HeartBreak Hotel

CHAPTER 1, Part 2

It had been over two weeks and I still hadn't talked to her. I was effectively calculating the perfect time to approach her. Most of the time she was either with her friends or talking to a guy. I had to find a window of opportunity. At least she knew my name though. As a new student, I had to introduce myself in front of the whole class.

I respected the standards of the school. All the classes were painted grey and the floors were tiled with black striped tiles. The desks were fairly new, so were the chairs. The classrooms had whiteboards except for the Maths class. The school was interracial too. People from different ethnic backgrounds and cultures were part of this school.

Of all the subjects that I did, Computer Sciences was my favourite.

The classroom was differently organized though. There were desks with computers that were right against the walk. There were three rows of these aligned desks on each wall of the room except the front where the whiteboard was. The roofs of the classrooms were painted green and the sides painted orange, odd colours but they worked. The red bricks of the buildings were left untouched.

The school was small so each class had no more than twenty five students. It was a really close knit family. The teachers were very enthusiastic and charismatic, so you had to love the subjects because of them.

I hurriedly walked into the lesson only to see Natalie sitting alone on the big table in the middle of the class. Her hair was neatly plaited and the flicking of the pen in her left hand revealed her restlessness. Her fragrance was breathtakingly strong. I had to close my eyes to deeply engrave her smell on my mind. Her beauty was already part of my long term memory.

There was my window of opportunity and it was looking crystal clear.

I reluctantly grabbed the chair right next to her and swiftly sat down."Say something Hendrik", my mind told me." She's waiting for you to greet her! Why are you being stupid -" My train of thought was interrupted by a soft, sweet voice next to me.

"Hey, my name's Natalie", she smiled.

Her voice was amazing! I could listen to her talking all day. When she talked, her dimples were slightly visible but still effectively attractive. It took me quite a while to accept that she was actually talking to me.

"Oh, uhm... I'm Hendrik. Hendrik Thomson", I hesitated.

"I already know your name, silly. So where were you before you joined us, as in your old school?"

Before I could answer, a crowd of guys joined us by the table. I was immediately put off and didn't want to talk anymore.

I could tell that the only reason why they were there was because of Natalie. Natalie on the other hand began talking to them. The boy who was sitting right across the table had other ideas in his mind.

"Do you like him?", he sarcastically asks Natalie while pointing at me. She slowly shakes her head no. The guys at the table burst out in laughter. I had nothing to say at that point. I thought she was just going to ignore the question or even defend me, but I had just started talking to her, I guess.

As days passed, my conversations with Natalie  never went past the basic," Hello" "How are you". I couldn't get the embarrassment out of my head.

I was tired of the awkwardness between Natalie and I, so I managed to get her number from a someone in class. I started texting her.

Am I the only one who has a texting personality different from your actual, real personality?

I delved deeply into who Natalie was. I even found out that we go to the same church. On one Saturday, I got too excited with the conversations.

I was starting to fall for her. I mean, I already had a crush on her, but I was falling for who she was.

" What's your favourite song," I asked.

"Chandelier by Sia. And you?"

"It's called breathless but I forgot the artist", I confidently typed.

"Oh my word. I love that song!!!"

"You know, when I listen to that song, I just think of you. 'You leave me breathless, you're the only thing good in my life' " At that moment I honestly thought I had so much game.

" 'You leave me breathless, I still can't believe that you're mine' What are the odds, hey"

I was disappointed that she didn't comment on the part where I said I think of her when I listen to the song. Over the next few days, I was milking this song a bit much. That's all we ever talked about, that damn song.

Even though we would text each other, we still didn't talk that much in person, which was really pathetic on my part.

Joshua, my friend, then told me that he liked Natalie too. My group of friends knew that I liked her, so what Joshua was doing was unfair. Another guy in ninth grade liked her too. He was friends with Natalie's closest male friend so that gave him an upper hand. Now it was basically best man wins. It was a race, a rat race.

I was going to make it my mission to get this girl.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it!

Yours truly
Nash Kupé🌋