This Girl

Chapter 28: I don't need you

"Hey, Nat!" Bubbles says, quickly slamming the door behind her. 

"Hi Bubbles," I say and hit the accelerator. 

"How was your break?" she asks, putting on her seat belt. 

"Alright," I nod. "You?"

"Pretty good! I got a trampoline!" she says excitedly. I laugh. "You don't look too well, are you ok?"

"Yeah," I say quietly. 

The words, 'I hate you, Natalie' have been echoing in my head since Christmas. My curtains have remained closed and I've been spending most of my time inside. I know I can't avoid him forever, school starts back again today. 

"Really?" she asks.  "Its Alex isn't it. What did he do?"

"Nothing, it was just.. um, my mum being uh, mean," I say, keeping my eyes on the road in front of me. Bubbles snorts. 

"Sure. What did he really do? It can't be that bad, the whole school knows he's in love with you, he won't stay away for long," she says. Its my turn to snort. 

"Yeah, he loves me. I pretty sure I heard him say he hates me," I say. 

"He said that?" Bubbles says. I nod quickly and turn back to the road in front of me. She purses her lips and sits in silence for the rest of the five minutes drive to school. 

When we arrive we meet Meghan, Kate and Chloe and begin catching up. We walk to my locker and I take my stuff out. Walking to calculus with Bubbles and Chloe, I see Alex leaning up against his locker, kissing Amanda's face off. I gulp and keep walking. My friends give me suspicious glances as we walk into class but I quickly start talking about Maddie Zeigler's new boyfriend.  

I take out my books and doodle in them.  Class begins a couple of minutes later and I take out my other notebook, the one reserved for calculus. My phone buzzes but I ignore it. Its obviously an Instagram message from Amanda. I turn around to catch her but instead see her and Alex locking lips. 

Ew.

Amanda opens her eyes and looks at me through one. She smiles against Alex's lips and kisses him harder. The worst thing is, Alex kisses her back. I turn around quickly in my seat and continue listening to the teacher. 

That was disgusting.

But why can't I stop myself from wishing I was the one kissing him?

***

I walk down through the tables with my tray of fries and a burger. I reach my friends' table and sit down. I stop eating when I notice someone sitting here who shouldn't be. 

"Um, hi Callum?" I say, swallowing my food. 

"Why the hell are you two pushing each other away?" he says, eating a piece of pizza.

"What d'you mean?" I ask and take a chip to bite into.

"He's so clearly likes you, everyone ships you. Why're you both fighting?" he says, putting his pizza down. 

"He doesn't like me," I laugh and he raises his eyebrows. "And he's with Amanda. He said he hated me, the exact opposite of 'like.'"

"Are you legit, Nat?" he groans. 

"Yup," I say and eat some more of my burger. 

"And so why're you fighting?" he asks. 

"Simple, he was being a normal person and then suddenly, out of nowhere, he just yells at me that he wishes he never met me! How do you explain that, Callum?" I say, exasperatedly.