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Chapter 2- Nothing Out of the Ordinary

~*Austin's P.O.V.*~

"Hey Austin," Robert greets as I sit down at the table. "Why are you late?"

"You know who Katie Lyons is?" Robert shakes his head. "Well, anyway this kid that annoys the hell out of me was going to hit her, so I stopped him and invited her to sit with us."

"Oh, cool." Robert looks around. "So where is she?"

I point over to where David is sitting and feel myself glare at him. "Over there. With David."

"Woah! Nobody ever rejects you. What happened?"

I shrug and turn my attention back to him and nod at Zach as he sits down. "I don't know. But there's something about her that I like. I don't know what it is.. But I want to find out."

"Oooh, Austin's trynna get some!" Zach shouts out.

I smirk and nod. "Damn right I am."

~*Katie's P.O.V.*~

"So, how do you know Austin?" David pokes my arm as I bite into my sandwich.

I swallow and begin my explanation. "I don't, really. Well, not personally. He was always really mean to me in 9th grade and and never talked to me, well besides calling me a slut and other names, before today."

"Why was he grabbing your wrists so hard?"

"Well, I was trying to avoid getting bumped into in the hallway... And this little sophomore bumped into me, but it wasn't on purpose so that kind of made me smile but I didn't want anyone to see me because usually when people see me smile they want to ruin it....." I sigh and pause for a second to try and hold back a tear. "Anyway, I bumped into my ex boyfriend and he dropped his books and flipped out, so I told him to just shut up and pick his books up and he got mad and was gonna hit me. But Austin stopped him and then invited me to sit with him at lunch but I rejected him and he got mad."

"What an asshole." A girl at the table mumbles. I nod in agreement. "Oh, sorry. By the way, I'm Layla." She shoots me a smile of pearly whites.

"I'm Katie," I smile back at her.

"You should sit with us more often. I've seen you sit alone before."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Katie, I think you're cool. We should be friends."

"Thanks Layla. You're super nice."

She nods and starts to talk to David. I zone out and let them continue to talk while I just eat my lunch. Beginning sophomore year, nobody's ever invited me to sit with them at lunch. Now twice in one day? What changed so much? Well, it's only the first day of school. They don't know me yet. I'm nothing special. I'm nothing out of the ordinary. I'm nothing. Well, at least Austin and Jake made me feel that way. My problem, the reason I'm so insecure, is I don't know what people label me as. In 10th grade, the thought of me being worthless and stupid was drilled into my head and I just never got it out of my head. I don't know if people think of me the same way I think of myself, and that bugs me.

"Katie?" David strokes my arm.

I shake my head and break myself away from my thoughts. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Are you okay? You haven't said anything for like 10 minutes."

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." 

"Come with me," he turns to the rest of the group, "we'll be back. If we're not, don't wait up."

David grabs my hand and leads me out of the lunch room. We end up outside and he sits down on the grass, bringing me down with him. 

"Katie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." I smile at him and he shakes his head.

"Don't lie to me. Katie, I don't even know you that well, but I can tell something's wrong. Please tell me." I sigh and he brings his hand up to my cheek. "You can trust me."

"He ruined me, David." I put my head down and feel a tear roll down my cheek.

"Who ruined you?" David wipes the tear away from my face, anger rising in his voice.

"Austin. He called me so many mean things, told so many people bad things that weren't true. People looked at me differently, talked bad about me, made me feel worthless. Nobody wanted to be friends with me, nobody wanted anything to do with me. And I can't help but wonder if people still feel that way about me. It sucks, not wanting to be wanted."

"I'll kill him, I swear." He moves his hand away from my face and stands up. 

I grab his arm and pull him back to me. "No, David please. It's fine, I'll get over it."

"I don't like the way you feel about yourself. Katie, I've known you since 7th grade, and if I've learned anything about you, it's that you're awesome. I hate that you feel this way about yourself. Because it's not true."

"It is true. I'm nothing special, or out of the ordinary. I'm nothing."

"Katie, please stop. That's not true. I knew the second I saw you back in 7th grade that you were something special. I remember the way your hair swayed back and forth as you walked and how you strutted down the hallway with your skinny jeans and pink t-shirt. I remember how shy I was to talk to you and how I never did, but you smiled at me everyday in the hallway. Katie, your smile made my day. If you were nothing, that wouldn't have happened." 

"David, why are you being so protective over me?"

He sighs. "I just don't like to see my friend feel this way. Especially when it's not true."

I smile at him. "Thank you so much David." I scoot towards him and wrap my arms around his neck. He wraps his arms around my waist and squeezes. "Really, it means a lot."

David pulls back and takes my phone out of my pocket. I guess he puts his number in and then gives it back to me. He kisses my cheek and I bite my lip and feel my cheeks burn. 

"Oh, so you let him kiss you, but you won't even sit with me?" I hear an angry voice behind me and turn around to see the person I last person I wanted and expected to. Austin Mahone.