHHH! People will hear you!" I whisper, "It was probably my imagination anyway.
"So you imagine him kissing you?" She taunts.
"Yes..." I freeze "Wait... no!"
Alice laughs.
"You played me!"
"You walked into that one honey!" She chuckles.
I groan.
Alice stops in her tracks, turns to me and puts her hands on my shoulders, "How did it feel?"
I raise my eyebrows "What?"
She shakes her head "You know... Being so close to him... Him on top of you and you on top of him! The almost kiss on your lips!!" She takes a breath "HOW DID THAT FEEL!!"
"Alice you're kinda of hurting my shoulders" I gasp as she digs her nails into my skin.
She looks me square in the eye "Do not avoid the question missy!"
"Alice stop that hurts!"
"Nicole answer"
"Aliceeeee" I whine
"Nicole!" She demands and digs harder.
"Ahhhh FINE OKAY!" She removes her nails from my shoulders "It felt good.... actually better than good. It was amazing! almost... magical."
She places her hands on her hips "Now was that so hard?"
I rub my shoulders.
"You shouldn't keep things bottled up. It does things to you."
I nod and as we begin to walk again I see a very angry Ashley glaring at me and talking to someone who I could not see.
I gulp as I picked up the pace.
"Nicole what are..."
"Just come quickly" I whisper and we quickly walk down the hall.
Once we are down the stairs and away from everyone I begin to explain who those girls are, "That was Ashley."
"And I care why?"
"She is like the Regina George of this school. She wrecks people's lives." I continue to tell her how Ashley non-stopped picked on me - which left me visible amounts of bruises, poured hot coffee or hot chocolate - can't remember what it was - all over me and how she shoved me into my locker.
"Why that little... I'm gonna rip her to shreds!" Alice begins to crack her knuckles, "Does Jake know?"
"I-I don't think so"
Her eyes widened, "You didn't tell him?"
I shake my head, "Ashley said she would make my life a living... uh... nightmare"
Alice rubs my back "She already has. Jake might have been able to help."
"Probably not, I mean he isn't with me 24/7 at school. She would just find a way and besides she hasn't come near me in a while."
She raises an eyebrow "Wasn't she just glaring at you?"
I nod.
"I think that's going to change. You need to tell Jake and if you don't then will."
"No!" I cough "No. Don't. I don't want him to worry."
Alice sighs, "He is going to be upset with himself, Nicole. He is going to be all like, I should have known. I could have helped blah blah blah... Then it's going to pin back to you because you didn't trust him."
My mouth drops.
"That's how it always happens in the movies at least."
I nod "Okay, fine, I'll tell him."
"Good. Now let's eat I'm starving." Alice grabs my wrist and runs into the cafe.
She stops for a brief moment, looks around, waves her free hand in the air and continues running again.
"There they are" I hear Dan said.
"Heyyyy Dan, How are you" Alice chimes.
"Better now" He winks.
"Can't say the same" Alice winks back and Dan gives a playful hurt look.
"Alice... Psst... You can let go of my wrist now"
"Oh sorry" She laughs as she lets go.
I take a step back and rub my wrist, What a grip.
I look up and make eye contact with a certain someone.
He has already begun walking my way. He was wearing a skin-tight white tee shirt that hugged his muscles so very tightly that I had to force myself to look away from his torso and to his face. As I watched him he looked like he was walking in slow-mo.... like something from Bay Watch.
"Hey Princess" Jake says as he gives me a hug.
"Hi" I stutter... either from looking at his abs too long or thinking about what I have to tell him... whatever it was it made me stutter and I sounded nervous.
Jake chuckled as he ran his fingers through his hair, "You look beautiful today" he whispered in my ear causing me to blush.
He stood up, said hello to Alice and gave her a high five before placing his arm on the small of my back and leading to the table.
"Hey Nicole" Asher, Dan and Dylan all say in sync... kinda creepy actually.
"Hi" I reply as I sit down.
I pull out my lunch box and pull out a container of leftover Spaghetti. As I open it Jake put his hand on the top, "You're not eating that."
"Well, what am I supposed to eat? I can't starve" I say a bit more forceful than it should have been - but I have so many emotions inside of me right now I'm lucky I haven't exploded yet.
"This" he puts his hand on my chin and gently turns my head to face the table with two boxes of Dominoes Pizza.
"You bought us pizza?" I ask with glee.
"No. I bought you pizza. They just happened to help themselves" He glares at Asher who has a face full of pizza.
I chuckle as Jake grabs me a piece, "Here you are. The cheesiest slice."
"Yummy... Looks... good" I say, half my mind not there.
"You okay?" Jake asks.
I blink and look up to him, "Yeah I'm fine."
Jake stares at me longer, knowing I'm lying so I stuff my face with pizza, "Yummy"
He shakes his head with a laugh and goes to eat his pizza, I guess he know's I'll tell him eventually.
"How are you liking school?" Dan says to Alice.
"It's better than my old school," she says to Dan, "but I still hate school"
"You and me both" Dan says as he eats another slice.
I take a deep breath as I finish taking my last bite, which was not smart because I begin coughing.
