Soft Spot

F O U R T E E N

"Jason I fucking hate you for letting me do this." I said to him as we stood in my loft, about to leave to the auction. I was super nervous, what if nobody bids on me? That would be the most embarrassing moment of my life, and I peed my pants in the 5th grade.

"You'll be fine, you look hot everyone will bid on you." He chuckled, "besides you have a boyfriend, remember? You don't need any of those other guys to bid on you." He smiled, hugging me.

"Gosh what would I do without you?" I asked rhetorically, and kissed his cheek. He stepped back and pulled his phone out, taking a quick picture of me.

"Joseph is one lucky man." He grinned and I blushed, looking away from him and thinking back to the moment Joseph and I became an item.

After he kissed me on the roof he asked me out on a date and of course, I said yes. He took me to this nice place to eat, and then to the park. That's where he asked me to be his girlfriend, and of course I said yes. The next day at school when we told everyone, they were all so happy and supportive, even Angel who apologized to him about what she said and agreed to try and be friends with him. The only one who seemed to have a problem with it was Nathan, but that didn't concern me.

"Are you ready?" Jason asked, and I nodded. On the way to the lobby we ran into Nathan, who was wearing black jeans and a navy blue button up shirt. I'll admit he looked pretty hot.

"Wow.." he whispered, looking at me.

"What was that?" I asked, even though I clearly heard what he said.

"I said your feet look like they need room to breath." He smirked before walking away. I rolled my eyes and linked arms with Jason as we got in the car and drove to the school. When we pulled up to the school Joseph, Kevin, Lucas, Angel and the rest of the girls were outside waiting on us. The moment I stepped out they all started whistling.

"Damn, that's my girlfriend y'all!" Joseph yelled, picking me up and spinning me around. "You look hot." he winked, kissing me quickly.

"Thanks." I smiled, and walking over to Kevin and Nat.

"Girl you look like a whole snack." She said, pulling me in for a hug. Amber walked out, and we all whistled at her.

"Damn hot momma!" Jason joked, and she rolled her eyes blushing. "I'm kidding, but you do look beautiful." He smiled. My eyes widened and I made a I-know-your-secret look at him causing him to roll his eyes and look away. We all walked into the auditorium, and me and Amber walked backstage.

"Are you nervous?" I asked her, and she scoffed.

"Please, everyone's going to be bidding on me." She joked, laughing. "I'm joking, I think I have to pee."

"Hey how'd you even get here?" I asked her, and she looked away.

"Nathan picked me up." She shrugged, glancing at me from the corner of her eye. Something inside of me stirred, and I rolled my eyes subconsciously. For some reason it bothered me that she was with him, but I ignored it. The show started to begin, and one by one girls were being called out. The closer that I got to the front of the line, the more nervous I got. What if I fall walking out?

"Katherine Walker!" The principal called out, and Amber gave me an encouraging smile. I walked into the stage, and over to the principal.

"50 dollars!" Someone yelled out, and I scoffed putting my hands on my hips.

"100 dollars!"

"150 dollars!" I looked out to see that it was Nathan who yelled that. I frowned, and he only smirked at me. I could see Joseph, who was right beside him, and he rolled his eyes.

"250 dollars!" He yelled.

"250 dollars, going once, going-"

*AN: play the song Breathe by Anna Nalick*

"500 dollars!" A voice yelled, and I looked at the person in shock. The whole room stopped, everything else blurred out as I looked at him. I felt like I couldn't move. Like the life was being drained out of me just by him being in the same room.

"1,000 dollars!" Someone yelled, breaking me from my trance. I looked at Joseph who smirked triumphantly as the principal said I was his. I looked back at the person in the crowd, he was smirking at me challenginly. I quickly turned around and ran off the stage, past Amber who was looking at me confused. I had to get out of here, out of this dress. I couldn't breathe, every bone in my body felt like it wanted to jump out at any moment. I was going to be sick. I ran out the back of the school and down the road until I couldn't run anymore. I fell to the grass, my breathing heavy. Tears were running down my cheeks by now. Everything that I worked to have here, everything that I did to change was going to fall apart, I could feel it. Nothing ever good came when he was around me. I hated the type of person he turned me into when he was around. He completely broke me, and now he was back.

NATHAN POV

"500 dollars!" Someone yelled, and her eyes searched the crowd for who it was. Her eyes landed on a guy just a few feet in front of me, I couldn't see his face, but by the look on her face I could tell he was no stranger to her. I frowned as she stood still, looking at him with so much fear. Nobody else realized what was happening, which wasn't too much of a surprise to me, people don't really pay much attention to detail these days. I started to make my way towards the stage, just as she turned around and ran off. I took the exit on the side, and walked out to the back just in time to see her running off down the road. I took off after her, man she was fast. After awhile of running, she stopped, her knees falling to the ground. I stopped a few feet behind her, trying to decide if I should say something or not. I turned to see if anyone was following, but nobody was. I took a deep breath and began walking closer. Her sobs made me completely uncomfortable, this really wasn't a situation I was use to. I had no idea what to do, if I should just let her cry, or if I should say something to her. Why was this so hard? Why couldn't her stupid boyfriend be here instead of me? Why did I have to be the idiot to run after her?

"Katherine?" My voice must of startled her, because she jumped up and turned around quickly, looking at me with tears falling down her cheeks. I froze as I saw the look on her face. I had seen girls cry before, but this was different. She looked completely broken, and I knew nothing I could say would help. So I didn't say anything, instead I walked closer and brought her into my arms. She fell in my embrace, completely shattering. It was like I could feel her breaking inside, and a little part of me felt that pain, too.