When it Happens

Bonus Nate POV

Y'ALL WELCOME

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NATE

September 22nd, 1993

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When I walked into school that Wednesday morning, I saw the back of Vivian's brown, wavy hair. I chuckled at myself just thinking about all the aqua net it took to get that hair to perfection. My mood instantly brightened from the shitty morning I was already having. My dad was in one of his moods again and raged out on me because I didn't clean the fucking dishes. He started hitting me and everything. I swear, if he wasn't my dad, I would've hit him back right back. But, my mom was already trying to stop us, and that would have only made things worse.

"Ralphie!" I called, but she doesn't turn. "Vivian?"

She just keeps walking.

I spent the first three periods with my mind distracted on that. Was she mad at me? Did I do something to make her mad at me? It only got me worried even more at the thought of her angry at me.

English class was horrible. Nicole Patroozi, who sits right fucking next to me, was talking my ear off about some party I did not care about. "Oh Nate, the party would have been so much better if you had been there. We could have had a really fun time together." Yeah, right. Me and you? Never going to happen.

Word of advice: If someone is only giving you one-word responses, they probably don't wanna talk to you.

When I got to History, Vivian wasn't any better. Her eyes were blood-shot, so either she was drinking or crying, but I couldn't imagine a tear running down her face. I decided to test the waters and try to talk to her again.

"Viv? Are you alright?"

She turned to me, and even though it looked like she was crying all day, she still looked beautiful to me. Did somebody hurt her? I was ready to beat some ass if I needed to. Nobody makes my girl cry like that.

Did I just refer to her as "my girl?" God, I sound like a pussy. I'm over here getting a hard-on just thinking about kissing her when she has a whole boyfriend. At least that's what Fryer told me. He said that her and Mikey have been on and off throughout high school, and by the way Mikey's been talking to Fryer, it "looked like they were on." I couldn't believe she could date that guy. I was jealous, to say the least.

But damn, the things I'd do to kiss her worries away...

She opened her mouth, about to answer, but Ms. Campbell interrupted her with today's lesson, and she just turned back around.

She bolted out the door as soon as the bell rang, so I didn't get to walk with her to lunch. I had planned to talk to her when we got to the table, but she wasn't there either. What the hell was wrong with her! She had never acted like this- not in the month I've been here.

"Hey, do you guys know what's wrong with Vivian?" I asked when everyone's at the table. Mikey had started sitting with us again after his burst last Wednesday. Yeah, buddy. Where the hell is your girlfriend?

Shannon sighs, trying to think. "I know she always acts like this around this time a year, but I just can't remember what. Goodness, what is September 22nd? It's on the tip of my tongue..."

Mason Oswalt had started to sit with us, and that's when I guess that he actually did call Shannon. Good for them. Shannon was a pretty girl- really hot, actually. Like, fuck worthy if this were any other school I had been to. But I had this different feeling with Vivian, one I've never felt in my whole life. When I first saw her, my heart almost lurched out of my chest. Shannon wasn't my type anymore. I wasn't really into blondes like before St. Agnes. I had only talked to Mason a handful of times, but he actually seemed like a pretty cool dude. Plus, he's pretty darn good at baseball, so it looked like we would be spending a lot more time together next semester.