Jake immediately turns his head and wraps his arm around my waist.
"I-I'm fine... J-Just went down the wrong pipe" I say through coughs.
Jake loosens up his grip on me and hands me his water bottle. I gratefully take it and chug it down.
"Easy killer," Alice says.
When I finish I gasp for air, "I'm good."
Jake gives me a smile of relief.
"Thank you," I say to him.
He winks "Anytime"
I find myself in a staring contest with Jake. His eyes locked on mine and mine on his.
My breath hitched... I needed to tell him.
"Jake, I need to tell you something"
As I spoke Jake also said, "Can I ask you something?"
We awkwardly laugh, "You first," I say to him.
He nods, wraps his hand around mine and places it visibly on the table.
Alice looks at our hands, at my eyes, at our hands and then back at my eyes. She then smiles a devilish smile.
I can feel myself blush as I know exactly what she is thinking.
"So Dan has this winter cottage up in Maine. Every year we all go" Jake begins to say.
"It's always a blast! There is a hot tub, movie room, indoor pool, game room.... you name it!" Dan chimes in.
Jake glares at Dan who coughs and apologizes for interrupting.
"We all talked it over and we were wondering if you guys wanted to come with us this weekend?" Jake asks Alice and I but mainly me because he was looking at me the whole time.
"Correction, it was Jake begging if we can bring Nicole" Asher chimes in.
Jake shoots him a death glare.
Jake wanted me to come?
I internally squealed.
"I would love to!" I say.
Jake gives my hand a gentle squeeze.
"Of course! Sounds like a blast." Alice chimed in.
The group begins to talk again.
"What did you want to tell me?" Jake asks with a thousand watt smile that makes me melt.
Shoot... this is not the time to bring it up... it would destroy everyone's happiness.... especially Jake's.
"Oh never mind. It's not the time for it." I awkwardly say.
"Alright. Tell me when you're ready" He says understandingly and goes to finish eating his slice of pizza.
I take a deep breath and look at Alice who gives me a thumbs up.
Over Alice's shoulder, I see Ashley walking past our table, clearly hearing everything that just happened. She looks down at something on the table and then back up at me with fire in her eyes.
I look at the table to see what she might have looked at and froze... she saw us holding hands.
I completely tense, maybe it was a good time to tell Jake.
The bell for lunch rings just as I was about to tell Jake.
"Jake, can you walk me to class?" I ask nervously as I look around the cafe to make sure Ashley isn't near me.
He chuckles "Nicole we both have English now."
I freeze and my eyes widened... not just us... Ashley was in our English class too.
Jake leads the way and I subconsciously hold onto his arm the entire way.
I take my seat and Jake sits in the seat next to me.
"That's not your seat," I whisper.
"It is now" He taunts.
I love his confident attitude. I wish I could be more like that.
I feel shivers run down my spine causing me to look up, she was here. Ashley had entered the class.
As she walks by I tense, but she doesn't even look at me which causes me to relax. Maybe this is all in my head.
"Nicole, you seem very jumpy today everything okay?" Jake asks.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
"Oookay" Jake says knowing I'm 100% lying.
He was about to say something else what Ms. Cast walked in, "Morning class."
"Good afternoon," the class says back like little robots.
Jake leans over and whispers in my ear "I'm taking you home right?"
I nod.
"You love the motorcycle now don't you"
I roll my eyes and take a quick glance at Ashley who is glaring at me causing me to immediately look back at the front of the class.
For the rest of the class, I was too afraid to move. If Jake spoke I would give him one-word answers and barely look at him.
When the bell rang, Jake stood up and grabbed my backpack for me, "Here, turn around."
I do as he says and he helps put my backpack.
Once it is snug on my back I turn to him and say "I can do it myself you know."
He shrugs and leads me out of the classroom, "It's better when I do it for you."
As we walk down the hallway Jake suddenly stops and the hallways begin to clear. No no no keep walking.
"Wait right here I have to grab something" and before I can say anything he runs down the hall.
"Wait!" I call out but its too late, he has already disappeared.
I shove my hands in my pocket and rock on my feet. Under my breath, I whisper 'C'mon C'mon C'mon"
I peer down the hallway and see one of Ashley's minions who is looking directly at me.
I gulp and take a few steps back bumping into someone causing me to turn around.
"Where are you going?" Another of her minions' taunts.
I begin to run the other way but is stopped by the other minion "What's the rush, Nicole?"
"I-I have to get to class..." I say "Nice talking to you" and I start to run right past them.
As I run I turn my head to look back, there is no way they can catch up to me. The second I turn my head I see two more of her minion at the end of the hallway so I quickly turn and rush down the side staircase. Once I'm at the bottom of the stairs I run into the girls' bathroom so no one can see me.
Once I am inside I slam the door and put my hands on the door and push against it so no one can come in.
I hear a bunch of quick footsteps run past the bathroom on the other side and let out a huge deep breath.
I turn around and rest my back against the door, that was way to close.
"Good to see you again Nicole" I hear a familiar voice say causing me to look up.
