When I Met You

Chapter 7

"How was your night?" Jarred asked Natalie as they both walked down the crowded hallways to get to their English class on time. Natalie looked up at him a blank look on her face. She didn't know how to answer his question. What was she going to tell him? That she'd turned all night, images of his face in her head.

She wasn't like that, so she was very shocked and annoyed when she found herself feeling that way. Jarred took her no response as a yes and said no more as they finally reached their English class. They couldn't sit together because most of the seats were taken already. Natalie slumped into the chair beside Noah because it was the only available seat at the back while Jarred sat in front of her. She could feel his stare on her face and the smell of his cologne filtered into her nostrils almost choking her with the sickly-sweet smell.

"hi," he murmured lowly. Natalie didn't look at him nor did she acknowledge the fact that he'd just spoken to her. Jarred took that moment to turn and ask for a pencil claiming that he forgot his at home.

Natalie knew it was a lie and he was just trying to dispel the awkwardness because she'd seen him shove a pack of pencils into his bag earlier. Nonetheless, she reached into her bag and pulled out one pencil and handed it to him. He took it with a grateful smile and turned just as Miss Miller walked into the classroom. She had a huge smile on her face as she stood in front of the class.

"so, guess what, we have a project to do, and I have chosen partners for all of you," the class fell into murmurs and groans as Miss Miller started to hand out the papers and call out the names of the partners. Natalie hoped she'll get Jarred, the last thing she wanted was to try and make friends with whoever her partner was. Her heart sank when Jarred was paired with another guy from the front.

"Natalie and Jacob". Natalie froze. Jacob, as In the Jacob she knew. Looking around the class, she didn't spot Jacob anywhere. She didn't even know that he was in her class. "you must all do the project with your partner, and it makes 45% of your final grade". the class fell into groans again. Jarred looked at Natalie with a sympathetic smile when they called her partner. Jacob wasn't in the least serious about school or life in general, so she wasn't very eager about having him as a partner. She didn't want to fail because of her very useless partner.

The class came to a stop and Natalie parked all her things ready to leave when Miss Miller summoned. She could feel the stares of the other students as she made her way to the front of the class. Miss Miller wasn't frowning, however, to indicate that she was in trouble. She had a soft smile on her face.

"hey Natalie, nice to see you in school again," Miss Miller said as Natalie stopped in front of her desk. "you weren't in school yesterday, I hope all is well" Natalie nodded her head stiffly. "Well, I need your help, there's someone I need you to tutor for me" Natalie frowned. "you are an amazing student, your score in Mayor Heights was very exceptional". Natalie still kept a blank face. "well I'll take your face as a yes". Natalie, for the first time, felt angry that she wasn't a very outspoken person, she would have sooner rejected the offer.

She wasn't very sociable and Miss Miller knew that it was written in bold letters on her report from Mayor Heights, so what the woman was trying to do, she didn't know. "OK, so the classes will be held for an hour after school, 3 times a week and you can arrange classes any other time if the hour isn't enough". very unlikely, Natalie thought. "so I'll see you in the library after school". Natalie nodded, taking the slip from her and walking out of the classroom.

She needed to find Jacob and the mere fact that she believed he wasn't in school made it worse. Jarred didn't wait up but she met him in her algebra class. He gave her a look and said what had happened, but Natalie pretended like she didn't see the expression on his face and just fell into one of the empty seats at the back of the class. She hated algebra, it wasn't like she found it hard but the process of getting an answer was long and tedious.

"Miss Pickett, are you paying attention?" the voice of her algebra teacher rang through the air, making Natalie look up from her notebook and stare at him. Natalie hadn't noticed him before, it was her first time in algebra class and she hadn't looked at his face when she handed him the lateness slip and walked to her seat. He was very young, too young to be a teacher, with his short brown hair, broad body and green eyes that were staring at her.

Natalie nodded numbly but that wasn't enough to satisfy him. He wrote an equation on the board and told her to solve it. Natalie looked at the equation, muttered some gibberish, wrote her answer down and showed him. He looked back at the board to make sure the question was correct because her answer was very correct. "Well..let's continue", he stated blankly, looking back at the board.

It was lunchtime, Natalie made her way to the bleachers where she was sure to find Jacob. Sure enough, he was there, sitting under the bleachers with his friends, Troy and Chris. Jacob's face morphed into one of confusion first when he saw Natalie walking towards them and then he grinned.

"Hey peaches" he called.

"Natalie" she snapped, coming to a stop in front of him. Jacob shrugged. "We have an English project and we're on the same team" she stated slowly, her voice low and soft. Jacob mouthed an oh but made no indication that he was willing to help her with the project. "I'll tell on you".

They all groaned "Snitches, get stitches", Jacob replied. Natalie rolled her eyes, turned and walked away. She was headed for the library since she didn't have any more classes. She wasn't very eager to know who she was meant to tutor, she wished that she'd asked first.

Natalie sat at the table drumming her fingers on the desk, waiting for Miss Miller. She soon saw Miss Miller walk into the library and behind her was Noah freaking Snicket. Natalie decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he just needed to use the library too, but when Miss Miller came in her direction and Noah kept following behind her, she felt her heart sink.