Finding Claire

Chapter 4

The next day, I tried my best to completely avoid and ignore Nathan. I managed to do just that until third period, when a huge body smacked right next to me, making me jump and groan at the same time. I could tell it was him because he laughed and chuckled, "Sorry".

I just kept my eyes straight towards the board and completely ignored his voice, which was saying my name.

"Claire."

The bell rang.

"Claire."

He started to poke me as the teacher began to talk.

"Claire."

I grabbed his finger before he could poke me again and sent him a glare as I lightly put pressure and bended it back. His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped with a hiss as I released it and went back to looking forward.

"Dang! What did I ever do to you!" He whispered, holding his injured hand.

"Bother me!" I growled under my breath. Ms. Hoff was glaring at us as I spoke and I blushed at her stare before looking down. I finished my ranting under my breath. "I told you to leave me alone!"

"And I told you I wouldn't leave you alone until we were friends. And since you object over us being friends, I object over leaving you alone."

I groaned and literally slammed my forehead on the table, causing everyone to go quiet.

"She has a headache," Nathan chuckled lightly and a couple of students laughed too. Yeah I did have one, but because I slammed it a little to hard.

A couple of minutes later, a red string appeared in my view and I looked at it in confusion. Was that a Twizzler? Where in the world did it come from?

I picked up my head, pushed up my glasses and looked over at Nathan, who had a sheepish grin on his face. "Truce? And I heard candy fixes headaches."

Where in the world did he hear that? I was going to completely ignore the peace offering, but the small grin he had on his face was too contagious. So I rolled my eyes, took the candy and rubbed my head. I took off my glasses to clean them off and then was about to put them back on when a hand stopped me.

"Don't. Don't hide under the glasses either. Remember, I see the real you, and what I see is beautiful."

"But I can't see without them," I whispered as I placed them back on my face. He just sighed, looked away and didn't talk to me for the rest of the period. I mentally sighed in relief and focused back on to the subject we were learning today.

Shakespeare? I rolled my eyes and looked down, not even bothering to pay attention. When I finally did look up, the bell had rung and most of the class was gone. I silently got up, ignoring the quiet stare of Nathan and after retrieving my stuff, which included the candy at the last second, I made my way to Calculus.

Of course, seconds later, I sensed him right behind me. I couldn't help but to sigh and ignore all my routines as I headed straight to class, even if I was early. I wasn't that surprised when he plopped down next to me again, but what did surprise me was that he didn't speak.

He didn't say a word.

This was totally getting awkward. But that was how I usually had it, so I was sort of comfortable with the silence. My foot however, decided today would be the day to start shaking and I found myself bouncing in my seat without even thinking about it.

The big dramatic sigh besides me made my leg stop and I closed my eyes, wishing my life to be different. Maybe if I had done things differently, I would have friends and I wouldn't be in this situation. I would actually be a happy person and not hiding underneath a sweater.

Just thinking those words made me remember the words that Nathan told me yesterday, which somehow seem as if he had said them a million years ago. "You know you can't hide under your hood. I see the real you so it's pointless to hide."

Was I really debating my life right now? The life I had chosen for myself and gotten used to for the past two years, just because of some words a boy said to me. I couldn't even think, let alone do math as I fought myself over saying those words.

The loud bell made me jump in my seat and I looked down at the pencil I had somehow started to twirl. A worksheet with my name was sitting in front of me, and I looked at it with wide eyes, as I realized I had spent the entire period staring off into space and not doing anything.

But as I got a closer glance at it, I saw that it was completely filled out, even though it looked nothing like my handwriting. I looked around me, seeing students getting up and turning in the sheet to Mr. Lopez who just nodded and dismissed everyone. I could still feel Nathan besides me and I looked at him, only to see him still working on his sheet.

What the? As I took a closer inspection, I saw that the numbers he had on his paper resembled mine really closely and I gasped, realizing what he had just done. He finished seconds later and a small sigh escaped from him before he looked up and smiled.

"What?" He finally said and I closed my mouth. I could feel the blush slowly starting to fade away, but as soon as I opened my mouth to say something it came back.

"Why?" Was the only thing I managed to whisper.

"Friends help friends. Besides, I don't mind. It just gives me an excuse to say that you owe me something," he chuckled with a smile. I gulped, blinked rapidly and got up, without saying another word. I handed in my sheet and walked out without taking another glance behind me.

This boy hadn't even been in my life long, and I could already feel that he was starting to change me.