A Voice Forgotten

Weird

Chapter 5: Weird

In the hall of her new school she sprinted towards her target. The students heard her fast footsteps and were astounded by her fast pace she had in her. There he was in the middle of his conversation with his friends Audrey, Jake, and Cody. She couldn't believe the nerve he had to do such things to her! It angered her to know she let her guard down around him! "DANIEL!" She yelled his name out with such anger, she could already see the fear in his eyes.

"Na-Natalie?"

Using the strength of her legs she quickly jumped, and bringing all of her force into her foot, she successfully kicked Daniel directly in the face. He was instantly knocked off from his feet, landing on the ground with a hard thud. "You idiot! How dare you do such things to me when my guard is down!"

"Damn you," Daniel muttered, quickly recovering from her kick and standing back up. But of course he knew what she was talking about. "Maybe if you didn't like that ugly bunny, I wouldn't have thought of doing it!"

"Maybe you should stop with your childish pranks so that I don't have to scold you like the child that you are!"

"Teh! Maybe if you didn't like such childish toys I wouldn't have thought about doing it in the first place!"

"Well, it's nice to see that Natalie is doing fine." Cody watched as Natalie and Daniel continued their endless bickering.

"You're right Cody. She's lively as ever. I'm makes me feel glad, right Jake?" Audrey said with a smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah, she's back alright."

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Morning classes were the slowest to Natalie. She hadn't enjoyed them, but she understood each of the lessons her homeroom teacher was lecturing about. She copied every word written on the blackboard onto her journal, which happened to be filled full of cute bunny drawings. She was very proud of them. Glancing up again at the blackboard she tried reading the words, but all of a sudden her vision became blurry. There was no explanation as to why she was experiencing this during school hours, or at all for that matter. She squinted her eyes trying to refocus her eyesight, yet nothing made it any better. She brought her hand up to her forehead and felt the burning temperature against her palm. Her body was acting up again. "Why is this happening again?.."

"Alright everyone, class is dismissed for your lunch hour. Be ready for afternoon classes!"

It was her perfect chance to get away from everyone now, but not when they were in the classroom. She didn't want them to see her. She didn't want them to worry. She couldn't see them, but she noticed that the others were headed out to eat in the cafeteria. "Hey Natalie, aren't you coming?"

She removed her hand from her forehead and turned to her friend with a solid fake smile worth fooling everyone except one. "I have a few assignments I want to work on, so I'll be eating here today."

Daniel wasn't fooled by her look. He could tell she wasn't being honest at all, but he also didn't let it get to him. It was probably that family issue she had been going through. It was something he shouldn't involve himself with. Natalie Parker, a new classmate of his that always seemed to end up in his dad's clinic. And his dad never told him what was wrong with Natalie. All he ever said was to never forget the name Natalie Parker. His dad never told him what he meant by that, and he was utterly confused by it. Peeling the bitter skin from his orange, he walked over to the cafeteria. Looking outside the cafeteria window, he saw a student running past the school's entrance heading straight to the town's park from the direction they just turned. "Hm?"

No one was allowed out from the school campus until after afternoon classes. What made it more interesting was the person who left the school. He knew it would get him in trouble later, but he wanted to follow her. He ran back into the school hallway running towards the front of the school, ignoring his friends' callings. He was tall, so that gave him a better speed to catch up with her. He hadn't stopped to take a break from his sprinting. The park was only a few more blocks away. His mind wondered why she left the school during the lunch hour, yet he knew that something was wrong when she said that she was just wanting to "finish her assignments." The look on her face... It wasn't a real smile. She looked like she was in pain. To see Natalie like that bothered him for some unknown reason. In fact, he wasn't even sure why he was chasing after her. The only reason he could think of was to never forget Natalie Parker, because he felt that he shouldn't.

He stopped to finally catch his breath. Daniel finally made it to the town's park where he finally caught up to Natalie. She was sitting down on a swing letting the wind push her lightly.

"You know leaving school during lunch hour is against the rules!" He called out as she raised her head.

"You're the one to talk Daniel. I don't even know why you're here."

Daniel grabbed onto the chain of the swing next to Natalie and sat down, slowly swinging himself. "Neither do I," He looked at the street and houses that were in front of the park. This day was a perfect day to be outside, even if two friends were just sitting outside in silence.

"I mentioned Ashley's name, didn't I?" Natalie finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. You were shouting her name when we were near the car wreck."

"My sister Ashley," Natalie tightened her grip on the swing's chain. "She... she-"

"You don't need to tell me anything that you don't want to Natalie."

She gazed at Daniel as he continued to stare at the houses and sky ahead of him. When she observed him she noticed the handsome features around his face and the calm and collective eyes he had. The features he had she hadn't noticed the first time she saw his face. She hadn't even noticed them until today. She had never thought to look at him in such a way. But now that they kept seeing each other in school and even outside of school, it was time to start noticing the little things. Like how she never gave her gratitude to to his family. All she focused on was that voice in her head telling her to come back. "Thank you." She said in a soft tone of voice.

"Huh? What was that for all of a sudden?"

"I thought I should thank you... for taking care of me."

"What?" To Daniel, it seemed like Natalie's facial expression had changed. She seemed happier. "You're weird." And that's what he focused on, not her gratitude.

"I'm weird?" Natalie had misunderstood him and her mood instantly changed. She jumped out of her swing, staring harshly at Daniel. "You're calling me weird?" There's always an argument..

"When someone says something like that all of a sudden, it makes you uneasy." That was his explanation to try to get Natalie to understand.

"What's wrong with expressing your gratitude?" She eyed him as he too stood up from his swing, looking down at her.

"I didn't say it's bad!" Not only was this conversation off topic and pointless, it was also frustrating for him. "Just that it makes you uneasy!"

"See! You just said weird again!"

"Weird and uneasy are two completely different things!" He pushed Natalie on her forehead with one finger. She slapped his hand away from her face.

"It's the same!" She stomped her foot on the ground. "Well you're just an idiot who can't understand peoples' emotions!"

"What did you just say?"

The glares that they threw at each other we're trying to pierce through their heads. After awhile they turned their heads away in a different direction, avoiding each other's gaze. Unexpectedly, they both moved in sync heading in the same direction back to the school. Despite their major height difference, they moved together in the same waking speed. Even just a small glance from the corner of their eyes made them even more irritated. From their walk it turned into a power walk, and from their power walk it turned into a sprint. Having longer legs than Natalie, Daniel had the advantage and he was a few steps ahead of her. He looked over his shoulder, taunting the angry Natalie, and just when he turned around he unfortunately bumped into someone as they turned the corner.

The man he bumped into had stepped back a few steps, enabling him from falling over. Daniel had hit the man hard enough for him to fall backwards. "Ah! I'm sorry for bumping into you like that!" Daniel looked by his legs and saw the man's leather briefcase on the ground. He reached for it, standing up to hand it over. "I'm so sorry Mr-!" The name on the briefcase's tag was familiar and surprised Daniel. But it was probably just a mere coincidence.

"Par-ker?..." It was just a coincidence. It had to be. Natalie would have recognized him right away, so this couldn't be her brother-in-law. "Ah! Natalie! Thanks for not helping me!"

Daniel ran after her, leaving the man alone on the corner. He looked their way as the energetic Daniel chased after Natalie back to the school. The man lifted his head up slightly. "Natalie?..." he said with a soft whisper.