Spoke too soon, "What do you want?"
She puts her hand to her chest as if she was offended, "I see someone got a confidence boost, since our last encounter."
"Leave me alone okay?" I hiss with a shaky voice.
She pouts, "No can do Nicole... You see I hate you aaaaand Jake is always with you so therefore you must be punished."
I glare at her as two minions pop out from behind her.
Did her gang get bigger because she has a lot more minions than last time?
I awkwardly laugh, I turn to open the door but was stopped when a certain someone - who I wished to never see again - walked in.
"Perfect timing," Ashley says as Liam walks in.
"You're in the wrong bathroom, this is girls only," I say out of nervousness.
He chuckles as he already knows that.
He takes a step forward and I instantly send a punch right into his face. He grabs his face with one hand and I take this opportunity to push by him and escape however the odds were not in my favor when he grabs my arm and pulls me back. I step on his foot but this only makes him grab my other arm. He turns me around so that I am facing Ashley and my back is against him.
I look up at him in anger when I noticed he had a bloody nose, I couldn't help but grin that I did that.
I twist my body just slightly so that I was able to knee him in his family jewels which sends him right to his knees.
"Ha!" I shriek as I hop over him but before I could leave someone enters the bathroom. A certain someone who I didn't want to see more than I didn't want to see Liam or Ashley. A certain someone that when they entered the bathroom made my face pale and stomach drop.
"Hello Nicole"
I swallow as Bridget looks me square in the eye with a devil like smile.
"I see you met my new friends" she taunts as she walks closer towards me and I back up.
Liam stands next to her with rage in his eyes.
Ashley walks past me and stands on the other side of Liam.
"See right now all three of us have one thing in common..." she pauses "We all hate you."
Liam aggressively cracks his knuckles.
Ashley chimes in "See I was going to go about torturing you a different way but when Bridget said she knew every little deep secret and fear of yours I knew I was going all about this the wrong way."
Bridget chuckles and gives a nod. Shortly after two minions, who I forgot where there, grabbed me. Liam quickly began to help them. Bridget and Ashley kicked open the largest bathroom stall door open and they all forced me in.
I had two minions holding my legs and Liam was tightly holding my arms so that I was unable to move. They held me over the toilet and instantly submerged my head under the water.
Someone began shaking my head and pulling my hair so that would have to let out a scream and my air. No matter how hard I tried I was unable to lift my head.
I began coughing as water began filling my mouth.
My head was soon painfully lifted up causing me to gasp for air.
"When you told me that story of the incident on the ice I began to realize that you were developing a fear of drowning, which becomes a perfect weapon." Bridget states.
Ashley punches my gut, not so that it hurts but so that all the air in my lungs was forced out, and my head is forced into the toilet again.
I begin to feel dizzy.
They pull me up again which seems like a millennium later.
I cough out the water in my mouth.
"Why... are... you... doing... this?" I ask through breaths.
"Because..." Bridget narrows her eyes at me, "I can"
My head goes back into the toilet and water fills my mouth.
I tense as anger begins running throughout my body. Because I can... WE USED TO BE BEST FRIENDS!
I kick my legs out of the two minions grip which causes my head to lift up from the water. I aggressively tug my arms right out of Liam's grip. Liam was completely caught off guard as throw a punch directly into his face again, he falls to his knees so I punch his side. I look up at Ashley who is taken aback. I stand up and she throws a punch at me which I easily dodge. I come back with a punch to the gut which sends her to the floor.
I look to find Bridget but she was nowhere to be found.
Ashley and Liam quickly scurry out of the bathroom.
I hold up a stance as to not mess with me but once they leave the bathroom I begin coughing hysterically.
I run back to the toilet and begin throwing up all the water that I had swallowed.
The water from my wet hair began running down my back causing me to shiver as I hovered over the toilet.
I began coughing harder causing my lungs to hurt.
I heard the door open and I did my best to keep my coughs quiet but that only made my coughing worse.
I felt my hair being pulled back and a gentle touch on my back.
Once I stop coughing and throwing up I turn my head slightly so I can see who was helping me.
I look into the eyes of a very worried Jake, "You okay?"
I nod and he helps me to stand.
"How did you know I was in here?" I ask.
"I saw Liam and Ashley and her minions rush out of the bathroom," he says "Is that why you were so jumpy today?"
I nod.
"Why didn't you tell me she was bothering you?"
I look him in the eyes and he looks back.
"That's what you were trying to tell me earlier... wasn't it" He says slowly.
"Yeah. I'm sorry, I should have told you a while ago..." I speak.
He shakes his head, "Don't you say sorry Nicole. That's not something to be sorry about. I should have let you speak. I'm the one who should be sorry."
I give him a smile.
"By the way, that was some punch you throw at Liam and Ashley" he grins "They couldn't even walk straight"
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A/N
Hey guys, sorry for the weight but here is the next chapter!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Nicole is gaining more confidence!!
What do you think is going to happen at Maine?
Why do you think Bridget hates Nicole?
Thanks for being patient with me! I promise to get better!
Don't be a silent reader 🌸
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Alyssa Rose