"Are you ready to go to school Rachel?" Nick's voice was seeping of drowsiness.
Nick was leaning against the doorway. He ran his fingers through his chocolate-brown hair while avoiding looking in my direction completely. His face was relaxed, yet Nick's shoulders were slouched. What could have happened with me on the counter was probably on his mind as well as mine, though it was his idea to wear the rings. Nick was also the one initiating the kiss last night. He probably thought it would have been a huge mistake. I don't think it would have been a huge mistake, but I felt pretty stupid though, and horrible. Did the idea of kissing me really bother him that much? Was I too repulsive to kiss? I mean that was the second time we were stopped from kissing.
"Are you alright Nick?" I questioned, glancing at him even though he wasn't looking at me.
"Fine," Nick spoke, plastering on a fake smile. "Let's go."
Did he really have to give that phony grin? That gesture made me feel even worse than before. What was wrong, because I knew something was wrong. Did he really think I was that stupid? I did not appreciate being undermined or messed with like he was doing with the almost kisses.
We grabbed our coats and left in silence as the feeling of being naked without my backpack with my books in it took over me. I crossed my arms over my chest trying to keep up my pace against Nick's longer legs; he started to slow down when we neared the gate. My eyes went over to the big black bars that surrounded us causing a chill to go down my spine. There was a line of cops and blockers to give us a path to school separate from news people in addition to other people who were watching us.
"You okay?" Nick inquired, his eyes scanning me.
I nodded with my eyes still on the tall fence. When we went through the opening there were a couple of men standing guard, there were buttons and controls filling their booth. As I peeked over my shoulder I saw guns hanging on their belt loops. Taking a couple more steps in a haste I caught up with Nick, staying by his side as we crossed the street. I kept my eyes on the ground and tried to block out the shouts. My heart was beating fast.
People in our sophomore grade mixed with the other students making their way into the school. The blending in always was a comfort for me, I didn't stick out to cause problems and could talk to someone if I wanted to, otherwise I was left alone. Cars driven by the seniors piled into the parking lot. Nick and I went to our lockers; his was only a few lockers away from mine since we shared the same homeroom. Nick's friend Mark had his locker next to mine while on my other side my friend Willow from band. This school year I had hit the locker lottery since on the other side of Willow was Holly then Bridget. If only I had hit this luck in middle school.
"Morning," I greeted Bridget, Holly, and Willow.
"Eh," Willow mumbled, it was still too early in the morning to talk and I could relate, I understood the tired shadows in her blue eyes and could only imagine how dark they were under my own.
"Hi, hi, hi!" Holly cheered being the morning person that she was and of course she had to add the jumping around like a four year old who was on a sugar rush, but we all love her anyway.
"Hey," Bridget waved as she pushed some of her hair back, earrings shining against her dark tresses that matched the shawl tied around her waist, draping over her dark jeans.
"Could this weekend have been any weirder?" Holly questioned, her books tight to her chest with her deep brown eyes searching around the halls that were filling up by the second.
"I don't know. I think it's fair to say we had a lot going on."
"True," Willow replied as she leaned against the locker appearing as if she might fall asleep against the metal after she had plopped her books down on the floor so that she could cross her arms across her chest tightly.
They started to chatter about something, but I wasn't able to keep my focus. Smiling as if I was listening, I glanced over at Nick to see if he was still there, but he had left. He didn't wait for me. I don't know why I thought he would; we have never hung out in the halls before classes. Nick was gone while Mark was still at his locker staring and grinning at me. My nerves stood on end with his gaze on me. Mark had those dark eerie eyes like Sidney's boyfriend, Billy in the first Scream. Even thinking back to when he kissed my hand when Nick wasn't around sent chills down my spine.
A whistle brought my attention back from my thoughts. Two upper classmen were walking by us.
"Think their husbands would mind us borrowing their wives?" one of them commented, while the other was left chuckling.
"Now begins the harassment," I retorted, with a sigh.
Shutting my locker, the bell rung and we headed to homeroom.
The whole day at school was slow and painful, even more than the usual Monday. I went to my locker at the end of the day to get my stuff to go home. As I got up from gathering my books from the bottom of my locker I put them in a pile to take home when a small shadow was casted over me. Lifting my head I saw Nick beside me.
"Hey, um so I have to do something so I'll be home later okay, Rachel," Nick's voice wasn't steady as his eyes were everywhere, but me.
"Okay Nick,"
