Vienna

chapter eight

I muttered a thank you to Nathan and climbed out of his car. Nap time.

I almost reached my front door when I heard another car door slam behind me. I slowly turned around to see Nathan walking up my front steps.

Quick to get inside before he reached me, I fumbled to get the key in the lock. I finally got the door open and practically jumped inside, closing the door behind me as fast as I could.

But I was too slow. He stuck his foot in the walkway before I could get the door shut all the way.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't slam the door in my face," Nathan said, throwing his backpack on my kitchen counter.

"Just like you pretended you were invited in?" I countered.

"Yep!" he said with a wide smile.

I groaned and threw my backpack on the counter.

"What are you even doing here? Isn't there someone else you can go torture?" I asked.

"Torture? My presence is a blessing, Peach. In fact you should be thanking me for being here," he smirked.

"Peach?" I asked.

"Yeah, 'cause you have a nice-"

I slapped my hand over his mouth before he could finish.

"I was gonna say smile," he said innocently.

"Sure you were," I rolled my eyes.

"Well," Nathan started, "since I'm here maybe you could give me the calculus assignment."

That's why he was here? To copy my math homework?

I looked at him like he was an alien. "Why don't you just do it yourself?" I suggested.

He pouted. "I skipped the last two classes so I missed the entire lecture," he explained. "Plus you have the highest grade in the class so I bet your answers are all correct."

He's right, I do have the highest grade in the class. Surprisingly, I'm actually really good at math. I hate it, but it's always come naturally to me.

"I'm not going to just give you the answers because you'll never learn that way," I said.

I sighed pulled my math notebook out of my backpack. "But I will give you my notes. I need them back by the end of the week," I said and handed him my notebook.

He let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Thank you," he said.

I just nodded in response.

Nathan's phone dinged and he quickly grabbed it to read the text. He sighed deeply and stood up.

"I gotta go," he said, walking towards the door. "Thanks for the notes," Nathan paused in the doorway and turned to give me a smile before closing the door the rest of the way, leaving me alone.

It was only 1:30pm so I decided I would go for a run then watch some Netflix.

I was halfway through an episode of American Horror Story when my doorbell rang.

Weird. My dad shouldn't be home for a few more hours and I wasn't expecting anyone else.

Oh my god.

What if it's a murderer? What if there is a crazy guy on my front step right now waiting for me to open the door so he can stab me?

Wait. What kind of murderer would ring the doorbell?

Or maybe it's a really smart murderer who realizes I wouldn't expect a murderer to ring the doorbell so that I'd open the door. Reverse psychology. This guy's good.