Chapter twenty-two
Nick.
{not heavily edited}
Looking between the boys my eyes are wide as saucers. All four of the boys are glaring heavily at each other and for a moment I think hey, this is cool. But when Ryder and Lark exchange glances I get worried. Since they're all buddy buddy now I wouldn't be surprised if they teamed up to beat the shit out of Liam and Kai.
"Hey, did we ever finish that fight?" Ryder asks. I'm in between them all, the hall is full and no one would notice us. The music is booming, Lucy said she had a dance planned for us. By us she meant Jordan, Pogue, Liam, Lark, Ryder, she and I.
"You wanna take this outside?" Kai asks confidently. I don't think he should be getting involved with the Everlake boys. It's not smart-at all. Lark smirks slightly.
"I do actually." Lark replies, his eyes darkening. Ryder and Lark smirk at each other as they all leave me standing alone to go outside. Do I follow them? I shake it off and go to find Pogue in the crowd of people. Kai is going to get his ass kicked. I see him with Lucy.
"Pogue! Can you uh, come with me? It's very urgent." I say awkwardly, looking at Pogue with my eyebrows raised. Lucy isn't really paying attention since she's on her phone. Pogue comes with me and I drag him as fast as possible outside. When we get there Liam is yelling at Lark and Ryder to stop. Pogue sighs and runs over. I don't want to get involved again. I can't get another concussion.
"What the hell are you guys doing?!" Pogue yells, I don't really want to watch them beat up Kai. Lark isn't paying attention to his best friend and Ryder's stopped fighting. He's letting Lark continue. I take a deep breath and walk over. I shove Lark away from Kai and step in front of him.
"Take a walk." I growl, looking into his bleen eyes. His eyes narrow at me as he walks off. I clench my jaw and run a hand through my hair.
"What the hell! All I wanted was a normal party without any of your fucking-" Lucy cuts herself off and she rolls her eyes at us all. She's pissed. I feel really bad but I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I sigh.
"Just go. Please." She says, taking Pogue's hand and dragging him with her back inside. I got to Kai and see if he's okay, a few cuts and bruises here and there but otherwise okay.
"You alright?" I ask, still examining him for any injuries. He nods and I help him get up off the pavement.
"That was stupid." He remarks. I shake my head at him. That was stupid. Ryder and Lark literally could've killed him. I turn back and see Ryder staring at us with a glare. I roll my eyes and take Kai's hand, we go to his car and I instruct him to sit in the passenger seat so I can drive.
"Thanks for taking me home." He says. Jordan is still inside at the party but he deserves to have some fun so I leave him. I drive the car back to school, the car ride is silent. I don't want to talk right now, I'm still upset about what happened. Lark is out there somewhere probably being super upset, Ryder is pissed at me and so is my best friend. We arrive at the school, it's so quiet you could hear a pin drop as we walk to his dorm. I stop in front of the building.
"I'll uh see you later." I say awkwardly. He nods, running a hand through his hair as he looks down at me. I chew on my bottom lip, he leans in and I walk away because I'm really not in the mood to deal with this right now.
I head back to my dorm and unlock the door, I take a deep breath and text Jordan to let him know that I'm home.
~*~
One month later; December 1st
Lucy and I haven't talked. Liam's ignoring me. Pogue only talks to me during Math. Ryder texts me once a week to check in but the conversation stops at "I'm fine" and Lark...well, he's been running around with a lot of girls lately and hasn't said a word to me since Lucy's birthday party. Kai is avoiding me for some reason and Jordan is pissed because I didn't want to go home. It's safe to say that everyone's mad at me right now.
I look down the hall and see Lark with some girl making out against the lockers. My eyes widen slightly and then I realize that that's my locker. I glare at them and strut forward.
"Excuse yourselves. That's my locker." I say in a bitchy tone. Lark chuckles as he pulls away. That's not some random girl. That's Melanie. What the fuck?! No way. She sends me a smirk but I say stoic as if I don't care. I've gotten better at hiding my true emotions from Ryder and Lark. His eyes are scanning me with a smirk, but he turns confused when he doesn't come up with anything. I stopped doing that thing with my hands when I get nervous because I managed to realize what it was.
"How does it feel t-"
"Listen, Melanie, I'm not sure you noticed but I couldn't care less what you did with Lark. I just want to get to my locker so do me a favour and move....before I do it myself." I say and she narrows her eyes at me. I'm getting really annoyed. Lark bites his bottom lip, I stare at them a little longer before Lark pulls Melanie from my locker. I roll my eyes as I open up my locker to take out my books. It's no coincidence Lark picked my locker to make out on, he's not stupid.
"Sorry, are you Katerina?" A voice asks from behind me. I turn around and see very super hot guy with purple hair. His shirt is a dark purple as well, he's wearing black jeans and a black leather jacket. His eyes are a light brown and his skin is a caramel colour, hes really tall. Obviously he doesn't care about our dress code and I haven't seen him around so, new kid? He has an Australian accent and I find it very sexy.
