Barely Holding On

Chapter 6

The next day at school was rather… interesting. Everyone kept staring and looking at me. At first I thought it was because of the video of me falling on my face, and everyone was thinking ‘oh, how unfortunate she is’. However, when Taylor walked up to me I realized it wasn’t the fact that I was falling; it was who I was with. I thought their videos were stupid, but they were pretty popular and I guess people were jealous?

“Hey, Violet” Taylor said as he started to walk with me.

“Hey!” I was becoming more comfortable around the guys, they were actually really sweet.

“So… I saw that video of you falling,” he tried to say without smiling. He failed.

“Yeah, go ahead. Laugh it up.” I said bitterly.

“Oh, I did last night! Cameron, Shawn, and I must have watched it on repeat for at least an hour!” CAMERON SAW IT?! This just couldn’t get any better. “We even uploaded it on our channel!”

I stopped dead in my tracks, “You did WHAT?”

He put his hands up defensively, “Hey don’t look at me, it was all Cameron’s idea.”

Oh, goodie.

“Anyways,” he continued, “want to come sit with us at lunch?” He asked.

This day was getting stranger and stranger. Usually I went completely unnoticed at school, and now all of the sudden people were staring at me and wanting me to sit with them at lunch.

Could I get a reality check please? This couldn’t be my life.

“You’re friend, uhh Maci, can come sit with us to,” He said a little too eagerly. OHHHH. Now it made sense, Taylor wanted to sit WITH Maci.

I smiled, “Yeah, sure. We’ll be there.”

“Great!” Taylor beamed; he practically skipped down the hallway to his next class.

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By the time lunch rolled around, I was starting to get a little nervous. Maci was my best friend, but I didn’t know if I wanted her to be there… I kind of liked it the boys and me. That was totally selfish, but I didn’t want Maci flirting with them. Especially Cameron.

Whatever, I had to put my nerves aside.

Maci and I walked up to the boys table where they were already sitting. There was conveniently a seat open next to Taylor. To make sure Maci took it, I sat down next to Nash.

Taylor thanked me with his eyes. 

I was a little upset because Cameron was sitting at a different table with some girl. It made sense; he was in the grade above us and probably wouldn’t want to hang out with us.

Nash caught me staring, “Aww, jealous?”

My eyes got really big and I quickly looked around the table to make sure no one heard. They didn’t; they were too caught up in their own conversations. Especially Taylor and Maci, who were getting a little TOO cozy.

“I am NOT jealous.” I stated with what I hoped was authority.

I saw Cameron put his arm around the girl. Ok, I was jealous. But Nash didn’t need to know that.

“I’m sure… it’s not totally eating you up inside that some hot year 12 is getting some and you aren’t?” he said.

I blushed a little. “No, actually it’s not. I already told you, I don’t like Cameron. Not like that.” I lied.

Nash rolled his eyes and called my bluff, “Bull. Shit. You’ve been in love with him forever. Windows work both ways you know. By the way, I really like that new pink bra you got. It really looks good on you.”

My jaw dropped, “You perv! You’ve been spying on me!” I accused.

“No, I haven’t. It just so happens that you leave your shades open, and you like to change in front of them. Not my fault if I casually glance over and you’re in your underwear.”

I was definitely blushing now. I could feel heat radiating off my face.

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” he said, “you aren’t bad to look at.” He winked. Then he got up threw his trash away and left.

I sat there staring at the wall in complete embarrassment. This was worse that falling flat on my face.

I spent the rest of the day contemplating what ‘you aren’t bad to look at’ actually meant. Did it mean he thought I was pretty? Or just that I wasn’t hideous?

Then I spent all of after school contemplating why I even cared.