When I Met You

Chapter 5

Cree wasn't very surprised to see Natalie sitting on the couch in the living room, her legs folded under her body and a huge blanket over them. He'd got a call from the school earlier in the day that she was sick and had been taken home by a friend. The sick fact didn't really ruffle him as much as the friend part. She had a friend? He was surprised. Natalie hadn't had a friend since she was like 6 years old. She looked up at him with a blank look when she heard him walk in. He went to where she sat and put his hand on her forehead. Normal temperature. There was nothing wrong with her, so he knew that there was something else wrong. He just didn't want to force her to talk, he wanted her to tell him herself.

"The school called saying that you were sick", he stated slowly, hoping to get a reaction out of her. She just stared at him like she didn't hear him speak. He looked down at her hands and saw the diary clutched between them in a tight grip. "I see you found it". She just nodded and looked away. Cree sighed and stood up. "I'll go get some medicine, stay put". She scrunched her face up but she didn't object. There was no way she could object without telling the whole truth. Cree knew how much Natalie hated medicine and he hoped to make her break by giving it to her. She watched, her eyes glued to his retreating figure as he went to the kitchen, opened the cabinet under the sink and drew out the first aid box. She could already feel bile in her throat at the sight of the box and the smell of antiseptic that filtered through the air. Cree pulled out a few tablets and grabbed a glass of water from the sink. He walked to her and handed them to her. Natalie was gagging already at the smell of the tablets. She took them to her lips but she couldn't get herself to take them.

Cree looked at her, amusement dancing in his eyes. "You could just tell me what exactly happened in school and why you came home early even though you weren't sick". She looked at him from underneath her eyelashes, an embarrassed look on her face. She would rather take the medicine than tell Cree that she had run away from her problem. "You don't have to take the drug, if you tell me", he added, taking the tablets from her hand. Natalie looked down at her fingers, fidgeting as she did so.

"I was scared they were going to laugh at me" she stated slowly. Cree looked at her in surprise. He didn't understand, but he knew that she wasn't one to explain herself.

"Who brought you home?" he inquired again. Natalie felt her face go red and she didn't dare look at Cree as she muttered the word Jacob. Cree knew who Jacob was, of course, even in the few days of being in town he'd heard about the notorious highschooler who had a penchant for trouble, but what if he was overreacting? There could be another Jacob, not Jacob Anderson, who incidentally happened to be a cousin of Darius. Cree didn't say anything in reply and Natalie didn't offer to clear his doubts about who Jacob was. The awkward silence that descended on them was cleared by a knock on the door. Cree sighed deeply, stood and walked to open it. Natalie couldn't see who it was because Cree's figure was blocking her line of sight. She could tell Cree was confused from the way he occasionally turned to look at her. He finally moved and Natalie felt her heart stop. It was Jarred, standing at the door with his hands deep inside his pockets and a very scared look on his face. For a moment, Natalie thought that perhaps Cree had said something to scare him away, but that was very unlikely, because Cree wasn't overly rude unless he wanted to be.

"Jarred" Natalie murmured, standing up from the couch and walking to the door. Jarred smiled at her and gave a short wave, having removed his hand from his pocket.

"You know him?" Cree asked, looking between both of them. He was surprised, shocked even that Natalie had a friend who would come and check on her after her mysterious disappearance from school. She nodded her head and Cree let Jarred in. The trio stared at each other in uncomfortable silence, no one of them knowing what to say.

"Well, I'll leave you two to catch up" Cree finally said, breaking the silence and walking up the stairs. Natalie led the way to the kitchen without a word and gestured to one of the bar stools for Jarred to sit. She poured him a glass of water and set it on the table before him. She sat down and stared.

"You weren't at school today, well....even though I saw you, but what happened?" he asked.

She shrugged " I ditched". Jarred paused, he just stared at her. The way she said it almost suggested that she was happy and very unrepentant of the fact that she had ditched school, which in itself was wrong. Too shocked to reply, the 18 year old just let out a small oh and lapsed into silence. The silence was very tense, Jarred picked up the glass of water and drank, almost choking himself in the process because of the literal lump in his throat. He had so many questions to ask but he didn't want to come as nosy and he also knew that the likely hood of getting any answers was below the 0 line.

"I brought you homework" he breathed out. Natalie nodded at him, a grateful look on his face. She didn't mention though that he need not have bothered to bring the homework for her because she had in fact vowed never to go back to that school and never set eyes on Noah Snicket again. He took out some notebooks and papers from his bag and placed them on the table.

"These are the homework, I wrote down the submission dates on them and if you need any help, you know where to find me". She raised an eyebrow. Last she checked, she didn't have his home address nor his phone number. Realizing his error, Jarred turned a bloody crimson and quickly scribbled the number on a piece of paper. "I have to go but I'm glad you are okay, see you tomorrow then".

" I wont be coming tomorrow" she stated softly. Jarred froze, his hand hanging just above his bag.

"why not? Are you ditching again?" he asked, but she didn't answer. "if that is the case, I'll come by tomorrow morning and we can ditch together". Natalie almost cracked a smile but she didn't, only the ghost of it appeared on her face. She was glad she had a friend who was willing to do that for her.

"By the way, Noah asked about you" Jarred said. Natalie felt her entire mood drop but she didn't want Jarred to notice her mood change, so she just shrugged and looked away. Jarred picked up his bag and headed for the door. Natalie followed closely, not saying a word as she went.

"I'll see you tomorrow then" he said to which she nodded. He waved and she shut the door after him. Cree was already standing by the edge of the stairs when she turned around.

"i see you made a friend" he stated slowly. Natalie hummed in reply, walked to the kitchen, packed all the books and headed for her room. Cree didn't say anything as she walked past him, he just let her go. It was obvious she wasn't in the mood for any talking. She dumped all the books on the table when she got to her room. She wasn't planning on doing any work though, because she wasn't planning on going back to school. Natalie flopped on her bed and closed her eyes. Images of Noah floated in her head and she wondered why.

She couldn't deny that Noah was a handsome guy and he was really sorted after by the girls in their school, but then every good thing she saw about him became tainted the moment she saw her diary in his hands and she read from his look that he'd gone through it. She wasn't sure if he just flipped or had actually read it but anyhow she was still annoyed. Natalie sighed. She was changing.

She never thought about anything apart from school work and books and now she was thinking about a boy?. Her thoughts were interrupted when Cree knocked loudly on the door and stepped in. "I'll be making dinner in a few, what do you want? And I also got you a job in a cafe downtown". Natalie looked at him from underneath her thick lashes. Job? He'd got her a job. Sometimes she wondered if there was something wrong with her brother. He was always trying to get her out into the world, talking about how he wouldn't be there when she went to college, but what he didn't know was that she wasn't really planning on going to the actual campus, she was just going to take online classes.

"I don't need a job" she muttered, but he heard. Cree rolled his eyes.

"You need one, Nat, and no excuses this time.. it'll be good for you" he replied, with a sigh. Natalie didn't reply, she knew that arguing with Cree was fruitless. It always was. "what do you want for dinner?"

"I'm not hungry" she replied. Cree sighed and walked out of the room. Natalie turned from the door, closed her eyes and fell into deep slumber.