When I Met You

Chapter 3

The smoothie was harder to get out of her hair than she had imagined. For some reason, it was sticky and left colour on her hair. She had to use a lot of water and she ended up making her shirt very wet. She wanted to cry, to just break down and cry, but she remembered her brother's words 'Don't give your enemy the opportunity of seeing you break, you are strong". With that in mind, she left the bathroom and headed to class. She was late, the bell had gone 15 minutes ago, and the hallways were empty already except for a few students who were ditching. She found the class after 10 minutes of searching. As she stood in front of the door, she didn't know whether to knock or just open the door, but she ended up knocking softly. There was silence in the room, the door flung open, and Miss Miller stared at her.

She was a very young lady in her 20s, she had on a white blouse tucked into a black skirt with black stiletto heels. Natalie couldn't bring herself to say anything and her appearance didn't help matters at all. "You must be Natalie Pickett, come in, you're late, but I'll forgive that since it is your first day" Miss Miller said, her smile dropping a little when she looked at Natalie's shirt"Whatever in the world happened to you?" the class burst into small snickers. "quiet all of you, Go take a seat beside Noah Snicket, Noah raise your hand". Natalie looked up to see the boy. He raised his hand. It was the boy from earlier, the one with blue eyes.

She stood there awkwardly shifting from one foot to another, she didn't know how to say that she'd rather not be in the class than sit beside him, but when everyone started giving her weird looks, she dragged her feet to where he sat at the very back. She pulled out the chair and fell into it. She placed her bag on the floor beside her and pulled out her notebook. She didn't look his way but she could feel his stare burning into her face.

"Hey, I'm Jarred," the boy in front of her said, turning around and giving her a warm smile. Natalie nodded at him without saying anything. "If you need help, I could help you out, just ask". He winked at her and turned. Noah grunted but Natalie didn't turn to him. The entire class went by like that and soon it was over. She grabbed her bag quickly, stuffed everything into it and headed out of the class. Jarred followed after her, quickly trying to match her pace.

"Wow, you walk fast," he said from beside her. Natalie looked at him. "and you don't talk much, hint taken, but I'll like to be your friend". Natalie halted in the middle of the hallway and stared at him. Jarred stopped too, looking around confused. No one had ever asked her to be friends, they either imposed themselves on her or just called her a friend for calling's sake.

"is everything alright?" he asked. She continued walking. "What class do you have?" he asked. She handed him her schedule. "Art, hmm, that'll be room 307, just down the hall. Mr Rhodes is a cool teacher, but I don't have that class, unfortunately. I have Math but I'll see you after and we could get lunch together" Jarred said as they stopped in front of the class. Jarred waved at her and hurried to his next class.

Natalie pushed open the door and stepped in. She was met with the smell of acrylic and canvas. There were 3 other students there, washing their paintbrushes and setting up their paint pallets. Mr Rhodes was an old man, old enough to be her father. He grinned at her when she walked in. "You must be Natalie. Welcome to the club, this is Gina, Toby and Frank" he said, pointing to the other students, which meant there were only three in the class. They all waved at her and she waved back. Mr Rhodes led her to an empty canvas.

"We are doing painting, painting something that means a lot to you and we are going to be exhibiting it during the school's exhibition, cool". Natalie nodded. She walked to the paint brushes and picked out a few that she would need, she poured the paint onto the pallet and sat down. She knew what she was going to paint. She was going to paint the picture, the one tucked in the back of her diary. Her family was something that meant a lot to her. She started to draw her outline of the family and then started to paint.

2 hours went past and the bell went off, meaning it was time for lunch. She stood up to clean her brushes and everything. Mr Rhodes went around to look at her painting, even though she had only painted the background. He told her he was very impressed with her work and, for the first time in over a year. She cracked a smile, just a small one. Jarred was waiting outside the door for her.

"I told you Mr Rhodes was cool, lunch then," he said, leading the way to the cafeteria.

"Library" came Natalie's small voice. Jarred froze, turned around and stared at her. He had a huge grin on his face.

"You speak? Oh geez, you have a beautiful voice, library it is" Natalie felt laughter bubbling in her stomach but she didn't let it out. When was the last time she laughed? That was probably her birthday a year ago when Cree tripped and face-planted right onto her cake. What was Jarred doing to her? Jarred led the way to the library. They passed by Catherine and her cohort as they went.

"Hope you like your new shirt, it's as stupid as your face" she called out at them. Natalie didn't reply but Jarred did.

"Shut it, fake face" he yelled back at her, sending her the middle finger as he went. Catherine opened her mouth to say something but nothing came. Natalie could feel Noah's gaze on her face as they went past. He looked annoyed. The library was huge and almost empty because a lot of students didn't go there. Jarred waved at the librarian, Mrs Peterson, as they went. He led them to the very back of the library where it was more quiet.

