When I Met You

Chapter 4

The school didn't feel very appealing to get anymore, not like it was appealing in the first place. She stared at the ground, watching her feet as she went down the hallway to her locker. She had checked the library but it wasn't there and the librarian hadn't seen it either. Suddenly, Natalie regretted not letting Darius come in to search for her. There was no way she was going to search the entire school all by herself unless Jarred was willing to help, but she didn't know if he was willing to spend his entire day searching for a book like she was. Natalie could feel the stares of the other students on her face as she walked by. She was sure Catherine had done something else to make life unbearable for her. Ignoring their stairs, she walked until she came in direct sight of her locker and froze. It wasn't Catherine but much worse. It was Noah, Noah Snicket leaning against her locker with the black book in his hand. He had a bored look on his face, but when Natalie came into view he pushed himself off the locker and stared at her. The first instinct that came to Natalie's mind was to run. Turn and run. Her mind yelled at her but she didn't. She continued walking until she was right in front of him. She didn't say anything, she just stared at the book in his hand. The latch was open, meaning that he'd gone through it. She felt her heart increase in beat and her palms become sweaty. What was he going to say? Yell out her secrets for the whole school to hear? Make fun of the fact that she had no parents? She wasn't sure but for someone who hung around Catherine, she couldn't put it past them to do that.

"Natalie," he said slowly, holding out the book to her. She took it from him with trembling hands. "I found it....in the library," he said. Natalie turned and did what her mind had been telling her to do. RUN. She ran, dashing past the other students, she even ran past Jarred who was so confused that he stood in the middle of the hallway watching her disappear around the turn. Natalie didn't stop until she got to the field, she slid under the bleachers and fell on the floor. Leaning against the stone wall, she held the book to her chest and began to cry. She didn't even understand why she was so angry. Angry at herself for leaving the book out. She wanted to call Cree to come pick her up but he was at work and she didn't want to bother him. She thought about Darius but finding that she was becoming too dependent on him to drive her, she crossed him out of her mind.

"It's not every day, you see this" Natalie heard someone say. She looked up, wiping the tears from her face. She had never seen him before, maybe because she didn't even know anyone else in the school. He was tall, with black hair and blue eyes, he was dressed all back and had a cigarette hanging from between his lips. Natalie knew what she had run into the moment she saw the cigarettes. It was probably where they came to smoke during school hours or better still ditch school. "Damsel in distress?" The boy asked, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and smashing it under his shoes. Natalie didn't say anything, she just stared at him and the two other boys that stood behind him. "You don't look like someone to ditch school so I'll assume you are not, I'm Jacob and these guys are Troy and Chris". Natalie didn't offer her name because she didn't ask them for theirs. They fell into silence, staring at each other with a look of confusion. Jacob licked the front of his teeth and smirked.

"Oh, I know who you are, you must be the new girl, Natalie Pickett, isn't it?". Jacob smiled to himself like he'd just solved a million-dollar riddle. "School started an hour ago. If you are lost, I can show you the way back to class". Natalie stood up but not because she was accepting Jacob's offer to show her to class, but because she was leaving. Going home. She couldn't face Noah or the entire school. She was sure that the details of her diary had been shared, so it was better she spent the rest of her days in solitary confinement than to show her face to be teased.

"I'm going home" she announced, her voice louder than she intended. If Jacob was surprised he didn't show it, of course, he'd heard that she didn't talk, she was mute, but that was just Catherine spreading false news as was her best hobby. He raised an eyebrow at the fact that she was going home in more illegal terms, ditching school. When he'd looked at her, he was sure she was a goody miss to shoes.

"You talk" he stated, "I could offer you a ride home" he added. Chris gave him an incredulous look.

"You're supposed to talk her out of it and not encourage her," he said. Jacob glared at him for spoiling his conversation. They broke into an argument and Natalie used that opportunity to slip away. She walked quickly to the parking lot and out of the school gate. She wasn't bothered if anyone saw her, she wasn't coming back for all she cared. She started the long walk back to her house, it took about 20 minutes to drive to school and Natalie calculated that if she walked fast enough it would take her about 45 minutes to get home. She walked staring down at her feet as she went. There was no one on the sidewalk, so she wasn't bothered about crashing Into someone by mistake. She had walked for about 10 minutes when she heard a loud horn. She jumped, feeling goose pimples cover her whole body. She didn't turn to look because she assumed it wasn't for her but when the horn came louder again, she turned. It was Jacob in a car. A very beautiful one at that.

"Get in the car" He instructed. Natalie shook her head and continued the walk down the sidewalk. Jacob followed closely after her. "Get in the car or I'll come to get you myself" he threatened. Natalie wasn't easily threatened but the way he said it made her scared. She groaned in her head, walked over to the back of the car, pulled open the door and slipped in. She shut the door. Jacob looked at her from the rearview mirror. He didn't say anything as he put the car in drive and began to drive down the street. Natalie wondered how he knew where her house was. She felt her heart skip a beat when he pulled into her driveway.

"I apologize for my stalkerish methods but I went to the front desk to ask for your address and report you sick". Natalie blinked. He'd gone as far as reporting her sick so that she wouldn't get in trouble. She reached for the door handle and opened the door. She climbed out and stared at Jacob who was giving her a small smile.

"Thank you" she murmured.

He shrugged "Anytime, damsel".

Natalie opened her mouth to correct him and tell him what her name was but then she changed her mind and walked up to the house. She inserted her key into the lock and walked into the cold house. Cree had put off the heaters when he left the house. She shivered as she went to the regulators to put them on. Once the house had heated up a bit. She sat down, opened the book and began to write.