The Beast Within Me | Nate Jacobs

We're both so different now

"Do you reckon some people get like, bonded over traumatic experiences?" Kat asked her. They were both seating on the bleachers during P.E. Bee still hadn't gotten cleared by her doctors to work out and Kat had pretended she had asthma in order to skip it for the last couple of years.

"Do you mean like Stockholm Syndrome?"

"No, like trauma bonding. It's totally real. You can google it."

"Mmmm, yeah, no. I don't think so."

"Do you really think it isn't?" she asked while looking at Nate approaching them from the field. He'd been eyeing them up for the past half an hour.

"I swear to God," Bee said. "He can't even walk. What is he doing on football practice?"

"He's like captain of the team." Kat explained. "Do you know if he'll ever play again?"

"No idea."

"Some people are saying he got a concussion too." Kat added. "I think Maddy started that rumor."

"He probably did."

Nate stopped by the first bleacher and looked at her with his hand blocking the sun from his eyes. Ever since he'd gone back to school he'd worn long sleeve shirts. Maybe because his skin was still healing but probably because he didn't want to show how badly hurt he'd gotten. He stood there leaning on his crutches looking directly at her for a few seconds.

"Has anyone ever told you you've got phsyco eyes?" She asked loud enough for him to hear.

"Come down." He said.

She noticed Jules looking at her from a few meters away. The teacher blew his whistle and the rest of the class started running on the track.

"What?"

"Can you come down please?" He asked again.

"No."

"Fine. Guess I'll have to talk to you from over here." He said. "I stopped by your house yesterday to talk to your dad."

"I know. That's why I wasn't there." She said and Kat let out a small laugh.

"He was worried."

"I know."

"He told me you were waking him up in the middle of the night screaming my name—"

"Nate!" She interrupted him and shot herself up.

"I'll wait here then." He said calmly before sitting on the lowest bleacher.

"Trauma bonding." Kat muttered.

She rolled her eyes and went down. She sat by Nate's side but refused to look at him, keeping her eyes steady on the field.

"In these nightmares, what am I doing?" He asked.

"Either dying or kidnapping me. Maybe sometimes both." She lied.

"I guess he wanted to kick my ass but felt sorry for me when he actually saw me." Nate said referring to her dad.

"My dad wouldn't be capable of kicking anyone's ass, believe me."

"I told him it was my fault. Apologized. Then he asked if you and I were talking."

"Wow. What a traitor." She said shaking her foot impatiently against the red sand.

"I told everyone here what happened too." He said. "Well, the right people for everyone to find out."

"Your version of what happened."

"At least no one thinks it's your fault anymore."

"I didn't ask you to lie."