Bella let's out a frustrated cry, debating punting the baby down the hall as she paces in front of the crying toy. She's tried everything. Feeding, burping, rocking and diaper changing. Not to mention the lack of sleep is really taking a toll on her. She doesn't understand what she's doing so wrong.
Tears well up in her eyes from frustration as she picks the baby up and begins to pacing with it. She stares up at the ceiling to stop the tears from falling. Get it together, she scolds herself, willing the tears to stop. Quickly she let's the ones in her eyes fall, wiping them away as she pats the baby's back.
Other girls in her class have named their babies. And they frown at her for calling hers an 'It'. Naming it seems pointless to her. It also makes it too personal, naming something means attachment. That's why her parents never let her name the strays she brought home because they always had owners looking for them. It's a toy, and she's not seven. Those girls are the type of people that are meant to be parents. Bella doesn't ever see herself being a mother. She's not meant to be a mother.
Especially when she can't even properly take care of a toy.
"Go away, Hale Nathan." She rolls her eyes as Hale Nathan approaches her, his face stoney as usual.
But, something flashes in his eyes when she addresses him. And she doesn't miss it. He stops in front of her, looking down at her with the baby. She stares at his chest, glaring, hoping that if she looks hard enough he might disappear. Their last encounter is still fresh in her mind. And she had spent five minutes in the mirror this morning making sure her jeans made her butt look big.
Not that she cared what he thought.
"You gonna keep standing there or let me help?" His voice is husky, deeper than usual and slightly raspy. It sent a shiver down her spine, but she pushes the feeling away. Bella debates, looking at the baby on her shoulder.
"Fine." She hands him the baby and almost immediately Hale has it calm. He sways as he holds it and Bella does her best not to gawk. "I... What the actual fu--I tried that!"
Hale smirks, his full lips curling with a teasing glint in his eye. And damn, Bella had never seen anything more attractive in her life. "Sometimes it takes a man's touch."
Bella scoffs, snapping out of her thoughts, she crosses her arms over her chest. Hale eyes glance down at the movement before quickly moving back to meet Bella's. She narrows her eyes, but brushes it off and turns around, mumbling, "Nothing good ever comes from a 'man's' touch."
Hale stares at her butt when she bends over to grab the baby bag, completely missing the comment she made. "Why do you keep showing up anyway? You stalking me?"
Hale tips his head back and laughs in Bella's face, "Stalk you? That would mean I have the slightest interest in you." He wipes his face clean of emotion, because if he didn't, it would be easy to tell he's lying, before saying, "And I don't."
"Sure you don't." Bella replies back with a roll of her eye, but she takes him seriously. There really wasn't anything interesting about her. Especially not for a boy as mysterious as Hale. That's how she's managed to get through high school, by not catching the interest of anyone.
"Okay, maybe a little." Hale admits, holding the now sleeping baby out to Bella. Her brows shoot up as she takes the toy back, squatting down to secure it in the car seat.
"Really?" She quirks a brow.
"No." He chuckles at this and Bella's face falls, but she is turned away from him so he doesn't see. Of course he doesn't care about her. Why is she disappointed? Why did she get her hopes up anyway? Why does she care?
"You don't even know me." She crosses her arms, turning back to face him. She feels small looking up at him, and perhaps she is compared to the rather tall boy in front of her.
"But you know me?" He inquires, leaning on the locker beside her. Bella brushes a strand of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear and turns to look at Hale.
She studies his eyes, the cold and stoney eyes she's heard so much about. It matches the rest of him. Cold and stone like. From his chiseled face to hard muscled body that is showing through his tight long sleeve sweater. His demeanour gives off an icy chill, an unwelcoming aura surrounding him. Yet, here he was talking to her, in a nonchalant manner. Like he's known her this entire time. It made her wonder what was really under that facade.
She mimics his position, leaning one shoulder against the cool metal of the lockers. "I know of you, but don't know you."
"Do you want to?" He raises an eyebrow, watching her face carefully.
She smiles a bit, taking in his words. Her first reaction was to say yes. Merely because she's curious. But the way he asks, breathy and in a low voice sends a shiver down her spine. He's playing with her, waiting for her to take to bait so he can cut her down. And if he thought this was going to work on her, he was out of his mind.
"That would mean I have the slightest interest in you." She starts, a smirk curling her lips. She copies his words from before, pausing for dramatic effect. "And I don't."
Hale smiles then, stunning Bella for a second with it's intensity. It felt good to genuinely smile. It felt too good. Then he pushes off the locker and walks away, chuckling quietly. Bella watches him go, taking in the slight shaking of his shoulders, brows furrowed. When she realizes she must look like a love sick puppy; she turns and grabs her carrier, stepping back into the classroom. She gives her English teacher an apologetic smile and makes her way to the table in the back of the class. Eyes follow her and she almost feels as though a neon sign spelling out 'Hale Nathan just insulted me' hanging around her neck.
