Promise Me: Adopted By NateWantsToBattle

Chapter 9

Charlotte's POV

I took my scarf off and took the ponytail out of my hair. I must have slammed the door because Nate quickly made his way down to me. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" I shook my head and brought my knees to my chest. "Charlotte, I want to help. What happened." My phone vibrated in my back pocket. Everyone gave me their phone numbers so we could all text each other. Amber sent me a picture of my vandalized locker and asked if I was ok. I showed Nate who quickly brought me into a hug. "I've never been bullied before. Especially not about this." Nate wiped my cheeks of any tears. "Just ignore the haters. Their lives are probably worse than yours. And I think your life is pretty awesome." I smiled. "If you need someone, I'm always here. I promise." "Thank you Nate." He smiled and smoothed my hair back. "You clearly need something to cheer you up. I'll be right back. You go hang out into the living room." He dashed up the stairs while I walked into the cozy living room. I dropped my backpack onto the floor next to the couch and pulled out my phone. Hale had texted me in the time Nate took to comfort me.

Hale: Are you doing ok? Amber showed us your locker.

Me: Yeah. I had my dad comfort me.

Hale: At least you're doing better. I don't like seeing you sad. Even if I did just meet you today.

I smiled and put my phone down. Maybe I would talk with Myka later. She somehow always knew how to make me feel better. Nate came down with something behind his back. "I meant to give this to you when you first came home, but I forgot. I guess now would be a good time to give it to you." He pulled out a laptop from behind his back. I jumped up and gave him a hug. "Thank you!" I whispered in his ear. "You're welcome sweetheart." There was a knock on the front door a minute later. Nate seemed to know who it was. "Can you go upstairs for a little bit? I'll call you when dinner's ready." I nodded, grabbed my backpack and ran upstairs. I set my bag down by the door and sat down at my desk. I opened up my new computer and went onto Youtube. In the month I've lived here, Nate showed me what he did for work. He made music and did covers of songs and posted it on his Youtube channel. I thought about it and it sounded like something I would want to do. I set up an account and named it Charlotte's Web. It didn't matter if anyone got it. It was worth it for the pun. I grabbed my guitar and started playing the chords to Jar of Hearts by Christina Perry. Halfway through, my phone went off.

Lyanna: Me and the others are going out shopping later and we might go to the movies as well. Do you want to go with us?

I hopped up and started to walk downstairs. "Nate!" I called. I then remembered that he was having someone over. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and he came to me. "What's up Char?" "Lyanna and my new friends are going out later and they were wondering if I could go with them. Can I go?" "Of course you can. Go ahead and say yes." I smiled and ran up the stairs to my room.

Me: my dad says yes. What time are we leaving?

Lyanna: we'll meet you outside your house in ten minutes. See you then!

