When I Met You

Chapter 12

Natalie's head hurt. She felt like she'd been rammed over by a train multiple times. It was pounding and even the slightest movement elicited a groan from her cracked lips. Natalie opened her eyes slowly, shutting them immediately as bright light entered through her sore eyelids. She opened them slower the next time, adjusting to the brightness and looking around her room. It was a mess but that wasn't what concerned her, it was Darius seated on her desk staring at her. Natalie groaned, sitting up and looking at him, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Thought you might need some Advil" He said, pointing to the tablets and glass of water on her side table. Natalie reached out, grabbing the tablet and water. She gulped them together, and rested on her head board. " I called your school and told them you'll be late today, you have a test, I presume". s**t. she'd forgotten all about the test. Darius opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"Jacob knows about Elliot" he muttered but Natalie heard what he said clearly. She froze, her eyes narrowing at Darius' words. No one knew. She hadn't even written it in her diary, no body did. "you told him when you were drunk last night". Natalie didn't say anything, but the pain in her heart portrayed how she felt. Elliot Pickett, Dead, 12th May. Death by gunshot.

"leave Darius" Natalie snapped. Darius sighed, standing and walking out of the room. Natalie stared for a few moments, the memories of those years crashing into her mind. She couldn't even cry, she just didn't have any tears anymore.

pushing the covers away, Natalie climbed out of the bed. Her head felt dizzy but she was determined to get through the school day. She could feel the alcohol moving in her stomach, it didn't make her feel good at all. She bothered about Cree though, maybe that was why Darius came to talk to her. The mere mention of Elliot triggered Cree alot, especially since they were fraternal twins. Natalie took a cold shower, dressed up quickly and was down the stairs in a few minutes. Darius was nowhere to be found and neither was Cree so she assumed they went to work. She grabbed a lone toast and headed for school. It wasn't a good idea to walk to school with a hangover but Natalie didnt realize that until she was halfway to school and she'd puked in two bushes.

The school building finally came into view. Walking into the hallway filled with students, Natalie noticed that she got more stares than usual, people Snickered as she walked past them.

Jarred was leaning on her locker when she arrived. They hadn't seen in a while.

"hi" Jarred greeted. Natalie smiles up at him, turning to her locker and opened it.

"so you didn't tell me you were going for a party last night" . Natalie paused, with a raised eyebrow, looked up at Jarred who had his phone up in her face. It was the video of her on a table in Noah's party. Well s**t. She couldn't remember a thing. "you're very famous now, Nat" Jarred chuckled. Natàlie shrugged it off even though the thought of that video going round icked her. Now everyone was going to be staring throughout the entire day. "I need to tell you something". The bell rang at that moment, and they had to go to class, unfortunately, they didn't have the same class. She had music then maths.

"so we have the school musical coming at the end of the school year and I have chosen someone to sing for us, Natalie Pickett". The sound of jamming hands filled the entire room. Natalie felt her entire life crumbling around her, she could barely speak to a crowd and here she was going to sing to the entire school. She openes her mouth to say something but nothing came out, she was speechless. As if that news wasn't enough, Everyone in her maths class was watching the video of her in the party and Noah was giving her one hell of a guilty look while Jacob just looked uneasy. Natalie took her seat ignoring all of them, yeah, she didn't have the courage to face any of them. The sound of the principle calling a general assembly came through the speaker and all the students headed to the gym hall for the announcement.

The principle was a tall, lean man that looked like he could be carried away by the wind. He stood on a small platform, yelling at the students to settle down. Natalie took a seat at the very edge of the hall to make an easy escape.

"As we all know, we'll be sending out some of our students for the exchange program in Australia" We didn't know and the principal knew that. " round of applause for the two students who made the cut Amelia Brown and Jarred Flemming". Natalie blinked as Jarred walked up the podium. His eyes wondered the crowd until they landed on Natalie. He mouthed a sorry from where he stood. Natalie picked up her bag and headed out of the gym. Everytime, everytime she was getting somewhere with someone the person left. They always left. Her parents. Elliot. Now Jarred.

"Natalie" Jarred yelled, sprinting to meet up with the fleeing teenager. Jarred caught up to her and spun her around. "I wanted to tell you Nat, I swear, I just..." he trailed off. Natalie snatched her arm from him and headed out of the school. She forced herself to stop the tears from falling down her face. Jacob was there leaning against his car, he waved her over. "you okay?" he asked, opening his car door for her to get in. Natalie slid into the car and Jacob entered the driver's seat. They both sat in silence until Natalie broke it.

"Elliot was my brother, he joined the army and he was shot, dead" she said, her voice low and just above a whisper.

If Jacob heard he didn't say anything, he just stared forward. "who gave me the shot?"

"Noah" . They both went silent after that.

"Natalie, last night, you were drunk and.." he paused, looking at her briefly.

"and what?"

"you kissed me" Natalie didn't say anything. She stared at the windscreen intensely.

"Drive Jacob" was all she said.