Between Me & You - n.r.

Chapter 3

Hailee's POV

My table under the tree is quiet. Serene. Nobody is bothering me today. Actually, that's not totally true.

I've been getting a lot of dirty looks all day from Emma and her friends. I guess my answer to her question in class was known by people all around the school now. I'm not sure why, it's not like I beat her up. I just dissed her a little.

I guess that's unheard of. Especially when the most popular girl in school is the victim. 

It's not like I care anyway. It doesn't affect me really, it's just annoying.

I'm sitting at my table under the tree with a legs curled under me on the stone bench, my chemistry notes in front of me, reading and highlighting everything important in bright yellow. 

I was getting a lot done too, until I was interrupted by someone sitting down across from me at my table.

I looked up from my notes and saw Nick Robinson staring at me. 

"Can I help you?", I asked rather rudely. I'm not sure whether I meant it to sound that way.

"Actually you can", Nick answers. He glances at my chemistry notes and smiles. "You see, I'm having a lot of trouble with chemistry. I was wondering if you could help me..."

I'm not buying it. The look on my face says that I can see right through him, which I can. Right now I can at least. 

We look at each other for a while. At this point it's just a battle to see who will cave first. I win. 

"Okay fine", he says, laughing. "I don't need help with chemistry."

"I know", I say in a bored voice. 

"Actually, I probably do. I haven't been to class in almost 2 weeks. But that doesn't mean I'm going to try and catch up."

"Why am I not surprised?", I ask sarcastically. 

"What's that supposed to mean?", he counters with a mock hurt expression on his face.

"It means that you live up to the typical bad boy reputation. Congratulations."

"And would you mind enlightening me on what the reputation consists of?", he asks, matching my dry sarcasm. 

"Well", I began. "You live to break the rules, you aren't afraid of anything, you commit petty crimes, and you don't care about anything important. Or at least you pretend not to care."

An intimidated look crosses his face and I wonder why he feels intimidated. It seems wrong, like the roles are switched. I'm the bad one and he's vulnerable.  He recovers quickly though.

"And you know everything about me?", he asks. There's a hint of anger in his voice and I know not to push anymore buttons. He is, after all, a bad boy. 

"I didn't say that", I answer.

"Do you know why I came over here?", he asks.

"No."

"You looked lonely."

"I'm never lonely."

"But you have no friends."

"Doesn't mean I'm lonely."

"Whatever. I just thought you could use someone."

"I don't need anyone. I've trained myself to never need anyone."

"Look at you", he says as he leans back a little. "Almost as heartless as I am."

"You aren't heartless", I answer. "If you were, you wouldn't have come over here in the first place."

Nick contemplates that for a while. 

"Looks like the bad boy is going soft", I say quietly, as if I'm telling a secret. 

"Well let's keep that between me and you", he says as he winks at me.

"Whatever you say", I reply as I pack up my stuff. I get up to leave, to leave Nick behind like I should have like 5 minutes ago. I don't need people and I don't want to get sucked into a bad boy vortex. 

"Where are you going?", he asks.

"Well lunch is over. I'm going to class."

"Lunch isn't over, the bell hasn't rung."

I count down from 5 in my head. 

5...4...3...2...1...

I point up at the sky at the exact moment the bell goes off. Nick looks at me with impressed eyes. The rest of his face says otherwise, obviously he has to keep up appearances. 

"You were saying?", I say with sarcasm and satisfaction and I turn to leave. 

Nick's POV

I watch Hailee walk away and I try to hide the amazement on my face. She surprised me. No one surprises me. People are always predictable. It was a fact. Until Hailee came along of course.

Her words repeat themselves in my mind. 

"Looks like the bad boy is going soft."

I don't like that. I pride myself on being the opposite of soft. Hard. Cold. Unapproachable...

That side of me just works better. It fits better with my life. 

If I am going soft, it's all because of her which is weird because we've talked like twice. But every conversation makes me want to discover her. Uncover whatever it is she's hiding. 

But for now, I need to keep up appearances. I believe people can change, but not because of 2 conversations. 

Why am I thinking about her so much? What the heck...

The bell that signifies 1 minute till class rings. I have english next. I usually never go. I hate that class, along with every other class of mine.

But for some reason, I decide to go today. 

***********

Hey readers,

Hope you're liking this story so far. This chapter was all about change. Can people change? Nick can and he's changing pretty quickly. Challenging concepts...

Anyway thanks for reading. There's more to come, so keep reading!

That_Epiphany 

P.S. Thanks to the reader who already added this story to a reading list! Thanks void nick => I really appreciate it :)