Soft Spot

E I G H T E E N

As I looked at myself in the mirror I couldn't help but see the girl I knew 2 years ago. The sleep deprived eyes, the red nose and pale skin. I looked like a zombie, a walking talking zombie. It disgusted me that one person could make me look and feel like death.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked from behind me and I turned around to see Nathan sitting up in my bed, rubbing his eyes. Something about having just woken up in his arms made my day a little brighter, I didn't like it.

"I'm fine." I sighed turning back to the mirror. "On a scale from 1 to 10 how dead do I look?" I asked biting my lip.

"A solid 8." He walked up behind me, stretching. I groaned and turned to look at him.

"I'm not going to school." I pouted, walking to my bed and sitting down.

"Its Friday, you have to go to school." He rolled his eyes, slipping his shoes on. "I'm going to get ready and call someone to fix your door and then I'll be back to take you to school. You better be ready." He told me before walking out the broken door. I sighed and walked to the bathroom, getting in the shower.

"Penguin? Are you ready?" Nathan's voice echoed through the room. I walked out of the bathroom and saw him standing in the living room. "You did that in 30 minutes?" He asked surprised as he looked at me. I nodded my head proudly and grabbed my bookbag, walking out the door with him. We walked to the lobby in silence. I was surprised how comfortable I suddenly felt around Nathan, it was kind of weird actually. Out of all of our friends, he always seems to be the one there when I need someone the most. Maybe it's just because he lives across the hall, though.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked as we got in the car. The atmosphere suddenly became uncomfortable, and I knew we were about to have the talk. I sighed and put my seatbelt on, leaning my head on the window.

"I don't know." I whispered, playing with my hands. He started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

"Who's Carter?" He asked carefully. I could tell he wanted to know, but asking was making him uncomfortable. I couldn't tell him, he would end up in the middle just like my brother did. He can't end up like that, nobody needs to get hurt this time.

"Nobody, can we please talk about something else?" I pleaded, hoping he'd let the topic go.

"Katherine if someone's bothering you you need to tell someone, if not me then at least Jason or Joseph." I shook my head quickly. I could never tell them about Carter, if I were going to tell anyone it would be Nathan, honestly. But that doesn't mean I will.

"Nobody is bothering me, Okay? It was just a dumb dream. Can you please drop it?" I asked desperately. I needed him to stop talking about it, to just forget about it.

"Fine, but if this Carter guy hurts you, that's not on me." He snapped, clearly not happy with the situation.

I glared at him as he sat infront of me, the bag of sweetness in his hands. I tried to reach for it once more, but he pulled away smirking.

"I'll kill you." I growled, narrowing my eyes at him as he simply shrugged, taking out a gummy bear and popping it into his mouth with a smile. "Joseph Riley Hunter give me the gummy bears and nobody gets hurt." I seethed through clenched teeth, standing up. His eyes widened slightly and he stood up too, backing away. I smirked and walked around the table, each step I took causing him to back up.

"You better run." Kevin laughed and I glanced at him. He was sitting down with Nat in his arms watching us in amusement. They were so cute together. I looked back at Joseph who turned around and started running, me going to chase him. We were running in the middle of the cafeteria, everyone was looking at us like we were crazy but I didn't care. He turned around the corner, running out of the cafeteria. I ran after him, but I almost slipped on a banana peel. I had to catch my balance before running out the door after him, but by the time I got out the cafeteria he was nowhere to be seen.