"You dropped your pen." I heard him whisper, right in the middle of another boring lecture in Ms. Torres's class. His voice was husky and gave me chills in the back of my neck. He finally spoke to me. He sat behind me today, and I hadn't been able to concentrate. All these questions were pooled in my head. There were so many things I wanted to ask him about that night he came to my house with the crazy look on his face, and why he acted like I didn't even exist anymore.
But as soon as I turned to find his indifferent brown stare, my mind scrambled, and all that came out was a mumbled "Thanks." I grabbed the pen and he leaned back in his chair, not sparing me another look. I turned back around. His eyes seemed like they held nothing, no recognition or care. It was as if we were strangers. Why was he acting like this?
When the bell rang, he was the first one out. I hesitated, tapping my foot on the ground impatiently before standing up and following him out the door. He was a fast walker. I caught up to him and asked before I could change my mind, "Nick, about the other night-"
"Can you make it quick?" He said, barely glancing at me as we reached his locker, Nick shoved a couple books in. "I have somewhere I have to be." I stood there clutching my History book to my chest, unable to think of what to say. I didn't understand.
A girl came up behind Nick and slithered her skinny arms around him before I could answer. "Can we leave already?" She smiled and titled her head at him. "You promised you'd show me how to surf." Nick turned to me.
"So?" He asked, impatient. I shook my head, feeling pathetic and small.
"Never mind." I mumbled and turned. I could feel his stare linger on me as I walked away shamefully. I didn't turn back this time.
***
There was nothing artsy or unique about my sketches. Some might say they were childish, even. But I guessed boredom brought out the doodling child in me.
I had a free period and was sitting on the benches next to the football field. I'd already finished my homework, and I really wasn't the type to spend hours texting on my phone. So I scribbled. A flower, then a small shaded butterfly in the margin appeared as I traced the blank page on my notebook. Twenty minutes later, I was so concentrated on shading that one stubborn petal I almost didn't notice some senior boys walk across the field for P.E.
I squinted and recognized a few classmates, Jacob, and Alex. Alex turned and caught my eye, waving with a big grin. I swore not a day went by where Alex didn't flash that perfect smile of his. Maybe that's how he kept all the cute girls on their toes around him. I waved back and went back to my scribbling.
The coach's whistle blew, breaking off my concentration. I sighed and set my notebook aside, crossing my legs in front of me. I watched as Jacob laughed about something with one of his friends and turned towards me. It took a moment for me to shy away from his gaze. He walked towards me, slinging a towel over his neck and ruffled his black hair. "You know, if you came to watch me play, you could have been more discreet about it."
I smiled and rolled my eyes. "You wish. I had a free period and this place was empty, until you guys came along and messed with my concentration."
"So you're saying I'm a distraction?"
"I'm saying the occasional grunts and shouts when all of you play are a distraction."
He grinned. "Distraction for what, exactly? Homework?" I shook my head, not offering further explanations. Jacob glanced at my notebook and reached out for it before I could yank it back.
"Jacob, gimme it!" I said as I helplessly tried taking it from his grasp. He held it way above my head, smiling and teasing as he skimmed the countless pages lost to pencil sketches.
"I didn't know you drew." He said in a teasing tone, but interested. He was studying one in particular, tracing the lines with his finger.
"I don't." I reached out for it while he was distracted, finally taking it back and stuffing it in my bag, red as a tomato. "It's just doodling, you know, when I'm bored." Jacob sat next to me on the bench while the rest of the guys were finishing up.
"These are actually pretty good, Sam. They're cute." He said with an honest edge to his voice. I offered him a small, shy smile and shivered. I wasn't feeling my best self today.
"Dude you better beat Kyle tomorrow. I'm betting a lot of money on your ass." A friend of his warned jokingly as he took a seat next to him, chugging down his water bottle afterwards. "Oh, hey Sam." I said hi back.
" 'Course, man." Jacob reassured and the guy left with a nod. I raised my eyebrows at Jacob. "There are two fights tomorrow," he explained. "One of them is me versus Kyle."
"Who else is fighting?"
"Nick and some other guy." He said nonchalantly, but his mouth twitched at his name. "You should come by. I could really use the motivation if I'm going to win."
"Are you afraid you won't win if you don't have people there cheering for you?" I teased.
"Maybe I'm just saying that so you'll go." His voice was leveled and shameless. I looked down at my notebook and smiled.
"I- um, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it tomorrow night." I said, suddenly remembering Nick's warning to me just a few days ago. I was weary about it; Nick's unexplicable warning made me unsure about everything and anything that had to do with him. What if he saw me there? Why should I even care?
"Come on Sam," he teased. "I'll take you out afterwards. You still owe me that second date, remember?"
