Strung

We walked hand in hand into the school amidst the awkward stares and whispers as we made our way down the hall.

Some students took pictures, others pointed and laughed. In all reality it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

“Security?” Nat asked, once we reached the lockers. I was busy texting Alec to see if he’d run into oncoming traffic yet.

I almost ran into Bob. “Sorry, guys, didn’t see you.”

Nat gave me a look that said, ‘how could you not see them, they’re huge!’

“Bob.” I smirked and motioned to the security guard with the prison tattoo on his head. “You’re going to shadow Nat for the remainder of the school year.”

Bob nodded. The man took his job so seriously that even I was freaked out a bit when he was with me.

“Why am I getting shadowed?” Nat asked in a pleading voice.

“Because.” Damn it, I knew it wouldn’t bet this easy. I reached into my pocket for my phone, pulled up the latest headline that read ‘Local Girl Bags AD2’ and held it up for her to read.

Nat’s face flashed with anger as she slammed the phone back into my hand. I sighed. “Nat, it’s going to be fine. Even if it means I need to run through the streets screaming and drunk so they don’t focus on you.”

“Wouldn’t you do that normally?” she asked.

“Hilarious.” So what if I would? I rolled my eyes. “Now, Bob has been instructed to keep tabs on you all day, especially when I can’t, oh and here…” I almost forgot about the phone I had for her. “You’ll need this.”

“I have a phone.” She mumbled.

“You have a dinosaur. Take the phone, Nat.” I dangled the phone in front of her.

“Since when are PDA’s dinosaurs?” she snapped.

“I thought you had computers here?” I looked around trying to appear genuinely confused. “People don’t use crap PDAs anymore, not when they can have an iPhone. Don’t be mad, but I programmed some numbers in there in case of emergencies. You’ll have to add the ones you need too, and you’ll also have to text the friends you trust and give them your new number.”

She took the phone, though I could tell she wanted to shove it up my ass, said a ‘thank you’ then walked towards class. Bob followed close after her. It was kind of a funny sight. Sweet little Nat getting tailed by Bob.

A few hours later I found her in the lunch line talking to Evan.

“How goes Hell day?”

Evan answered for Nat. “A girl called her a bitch behind her back, another called her a whore, and I could have sworn someone just pushed her.”

“Thanks, Evan.” Nat saluted him and rolled her eyes. “He’s being dramatic.”

Evan lifted his eyebrows. “Me, dramatic?”

“See?” She pointed at him and gave me a very fake reassuring smile.

I didn’t smile back; I was still trying to process the fact that someone would call her that. “Who do they think they are? They can’t treat you like that! You’re my girlfriend!”

“Yeah, I don’t think they really care.” Nat picked up her tray, balancing it with her water bottle. “And to answer your question, they’re high schoolers. Imagine Hollywood only the drugs are cheaper, the women are looser, the men are hornier, and everyone’s hormones are spiked like they’re high on ecstasy.”

“Wow, Nat,” Evan said behind us. “That was actually quite accurate. I’m impressed.”

I hated that she was right. The sick part? Any one of those girls would take her place. If I jumped on the table and said ‘hey I need a few volunteers for later tonight.’ I’d have endless girls throwing me their bras. People could be such hypocrites. It pissed me off.

“What can I do?” I asked.

“Other than threatening everyone in school?” Nat eyebrows shot up. “Let it blow over. They’ll have to give up after a while.”

Bob followed us to the table.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Alec

NAT SAT AT the table with Bob, Evan, and Demetri. My eyes followed her the entire distance from the lunch line to the table.

And when she sat. I still stared.

So many emotions raged through me that I didn’t know which one to pick. Should I be pissed that I freaked out and let Demetri make everything better? No, because funny enough, he did a good job and he was right. Ugh, that was a bitter pill to swallow. And yeah, I got the irony about pills.

He handled it so well — everything. I was the one that was a mess. Because I knew deep down, it was my fault. Demetri was finally turning into the guy I knew he could be. Slowly, he was changing and I had Nat to thank for it.

But here’s the thing about liking someone — having such a strong pull to them that you can’t eat or sleep or even function throughout the day. Even though you know it’s a shitty idea to involve yourself, you can’t help it. Eventually you will justify your actions in order to get what you want. I hated my lack of self-control. What’s worse? I think Demetri knew. How could he not? After how I acted last night and this morning? Damn I didn’t want to hurt him. Maybe it was best if I left. Maybe I should just — go back to LA, let him do rehab here. It’s not like I was the one with the drug problem. I quit cold turkey; hell I could even drink still and be totally fine.

See? Justifying again.

Helllll… I groaned and stole another glance at Nat. She looked really pretty today — tired — but pretty.