"Depends on who's asking." I reply with an eyebrow raised. He cracks a small smile. A little fun never killed anyone, right?
"I'm Nicklaus. But call me Nick." He says, his voice is low and it's music to my ears. I run a hand through my hair.
"Alright, Nick, what do you want with me?" I ask and he smiles slightly.
"The uh, principal asked me to find you. You're supposed to be my guide. fellow new kid I take it?" He asks and I nod slightly.
"Hm. Well, what class do you have?" He shows me his schedule and my eyebrow raises. We have a lot of classes together. Those classes just happen to be the ones I have with Lark. The universe just loves me. Note my sarcasm. I look at my phone to see the time. Lunch is in like five minutes.
"You showed up five minutes before lunch. Where were you all morning?" I ask curiously, he shrugs slightly with a smirk.
"Skipping? So, does that I mean I get to sit with you for lunch?" He asks with a wink. I smile.
"Sure, Nick. Come on." I say, he follows me down the hall. Nick and I talk about basic things; family, hometowns and friends. The bell goes off and we're the first to walk into the cafeteria. I would sit in the middle table but that's where Lark has been sitting for the past month with every single one of his girls. Whereas the rest of us sit away from him.
I sit at a table that's close to the middle but not close enough.
"You're not gonna eat?" He asks and I shake my head. He gets up, "well, I am." Nick walks over to the line as everyone begins piling in. Lark walks in and his eyes fall on me. He walks over and sits down.
"Kat. Sitting alone?" He asks, I cross my arms over my chest. Larks been a real douchebag lately and I'm not having it.
"Actually, no. Go annoy someone else." I snap. Nick returns and sets his tray down with an eyebrow raised. Lark glances over at him and he smirks.
"Did you just tell him to go away? I think you did. So why are you still here?" Nick says, his eyes narrowing at Lark. They glare at each other but Lark stops and smiles with a laugh.
"Give me a call when you're done being a bitch, Kitten." Lark says, emphasizing my nickname. I glare heavily at him. He takes another look at Nick before smirking and walking away. Nick sits down and watches as Lark leaves.
"Who was that?" He asks curiously.
"An ex." I reply. My brother walks in with Liam and Pogue. I stare at them as they sit down with the cheer squad. My eyebrows furrow as my head tilts to the side slightly. I sigh, turning back to Nick.
"Another ex?" He asks, looking in the same direction I was.
"No, my brother and kind of ex friends." I reply. Melanie walks over with a few girls from the soccer team. She stares at Nick for a second and bites her lip. I roll my eyes.
"You're off the team."
"Cool. Bye now." I say and she glares at me. She opens her mouth to snap at me but Lark interrupts her.
"Get over here!" He calls. Melanie leaves quickly. Allison walks out of the lunch line and instead of going to sit with Lark or the cheer squad she comes and sits next to me. I stare at her with an eyebrow raised.
"What?" She asks, opening her apple juice. What the hell? Since when does she talk to me? I examine her closely. I roll my eyes in realization.
"If Ryder wants to know how I'm doing he can talk to me himself." I remark, watching her face change when she looks at me. She rolls her eyes. Nick is looking between us with an eyebrow raised as he eats his sandwich.
"That-whatever. I'm still sitting here. Lark is annoying." She says and I shrug it off.
"I'm Allison." She says to Nick. He introduces himself and surprisingly lunch isn't so bad. The three of us end up making plans to study at Nick's dorm which his rich parents bought for him and made it so he didn't need a roommate.
The school day was uneventful and it was time to go out with Nick and Allison. I shoved my things into my locker before slipping on a black leather jacket that had white fur on the inside that kept me warm for the most part. I put a scarf on and shove my hands in my pockets as I swing my bag over my shoulders. I walk out of the school and in the midst of the snow flurries I could see Nick standing outside with a cigarette in his mouth. I walk over and stand next to him while we wait for Allison to come over. When she does show up we walk over to my car. Yes, my parents had a car sent to me. It's a cherry red Dodge Charger. Nick climbs into the passenger seat whereas Allison sits in the back. I'm about to get in but I see Ryder's car. I raise an eyebrow and watch as he gets out. I could drive away. I should drive away.
"Sunshine!" Ryder calls. Fuck. I walk over and wait for him to say something. His eyes scan my face and I stay stoic with an eyebrow raised expectantly.
"We should probably talk about-"
"There's nothing to talk about. Look, I have plans with friends so call me later?" I say and he nods. I'm about to get back into the car but I turn back.
"If you want to know if I'm okay....don't send Allison." I tell him and he smiles in embarrassment. I wink at him before getting into my car and pulling out of the driveway.
"How come you came here?" Allison asks Nick. He's on his phone as he answers her in a nonchalant tone.
"I blew up the science lab in my old school."