Bella spaces out for the rest of the class, replaying the scene with Hale over in her head. She is proud of her clap back and finds herself enjoying the sound of Hale's laughter. It plays over in her head like a broken record, a sweet sweet sound she doesn't want to like. But does. Even as she leaves the class to head towards lunch, her music does little to hold a flame to Hale's melodic laugh.
She sits at her normal table, ignoring the curious stares she gets with the car seat. She sets the baby down in the chair next to her, exhaustion taking over her. She folds her arms on the table and lays her head down on them, yawning. As she sits there, tuning the roar of the room out as a warm feeling washes over her.
Just as she is about to fall into the oblivion of sleep, a chair is pulled from her table. The legs make an awful screeching sound, causing her to look up and glare at the guilty person. Her heart hurts from the missed opportunity to sleep, pounding wildly in her chest.
She narrows her eyes at a four guys in front of her. A blonde guy with a broad frame and thick arms gives her a goofy, child-like smile, his green eyes twinkling. Bella vaguely remembers having him in her history class last year, his name is Dom. Her eyes roll over to Omar, Hale's best friend, as he proudly boosts. He's a similiar build to Hale, tall, lean with a bit more muscle. His black hair forms an afro on top of his head. He grins at her as if he knows something she doesn't.
Bella glares at Hale, who gives her an innocent look. As her eyes move to the last guy, sitting the closest to her, she quickly notes he's the smallest of the bunch. He's also lean, but less so than the others and borders 'scrawny'. His warm brown eyss are trained not on her, but on the guy, Omar. Bella recognizes the emotion in them as longing. She decides then that she likes him the best, the others ooze confidence that could easily be called arrogance, but the boy next to her is humble.
Next thing she realizes is that the once loud lunch room is now filled with mumbles and whispering. Her back stiffens as she realizes that Hale has lead the spotlight to her. She's fully exposed to the eyes of her peers. Bella sends Hale one last glare, before grabbing her bags. Before she can get up and leave, the baby starts crying. She groans internally and drops her things.
So instead of leaving, she questions the guys who have quickly made themselves at home at her table. "What are you doing here?"
"Sitting." Hale answers for them as Omar and Dom nudge each other, fighting smiles as they quiet down their conversation to observe the interaction between Hale and Bella.
"No shit, Sherlock. Why are you sitting at my table?" Bella craddles the baby in her arm and holds the bottle to its lips.
"Last time I checked your name isn't on it." Hale responds, raising an eyebrow.
"Okay, but you have your own table." Bella bites, motioning to their usual table, but she doesn't notice the group of cheerleaders that have positioned themselves at the table, gritting her teeth in frustration. He just doesn't seem to leave her alone.
"Do we?" He challenges, glancing behind him at the girls. Viv winks at him.
Bella hadn't noticed they were gradually leaning forward until she could see the blue in his eyes. She quickly jerks back.
"You're annoying, Hale Nathan."
The boys around Hale freeze, their eyes widening as they look towards him. No one calls Hale by his full name. Mostly because they know what it means for him. They know better. Teachers know better. Yet, Hale just sits there and takes it from her. Even with a ghost of a smile.
"As are you, Bella O'Hara."
"Alright, enough, kids. Excuse our friend, he has no manners, he was raised by wolves." Omar breaks the intense glaring match between the two, drawing both glares to him. He holds his hands up, an easy going smile sitting on his lips.
"I'm Omar, Hale's bestest friend in the entire world." He grins cheekily, causing Hale to huff with annoyance and the others to roll their eyes. "This is Dom, he's a big teddy bear. And that's Jinx, he's..." Omar searches for the words, staring at Jinx intensely. The other looking away, a slight red tint in his cheeks.
"He's calmest one of the group, balancing the rest of us meatheads out."
"Got the meathead part right," Bella mumbles, pulling the bottle away from the baby. She places it in the diaper bag. "At least for Hale." She adds quickly, to not offend the others. They all seemed tolerable, it was just something about Hale that drove her insane.
Jinx snorts and she grins, "You get me."
Hale rolls his eyes at her and Jinx. Watching as they launch into conversation. As Bella becomes more and more emersed into her conversation, Hale smiles. He had hoped that she would hit it off with at least one of the guys. After watching her these last few days, it came to his attention that she doesn't have friends. Maybe she wouldn't be so bitter all the time. It wasn't that he felt like he needed to help her, he just wanted her to be as involved in his life as she possibly could be.
It sounds crazy and weird, but when he's around her or thinking about her, he feels calm and not so overwhelmed. It's as if the static of his overthinking and stress is silenced by her and he wonders what makes her so special. But then he looks at her, with her wild hand gestures, passionate tone and how fully engaged she is in what she's talking about, and it's almost as if he understands. He doesn't even know what she is talking about and she has him convinced it's amazing.
