THE UGLY DUCKLING, nate macauley

chapter three: post traumatic stress

That night was very quiet in Malia's opinion. Normally she and her sister would stay up watching One Tree Hill on DVD but Adaline had a tiring first day back. So after making sure her little sister was okay she went to bed. Malia didn't really do anything after that, just sat on the couch and ate leftover Chinese food. There were no dogs barking from the house down the street, no motorbikes pulling in and out of the driveway across the road. Just sad empty silence.

It wasn't really much fun the next morning either. Adaline had been stressing and making sure Malia's PTSD wasn't going to act up, and the girl didn't lion that was going to be the main worry of the day. To top it all off the entire school had been brought to an assembly for the events the previous day. Amelia had an arm wrapped around her best friend as Malia lent into her shoulder. "Good morning." Principal Gupta greeted everyone with a solemn smile.

"As many of you know, Simon Kelleher tragically passed away yesterday, after experiencing an allergic reaction." Malia had looked around to find the people who were in the room with her. Cooper was three rows down, Addy four rows down and Bronwyn one row down. She had yet to see Nate anywhere. "Losing a member of our community is an awful way to begin the new year. So my message today is simple," The gym's door opened and Malia looked over and saw a police officer standing in front of them. She got an odd feeling wash across her body and frowned slightly. "Let yourselves grieve." The blonde girl shook off the feeling and turned her attention back to the teacher. "There will be grief counsellors available all week. And of course, my door is always open." She felt someone squeeze her hand and looked over at the culprit. Jess sat there face full of sorrow, but Malia still pulled her hand away. "We will be honouring Simon's life at tomorrow night's football game."

Malia furrowed her eyebrows. Why the hell would Simon Kelleher's life be celebrated at a football game. The sport he hates the most. She ended up turning the rest of the speech out and before she knew everyone was getting up to leave. Amelia had Malia's hand clutched in hers refusing to leave her best friend's side. The two walked to the blonde's locker as Amelia suggested something. "Look, you know I love you and everything so please don't get mad at me when I say this." Malia opened her locker grabbing what she needed out of it before shutting it and leaning on it, giving Amelia a questioning look. "I think you should see a counselor."

She scoffed and started to walk away from her. When her dad died, every single person she knew was telling her to see a shrink. Malia denied it every time, saying that she was fine and didn't need one and would grieve properly. When Amelia caught up to her Malia was quick to speak over the top of her. "I don't want to - I don't need to go to a counselor. I am perfectly fine."

Amelia was given the most forced and pathetic smile she had ever seen in her life, before getting abandoned in the middle of the hallway. Before she could even react to what happened she saw the familiar boy walking down the stairs. "Nate!" She called out before she could stop herself. See now Amelia didn't know what happened between Malia and Nate, they were the only ones now who knew, she just knew it was bad.

He stopped walking and stared at her before looking behind him and back at her. She rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm talking to you dumbass." He furrowed his eyebrows and walked towards her.

"Hey." He said, causing her to narrow her eyes into slits.

She held up her hand stopping him from saying anything else. "You see, I don't like you. But me and you only have one thing in common." Malia. Nate was now even more confused, yesterday was the first time he had spoken to the blonde in a month, which also left him feeling really confused. "Now I know about your little chat yesterday, and Malia is in a very vulnerable state. That doesn't mean you can swoop in and try and-" He watched her try and figure out something about him. "I don't know what it is you do but don't do it."She held a finger up to his face with a stern expression.