Unconventional

Chapter Two

"Yard work! She punished me with yard work!" This is the first sentence Nate says to me when he pulls up onto my street.

"Well good morning to you too." I get into his truck and analyze what he is wearing. He has always been known for his casual attire. Today he is wearing blue jeans, black converse, a white t-shirt, and a black zip up sweater. It looks as if he tried to maintain that bushy hair of his with a little bit of gel. He looks nice. "So, my mom punished you with yard work? Wait a minute. When did she have time to talk to you? Last night you practically sped away before I got out of the truck."

He grabs his aviators from the dashboard and slips them on, "Alright, so maybe I didn't make a full stop when I got to your house but I gave you fair warning."

"You told me to 'haul ass' how is that a fair warning?" I laugh and slap him on the shoulder.

"Haul ass is the universal language for 'get your ass out of my truck.' It says it right there in the Webster dictionary."

I cover my eyes from the sun and put down the visor, "Okay, next time I have a dictionary next to me I'll make sure to look that up. But back to the main subject how did my mom track you down?"

"Well. You know that thing that we have in our house that corrects to a wall and the other end connects to a phone? And our generation thinks it is a complete joke because we have cell phones."

"What a landline?" I ask a little bit confused.

"Yeah those...Your mom called my mom and well the rest is history." He honks at a car that cuts him off without signaling. That is his biggest road pet peeve.

"Huh? Of course my mom would do it that way. Simple and easy just like me." I grab my bag and look for my chapstick.

"Simple, yes!" He looks at the clothes I am wearing. I decided to wear my white floral shirt with a white cardigan, skinny jeans, and silver flats. I am even wearing my lucky red headband.

"Easy.. I don't recall you ever admitting you were a slut." Nate's laughter fills the car and I just nod. He gives me a questionable look, "Hey you alright?" He says in a serious tone.

"I am fine." I fumble with my headband and look down. "I guess I am just nervous about today. First day jitters."

We pull up into the student parking lot and Nate searches for his assigned spot. Once he finds it, I hear the engine turn off and the truck doors lock. Nate looks up at him with seriousness written all over his face, "Hey..." He tilts my chin so I can look into his eyes, "Are you sure you are okay?" I just nod unable to say anything because I hate having Nate constantly watch over me.

He waits for a couple of minutes but he already knows that he won't get anything out of me unless I want to tell him what is wrong. For me personally, I rather not have people feeling sorry for me. I figure I have been through so much already that people should be able to live their lives without checking up on me especially Nate. Every day I constantly remind myself that I am a big girl who can take care of herself and I do not need to talk about my feelings and all the gushy stuff. Yes, my coping methods may not be the healthiest but it works for me-- regardless of the fact that I have "minor" anxiety attacks.

Nate accepts the fact that I do not want to talk and says, "We should go inside and grab our schedules." I hear the doors unlock and Nate gets out of the car. I close my eyes and press my lips together. I can feel my heart beating roughly against my chest and it feels like it is going to burst out of my rib cage at any moment. Hugging my backpack, I slowly get out of the car and slam it hard enough to hear a small click. I look down while we walk towards the building. I can hear the sounds of excited chatter all around me and if I were to concentrate hard enough I could probably eavesdrop easily, but I am more focused on not tripping in front of the whole school.