"I usually come here on my bad days but I'm happy to share my secret spot with you" he informed her, Natalie nodded, putting her bag on the chair. She opened it and pulled out her doughnut. Jarred also pulled out his lunch. They started to eat in silence. It was obvious Jarred had a lot on his mind from the way he stared at her. Natalie didn't stare back, she just ate her doughnut silently. She felt different. She was never comfortable eating in front of strangers, but Jarred was different.

"You're from Mayor Heights, right?" he asked, using his napkin to clean his mouth. She nodded even though she wasn't technically from there. She was from Miami but they'd moved to Orlando and that was when she went to Mayor Heights. "Do you have siblings?" she nodded "I have two elder brothers. It sucks to be the youngest". Her eyes glistened with amusement.

The rest of lunch went like that, with Jarred doing most of the talking and Natalie listening. The bell went, meaning that they had PE. She wasn't a fan of PE but she knew that she couldn't skip the class. Natalie picked up her bag, unaware that her diary had fallen to the floor just under the table. She stuffed all her trash into it, zipped it up and stood. She walked away with Jarred and neither did she see. Someone reached under the table to retrieve it.

The rest of the school didn't go as expected. Natalie ended up getting a headache from the number of balls tossed at her by Catherine during the dodgeball game. Even though she'd already gone out, they still found a way to throw them at her.

Her music teacher was a short, whimsical woman who thought that Natalie should sing and not play the piano, so Natalie Pickett was not in a good mood. The only thing good about her day was jarred.

"need a ride home?" he asked as they headed out of the school premises. She shook her head because she could already see Darius, leaning on the car in the middle of the parking lot. Jarred followed her stare and looked at Darius himself. "Is that your brother?" he asked. Natalie shook her head, waved at him and started heading towards Darius. She wondered why Cree didn't come to pick her up. She could see Catherine and the jocks staring at her as she made her way to him.

"Hey, how was school?" he asked, opening the door for her. Natalie just shrugged. There was nothing to tell. "who was the boy?" Darius asked again, as she slipped into the car and shut the door. He walked to the driver's seat and slid in. It was then as he stared at her that he noticed her shirt. He could have sworn her shirt was pure white in the morning and now it was pinkish. He narrowed his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked, "who did it?" he was already unbuckling his seat belt ready to leave the car and smash whoever did it into the ground.

"Leave it, Darius," she said. Her voice seemed to knock Darius off his high. He just froze and stared at her. She spoke. She spoke to him and her voice was so beautiful, he wondered why she didn't use it often. Natalie felt her face start to turn red at the way he stared at her. Cree was going to be very excited. Darius didn't say anything. He started the car and drove off. They were home in a few minutes and Natalie hurried out of the car. She met Cree in the living room. He was on break from work.

"Hey little girl, how was school?" she gave him a thumbs up and hurried up the stairs. He raised an eyebrow at her behaviour and watched as Darius walked into the house.

"what's up with her?" he asked, walking to his friend.

"She spoke, man", Darius exclaimed, "She talked to me". Cree was stunned. The last time he'd heard her talk to a stranger was a long time ago, a very long time ago. She only spoke to him and no one else, so it was a surprise. "She has a pretty voice."

"Dude" Cree warned, "you are not allowed to get with her, bro code". their conversation was cut short by heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. They both looked at Natalie running down the stairs, she sped past them and out of the house. Too stunned to speak, they watched as she entered Darius' car and started to search through it. She let out a frustrated sigh and burst into tears. She was fine a minute ago and now she was a crying mess. Cree ran outside and straight to Darius' car.

"What happened?"

"The book is gone, I can't find it" she yelled. He knew how much the book meant to her, but he'd never heard her say that many words in one sentence for a long time, so he was happy and sad at the same time. Even Darius was shocked.

"Do you know where you last saw it?" Cree asked, at the same time Darius asked what book. "It's a black book, like a diary or something, just check around". Darius headed back into the house while Cree stayed behind to calm her down. After that, weeks and weeks of silence were coming, they were making progress and now they were back to where they started. "We'll find it, come inside".

Natalie was bummed, she was angry and frightened. The book was on her mind. It contained every secret she had and every thought that had gone through her head since she was 12 and now it was gone. She was so sure someone else had it. Her mind went to Jarred, but he seemed too good a friend to steal from her. They searched the entire house but it was nowhere to be found. Darius even returned to the school to look for it but didn't find it. Natalie could feel herself dying inside. Her mind was crumbling. It was the last gift. The last thing she had, and to make it worse, the picture was still behind the book.

"I think you need to calm down, go take a shower and rest. Tomorrow we'll ask if anyone has seen it" Cree said, pushing her up the stairs. Natalie got up but she just lay on the bed, curled up in a ball and let the tears flow.