Monstrous

16

Nile Cale

She filled my head like a catchy song, you couldn't forget the beat of. I just remembered only Autumn, biting onto my neck viscously, riding me until I lost my sense of reality. I tried holding back my moans, as if I was shy, but Autumn carelessly made me melt right underneath her grasp to the point my entire body felt numb, she was fully in control, and f**k it was amazing seeing her like that. Comparing her to the girl I first met felt so unreal.

"Is that a hickey on your neck?" Adam asked in a hushed tone, he used his pen to push back my black turtleneck revealing all the love marks Autumn left on me. I scoffed pushing his pen away and adjusted my turtleneck to conceal me once more.

"Could you focus on taking notes? We have a test tomorrow.." I hissed motioning to the front of the class where our teacher was scribbling the material we needed to pass our exam onto the whiteboard. Adam narrowed his eyes at me before turning away and settling his attention to the front of the classroom. You could say I was a hypocrite, all I thought about was waking up on the couch with Autumn in my arms. Having to pick up our disregarded clothing from the floor, looking at the melted vanilla ice cream only reminded me of the day before. I made pancakes with eggs and bacon. Autumn did nothing but try to help but accidently confused the salt for sugar, so our eggs came out to be a bit sweet. We didn't want to go back to school, but to stay in our new safe haven but we didn't want to raise suspicion so we had to go. I couldn't do anything but remember our passionate night and blissful morning.

"Well if you won't ask then I'll tell you, I went on a date with Bella last night.." Adam told me once our class ended and we walked the halls to our next class. I smirked to myself knowing that he had gone on a date, and that Autumn had assaulted him with popcorn.

"I thought it was going well, but it went to s**t quickly. Now it's confirmed that we aren't compatible at all.." The mood in Adam's voice dropped and his face changed into a sorrowful expression. He was stubborn, but as his best friend I knew things about him that no one else did, and I knew for a fact that he was helplessly in love with Bella, he just didn't know how to express that. Just like me, Adam didn't know how to be in a relationship, but I was willing to learn because I found a girl that was worth all the trouble, Adam didn't care to have that with anyone.

"I'm sorry.." I didn't know what else to say, Adam forced a smile and shrugged looking away from me.

"I tried calling you last night, you obviously occupied, but f**k it, at least we can be single together right?" Adam responded wrapping his arm around his shoulder, my stomach caved in and guilt started to eat me up. I hated lying to him but me and Autumn's relationship was something worth protecting from this God forsaken school and the people in it.

It was lunch, for some reason Autumn didn't show up to our second period class. I kept my eye out but I didn't see her walking in the halls either. The last thing I wanted to do was to come off as the clingy boyfriend, so I backed off at least until lunch. Before I could become concerned, I checked the library and all my worries went away when I saw Autumn in her usual spot with her nose in a book. I crept up behind her noticing the different clothes she was wearing. To school, she had worn the same outfit she had on during our date but now she was wearing a oversized white long sleeved shirt that had the school's mascot on the back and baggy denim jeans.

"Hey.." I placed a kiss on the top of her head. She jumped at the sudden intrusion but had a smile on her face when I sat down in front of her.

"Hi" She responded faintly, she closed her book and focused her attention on me. Something was telling me that something was wrong but I didn't go on that hunch.

"You weren't in physics, I thought something happened" Autumn shook her head at my words. She pushed her hair from her face and slouched in her chair.

"Yeah, I was at the nurse's office all day. There was a small incident in my English class" She seemed out of it, like drained completely from her energy. I thought it would be a good time to joke around.

"What'd you do? Kill someone?" I laughed gently but immediately picked up on Autumn's reaction, she shook her head slightly and smiled faintly.

"No, I got my period and I bled through my dress and stained my cardigan. The guys in my class were being jerks and made a big deal out of it. It ruined my day so..yeah" Why did it feel like I was always saying the wrong things at the wrong time? I wiped the smirk off my face.

"Are you okay? Why didn't you call or at least tell me?" I asked a bit concerned, Autumn sighed deeply and shrugged, she fiddled with the cover of the book she was reading.

"I was embarrassed and I didn't feel like talking to anyone. I was humiliated in class and I'm wearing clothes from the lost and found.." I just wanted to hold her and tell her that I was sorry I couldn't do anything to help.

"f*****g childish douchebags, I'll take care of them" My anger brought a smile to her lips, Autumn laughed and shook her head.

"I don't need you to do that Nile. I'm okay, I'm not worried about a bunch of dudes not knowing how to react to menstrual cycles" Easily, she reassured me that I didn't need to go on a rampage. Autumn looked as if she was in a better mood, that was all that mattered to me.

"Do you need me to buy anything for you? I could quickly go to the store.." I offered, I didn't want to sit around not doing anything to help her but Autumn declined my offer.

"I'll be okay, but thank you, really." She responded, I nodded. After that we just sat indulging in small conversation. Every time I brought up last night Autumn would blush intensely and change the topic of conversation.

Autumn Marie Tyler

After school ended Nile drove me home. We kissed goodbye and parted ways. When I got into the house my mom was taking a nap in her room and I didn't want to wake her so I retreated to my own bedroom and laid down underneath the covers after stripping the clothes from my body and getting into comfortable pajamas. Today was horrible, but at least I had Nile to cheer me up. Nile and I didn't speak for the rest of the day, or the week. He was busy with practicing for Friday night's game and I got caught up in hanging out with my friends and quality time with my mother. We spoke on the phone occasionally and texted every now and then but that was pretty much it. We didn't talk at school and after we said our hellos and went our separate ways..

