I wake up on Monday morning with a really, really, reaaally bad DISEASE. Man flu. Nah, its just the normal, horrible cold. I had traces of it yesterday, but my pillow fell off my bed last night and all the bogies in my sinus fell down the back of my head. I can't talk without sounding like a retarded wolf.
I walk downstairs and blow my nose with a tissue. Mum walks in. "Oh, sweetie, you look sick," she walks over and places a hand on my forehead.
"Yeah," I croak, stepping on the bin's step and pushing it down, opening the bin and dropping the tissue in.
"Your voice!" she shrieks. "You'd better stay home from school or you'll lose your voice for a couple of days, and that would mean you'd miss out on school, which means you would miss out on education, which means you might not get your Oxford scholarship, which would mean you wouldn't get your dream job, which means you'll have no money, which means you'll get depressed-"
"Mum!" I try and yell, but it comes out sounding like a toad's croak. "I'll stay home."
Mum bustles off into her room, nodding at me, grateful that I won't be diagnosed with depression. I walk back up the stairs and hop into the shower, now that I'm up, I better get changed, I always feel gross just hanging around in my pajamas all day. I put on some black sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt. I pull my hair up into a messy ponytail and walk back into the kitchen. I lay my laptop and phone down on the kitchen bench, they always give me a headache if I have a cold and look at screens. I take a box of tissues, some tablets and a water bottle upstairs with me.
I walk back into my room and pull my covers up. They are dirty so I take a sip of my water bottle, take off the sheets, throw them in the washing machine and turn it on, find new, clean sheets and take them back up into my room. I make my bed and jump in after laying my things on a dressing table beside me. Then I pull out my collection of Harry Potters and open the Philosophers stone to page one and I begin reading.
I'm a quarter of the way through the book, at nine o'clock, when my mum walks in. "Nat, I'm gonna go to work now. Just stay here, you know the rules, but since you're pretty sick I've called over someone to stay with you for a little while."
"Mum," I groan. "I'm seventeen now, I don't need a baby sitter."
"But if you get too hot, you might have a fit or something!" she says, slipping her phone into her pocket and drawing out the air conditioning remote from its spot in the wall. She turns on the air con and chucks the remote at me. I roll my eyes and turn it off. Bloody hell, Mum, I've got a cold I cannot have the air con on! "Stay safe, get well soon."
She walks out the door shutting it behind her. I lie back on the stack of pillows I've propped up for myself and let out a sigh. All I wanted to do was stay home in my bed with little old Harry Potter. I decide to wait for the person to ring the doorbell and keep reading my book.
I'm just about half way through the book when I hear the faint dinging of the doorbell. I place my Harry on the bedside table and swing my legs around and onto the ground. I walk downstairs and open the door. I groan when I see who is standing there.
"Go away," I say, trying to close the door but he places a hand on it and pushes it back.
"Your Mum sent me," he says, flicking up his ray bans and walking in. I sigh and close the door, walking into the kitchen behind him. He fills up the kettle and I raise my eyes curiously and sit down on a stool, lying my head down on my hands.
"What are you doing here, Alex?" I croak.
"What I said before," he says, flicking the kettle's switch down and leaning his arms down on the bench in front of me. "Your mum asked me, so here I am."
"I don't need you here," I say.
"Stop arguing, you'll wear out your voice," he snaps and turns back to get a mug out of the draw. "Besides, I needed some company."
"You could've asked Amanda," I say gloomily.
He turns back around. "Nah, she's at school."
"She'd skip for you, she'd do anything for you."
"Is someone jealous?" he taunts. I shake my head. "Oh, why not?"
"Why would I be? She has nothing that I want," I say, sitting up. He turns back around, but before he fully turns I see the look on his face again that I cannot place and swallow, something about that look makes me nervous, and the butterflies always come back when I see it.
Alex pulls tea bags out of the cupboard and a spoon out of the draw. The kettle finishes boiling. I lay my head down on the cool bench surface. Alex places something in front of me. I take the cup and sip the tea. He comes around and sits on the stool beside me, swinging from side to side.
