Heart Me

Chapter 5

Nate's POV

It had been two days since Mia and I talked, and our conversation kept replaying in my mind. It wasn’t that I still had feelings for her, but what she said and how she behaved creeped me out. I was already developing feelings for Kayla, and Mia being around would ruin everything. Cutting Mia out of my life wasn't an option. We were practically family before we dated. My parents treated her like their own daughter, and her parents were equally fond of me. We grew up together.

Mia knew everything about my life, just as I did about hers. I cherished the friendship we had, despite the betrayal. When I found out she had been seeing my best friend behind my back, I never wanted to see either of them again. Eventually, I got over it, and she came back into my life, though we were never as close as before.

For the past two days, I’d been dealing with girl problems: Lilibeth constantly throwing herself at me, Mia trying to force conversations, and random girls trying to catch my eye. I was only interested in one girl—Kayla. Yet, she seemed to want nothing to do with me. I had asked her to meet up on Friday evening, but she turned me down. Now it was Sunday, and I had just come from the theatre room with a bunch of guys after playing video games all day. Lily appeared out of nowhere and approached us. Crap!

"Hey guys, I want to steal Nate from you," she announced, linking her left hand with my right. My friends left us without hesitation. "Now it’s just you and me. I wanted to go shopping today, but my car broke down. Would you mind taking me?"

"Not today. You can ask someone else," I replied, trying to shrug her off.

"Come on, Nate. Aren't you willing to help a damsel in distress? You were my only hope. Don’t turn me down," she pleaded.

"Fine, let me go and get my car keys," I relented.

"I’ll take you."

As we walked to my room, Lily kept her hand wrapped around mine, resting her head on my shoulder. Everyone we passed glanced at us. It seemed Lily had a significant influence on other students. I just hoped not to run into Kayla. The afternoon turned out to be a drag as Lily took forever deciding what to buy.

I left her trying on clothes and headed to a canteen for a cold drink. Standing over the counter, I regretted agreeing to bring her.

"Can I get two yoghurts, please?" I heard a soft voice behind me.

Could it be Kayla? I turned to find it was indeed her. She smiled widely and hugged me, catching me off guard.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she pulled away.

"I... ummmh..."

"Ma’am, here are your yoghurts," the vendor interrupted. Kayla took her yoghurts, paid, and turned back to me.

"You haven’t answered my question," she said as we walked away from the canteen.

"I...I...uuuu..."

"There you are," Lily called out, heading towards us with a man carrying her shopping bags. "Look who we have here, Madam Principal's niece, Kayla. What business do you have with Nate? You made him leave me to see you." Lily hissed.

"Lily, that’s enough. You’re being mean," I snapped at her. Why was she being so rude to Kayla?

"Tell this bitch to get out of my face," she continued.

"You know what? I was actually leaving," Kayla said, turning away.

"What was that for? You found her here and then made her leave. What is wrong with you?" I rubbed my forehead, frustrated. "You know what? Don’t answer that. Let’s just go." I walked past her to the parking lot.

Lily followed with her bags, placing them in the back seat before getting in the passenger seat. I started driving immediately. The ride back to school was silent.

"Come on, Nate. Are you pissed at me?" Lily sighed.

"If you’re really sorry, apologize to Kayla," I said as we entered the school gate.

"Why would I do that? I hate her," she shrugged. I parked the car and watched as she struggled with her bags, feeling no sympathy.

### Kayla's POV

"Did you hear that Lilibeth's birthday is this weekend?" Simon asked as we walked to class.

"Her stuff doesn’t concern me," I rolled my eyes.

"It concerns you. I heard her tell her friends she’ll convince Nate to be her date." My heart sank. Why was he always doing Lilibeth favors?

"And so..."

"Honey, I’ve noticed how you look at Nate. Not to mention you get angry when you see girls throwing themselves at him," Simon said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" I mumbled.

"It means you have a thing for him. You can tell me anything, girl. I’m always here for you," he reassured.

"Okay," I sighed. "I don’t know if it’s a stupid crush or more than that. I don’t like it when there’s a swarm of girls around him. And whenever Nate and I are almost having a conversation, it’s always interrupted by Lilibeth. Nate is always entertaining her. One minute he shows interest in me, the next he’s with Lilibeth. And then there’s Mia. I think there’s something between him and Mia."

"Let’s do this, babes. Continue ignoring him," Simon suggested, rubbing my shoulder.

"Hey guys," Grace appeared suddenly. "Sorry Kayla, but I have to steal Simon from you."

"Okay..."

"Bye," Grace grabbed Simon’s hand, and they walked away.

I hated attending classes without motivation. And my motivation was gone. I hated how other students always stared at me when I entered class. It always felt like I was in the wrong place. I preferred going with someone I knew or knowing a friend was already there.

As I turned to head to class, I bumped into someone, causing my books and pens to fall. I quickly bent down to collect them, not giving the person a chance to help. I looked up to see Nate's face staring down at me. He had bent slightly, his face just above mine. We locked eyes, and it became uncomfortable. I cleared my throat, breaking the gaze.

"I’m sorry," he flinched and looked away. He was still blocking my way up. I let out a frustrated breath.

I stood up, accidentally hitting his face with my head, making him straighten up and move slightly.

"Ouch, Kayla," he cursed.

"Sorry. I have to go to class. I’m late." I checked my watch—ten minutes late. "Yeah, late. By ten minutes."

"Okay, nice time," he said, looking disappointed.

I quickly walked away and entered class. Fortunately, the teacher wasn’t there yet. I found an empty seat at the back and sat down. I shared this class with Lilibeth and her friends, actually, I shared most classes with them. I took out my phone to distract myself before the teacher arrived.

I couldn’t understand why I was suddenly jealous of Lilibeth. She spent a lot of time with Nate, the very reason I decided to ignore him. Lilibeth was a bitch, yet he spent more time with her. Was it so hard for him to ignore her?