○8○

○Natasha○

Ring. Ring. Ring.

The sound of my alarm wakes me up from my slumber. I sigh, I hate school. Getting up from my bed, I walk over to my bathroom, and get on with my morning routine. I brush my teeth, shower, do my hair, and then get dressed for school. As I'm leaving my room, I grab my bag from my bed, and saunter over to the kitchen. I make myself breakfast. Since I was feeling very Chef-y today, I decided to make myself fried eggs with bacon. I go over to my fridge and grab all of the ingredients I need, and get to work.

Once I've finished eating breakfast, I go to sit in the living room, and wait for Brody. My mum had to go to work early today, so it was just me this morning.

Fifteen minutes had passed, and still no sign of Brody. Huh. I wonder where he could be? Just as I'm about to call him and ask him where he is, I receive a text. From Brody. How Ironic.

Brody: Hey, I'm sorry, I can't pick you up today, you'll have to walk.

Me: Seriously?? And you chose to tell me this now?? School starts in 15 minutes!

Brody: I'm sorry, I forgot.

Me: Ugh, fine. But apology not accepted.

Great. Now I'm going to have to run to school. Annoyed, I get up off the couch, put on my shoes, and proceed to leave the house, after locking the door behind me.

Ok. You can do this Natasha.

I take a deep breath in, before speeding off in the direction of my school. And, trust me, I have never ran that fast before.

***

Panting heavily, I come to a stop in front of my school. Lifting up my hand, I check the time on my watch.

YESSS! GET THE JALAPENOS IN THERE! I MADE IT. With five minutes to spare. I should seriously consider taking up Running. I would be really good at it.

As I steady my breathing, I make my way towards the main school building. To my left I see Cameron, with a girl pressed up against his car. Practically eating her face off.

Ew. I hate pda.

I mean, can you not take it somewhere else?

Nobody wants to see you guys eating each other.

I've never seen her before, she must be in the year below me. Poor girl. She probably thinks that Cameron actually likes her. I pity her. Looking away from them , I stride over to my locker.

As I am about to turn the corner, I hear an annoyingly familiar voice.

"But seriously babe, why do you hang around with her. She's just a pathetic little, attention seeking whore, "says Vanessa.

Ugh.

Why am I even listening to this. It's just Vanessa probably trying to ruin a perfectly good relationship. I quickly decide that I don't want to hear this conversation, and I am about to take a step away, until another familiar voice causes me to stop in my tracks.

"Yea, you're right I really shouldn't be hanging out with that whore."

Brody? What is he doing talking to Vanessa? Who are they talking about?

"I mean, I'm so much better than Natasha, we could have so much more fun." Vanessa comments , using a flirtatious and seductive tone.

"Yea, we could," replies Brody, in an equally seductive tone.

Then, I hear kissing noises, and I look around the corner to see Vanessa, and Brody, sucking each other's faces off. Tears stream down my face, and I start crying vigorously ,as reality hits me like a brick.

Stupid, Idiotic Natasha. Of course he's going to chose her. She's so much better than you.

I can't believe I actually thought Brody wanted to be friends with me. Who was I kidding. As I go walk away, I hit a plant, and I am sent tumbling forwards, crashing right into them.

I look up to see Vanessa scowling at me. I turn towards Brody, who has an apologetic look on his face, and I look him straight in the eye, as I say, "I'm a whore am I?"

He steps closer to me, but I take a step back.

"Tasha, I didn't mean it like that, just hear me out, please," he pleads.

He grabs me and tries to pull me into a hug, but I push him away fiercely. "Don't touch me!" I spit at him furiously; rage and disgust taking over me.

"I don't even know why I thought you really wanted to be my friend. I mean, I'm just the ugly nerd that nobody likes, right?" I shout to him.

"Tasha, please, just hear me out, this is not what it looks like, I-

"You what! Huh? You what Brody?!!!" I intervene. He tries to talk again, but I put my hand up to stop him.

"Don't....just don't," I tell him, before spinning on my heel, and trudging away from him.

***

All day today, I avoided Brody, which was kind of difficult, since he is quite literally in all of my lessons. I had to move seats to get away from him.

When I saw him and Vanessa together, I just felt so torn. I don't know why, I guess I was just upset that my first 'real' friend wasn't even actually my friend.

Keep telling yourself that.

Ugh, Shut up brain.

I drag my feet towards the school gates. I'm really not into it today. As I'm about to leave, I hear someone call my name. I look over my shoulder to see Brody coming towards me. Ugh

I can't be dealing with him now.

So I turn around, and Sprint as fast as I can ,out of school. Once I'm sure that Brody can't catch up to me, I start to slow down, and I walk the rest of the way home.

***

Opening the door to my house, I walk inside and close the door behind me. I then go upstairs , and into my room. Once I'm in, I flop down onto the bed, and lie there, watching the stars on my ceiling.

Hey. You're never too old for 'glow in the dark' stars.

A stray tear falls down my face, and I wipe it away ferociously.

No. I will not cry over him. He is not worth my tears.

I am about to get up and have a shower, until the sound of my doorbell stops me. I go downstairs and open the door. Brody.

I am about to slam the door in his face, but he speaks up.

"Tasha, please, just hear me out," he begs. I smile sarcastically.

"Well, since you said please....No."

The hopeful look suddenly disappears from his eyes. I go to shut the door in his face again, but he interrupts me. Again.