"It'll help with your cold," he nods at my cup.
"Thanks," I say, blowing on it slightly.
"So, I was thinking you could tutor me today," he says, still swinging. I raise my eyebrows as I sip my tea.
"But....I'm sick, can't really speak properly," I say.
"You can write stuff down for me, I could look at your notes," he says pleadingly.
I have a Harry Potter marathon to get through! I need my sleep! My voice is going to vanish! I'm sick! Its because I think these thoughts that I'm surprised with what comes out of my mouth. "Ok."
"Ok? Really?" he says, looking surprised. I nod, internally screaming:
Why Natalie? You've got things to do. Why?
"Lets go up to your room then," he says and gets up off the chair. I take my mug and we walk up the stairs together.
I shove my french book at him and he sits down at my desk, taking pens and pencils out of a bag I didn't even know he had with him. I pull out my Harry Potter and begin reading.
***
I'm just about to begin reading the Chamber of secrets at around twelve o'clock when Alex gets up. I've seen him blankly staring at me when I'm reading. Whenever I looked up from behind my book he quickly looked away. Sometimes I stole glances at him from behind my book, he was always sitting their with his ray bans flicked up, tracing the words with his fingers and writing them down.
"You wanna get pizza?" he asks, bringing me back into the present.
"Sure," I say.
"Hey, your voice's better!"
"Oh, yeah," I say, even though my throat is still sore, there is an improvement with my vocal chords.
"Do you have anything in your fridge or should we just order pizza?" he asks, taking my hand and pulling me up off the bed. When our hands touch my stomach erupts in butterflies. I ignore it and we walk downstairs. Alex calls for pizza and I sit down on the couch. He comes and sits down beside me. I can't deny that I feel the tension.
"How's suspension, babe?" I break the silence.
"Real great, dude. They email me all the pop quizzes. And send me back my marks," he says.
"What do you do all day?" I ask.
"Well, I did nothing on Thursday and Friday, and I'm here today," he shrugs.
"And, Patricia, do you miss school?" I tease.
"There's only one thing I miss," he says and looks at me.
"Me?" I joke.
"Yup," he turns back around. I laugh.
"No, seriously though, what is it?" I ask, sitting right beside him on the couch.
"You said it," he says.
"Me?" I laugh again.
"Yeah," he grins.
"Ok then," I say and smile.
"How's our music assignment going?" he asks.
"Oh, we're actually supposed to start today," I say.
"What do you wanna do?"
"A song maybe? Can you play any instruments?" I ask.
"Yeah, guitar," he says.
"Me too. And piano."
"So... you wanna do a song, right?"
"Yeah, do you want to?"
"Sure. Do we have to write it ourselves?"
"I think so," I say.
"Lets just do the music for now," he says and pulls out his phone, he turns it on and I see a picture I recognize.
"Hey!" I say and pull the phone over to me. "This is the photo I took with Liam."
"Yeah," he scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.
"That's cute," I say and hand it back to him. "Is your lock screen Amanda?"
"No," he says and quickly signs in. He logs on into the internet before I can see his background.
"What is it?" I ask, he doesn't look up. "C'mon!"
His cheeks tinge slightly pink but he changes the subject. "I know this app that can help us with the music."
"Yeah... But we can do that after we look at your home screen!" I say, raising my eyebrows.
"Anyway, and so we just come up with the rhythm-" he begins.
"It can't be that embarrassing!"
"And then we add the sol fa-" he continues.
"Is it a picture of a weird girl from a vogue magazine in a bikini or something?" I ask.
"What? No!" he yells.
"It is!" I say and grab his phone. "Oh."
My jaw drops when I see the photo on his home screen. Its the one posted on Instagram. Not the one where he's kissing me. The one of him making me giggle. I look up at him. He rubs the back of his neck, ignoring me, eyes downcast. He looks so embarrassed, my heart melts as though his cheeks are so red they've burnt it.
"Naw," I say and take my phone out of my pocket from where it was when I walked upstairs with my tea and click on the camera button. I shuffle over to him and hook my arm around his shoulders. I smile and take a photo. "There we go. Now we can both have embarrassing home screens."
