This is War

Chapter 24

Chapter 24 - Natalie's P.O.V

"Can we talk?"

She waits a few moments for my reply, and I'm mostly thinking of the best excuses that I can use to turn her down, because I have way too much strain on me already to deal with anything else. Before I can utter an excuse, Gram's voice plays in my head.

I remember what she said to me when I saw her for the last time at the hospital, her advice about Margo, "I think Margo misses you-- who wouldn't miss you? And I think you should talk it out with all of them. They say actions are louder than words, but in this case that is total BS."

So, instead of making something up, I nod and she sighs in relief.

We take a seat on a bench in the nearby courtyard and sit there in silence for a few moments. I still haven't really spoken to her yet, and I'm not going to break that now, so I wait on her to speak first. She stares down at her hands, probably trying to form the right words in her head, trying to calculate exactly what to say, maybe even to perfect a lie.

But when she looks up, I see that she's crying and my heart breaks.

Finally, she talks, "My mom left my dad and I."

Correction, my heart completely shatters.

"They've been fighting for months now," she sobs, "and then one morning, I woke up to find my dad hungover on the couch and my mom gone, only a note left to say goodbye. She left divorce papers, signed. And my dad finally signed them this morning. Everything in my life right now is crumbling down and I just-- I really need a friend but I screwed that up, too!

I'm so sorry, Natalie. About the Noah thing and ditching you guys and being a total bitch. I guess it was my release and I let everything get to me and-- I'm sorry and I miss you guys."

I wrapped my arms around her, "I forgive you, Margo, I do."

"Thank you," She sobs into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, too," I admit, "for the dinner at Noah's house, I took it too far."

"Already forgotten," She pulls away and gives me a very watery smile. "Let's not fight again, okay?"

I nodded, "Agreed."

The bell rang and she wiped away her tears, sniffling. I smiled, "Come on, come eat lunch with us."

"Really?" She asks, looking up seeing as I'm standing and she's still sitting on the bench.

"Yes, now come on! It's pizza day!" I exclaim and she cracks a smile, standing up and walking towards lunch with me.

She turns to look at me, "Has anyone told you you're really pretty without makeup?"

"No," I lie, "You're the first. But thanks."

She smiles and I take in a breath, it was good to be friends again.

Walking into the cafeteria, we make our way through the line and I finally get my pizza and fries. Taking in the delicious smell, I sighed contently and took a seat at the table, Margo next to me. Kate, Olivia, Logan and Dylan all stared like she and I both had grown a second head.

"Hey, guys, this is my new friend Margo," I teased a little and everyone slowly eased up.

Soon enough, we were joking around and it felt like everything was back to the way it used to be. It was going back to normality.

Too bad I'd be leaving it all behind me in a month.

Throwing the thought out, I laughed when Dylan dropped a ketchup covered fry on his pants, staining the khaki material.

Man, I was going to miss my friends.

~

I walked slowly behind Kate, Olivia and Margo babbling excitedly about the upcoming Prom that I would be missing, not that they knew that, enthusiastically going on about certain colors that they'd look good in. I didn't even know if I'd get to attend the winter formal. 

"Hey, Brooks," I heard a voice call out, not that loud, but loud enough for me to hear it. Turning around, I found Noah walking over to me.

Rolling my eyes, I folded my arms over my chest, "What do you want, Hall?"

"I was just wondering why Margo was sitting with you guys today," He replies.

"What's it to you?" I spat and to my utter embarrassment sounded totally jealous as he asked about another girl.

Wait, since when did I get jealous when freaking Noah Hall asked me about other girls? What the hell is going on?! No, I wasn't jealous. I was only snarky because I hate him; yeah, that's it. No way would I ever like Noah, and I would certainly never get jealous over him!

He looked taken aback but then recovered with a smirk, "Jealous, are we?"

"You wish," I grumbled, fighting off the pink tinge threatening to appear in my cheeks. Why was I blushing?

Noah shrugged, "So did you two work it out, then?"

I nodded, "Yeah, believe it or not I think you actually made her smarter. She probably stole your remaining brain cells and left you brain dead."

He scoffed, "I think I'd know if I were brain dead, thank you very much!"

"Are you sure about that?" I question.

"If I were brain dead, I wouldn't be able to function and drive my baby here to torture you," He gives me a sickly sweet smile.

Raising an eyebrow, I bit back a laugh, "Your baby?"

He nodded, "You know, my 2014 Harley-Davidson FLD - Dyna Switchback."

Letting out a seemingly disappointed sigh when he saw my confused face, he shook his head, "My motorcycle, Brooks."

My mouth turned into an 'o' shape and I nodded in understanding, "Okay, so say you lost your 'baby', how messed up would you be?"

"Is that a threat, Miss Brooks?" He questions stepping towards me.

"You tell me," I reply with a cool smirk, a plan already forming in my head to get revenge for this morning's stunt.

He was about to answer when the bell rang and I swore, "Damn you, Hall, you made me late!"

Stringing a line of swear words, I ran down the halls and pushed the door open, taking the detention slip from the teacher reluctantly and slouching down in my seat.

∞

a/n: sorry it's a little short, I had a little trouble writing this, not really sure why. so, the next chapter...

SPOILER/HINT: A big prank and an almost lip-lock?