Friday afternoon came quicker than I expected, I was readying myself to attend the football game when unexpectedly my mother walked into the room.

"Is it okay if I tag along? I feel like I've been in the house for too long. But if you think it'll be uncool for your mom to come with you-" I rolled my eyes while I slipped on a pair of light brown ankle high boots.

"Of course you can come with me mom. Just make sure you wear something warm and put on comfortable shoes" I responded smiling at her, instead of leaving my mom crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows at me.

"Getting dressed up again? Am I going to meet this mystery person?" My mother wasn't stupid, she caught onto every little thing that happened around her. She smiled widely at me hoping to get a truthful response from me, on any other occasion I would have been honest with her, but the deep seeded hatred she had for Nile and his family prevented me from indulging that part of my life with her. It sucks because Nile has truly made me happy, he wasn't at all what she thought.

"There is no mystery person mom, I'm just feeling more confident these days.." I said slipping on my denim jean jacket over my tank top dress. My mother threw her hands up in defense and nodded with approval.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Also I'm really loving seeing you like this, happy and all.." She said before turning around and leaving the room. If only she knew that Nile was the reason.

Walking past the concession stands, seeing people dressed up in the school colors, the football jerseys and all, it reminded me of when I first kissed Nile. It felt like ages ago. My mother and I had our arms locked while we searched for potential snacks we could be munching on.

"It feels so weird to be back here" My mother whispered as she waved at another old friend. Being back at her old high school was going to make her feel nostalgic. I wondered if dad was on her mind at all. The world knew them as high school sweethearts but in their secret cold reality, my father had an affair in which he did not regret, and now they're divorced, while my mother is pregnant. It was all too much for me but I could only imagine what my mother was feeling.

A saddening expression dawned on my mother's face as she looked around, the high school setting, it must've brought back old memories that she didn't take a liking to. Maybe it was a bad idea for us to come, we had only passed a few concession stands, it wasn't too late for us to turn back and leave, but before I could plan our escape route we were stopped.

"Is that Maribeth Ross? In the flesh?!" A woman exclaimed, she had looked to be one of those trophy housewives. Wearing heels and a fur coat to a football game. The woman was blonde and was standing with a group of mothers I presumed. Ellis was one of them, along with Jacob's mother who had a sleeping newborn in a shielded stroller.

For some unknown reason the group of woman brought a smile to my mother's face. Slowly she released my arm and waved to the woman who were motioning her over near the hot chocolate truck.

"Some old friends, I should go say hi. I'll be okay, we'll meet up on the bleachers?" My mother said, I looked at her then back at the group of moms. I was hesitant but my mother smiled at me and shoved me away playfully, telling me to go have fun. I watched as she walked up to the group, I couldn't hear what they were saying but they all embraced my mother in one big hug.

I was hesitant to leave my mother but eventually I did. The game wouldn't start for another hour and thirty minutes, so I thought it would be nice to catch up with Nile. I hadn't seen him around the concession stands, like I did with other football players. Eventually I made my way onto the football field where people were reserving their seats for the game, players of the opposing teams were warming up. I scanned the area hoping to catch a glimpse of Nile, I was ready to give up when my eyes finally landed on him. He was hanging with Adam, Jacob, Romeo, and a few other players along with a few members if the cheerleading team. All girls I didn't know personally but heard their name around school, they were pretty, popular, and...the type of girls Nile would usually go for. The last thing I wanted to do was make a fool of myself but I found myself inching closer to the group as I heard their laughs.

My hands fidgeted nervously with each other when I saw a girl noticeably getting handy with Nile, caressing his arm, playfully running her fingers through his hair, leaning against him whenever she broke into a laugh. My fingernails dug into my palm seeing Nile not at all uncomfortable with what she was doing, if anything he was entertaining it. From the beginning I felt like there was always someone I had to compete with, Maddie, Stella, now..Jillian. A slim, beautiful brunette that had a wide smile and a contagious laugh. People say she is nice, and she looks like she could be. She had deep brown eyes and tanned skin, she was absolutely flawless. I couldn't understand how and why Nile would've entertained light flirting, under any other circumstance, I wouldn't have cared.

"What do you want me to say? That Jillian is hot?" I stopped dead in my tracks, I was a few feet away from them but I could hear Nile loud and clear. The group busted into laughter except Jillian who playfully pushed Nile away. Whether or not he saw me, I didn't care for the excuse he could come up with, I was hurt and it only made me think what he could possibly be doing behind my back.

"I could say the same thing to you Cale" Jillian responded, instead of marching up to Nile and the rest of them, my confidence writhed up and I shied away like a damn coward.

My heart began to race a million miles per hour, my anxiety was getting the best of me and I needed to cool down, to distract myself from what I saw and heard on the football field. My hands balled into fists, the feeling of my fingernails digging into my palms gave me a satisfying relief, I would've ran into the nearest bathroom and used my house keys to cut my woes away but I was trying to change, I have changed, and hurting myself wasn't the answer anymore. Instead of cutting, I settled my sights on a fast food truck and scanned the menu over a hundred times putting my mind at ease just for a while. I wasn't going to bother my mother because I wanted her to have a good time here.

After shoving my face with burgers, chips, and fries, I was hovering over the garbage can downing my last bite of my hotdogs before throwing the little tray it came in. There were only a few individuals near the concession stands, everyone else went to take their seats on the bleachers, the game was going to start in less than twenty five minutes. I began my journey to the stadium when someone stopped me. At first I thought it was Nile, but as I evaluated the person's face more, I realized where Nile got his facial features from, his father.