I add it as my background and turn the phone off.
"Cute, dude," he mocks me. I roll my eyes.
"So..... this music assignment you wanna get onto?" I give him his phone back.
"Yup," he says and logs back onto his phone. We work on it until the pizza arrives.
"Thanks," Alex takes the boxes and takes me outside to the garden tables and chairs. We sit down and he opens the pizzas. I take a piece and start eating it.
"Did you pay for this?" I ask, suddenly realizing.
"Yeah...Why?" he asks, raising his eye brows underneath his ray bans.
"I shoulda paid!" I say. Holding a hand up to my mouth to stop the food from looking like I'm cookie monster eating pizza and swallowing.
"You're sick," he says, shrugging.
"That's no reason," I say. And pull out my phone, taking $20 from the pocket in the case and giving it to him.
"Nat, seriously, dude, I don't need this," he shoves it back to me.
"Yeah! You do. You're a guest at my house!" I say and push it back to him.
"Greg, its fine. Its just pizza," he says and takes a bite of the pizza, returning the money to me.
"Please, Patricia, my mum would kill me if I didn't."
"Brother, your mum doesn't have to find out," he takes another bite and raises his eyebrows.
"But...Still. Honey, please take it!" I shove it back at him.
"Ok. We'll make a bet," he says. Oh, no. Now I'm scared.
"What kind of bet?" I ask shakily.
"A bet-bet, Greg," I see him roll his eyes under his sunglasses. "What about...... You owe me twenty bucks if.....I can persuade you to come modelling with me... and to my cousin's wedding with me! And if I don't get you to, then I'll owe you twenty dollars."
I sigh with relief and snort. "Pppfft, too easy."
"Are you sure about that?" he leans onto the table so that his face is inches from mine.
"Yup," I say and lean in with him, narrowing my eyes and challenging him. This is too childish, I think. My face scrunches up as I smile and pull away, laughing. He grins too and flips the $20 into my hand. I put it back in my phone case and continue eating the pizza.
"This is good," I say, nodding, food still in my mouth.
"Good for colds," he winks and eats his piece. I stare at the last remaining piece and reach for it. "Excuse me?"
"Excuse me? Excuse you!" I say.
"That's mine!" he says.
"No, it's mine!" I yell.
Alex reaches for it and I swipe his hand away. "C'mon, I bought it!"
"The bet isn't over yet," I grin.
"Lets make it it'll finish by the end of the day," he says, holding out a hand for me to shake. I willingly put my hand in his and shake firmly.
"Deal. You are just making it way too easy," I roll my eyes. He raises his eyebrows and reach for the pizza. I stand up and slap the hand away. "No!"
"It is mine," he says, smirking at me, standing up too.
"No way," I say and reach for it. He slaps my hand away, but doesn't stop there. He pulls me over his shoulder and runs away with me on his back.
"Alex! Alex! Put me down!" I pound on his back like its a closed door. I don't think he feels it and my hand just keeps hitting cold, hard muscle. "I have a cold!"
"You want me to put you down?" he asks.
"YES!" I screams, still hitting him.
"If you say so..." he says. Before I can comprehend what is happening, he has let go of me and I'm tumbling to the ground. I let out a scream and close my eye.
I'm going to die.
This will be the death of me.
Alex, what have you done?
I'm about to scream again when a pair of hands scoops me back up. I spin back around, he lifts me so that our heads are in the same position, and my feet are off the ground. I instinctively wrap them around his waist and throw my arms around his neck. Woah, dramatic much, Natalie?
"You evil person!" I say into his neck.
"D'you really think I would let you fall?"
"Yes, you buttholed jerk," I say, my voice muffled in his neck.
"No way," he says, laughing.
"Poop."
He laughs and I feel him vibrate, his chuckle warming me. Of course he wouldn't have dropped me. He would've had to deal with the consequences.
"I wouldn't do that," he whispers in my ear. I look up at him. I study his face, from his perfectly curled brownie-colored hair that looks so soft I want to play with it. His eyes that look as though they're the exact reflection of the sky on a bright day. His jawline that looks like it could cut through anything. And his lips that look pink and smooth.
