High School: The Torture Zone

Chapter 8: A New Partner-In-Crime

 Holly's POV

Holly was so glad Nate had barged into her that day. If he hadn’t of done that, then she couldn’t have become his friend, and Holly really liked having a friend as devious as her. Whenever she was bored in maths, he already had the paper plane ready. If a girl was annoying her, then a water balloon was already in his hand. If someone he hated was walking past, Holly was already sticking her leg out, and if he was about to get a demerit, Holly always found someone else to blame it on. Well, almost always. The point was, Holly finally had a partner in crime. Someone who really got her, and she really liked it.

Holly, however, also couldn’t deny, that Nate was a good-looking bloke. The way that his soft, curly hair always seemed to dangle in his eyes, making her want to push it back. The way his brown eyes would sparkle when he smiled, and if she wasn’t mistaken, they always seemed a bit brighter when smiling at her. Holly shook her head, scolding herself inwardly for thinking such thoughts. Nate is your friend, nothing else, and he never will be anything else, you hear me? Holly sighed, it’s not as if he would like you anyway, I mean, and what would a guy like him see in a girl like you?

To her, Nate seemed like the kind of guy who would go after the pretty girls. Ones who weren’t afraid to wear shorts, and who didn’t smell like horse half the time. The kind of girl who could wake up in the morning looking like a model, instead of an extra from ‘The Walking Dead’.

Holly was thinking all this as she was on the way to her bus stop. Her parents didn’t have time to pick her up and drop her off at school, so she caught the bus. Holly was early today, having arrived before the usual gaggle of seniors and juniors showed up. She was standing there, feeling rather bored, when she heard a familiar voice.

“Holly? What are you doing at my bus stop?” Holly turned around, until she was staring at a surprised looking Nate.

“I could ask you the same thing!” She countered. Nate grinned at her,

“I believe it’s called waiting for the bus, but I could be wrong.” Nate said, chuckling slightly. Holly punched him in the arm, though she couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, now I’m not alone, at least.” Holly stared at Nate thoughtfully, “Still, why couldn’t you be Maisy, or Hayley. I prefer them.” Nate looked offended,

“Well, I’d prefer it if you were Brad or Jack, or Sky!” Holly could tell from the look in his eyes, however, that he was perfectly fine with the fact that it was her. Holly smiled to herself, and as the bus pulled up, she quickly hopped in front of Nate.

“Ladies first.” She murmured to him. There was quite a line to get on the bus, and everyone was jam-packed together, so the whole time she was standing there, Holly could feel Nate’s warm breath on her neck. He smelt like a combination of hay and mint, which was strangely intoxicating. Holly almost jumped out of her skin when he suddenly leant over her shoulder, to see what was taking so long. For her, that was way too much physical contact, unless they were wrestling. She was relieved when the line started moving again, but for some reason, also slightly disappointed. They sat next to each other, and stayed in a companionable silence for most of the way.

When they arrived at school, Nate grabbed her bag for her. Holly smiled at him, “Thanks for that.”

“No problems,” Nate said, “Just one question.”

“Yes?” Holly asked.

“What do you have in here? Rocks?!” Holly burst out laughing. She unzipped her bag, and pulled something out.

“A halter, actually. It is how I get to the bus in the morning, and how I get home in the afternoon.” Nate looked confused, but didn’t ask any more questions as she put the halter back in her bag. They walked to the classroom, and dumped their bags on the ground. Holly started playing ‘Big Girls don’t Cry’ by Fergie, on her iPod. She was surprised when Nate started singing along. She was even more surprised when she noticed that he actually had a really nice voice. The next song was ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy, and they both sang along to this one.Holly was more mumbling the words a bit, while Nate was actually singing, but she was content to just listen to him, to be truthful.

After a while, Holly suggested that they walk down to the oval. She turned her music off, and they started walking along. Holly started the conversation this time. “You have a really nice voice! You should talk to Kat sometime, do a duet with her or something.” Nate was shaking his head before she had even finished her sentence.

“I have a really bad case of stage-fright, I wouldn’t be able to do it. End of conversation" Holly was disappointed, but didn’t pressure him. She knew all about stage-fright. She had a pretty bad case of it as well.  They reached the oval, and found Maisy already there. Holly realised that Kat, Hayley, Azie, Brad, Sky and Jack must have already left for camp. She sighed to herself. This was going to be long two and a half days.

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Ok, so I just learnt about this from one of my friends, AshKatHarpy (read her stories, you will not regret it!) and I wanted to try it out. So, I ask a question and you answer it in comments. First person to answer correctly gets a dedication.

Here is the question: What is the first word Nate said to Holly?

Ok, I know it's crappy, but I'm new to this so please don't judge me! Please keep reading and I hope you are all enjoying the story. Please feel free to comment on things I could improve or things that you liked!

MolHargo 😉👊