The Life of Nathaniel

Chapter 11

The teacher sees us and walks over. "Hello MacKenzie."

"Hey Mr. Wallace." MacKenzie smiles.

"Who is this?" Mr Wallace asks looking to me.

"This is Nathaniel. He's my cousin"

"Nice to make your acquaintance." I nod. "Do you know how to dance?"

"We'll be back after school about that." MacKenzie says quietly

"Okay. Nathaniel, you can sit by me today." He turns to the class. "Alright. Two minutes before we start."

MacKenzie smiles at me before running off to change. I sit in a chair by the music box.

I look out at everyone. I watch as they all finish stretching.

Mr. Wallace tells them what they were going to do. I saw MacKenzie standing in the back next to a girl who had her head down. She was covering her arms.

They whisper back and forth. Mr. Wallace walks over to where I was sitting. He sits down and presses play on the stereo.

All the girls start to dance, beautifully. My eyes were drawn to MacKenzie and the girl she had been whispering to. They were in sync. Spinning together, leaping together. As soon as they had started, I saw who it was. It was the only other person I knew at the school. It was Aubry.

I watch them. Mr. Wallace hits the stop button as they finish the song. All the other girls looked frustrated, but MacKenzie and Aubry were laughing.

"Alright. Go change. Great rehearsal today." All the girls walk into the locker room, MacKenzie and Aubry are the last to go down. Mr. Wallace turns to me, "How were they?"

"I didn't watch everyone."

"It's impossible to watch everyone."

"The two I focused on were fantastic. They were having fun."

"So." He says as everyone was coming back up, "What's your story?"

"Um.. I'd rather not say." I reply looking for MacKenzie and Aubry.

"Oh." MacKenzie walks over to us followed by Aubry. When she saw me, she blushed fiercely.

"After school, we'll be back, is that okay?" MacKenzie asks.

"Of course. See you then." Mr. Wallace goes over to his desk and sits down.

"So how were we?" She asks.

"I couldn't take my eyes off you two."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I smile.

"Anything we could fix?"

"No," I say. "although I have a question for Aubry."

"What?" Aubry asks timidly.

"What were you hiding?" I ask, "Before you started dancing."

Aubry backs into MacKenzie who puts an arm around her, "Its okay. He has them too."

"Okay." Aubry says. She rolls up her sleeves. Crisscrossed along her arms were cuts. Some of them were faded and others looked recent.

I roll up my sleeves. The skin was red, covered in more cuts than hair. Both of them gasp. MacKenzie had never seen its severity.

The bell rings. I roll down my sleeves. MacKenzie silently guides me through the halls. We arrive at the library.

"This is my study hall." She says. "Just grab a book and sit down." she sighs. I search the bookshelves for a book. I find one hidden behind other books. It was titled Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. I pull up a chair and sit there reading.

I hear someone shuffle nearby. I continue to read. More shuffling. A soft voice says, "Excuse me."

I look up and see Aubry. "Can I read that book?" She points at the book in my hand. "Of course." I hand her the book. "Are there any other copies?"

"Um...uh... Over there." She points over to a bookshelf. I walk over and start to pull out books for Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

I sit right where I was and continue to read.

I was on the third book when the bell rings. I look up and MacKenzie was walking towards me.

I put the books bad on the shelf as Mackenzie reaches me.

"Ready to go?" She asks.

I nod and stand up. Aubry walks by and waves to Mackenzie. She blushes when she sees me.

"Ready for lunch?" MacKenzie asks.

"What's for lunch?"

"I think we ordered pizza." She puts her arm around me as we walk towards the lunch room.