Finding Claire

Chapter 10

I ended up going to sleep at 3 in the morning after boring myself to death counting sheep. When reading the many annoying texts from Nathan, watching countless videos on YouTube and even reading didn't make me fall asleep, I went to plan D and that ended up working. But of course, I was too groggy to wake up four hours later.

School wasn't any different except in the morning. Nathan surprisingly met me by the school doors with my order from the other day and asked me if I wanted to go hear him play. I shrugged, grabbed the gift and ignored all the glares coming from half the school as they watched us walk by. It shocked me when Gabby didn't say anything for the first time and I was quietly dreading the rest of the day. But nothing happened and I went home hours later in a good mood for once.

Halloween day came and of course, the Bash was all people could speak of.

"What are you coming as?" Was all I heard the whole day.

At home, I got stuck in candy duty since my parents decided to go on a date, but I didn't really mind. I was going to have the whole house to myself so that meant I had the stash of candy to myself as well.....

"Mom? Dad?" I yelled out, wanting to know if they were gone. When no one responded, I squealed, ran to the kitchen and grabbed the hidden stash, ripping it open right there and then. Grabbing a steady amount, I dropped the rest on the basket for the kids and made my way to the living room, preparing myself for the trick-or-treaters.....

*

When Monday rolled by two days later, the buzz of the Bash was still going on. Apparently Gabby made a huge deal over another girl wearing the same costume as her -an angel- and forced the girl to leave in tears. I rolled my eyes at her stupidity and felt sorry for the girl at the same time. I swear Gabby needed a good lesson one of these days....

Nathan continued to be the gentlemen he always was since our friendship bloomed and of course, he took advantage of that. When I wasn't looking one day, he grabbed my phone and changed his name from my contacts to "Claire's Bitch" while he changed my name in his phone to "Nathan's Bitch." He took a photo of himself accidentally "picking" his nose and he caught me red-handed the same day as I was trying to eat my Sandwich. I didn't realize the changes until that night when he texted me with a picture of everything.

Of course I was horrified at the changes he had done on my phone, but slowly I got used to it and I decided to keep it, only to change the picture ever so often. The one I currently had was of him sleeping during English. Luckily for him, he didn't snore, but the drool that started to escape from his mouth made me laugh out loud as I took the picture, snapping him awake. I just pretended I was checking my messages and giggled at his narrowing eyes.

And yes, you heard me right earlier. I have been eating lunch with Nathan since the Monday after Halloween. It's not that I really had a choice since he always dragged me to his car and demanded for me to pick a place when it was my turn. I had no idea how, but he always managed to pay before I could even pull out my wallet and he always ignored my money. I knew he was trying to be a gentleman, but I was getting a little uncomfortable. 'Someday I will pay first!' I promised myself each time we went out.

Thanksgiving came faster then I expected, and that day was a HUGE change breaker for me. That day, my mom decided to come out and say that she knew what was going on at school, but she wanted to know why. I was seconds away from leaving the table when I caught her tear stain face. She never -and I mean never- cried and that broke me out.

"It's all over something stupid," I whispered. "I just got tired of people making me cry so I just blocked them all out and changed for my sake. Of course when I came home, I would return to normal, but you don't know how many times I wished I could be the same person for one day."

I felt both of their hands on my shoulders and I looked up with a small smile. "What happened?" Was all my dad said.

"Do you remember Gabby?" They both nodded and we all sighed. She has always been the spoiled brat -I mean child- of the richest couple in town and the knew who she was. So I didn't need to explain myself. "Well at the beginning of my Sophomore year, her boyfriend Richard was having trouble with one of his classes. Of course, the teacher asked me if I could help him and I couldn't say no so I... tutored him I guess you can say. He managed to get his grade up for Football and he was so happy, he gave me a hug. Of course, Gabby thought the wrong thing about the hug and next thing I know, she had spread out rumors that I slept with him and that I'm a...." I couldn't even repeat her words. I just saw the shocked faces of my parents and I shrugged. "Over something stupid and ironic, yeah I know but you don't know the half of it. She even said that I have slept with over half of the guys at school and nobody argued with her. She's the most popular girl in school, so whatever she says goes. So when she started to bully me and call me names, everyone started and I couldn't stop it. Teachers didn't believed me and I would spend most of my time in the bathroom crying, explaining my grades that year." I gave them a small, but weak smile and they nodded. "So I just shut them out and stopped being myself at school. Whatever you saw me wearing in the morning was not what I would wear for school. Once I was blocks away from here, I would pull over and change into pants and my black sweater, always hiding my face. I have four off periods, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, but I always went early because I didn't want you to know what was happening. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I just thought I could handle it by myself, but I've just been torturing myself and making myself an easy target for everyone. I sorry."

We were all crying after my confession. My dads face was a combination of red and purple while his fists were clenched tightly above the table. I shook my head at him, reading his thoughts and he sighed in defeat, but kept a tight look in his face. My mom however enveloped me in a tight hug and didn't let me go for the rest of the day. She just kept on whispering, "My baby!" And kissed my head. Yeah, I felt like a little kid, but I didn't care. The love I felt was totally worth the embarrassment.

That night, when I was finally let go, I went to bed with a huge weight off my chest. I laid there, thinking and thinking and before I could change my mind, I pulled out my phone and went to the only contact besides my parents that I had.

Monday, I need to tell you my story....... So bring me cookies!

Gotcha!

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Ahhh! We finally know her story!! Yeah I know it's stupid, but hey, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!! Something is going to happen next and I don't wanna say what. You'll just have to wait to see what it is!!!