Omar smirks, turning to Dom. He nudges the bigger guy, who pauses mid bite. Omar nods to Hale, who's eyes are trained on Bella's movements as she gushes to Jinx about a new album from an artist he doesn't know. Dom chuckles lightly, his deep voice coming out more like a growl. Omar laughs, nudging Hale. He jumps a little, turning to Omar with a glare. Omar makes kissy faces.
"And at the end they closed with Bohemian Rhapsody. There was confetti, lights, the whole deal." Bella enthuses, pulling her phone out to show Jinx pictures. He smiles kindly, though excited to see the pictures.
Bella was able to steal two seats to the side of the concert after a directions mix up with a security guard. She went with her brother and skips over the pictures and videos of her spazzing out and singing along at the top of her lungs, to show Jinx snap shots of the ending.
"I didn't expect you to be a fan of Queen." Jinx admits, taking her phone to look at the pictures. He swipes the way he was instructed, refraining from gawking.
"What did you expect?" Bella tilts her head to the side. She's completely forgotten about how the cafeteria is still silent, and how the whispers are roaring now.
"Well, I expected you to listen to whatever it is that my sister listens to." Jinx hands her phone back, smiling awkwardly. "You know, that sad music like Billie Eilish."
"How old is your sister?" Bella asks incredulously. She does like Billie Eilish, but she has to be in the right mood. And if that mood was a random 2am depressive episode, it just had to be like that.
"12." Jinx responds, smiling fondly.
Bella visibly cringes, glancing at her phone as she opens her playlists. "No, no, no. My taste in music is much better than just pre-teen depression music."
Jinx laughs, accepting the phone back from her. Bella glances around the table, having forgotten that the others were there. Hale is in an intense conversation with a grinning Omar, while Dom munches on a sandwich, listening in on them, a bored expression on his face.
"Dom, have you tried their cheese steak with chipotle Ranch?" Bella asks, nodding up to their lunch lines.
Unlike other public schools, their town in so small and connected that their schools are of up most priority. The lunch lady is a home cook, so she just serves what she wants for the day. It makes the lunch time experience a lot more pleasant, and no one complains about how crappy the food is because it's absolutely delicious.
Dom's eyes go wide for a second. He puts his Turkey sandwich down and takes a swig of his drink before replying in awe. "They have those?!"
"Yeah, they're my favorite." Bella smiles, ignoring the looks she recieves from Hale and Omar.
"Come on, let's get one!" Dom stands abruptly, motioning for her to follow. She eyes his already full plate and his stout, but not at all flabby body, wondering where he puts it. She concludes that he likes food and is obviously too excited to wait and follows him up to the lines.
Hale watches them go, and is abruptly pulled from his thirsty thoughts by Viv's grinning face.
"Fuck off." He grumbles.
"Oh, you'll thank me later." Viv says in a sing-song voice, taking Bella's empty seat.
"How do you even know enough people to fill this cafeteria?" Omar questions, gesturing around them. The whole cafeteria is full, and tables that have been empty for weeks, are now occupied.
"I have my ways." She replies mysteriously, before focusing her attention on Hale. "You should ask her to homecoming."
"Would you stop suggesting that?" Hale sighs heavily, rolling his eyes. He regrets even talking about Bella with anyone.
"Well, I'm just saying, she is the first girl you've shown interest in and you've never been to any school function. It's senior year, you should ask her to homecoming." Viv tries to reason, pointing out all valid aarguments but Hale doesn't want to face the possibility of rejection. He's not asking-
"Ask who to homecoming?" Bella's voice interrupts and sends what feels like a bucket of ice water crashing down on Hale.
"Oh, he's going to ask-" Omar begins, but never finishes because Hale does it for him.
"Jenna. I'm going to ask Jenna, the cheer captain." He blurts, to avoid Bella knowing they were actually talking about her. He immediately regrets it, because when thought her face was curious, something falls in her eyes.
Omar elbows Hale sharply in the ribs. Jinx coughs and Dom doesn't even notice as he falls back into his seat with his new sandwich. Viv quirks on eyebrow and Hale wishes the ground would open up and swallow him whole. Jenna was the last person he wanted to go with. He wanted to go with Bella. And of course he couldn't, because that wasn't the level they were on yet. She still hates him, and he doubts her liking for him got any better in the last minute.
"You should go for it." Bella nods, sitting in her seat that is now abandoned by Viv, who stands to the side of the table looking at Hale with disappointment.
She jumps at Bella's comment, "Yeah, Hale, you should. In fact," She turns towards her normal table and cups her hands to her mouth. "Jenna!"
The ginger girl's head pops up out of the crowd and she grins almost as if on cue. Viv motions her over, turning to look at Hale over her shoulder, "Why don't you do it now and get it over with?"