"I'll think about it."
"Alright." He said with a feigned sigh. "Just remember, Gary's betting a lot of money on us tonight. You wouldn't want him to lose, right?" He teased and placed a hand just above my knee, sending my heart beat racing.
"Sam," I heard Alex say as he suddenly showed up, grabbed my hand and yanked me towards him, making Jacob's hand fall from my leg. I stumbled into Alex and he placed an arm over my shoulders. "Come on, time for our English class. One more tardy and it's both our asses in detention." I looked at him weirdly, but Alex still had that stupid smile on his face as he looked down at me.
"Yeah, right," I said, raising an eyebrow at Alex, then turning to Jacob. "I should go."
He nodded and stood up, too. "Let me know when you make up your mind." He winked and walked away, saying bye to Alex. Alex nodded back at him.
"What was that about?" I said with a laugh as I shrugged him off jokingly.
"What?" He shrugged. I gave him a look. "I don't like that guy. Something's off about him."
I frowned. "If it's about the boxing thing-"
"It's not that." He shook his head once, as if trying to pinpoint a specific thing. The bell rang. "Shit, we're late."
***
She gave me one of those stares. I hated those stares. "I'm not playing hard to get, Sophie." I defended myself as she fixed a stubborn strand of hair that kept falling out of her ponytail in front of the bathroom mirror. "Why'd you suddenly cut your hair so short? Looks nice."
"'I wanted a change, but don't you try to change the subject, missy." She said firmly. Then why won't you just go with him?" She asked after successfully clipping back the stranf. I busied myself with rubbing the pink stain off my jeans. My smoothie had fallen all over them and now they smelled like strawberries and milk.
"I'm just not sure if I should go."
She turned to me. "Is this about what Nick said?"
"No- maybe?"
"Sam, you're not really going to listen to that jerk after he showed up to your house out of nowhere and demanded you never go back there."
"Ugh, it just doesn't make any sense. I mean, he looked.. worried about something." I said. "Besides, he's going to fight, too. What if he sees me?"
"Come on, Sam. He's a jerk and he didn't bother telling you why. Don't let him get to your head." She said. "Gotta go. See you after school."
I went into a bathroom stall to get more paper to rub the smoothie out of my sweater when I heard two girls come in. "Shut up!" One of them said excitedly. "You expect me to believe Nick Carter invited you to the fight tonight?"
"Yes." She hesitated. "Well, I asked him if I could come and he said 'sure' and that's practically the same thing. I mean, I'm probably the first junior who's ever been invited to one of these boxing matches. And I'm watching him fight. With his shirt off." They both giggled and walked out again.
I opened the bathroom stall, slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked out with my stomach in knots. Not because I was sad, I was angry. Angry at Nick, but angrier at myself for not realizing it sooner and playing along to his little game, trying to get his attention so he would explain what happened.
Maybe I just didn't want to face the big, fat truth right in front of me; Nick just got sick of me, he didn't want me around anymore, and maybe he didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea that we were together. I mean, of course Nicholas Carter could never be together with a 'depressed' messed-up girl like me. He wanted some other girls to take to his stupid boxing fights instead. And I was done playing his little game, making myself believe it must be for some other reason.
I was done letting him hold me back.
I walked out of the bathroom and through the hallway with a determined stride all the way to Jacob's locker, not even paying mind to the pinkish stain on my clothes. A shaky part of my confidence was hoping he wouldn't be there so the rest of my courage would die down. But there he was, grabbing some books from his locker as I walked closer, eyes locked on him, and more specifically, his mouth. "Sam," he started with a smile as he turned and saw me. I didn't stop. "Did you make up your mind about to-" I stopped him from talking more as I pressed my lips to his, placing a hand around his neck and standing on my toes to reach. Not too soft, not too hard. With everyone watching. Everyone watching.
I pulled away, embarrased. I looked around once. The people who were in the hallway looked at us in shock and girls were giggling, but they all kept walking to their classes. Except for one.
Nick stood there, too. He was stopped in his tracks, while a girl he was probably walking with asked him something as she eyed both him and me. He looked still at us for just a second, just like everyone else, but so different, too. Wide, deep brown eyes cut into me with waves of something that resembled emotion and feeling. Waves that seemed empty and hollow before. But I still couldn't figure them out. Did I even want to?
No. I wouldn't let him distract me again from what I wanted.
I gulped and turned away from him, suddenly feeling the shyness and anxiety slowly vanish. I shifted my gaze to Jacob's pleasantly surprised expression. "Pick me up at eight."
—————
Please favorite and/or comment if you enjoyed this chapter and would like to see more of Nick and Sammi! Or maybe Jacob and Sam now...?