Between Me & You - n.r.

Chapter 2

Nick's POV

There was a girl in my psychology class today. I'd seen her before, many times, but today she stood out.

She was picked for that dumb question and answer period at the end of class. I hated that part of class almost as much as I hated the rest of it. At least when students were being interrogated we didn't have to do any work. 

You're probably wondering: why did I take that class if I hate it so much? Well I took it because I was behind on credits for failing 4 of my courses last year. I didn't study and didn't even bother to show up most of the time. 

They told me that if I didn't catch up on my required credits I wouldn't graduate. That's not an option for me, I need to graduate. Not because I want to go to college and have a good career, but because I need to get out of this hellhole as soon as possible. 

Anyway, this girl, Hailee, was the one chosen to be interrogated. At first, I didn't pay attention, like usual. But she shot down the popular girl in our class and caught my attention. She seemed confident and I liked that. 

She looked almost bored sitting up there in her dark purple oversized sweater and leggings. Her long brown hair was thrown over her shoulder carelessly. She was beautiful and she wasn't even trying. 

How had I never noticed this girl before?

I decided to ask her a question. Everyone went silent when I put my hand up because it was a known fact that I don't participate in these things. 

"What's your deal?", I asked.

I can't tell if the question surprised her because her face is totally blank. This girl can hide her emotion better than anyone I know. Better than me... which is saying something since I pride myself on being emotionless. Heartless. Careless. It was my thing. 

She was beating me at my own game and instead of feeling defeated, I was intrigued. 

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After class, I found Hailee at her locker. I needed to talk to her, ask her about her answer to my question.

"My deal is that high school is a waste of time and people are superficial", she had said. 

It was vague. But maybe she had meant it to be that way. Maybe she meant to leave me wanting more. Because I really wanted more. 

I snuck up behind her and took the lock off her locker door. She started looking around for it and I tapped her shoulder to make her turn around.

"Looking for this?", I asked, holding up the lock. 

"Yeah", she muttered as she went to grab it. I leaned away and made her reach for the lock. After a while, she grabbed it and locked her locker. 

"I'm going to miss these moments", she said, sarcasm dripping from every word. 

"Why? You going somewhere?", I asked. I even added a subtle flirtatious tone but she didn't seem to care. 

"Oh you see this?", she said, gesturing to the school around us. "This is high school. We're here for 3 years and then we leave and all the people we saw everyday vanish from our lives and we'll never have to think about them again."

I told her it was a good answer. I didn't say anything else I was thinking though. Like how that was exactly how I felt about high school or how her carelessness made me want her. 

I hardly knew this girl and she somehow had a way of making me into a weak version of myself. And I hated being weak.

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After school I drove home. Well, home is a loose term. 

They say home is where the heart is so I guess I don't really have a home considering I act like I don't even have a heart most of the time. 

I pretty much live by myself. My mom lives in this house but she's never around. I never know where she is and I stopped caring a long time ago. She probably doesn't even know I got arrested last year. 

When I got home, I rummaged through my stuff and found last year's yearbook. I skimmed every page looking for Hailee's picture and after a while, I found it. 

In her picture, her brown hair was pulled into a loose bun on the top of her head. Her pale yellow shirt went well with her skin tone and her smile was... mysterious.

 The smile on her face suggested a girl who was open and free, but her eyes belonged to a girl who was seriously closed off. 

She was still gorgeous. 

I found a pair of scissors and cut out her picture, not caring about the rest of the yearbook. Like she said, after we graduate we'll never have to see these people ever again.

I tucked her picture in my wallet. I'm not sure why, maybe as incentive to show up to psychology class or maybe as motivation to get to know her. All I knew what that I couldn't forget about this one. 

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Hey readers,

This story is getting off to a slow start, but it will get better. I promise! Keep reading, feedback is appreciated. 

That_Epiphany