You Can Run To Me

Twenty-Five

Of course, Natalie knew perfectly well that the past was the past and couldn't be changed, but she was sure she'd read in a book somewhere about if all the evidence of the past having happened was gone, then how could you ever know for sure that it had really happened at all? So there was no video of her on that night (and yes, she had asked around and checked online), and no one could trust their memory from a night like that, so she was safe.

But none of that could undo the main event of that night – the one everyone seemed to be talking about. Jolene and Ephren. Jephren, they were calling them. They were together all the time, usually kissing or making out. It was sickening.

The worst part was that Ephren still seemed to be looking for her in the corridors. All her plans of taunting him had been put on hold after her birthday; now her aim was just to avoid him. She was going for the full cold-turkey. But he wasn't helping, not in the slightest. Natalie would be walking down a corridor, taking the most convoluted route she could think of, and there he would be, all of a sudden, staring right at her. He wouldn't stop walking, though; he would carry on right past her and try to touch her but she always tried not to react. Besides, half the time Jolene would pop out of nowhere and throw her arms around his neck, kissing him enthusiastically. It was as though he was trying to taunt her. The strangest part was when he would throw her another apologetic look in the seconds before he buried his face in Jolene's hair. She decided it was nothing – she had to. Otherwise she would go crazy.

Outside of the corridors, she had to put on a brave face. Penryn mostly sympathized with her, but she was also pretty dubious that Nat would have ever gone for it with Ephren. She was obviously of the opinion that if you want something you have to take it, though she tried to hide her slight disdain from Natalie. The others, meanwhile, had little idea that there was anything wrong at all. If Ephren had been unattainable before, he was completely forbidden now that he was taken. Natalie had to keep telling herself this so she could stop herself from watching Jolene curl up on his lap at lunch.

"She's really quite nice when you get to know her," said Penryn carefully. "She's not like the other hoes those guys date."

Natalie was equally carefully to ignore this comment from her best friend. She didn't want to hear it, and otherwise she'd have to walk on out of Penryn's shared dorm room, which they were using for one of their odd little counselling sessions. Since Pen was the only one who really knew what Nat was missing, this was the only time Natalie could talk to someone about him.

The worst day was Valentine's Day. From waking to sleeping she had to endure Stan romancing Penryn, Sylvia sexting her Canadian boyfriend and of course a dozen other randoms making out in every single corridor. And Jephren. That was the worst of all. In the middle of lunch Ephren spontaneously stood and got down onto one knee, producing a bouquet of amaryllis. (She only knew because she asked Rachel – Nat thought they were lilies.) Jolene literally squealed, perhaps thinking he was proposing to her - in which case she really was stupid - and kissed him over and over and over again. She then let herself be led off, presumably so they could... Natalie couldn't even bring herself think about it.

Natalie's main consolation was her friends and her schoolwork. Lessons were beginning to get pretty intense, which was great, especially for Law, because it meant she had to concentrate completely on the class. Subtly, she encouraged her friends to spend as little time as possible in the canteen, suggesting all the time that they should go into one of their rooms. She couldn't wait until summer, when they could stay outside. She was actually starting to do really well in all her classes now that she'd started putting aside all these distractions. She didn't talk much to Penryn anymore, and avoided their little conversations because they were beginning to get way too awkward. Frankly, she didn't really talk to anyone anymore, not that people had particularly noticed.