My New Love

Chapter 18

I walk towards my locker alone since Alex went somewhere to cool off. I notice that Nicole is walking towards my locker. I smile widely at her too. She smiles back. “Hey girl, what’s up?”

            “Are you okay,” I ask her. She looks a little bit sad. There are tears in her eyes right now. I hug her tightly. I’m worried because Nikki is usually a ball of energy and happiness.

            “I’m not okay. Nicholas and I got into a huge fight last night. We aren’t breaking up, but he said something so incredibly mean to me. I don’t know how I forgave him last night. I realized it’s because I love him. I can’t take all of the crap he’s putting me through right now,” she responds with more tears filling her eyes. I pull her into another hug. She starts crying on my shoulder.

            “It’s going to be okay, Nikki. I know he claims he loves you, but he mentally abuses you all the time. Why are you still with him if you know he’s going to continue hurting you? You don’t need that type of relationship. Why stay with someone like that? What did he say to you?”

            “I know he mentally abuses me, but I stay because I love him. He promises he’s going to stop, but I don’t believe him. He said that I was never going to amount to anything. He told me I was trash. He told me I was always going to be fat no matter what I do. I’m trying to stay fit because of him. I even became a cheerleader because he wanted to be dating one. Well also because I have always wanted to be one myself. He’s also on the cheerleading team as well. He is my flier and everything,” Nicole responds.

            That pushes me over the edge. I really want to punch something right now. I don’t want to get in trouble, but I slap Nikki across the face. I think I hit her a little too hard. She is in shock. Tears are falling faster down her face. “You need to learn this and learn it right now! He doesn’t love you at all if he isn’t trying to change his ways. He’s always going to be abuse you because you allow him too. Nicholas feels you’re too weak because you listen to everything he says. You want to know something? Nicholas makes fun of you when he’s with his friends. I’ve heard him talk about you like you were a piece of meat! You don’t deserve a jerk like him. You deserve a good man that will treat you right. Please think about this before you continue your relationship with him. You need a man that treats you with respect. You need a man that won’t say horrible things to you. Please...I’m begging you to think about what I’m saying. Get out of this relationship. I can’t stand to see him hurt you like this.”

            I pull her into another hug. She’s crying a lot harder in my arms. I feel awful for slapping her in the face. I really wanted to get my point across.

            She doesn’t say anything. I don’t think she knows how to respond to what I said. I ask her if she wants to have a sleepover. It will be just the two of us. She agrees to have one. I’m pretty excited about that. Normally we only have our girl time twice a month. Nicole is normally busy on weekends because of football games. She hates having practice with Michelle every day. I’m glad I’m not on the cheerleading team. I love the literature club!

            I walk Nicole over to her locker. Alex meets up with me over there. He’s a lot calmer than before. Nicole is really down right. I haven’t told her that Alex and I started dating. Hopefully Nicole is going to perk up by lunch time. Nicole doesn’t like being depressed. She also doesn’t like to see people suffering with depression.

            Alex grabs my hand on the way to class. Jonathan and Michelle are standing right in front of us. Alex is totally trying to make Jonathan jealous right now. Jonathan is getting a bit upset. Alex pulls me into his arms and kisses me passionately in front of them. Michelle runs off crying and Jonathan goes after her. Michelle is probably upset that Alex likes me over her. A lot of people like me over her. Even some of her best friends have come up to tell me they like more than her. That shocked me a little bit.

            Their opinions about our relationship doesn’t matter to me. Nicole still doesn’t know we’re dating. She looks over at us. She smiles at me and I wink at her. She laughs when I wink. I took Michelle down a peg. No other boy in this school besides Jonathan likes her. We go around the corner because our class is over there. We are still holding hands. Jonathan and Michelle are standing in front of our classroom. Michelle is still crying and Jonathan is trying to console her. We overhear their conversation.

            “You know Alex will love you eventually. I know this act is going to get old soon. You know I don’t love you and I know you don’t love me. We need to try to split them up. I know you want him and you know I want her. I liked you in the beginning, but now I’m tired of you. I want my girl back. I know you want her boyfriend, but we have to work together better. Stop crying now because you are only drawing attention to yourself,” Jonathan says.

            “Now you two listen to me. You will never be able to split us up. We are a good couple. You two are not worth anything to me or her. You broke her heart, Jonathan. For the last time she doesn’t like you anymore. I will never love you either, Michelle. Jonathan, you broke up with Aubrey to be with this girl. Don’t ever ask my girlfriend out again. She has me now and I’m a way better man than you. So leave us alone. You should stay together because you two deserve each other,” Alex responds pretty coldly again. He took the words right out of my mouth. He kisses me on the lips again. We walk into our class and sit down. I still can’t believe those two were going to try to break us up.