He doesn't notice me looking at him, he's to busy studying my face, his eyes resting on my lips. I look up at him and his eyes meet mine. We look at each other for a few seconds, his arms are still holding me up, and I'm not moving anywhere, my legs are clasped around his waist. I stop looking at him and jump off, remembering the pizza. I run towards it and eat a whole chunk of it.
"It was mine, after all," I say, raising my eyebrows at him as he walks over to me, shaking his head and looking down, smiling slightly.
"Well played, mate, well played," he claps me on the back. I try and forget what just happened and am about to sink my teeth back into the pizza when he takes it from me and eats a huge piece. I groan and he sprints back into the house with the pizza box and his phone, me hot on his heels. I try and grab it off him as he drops the box into the bin. He shakes a finger at me, holding the piece high above his head.
"You're sick, bro, go back to bed," and with that, he stuffs the rest of the pizza into his mouth. I glare at him.
"I'm feeling better," I say. Its true, I am feeling better, I've got a better throat, just a blocked nose.
"Sure," he says and walks back up the stairs, two at a time. "Well, if you are... Then you can tutor me!"
I groan. "Fine."
We walk back into my room. I take my notebook and pencils from my desk and jump onto my bed. Alex sits down beside me. I sit up because he is and ask him, "What do you need help with?"
"French?" he raises his eyebrows, as though he doesn't know if that's the correct answer.
"Na duh," I roll my eyes and take his book from his hands. "Do you understand the writing?"
"Yeah," he says.
"Well, that's what the test was on, recognizing what phrases mean. D'you really understand?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.
"I do!" he says.
"What mark did you get, then?"
"B," he says, looking down.
I laugh. "You need tutoring because you got a B on one exam?"
"Yup."
"Ok, then. I'll just re-explain the writing to you," I say and start. Halfway through, my neck starts getting really warm from the heat under my ponytail. "Its really hot."
"Yeah?" he asks, looking up from his notes. "Are you sure you're ok?"
"I'm fine," I say, although I have a slight head ache.
"Don't need an aspirin?" he asks, holding out a hand to check my temperature.
"No!" I say, slapping his hand away. "I just needa tie my hair up."
I look around. There's no hair ties around me so I pick up a pencil, twist my hair into a bun and stick the pencil through it.
"Damn, that was hot," Alex says. I look at him.
"Pardon?"
"I didn't say anything!" he says, face heating up.
"Yeah, you did," I raise my eyebrows.
"I said, damn, that pot," he points to a flower pot on the window sill.
"Sure," I say, taking my notebook and lying down on the bed. He lies down next to me. "So this means..."
***
I've been tutoring Alex for an hour when Mum arrive home. We walk downstairs, Alex with his bag slung onto his back.
"Hey Sarah," he says, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Hello, Alex. Thanks for looking after Nat," she says, patting his shoulder.
"I didn't have anything else to do anyway," he says, looking at me from head to toe. I look down and hide my blush.
"Did you have anything to eat?" Mum asks us.
"We got pizza," I say.
"And you paid?" Mum glares at me.
"Actually, I paid," Alex says. What is he playing at? What about the bet. Oh, the bet.
"Nat! You have some money! Give it to Alex," she tells me.
"No!" I yell.
"Natalie! Why are you being so rude?" Mum asks me, angry.
"Because.... Because...." I stutter.
"Because what?" Mum looks at me and I sigh, taking out my phone and handing Alex the money.
"Thanks," Alex says and pockets it. "See you, Ms Bennett."
He takes my arm and drags me out of the kitchen, through the living room and onto the front veranda. He smirks at me, taking his Ray bans out of his pocket and sliding them on, producing a toothpick out of nowhere and sticks it into his mouth, running a hand through his hair and slinging on his leather jacket.
"I guess that means I'll see you next Saturday when I pick you up," he says, winking, before he walks away. I scowl at him and watch his car move down the street.
Jerk.
______________________________________________________________
Hulloooooooooooooooooo!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, there is probably a couple of mistakes, sorry!
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