Snakebitten Sweethearts (A NatePat AU)

It's time I clear the air.

===TIME SKIP===

A year passes by, and Matthew's class was about to graduate from high school.

One Saturday morning, Matthew was alone in his house, sitting on his couch. He thought to himself, "I can't believe my class and I are about to graduate from high school. I think it's time I clear the air about why most of them didn't like me."

Matthew proceeded to grab his laptop.

Then, he opened Messenger on a tab in Google Chrome. After that, Matthew looked for Mark's name in his contacts. He then proceeded to rummage through every screenshot from the secret group chat that Mark sent him back in junior year.

Matthew then created a draft message to send to his classmates who talked about him to confront them about what they said.

The message said:

"hey, sweetheart. we're about a few days away from graduating, and I think it's time we talk about something brought to my attention.

would you mind talking to me directly about why you felt this way or that way about me all those years ago that you, with the rest of this entire class resorted to creating another group chat that deliberately excluded me just to talk about me behind my back?

I want to hear an honest answer, but please try keeping it simple yet still straight to the point. I expect a reply soon. thanks, honey."

Matthew proceeded to send screenshots to each person who talked about him in the secret group chat, which he got from Mark.

As Matthew started sending out the messages to his classmates who he knew talked about him behind his back, some of them were caught off-guard. Meanwhile, others stood their ground and defended their past actions towards him.

Matthew started reading his classmates' messages one-by-one a few hours later.

A reply that he read, sent by Lewis, said:

"hey, man. I'm not gonna beat around the bush. I said those kinds of hurtful shit to you in sudden heats of moments. honestly, I didn't understand you right away as we met in class on our first day in class. and in my defense, I wasn't the one who created that group chat without you in it. I was just tagged along by others in the class in that shit.

I know that it was wrong for me to use that chat as my way to vent my frustrations towards you behind your back instead of directly confronting you about it, and I'm sorry for all the shit I've said that you found out about. you're actually a really cool guy with a HUGE amount of personality. you don't need to forgive me right away; take all the time that you need. but just so you know, I'm down to reconnect with you soon."

Matthew smiled at Lewis' message.

He thought to himself, "What a sweetheart this guy is. I just wish I got to see this side of him all those years ago." Matthew proceeded to type his reply, thanking him for being a part of his life in high school despite what he said about him before.

Matthew then read Rafi's reply.

He said:

"I think you know that it's written all over Benny's and my face why both of us didn't like your ass. you had my older brother creeped out by you because of what you commented in some meme that he shared in Facebook all those years ago.

but you're right. we're about to graduate, and Benny and I owe you an apology. I won't speak for Benny on this one; I'm sorry for refusing to get to know you better all this time. but hey, you had the class' opinion about you change for the better since what happened to Nathan. I understand if you're still holding onto a grudge towards our class. good luck on your future endeavors, though."

Matthew rolled his eyes.

He then said to himself, "Look who's talking. I'm not the one being petty about what I said to Benny. But hey, at least that's two people out of my life... hopefully for the better." Matthew proceeded to unfriend Benny and Rafi on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Nathan was recording a song in his mini-studio when he received Matthew's message.

So, he grabbed his phone and read Matthew's message. Nathan gulped nervously and stopped recording. He then said to himself, "Oh, shit. Matthew already knew about what I said in that goddamn group chat. I need to come clean to him."

Nathan typed a reply, asking Matthew if it would be okay if they talked it over at his house, to which the latter agreed with.

To be continued in Part 10...