This Girl

Chapter 19: You didn't have to do that!

I sit still and look up, trying to wipe my tears away casually. 

"Huh?" I say, looking up at Alex, my eyes half closed to hide their redness.

"What's wrong?" Alex's voice says. 

"Nothing!" I say.

"Really?" he sounds sarcastic and I hear the scraping of a chair as he pulls his over to mine. 

"Yup," I say, confident my eyes are all good and looking up at him. His hair is more ruffled then usual and his face is full of worry. He stares down at me, his eyes darker than usual. 

"No, seriously Nat, what's wrong?" he says, sitting on his chair and leaning forward towards me. 

"Nothing!" I throw my hands up in despair. 

"Oh, don't play around, Nat. You were crying when I walked in here, don't think I didn't notice," he says. 

"I wasn't! I was laughing at a text Bubbles sent me!" I exclaim. 

"Sure you were," he says with a look of despair before picking up his bag and walking away. I look after him, watching as he swings his bag down under his desk and start talking to his friends. 

"Hey!" Meghan says, bouncing into the room. "Did I see you talking to Alex?"

"No," I say bluntly.

"Sure you weren't," she says, almost directly echoing Alex's words before.  "And you still haven't explained why he came and gave you a FRICKIN' daisy at lunch."

"Shut up and leave me alone," I mumble, taking out my pencil case and unzipping it.

"No! I want to know why! And you were SMILING!" she yells.

"Would you quiet down, Megsy?" I say, taking out my pen and doodling in my book. 

"Nope. He was so close to you! What did he say! He totally BURNED Noah," Meghan continues. 

"Noah was fine with it. He knows I hate Alex and Alex hates me," I roll my eyes. 

"I think its the total opposite, woman. You love Alex and Alex loves you!" she says. I roll my eyes. "Oh, look, you're even drawing a daisy!"

I look down at my book. "Its a flower, Meghan, there's a difference."

"Sure. But you can't get him out of your mind," she winks and pulls out her books. I keep drawing in my book until the lesson starts, I ignore the smug looks I'm getting from Meghan until the end of the lesson. 

"Oh, just quickly, your assignment this term will be a partnership task. You can do whatever you want, a song or a musical piece, as long as it fits in the criteria. I'll be giving you your partners today. Just so that you feel comfortable, I'll be assigning you with someone you know." 

Meghan and I look at each other with relief. I wouldn't want to collaborate with someone like Glenna Walters (No offence, Glenna, although this is offensive), for instance, the whole assignment would be her composing something or singing/playing furiously. 

"So Hannah will be with Sarah, Andrew with Luke and Conner with Leo," my teacher continues. "Meghan will be with Julia and Callum will be with Lachlan."

Meghan and I look at each other. She shoots her hand up in the air. "Miss?" 

"Yes, Meghan?" Miss Felicity says. 

"Erm, there might be a mistake... I thought Natalie and I would be going together? No offence, Julia," she waves her hand sympathetically at Julia.