"Tasha, please, just hear me out, and then you can ignore me forever if you like. But please, just listen," says Brody, tiredly. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

"Brody, just leave me alone, I get it, ok? You don't want to be friends with me, it's fine. I get it. I won't speak to you, and you don't sp-

My voice is muffled as Brody puts his hand over my mouth. He pushes me inside my house, and closes the door behind us. He then removes his hand from my mouth.

"Tasha, I'm so sorry. I just wanted to help you. I knew that it was Vanessa who always beat you up, and I wanted to stop that. I wanted to stop her, but in order to do that, I needed to know why she did it. So I thought if I could get her to think I hated you, she would tell me why she bullied you," he concludes.

I stand there utterly bewildered at what he was saying.

"Wait, so you called me a whore, and pretended to hate me, so that you could help me?," I ask him.

"Pretty much," he answers back.

Wow. Stupidity at its finest.

"Brody, I appreciate you trying to help me, but that plan was just stupid. No offence." I tell him.

"None taken, and I know. It really was stupid." Brody admits.

I laugh at him, while he looks at me with an expression I can't quite decipher.

"What?" I ask him.

"Nothing, you just have a beautiful laugh," he tells me honestly. I blush furiously, and it doesn't go unnoticed.

"You're cute when you blush," says Brody as he pinches my cheek.

"Shut up," I whine as I squat his hand away.

"Sooo," Brody begins nervously, "We cool now?"

I Smile at him warmly, before replying, "Yea, we're cool."

***

"Star Wars," Brody suggests, the same time as I say, "Twlilight."

After we made up, Brody decided to hang around, so we were picking a movie to watch.

"Star Wars is boring," I complain, childishly.

"No, Twilight is boring," Brody shoots back.

Oh No, he was so not winning this one. I put on a sad face, and Let fake crocodile tears fall down my face.

"B..B..But I want to watch Twilight", I stutter out. Brody suddenly looks apologetic.

Idiot. So gullable.

"Okay, Okay, we'll watch Twilight then," he gives in.

I mentally high five myself.

"Okay, I'll just go and get it," I tell him victoriously, before walking to my bedroom to grab the movie.

I grab the movie from the shelf, and as I am about to make my way downstairs, my phone rings. I take my phone from my pocket and slide the answer button, before pressing it against my ear.

"Hello."

***

*Brody's P.O.V*

Ten minutes had passed, and Natasha still hadn't come downstairs.

I wonder where she is?

So, being the knight in shining armour that I am, I go upstairs to check on her. When I'm stood outside her door, I hear her voice.

"I don't care, do it, the dickhead deserves it, he asked for it," she says venomously. I step into the room, and she turns around, with an alarmed look on her face.

"Hey, You alright, who was that?," I ask her, concerned.

"You were eavesdropping on me?", she questions me accusingly.

"No, I just came up here to check on you ,since you'd been gone for a while ,and I heard you," I respond, defensively.

She sighs. "I was just talking to my cousin. She just found out that her boyfriend cheated on her, and she didn't know whether or not to kick him in the balls. So I was all like, Of course you should, he deserves it," she replies calmly.

"Oh, Ok, I pause for a moment, before continuing,"Come on down, I believe we were supposed to be watching Twlilight," I remind her.

"I believe we were, shall we," she questions, as she bows.

"We shall," I say as I take her hand and lead her back to the living room.

***

*Natasha's P.O.V*

"That film never fails to amaze me," I comment as we watch the ending credits for Twilight.

"It wasn't that good," Brody mutters beside me. I smack him on his arm.

Hard.

"Ow, What was that for?," says Brody, clutching his arm.

"Don't ever diss Twilight again. Or else.....", I warn him.

"Chill your beans, princess," Brody murmurs.

"I already know I'm a princess, no need to tell me," I say jokingly.

"Whatever helps you Sleep at night", Brody adds, rolling his eyes.

"Soooo, What do we do now?," I inquire.

"Erm, I dunno, wanna watch the news?," he asks me.

"Sure?," I reply. I grab the remote ,turn off the DVD Player, and change the channel to Fox News. As soon as I put it on, the news reporter starts speaking.

"The Police have widened the search area for The Midnight Murderer, to Archfield, and Greenville. The unknown Assasin, who has claimed 10 lives within the past year, is yet to be found, and WBPD are doing everything they can to try and find this person, and put them behind bars. We cannot tell you how important it is that you stay safe during this time. Don't go out at night, don't go out alone. You never know who the next Victim could be. Stay safe, and goodnight."

For a moment there is silence, before Brody Says, "I really hope they find this person soon."

"Yea, me too," I add.

"Anyway," Brody starts, "It's late, I should be getting home now."

"Are you sure," I ask him. "You can stay the night if you like, my mom won't mind," I offer.

"No, it's fine, I have some homework I need to be doing too, it's due tomorrow," he says.

"Trust you to leave homework to the last minute," I joke as I walk Brody to the door.

"What can I say, I'm a badass like that," he plays along.

"Goodbye Brody, drive safe," I tell him as he walks out of the door, and towards his car.

"Goodbye Tasha, don't worry, I will," Brody assures me, as he gets into his car, starts it, and sends me one last wave, before driving away.

I close the door, and make sure it's locked. I then proceed to make my way to my bedroom, and decide to sleep.

***

WHOOOOOOO!! That was some long ass chapter. Sooooo, what did you guys think???? Did you like it, love it, hate it??? Comment your thoughts.

Ari x