SLOWLY FALLING FOR YOU (α∂яιєηєттє)

Chap. 13

The bell rang shortly after, so the both of us headed back to class to put our stuff away and collect our bags. When I entered the classroom, the first person I looked over at was Chloe, but she wasn't looking back at me. Instead, she was busy stuffing her books inside of her bag with such force, looking angry and upset, while Sabrina stood by her side, patting her back. It seemed to me that Chloe had fully misunderstood Marinette and I, thinking we were dating.

Someone brushed past me, and when I turned around, I saw Nathaniel heading to the door. I grabbed my bag and rushed towards him, wanting to apologize, though I wasn't really sure why. I guess I wanted to make things clear to him, have him understand so he wouldn't be mad at me. I wanted friends, not enemies.

"Hey Nathaniel?" I walked up to him. Surprisingly he stopped and turned back to me, waiting until I caught up with him. Now, how do I start this conversation?. . . "I just wanted to ask you a quick question," I looked down at the floor while we walked. "Do you hate me, and if you do, why?" I guess I found it easier that I knew the real reason he ignored me, instead of guessing and having a better chance of making things worsen between us.

"I. . . I don't hate you," It surprised me when he spoke up. He didn't look at me; instead he continued to look at the front while he walked. "Why would a rich guy like you want to even be friends with me?" He had said it in a low voice, but I still heard him.

"Is that what you think? That just because I'm rich, I don't want to befriend anyone?" I asked him.

"Well, Chloe made it clear to me. She made it clear to everyone." He finally looked up at me. "Before you got to this school, she started talking about how you didn't need any friends because you got her. So when you came to the school, everyone ignored you because we thought you had the same personality as Chloe."

I stopped walking, unseen anger rising up on my face. "She said that?" My voice was unbelievably calm, like I was trying so hard not to lose it, especially in front of Nathaniel. She said that?! Chloe had ruined my life even before I got to this school. So what, she thought I was going to spend the rest of my year in this school with her?! She thought I was going to be leaving this school at the end of the year with just one friend. Then I realized. . . it wasn't just anger that I felt. I felt more upset that my own best friend would go and do that behind my back. And suddenly I didn't care that she was mad at me. . . She deserved to get hurt. She didn't deserve to have such a friend that was always so patient with her and actually cared about her.

"Excuse me." I walked past Nathaniel and headed to the men's bathroom, not really sure why I was heading in there. When I got inside, I sat at a corner and buried my face in my palms, wondering where I went wrong to have Chloe treat me like this. Was befriending her in the first place the mistake I made? Or did I make a mistake by having her believe that I was okay with the wrong things she was doing? Where the hell did I go wrong to get these kind of punishments?!

Dang you, Chloe! You deserve to lose me.

~

"Where were you?!"

I didn't even want to deal with this right now, but I found myself stopping and turning around to face Marinette, who again, had such a worried look on her face. "I was in the bathroom," I shrugged, trying not to have my feelings get the best of me.

"For the entire period?" Marinette widened her eyes like she couldn't believe it. "You missed a whole class. Everyone were wondering where you were, even the ones that don't hang out with you."

I shrugged again, knowing I was being ignorant when really, I should have thought about how to fix the situation. I knew the teacher was going to tell Father that I'd missed his class, there was no doubt it was going to happen, but I found myself not caring. And even when I said "I'm sorry," to Marinette, I knew I didn't mean it at all. "I have to go talk to Chloe. Please excuse me."