I hurried to make myself presentable and to grab my money. I grabbed my new purse and slipped the money in my wallet. I was hoping we would go to a tech store so I could buy a camera. Nothing too expensive, just a simple one. I saw Lyanna and Myka standing outside; Amber, Kile and Hale were trailing behind. I grabbed my purse and dashed down the stairs. "Bye Nate! I'll be back soon." I shut the door and met the gang out front. "Wow! This is a nice house." Kile said. I beamed. "Thanks. I think it is too." Myka ran up to me, took my arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Are you doing ok after what happened to your locker?" Amber asked. I shrugged. "It doesn't bother me as much. If they think that, so be it." We slowly made our way into town. It was a little bit after 4, so the roads were full of traffic. We ran across the street when we saw the mall. Amber and Lyanna kept eyeing my hair. "Charlotte," Amber started. "No, please. Call me Char. Everyone else does." "Ok. Um, Char. Can we suggest something?" Amber tried again. "And you totally don't have to do it." Lyanna pointed out. "We were wondering if you wanted to color your hair. Again, you don't have to. It's just a suggestion." I thought about it. Not from my perspective, but from Nate's. I know he wants me to express myself, but coloring my hair? I decided, you only live once(yolo, am I right?) "Sure, why not. Sounds like fun!" Myka jumped up and down, clapping. "We're going to some other stores while you gals get your hair done." Kile said. Hale nodded. "Yeah, cause I need mine recolored. We'll see you at 6 at the movies for the 7 o'clock show." Lyanna said. The boys ran off. "How about a nice pink? Pink might work with your skin tone." Amber said as we walked to the hair salon. "We'll hook you up with one of our girls. They know what we like." Myka said. I smiled. We walked into the salon and the hair dressers waved at the girls. "Ah, the Scene is back. And they brought a hostage!" The main lady said. "Not a hostage Mary. Just a new friend. She would like her hair colored like ours. And the rest of us need a touchup." Lyanna explained. "The boys are out?" another hair dresser asked. "Unfortunatly. They know how long this takes. Maybe next time Sarah." Amber said, laughing. "Well, who is this? Please introduce!" Mary asked. "This is Charlotte. She's new to the scene." Myka said. "Well, I think this one's mine. Bleach and color I assume?" Mary asked. "We were thinking pink." Amber said, Sarah ushering her to a vanity. "I think so too. Lyanna, you go to Aria and Myka you go to Kelsa." Mary dragged me towards the hair washing sinks. "Don't worry sweetheart. I'll make it look really cool." I smiled as she pushed my head back and started washing my hair. We made small talk as she put the bleach in. "This might feel a little weird." After she finished, she brought me over to her vanity and started drying my hair. I've always seen the bright red, so to see the bleached blonde was a little different. Soon came the long process of putting in the dye. "The bleached blonde looks nice Char!" Lyanna called. Aria had already finished with her dye job and Lyanna was sitting in a chair with tinfoil covering her hair. Mary finished dying my hair and left me to wait. Myka also had tons of tinfoil covering her hair. Amber had already finished with her dye job. An hour later, Mary came back to take off the tinfoil and wash my hair one last time. After she finished, my once bright red was now a subtly bright pink.

"I love it! Thank you so much!" I said. Mary smiled, proud of her work. "How much do I owe you?" I asked, reaching for my purse. "Oh, first time dye jobs are free." Mary said, touching my hand. I gave her a hug. "Thank you so much." She smiled and shook her head. "It was no problem. And come back here when you need it recolored." Lyanna and Myka had finished just after me and were ready to go. "I like it. It works on you!" Myka said. We thanked the hairdressers one last time and walked out of the salon. "The boys are probably at Best Buy. Come on guys, lets hurry" Amber said. We dashed off and stopped when we saw the boys. "I actually have to get something here." I said. "What are you looking for?" Hale asked. "A camera. Like a video camera so I can record videos." Hale seemed to know where he was going because he walked me to right where I needed to go. "Will these do?" I nodded and started looking. I eventually found one in my price range and found a good tripod. I bought the camera and we searched for the others. "Alright. We have a movie to catch." Kile said. They had already decided that we were going to see Suicide Squad. I had already seen it with Nate last month, but was eager to see it again. The others were all excited to see it. After the movie, we all talked about our favorite parts of the movie(I have seen it. Best movie ever! No spoilers I promise!) Harley Quinn was still my favorite. With it being 9 o'clock, we all started walking home. I was dropped off first. "Thanks guys for taking me out with you. I had lots of fun." "It's no problem. You're our friend now. We want to include you too." Amber said, giving me a side hug. "Good night guys. I'll see you tomorrow!" I walked up to the front door and was about to open it when it opened for me. A girl then stepped out. And I recognized this girl. It was Morgan. "Oh, you must be Charlotte. Good night." I raised an eyebrow as she walked away. Why was she here after they broke up? I shook my head and walked into the house. "Nate! I'm home!" Nate walked out of the kitchen and was taken aback by my hair. "Wow! I like it!" he said. "Really? You aren't mad?" "No, I really like it. It was your desision right? No one pressured you to do it?" I shook my head. "They suggested it and I thought it would be cool." "Well, it was a good desision. Alright, it's late, you should go to bed." I nodded. "Good night." I gave him a hug and went up to my room. My laptop was still open when I walked in. I shut it down, put the camera and tripod on my desk, changed into my pajamas and laid down in bed. Today started out ok and ended awesome. And I was excited for the days to come.