Psycho Mate

CHAPTER NINE

 I AM PUTTING A PICTURE IN CHAPTER FOUR, AS A KIND OF HINT AT WHAT IT IS THAT FOREST IS HIDING. 

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  "Forest, are you sure you're okay?" Nate asked, giving her an odd look. There was a long pause, before she answered.

  "Yes, I'm fine, Nate. Please, stop asking." Forest had her knees pulled up to her chest, staring out the window. 

  "Forest, I may not know you but I do know that there is something going on." Nate stopped the car. "There is something you are keeping secret. What are you so desperately hiding that you would go so far as to distance yourself from your loved ones for."

  Forest lifted her head slowly, staring at him in surprise. For a moment, her mask slipped off, and he was finally able to see how she was really feeling on the inside. But then, something seemed to break the spell, and Forest's mask came back on.

  Forest, having pulled her mask back on, smiled gently at him, putting her hand over his on the gear shift. "Nate, I'm really okay." Forest spoke gently, almost in a whisper. "I was just saddened thinking about the fact that I can't see my friend until next year. But really, I'm just fine."

  They both knew she was lying but Nate also knew that if he pushed, she would clam up on him and shut him out. He could not afford for this to happen.

  Forest looked away. Nate was so much like Connor had been. He knew when something was wrong, but at the same time, he was too stupid to realize how she felt or what it was that was wrong. She knew she had been stupid in what she had done, but she knew that she could not afford to make that mistake again.

 That mistake had come very close to being her undoing. She remembered how it had felt, having to pick up the pieces of what was left of her heart. She remembered how Breeden had tried to comfort her.

  But then, Forest remembered what had happened after that, with James. She knew that she would never forgive herself for having trusted him so easily. She had vowed to herself that she would never trust someone as stupidly as she had with him.

  Forest tried not to think about what all had happened, but she could not stop herself from remembering the horrible thing that had happened that day. She shook her head, trying to forget.

  Forest could tell that Nate was watching her out of the corner of his eye. She felt like he was trying to read her. She tried to keep her face void of emotions, but at times, it was hard for her to do.

  Nate could tell that Forest was fighting her emotions. H e knew she was loosing, too. Nate felt heartbroken, watching her loosing to her emotions. He almost felt as if he were in pain.

  When they got to the school, Forest did not say a single word to him, she just got out of the car and walked to the doors. She was gone before he could even say a word to her.

  Nate sighed, watching her go. He was pulled out of his thoughts by an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

  "Hey, Nathan." Jessica said, walking over to him. She was dressed in her usual slutty attire, a short skirt and an extremely revealing shirt. 

  "Did I not already tell you Friday that I am done with you? Seriously, I want nothing to do with you." Nate could feel nothing but disgust, looking at her. 

   "What is going on with you?! Don't tell me you have feelings for that little girl!" Jessica seemed outraged. She suddenly paused.

   "Wait! You have feelings for her, do you not? I cannot believe this! After all the years we have spent together, you are pushing me aside for some little human girl! I left my mate for you!"

  "Jessie, we have only been together for a year! Plus, I know you didn't leave your mate! I know who your mate is! Do not stand there and tell me you left your mate for me!"

  She opened her mouth to speak, but then, thinking better of it, she closed it. For a moment they just stood there, glaring at each other. Then, Jessica spoke again. "Whatever! You will regret doing this to me! I will make sure that she looses her faith in you, if she even has any faith in you at all! I bet she doesn't even like you!"

  "Jessie, I'm not going to leave my mate for you!"

  "Well-wait, what?!" She became furious. "I can't believe you are leaving me for a weak little human girl! She may be your mate but she is still a weak little human!"

  "No, she is not weak!" Nate yelled this, catching the the attention of many of the other kids, who all turned to look at him. He sighed. "This conversation is over! We are over!"

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  "Hey, can I sit with you guys?" Nate was standing behind Forest.

  Max and everyone else at the table stared at him. Forest hit Max in the arm, breaking him from his trance. "Um, yeah sure." Max still seemed somewhat surprised.

  Nate sat down in the empty seat next to Forest. Forest went back to her sketching. Everyone else went back to what they had been doing. Some continued to look at Nate every now and then.

  "I heard you broke up with your girlfriend. What happened?" Forest asked, not looking up from her sketching.

  "We got into a fight." Nate replied, looking at the sketch book she had sitting next to her. "Can I look at some of your sketches?" he asked.

  "Sure, go ahead. I'm just finishing up this sketch for Max." Forest said.

 Nate began looking through her sketches. At the beginning of the book, there were a lot of sketches of a boy with darker hair and light eyes. They stopped suddenly, replaced by sketches of a boy boy in an Army uniform. There was a sketch of him with Forest and an older man, also dressed in Army garb.

  "Who is this?" Nate asked, showing Forest the sketch and pointing at the boy.

  "That's Breeden. He's my brother. He is also my friend. I was talking with him over the phone the other day. The other man is our dad." Forest finished her sketch for Max, giving it to him.

  "Forest, who is this?" Nate asked, pointing to a sketch of the boy from the beginning of her sketch book.

  "That is no one, really!" Forest exclaimed, grabbing the book out of his hand. She held it to her chest, a nervous look on her face. "I've got to go." she said, getting up abruptly and leaving.