Something Worth Fighting For

Chapter Eight: ...Humiliation Is Worse

Dallas was waiting outside the school for Natalia. Having parked his car in the school parking lot, he had decided to wait for her outside. There was no way she was going to walk home again. He had even come ten minutes early to prevent this.

Dallas leaned against the school wall. He blew out an explosive breath. Seeing the warm air he had blown out condense in the cold was a little amusing.

He still couldn’t get over this morning. Natalia had woken him up. He had been sleeping in her bed. She had been tugging on his arm lightly, calling his name. When he woke up, she was dressed for school. She seemed to be in good spirits.

Of course last night had been a wonder too. The fact that she had told him what had happened and let him stay with her with no arguments was nothing short of a miracle. At least he thought of it that way.

As he waited, a few boys stepped out of the school. They were gathered around the outside of the doors that lead into the school. They were right across from Dallas, apparently not taking any notice of him.

They were talking rather loudly, loud enough for Dallas to hear their conversation.

“So Raine, who are you going to the semi with? Is it that tech girl?” One of the guys asked, pulling out a cigarette. “Are you kidding? I wasn’t planning on going with her. I’m going with Marissa.” Raine told his friends, he lit the cigarette for his friend before puffing on it himself. Dallas listened carefully. “I thought you two broke up?” One of his friends asked. “Nah, it was just temporary. Marissa was pissed at Natalia for getting some tech award even though Marissa had paid a lot of money to get her project done. She bet me that I couldn’t get Natalia to go out with me.” Raine said with a laugh. Dallas could feel his blood boil.

“No one ever goes out with that girl. Everyone says that she just turns guys down. I think some guy even called her the Ice Queen.” Another guy was snickering. “Yea? Well I got her to say yes, she thought we would go to the dance together. When I broke up with her yesterday…you should have seen the look on her face.” Raine was telling them with reverie. “She looked like you had hit her with a bus.” One of the guys piped up. Raine threw down the cigarette and stomped on it. “Yea well, the deal was I break her heart. I think I did that quite well.” Raine told them. “How far did you get with her, anyway?” His friend asked. “First base or second? Or did you strike all the way home?” Another friend sneered. Dallas held his breath. He had balled his hands into fists, luckily for Raine, Dallas’ hands were in his pocket.

“Are you stupid? Zero. She wouldn’t even let me kiss her.” Raine complained. Dallas breathed a sigh of relief. “No wonder she’s such an Ice Queen.” His friends commented. Dallas was enraged. Just then the bell rang.

Students started pouring out of the school. Dallas had made up his mind.

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Natalia packed her things, and closed her locker door. Today had been the longest day of school. Ever. She didn’t want to have to pass anymore people whispering about her. For the most part her friends had been sympathetic. Even Dawn and Clara had refrained from prying into what had happened. Now all Natalia wanted was to quickly get out of school and go home, instead of enduring stares and more talk about the semi-formal which she would not be attending in the evening.

Natalia walked through the double doors that lead to the school parking lot. She was unhappy having to walk past Raine. I wish I could wipe that smirk off his face, she thought as she walked past him, deliberately holding her head up high. She would not let him think he had hurt her.

Natalia walked to see where Dallas was. She didn’t spot his car. Weird, she thought. She noticed that some one was waving to her. When she turned to see who it was, she found it was Dallas. He waved her over to him.