Definitely not a filler chapter.
Melody & Nate's POV.
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That’s it. That’s the last straw.
Don’t get me wrong, I really value Nate as a friend, but his attitude towards Ashleigh bothered me to no end. He was so… so prejudiced.
And I had a really strong feeling that it had something to do with his past.
So I would confront Nate. And Ashleigh.
I don’t know why, but there was something strange going on with Ashleigh as well. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
It was going to be difficult to catch both of them alone. Ashleigh usually hovered nearby Shelby and the others, while Nate…
I had to separate him from his brothers without getting them suspicious, plus I was going to have some problem looking at a boy who apparently likes me, straight in the eye.
I still don’t know what he sees in a wallflower though.
I planned to make my confrontation with Ashleigh during lunch. Unfortunately, I would have to speed things up a bit. Eleanor wanted to meet me in the Editorial office.
“Umm, I need to go talk to someone. I’ll see you later then.” I mumbled, letting my brown hair fall over my face like a curtain. I could just imagine that identical looks of horror on Helen and Nate’s faces when they saw me talking to Ashleigh.
“Catch ya later, Piano!” Nathaniel grinned goofily, his dimple appearing.
“Stop calling me that!” I snapped. Nathaniel was back to his annoying self today. Ugh. “It’s irritating!”
“Nuh-uh. I like Piano. Get used to it.” He stuck his tongue out childishly at me.
“Stop it, or else.” Congratulations Melody. What a lame threat.
“Nyahahaha, you can’t make me!”
I growled incoherently. There was a loud thump as Helen and Nathan whacked his head and stomach with their Geography textbooks. “Quit it, Nathaniel.” Nathan ordered.
Sinking lower in his chair, Nathaniel folded his arms and stared at his food moodily. Who knew that he could make sulking look so cute?
Melody Petrina Keyes! What the heck was that for?!
“Thanks,” I smiled shyly at Nathan. Butterflies erupted in my stomach as he beamed, revealing neat rows of pearly white teeth, effortlessly and probably unconsciously working his charm on me. I swear I could feel some of the death-ray stares that the girls in the cafeteria were giving me.
Cautiously I approached the table where Ashleigh sat. She was chatting with Shelby, the two other Ashleys and a few other girls. I recognised one of them as Penelope Desmund from the School Newspaper Board. Her ‘hospitality’ towards me hadn’t improved much. In fact, I think it deteriorated.
They stopped talking. Ashley threw me a condescending look before sneering, “What do you want, loser? None of our fashion tips could make you look good, if that’s what you want to ask.”
The rest of the table jeered at me, while Ashleigh seemed rather preoccupied with her cheeseburger.
“I-I need to speak with Ashleigh. It’s about our B-biology project.”
“Biology project? About what? The anatomy of a male? I bet you used the Peytons as your research material.” Shelby rolled her eyes, her tone sharp and full of disgust.
“Let’s head to our homeroom, we can speak there. I’m done anyway.” Wiping her mouth with a napkin, she picked up her tray and cleared her leftovers.
“Careful Ashleigh, make sure she doesn’t steal.” Ashley snickered. “And I’m not talking about items. She’ll snatch any boy right under your nose. Including Nate.”
“Yeah, and you should like, totally lay off those greasy cheeseburgers and get like, a salad or something. Or you’ll get like, fat and stuff.”
Penelope sniggered, “I think she’s already putting on weight. Soon she’ll resemble Heather Perkin.”
“We’ll see you later, Ashleigh. There are some things we need to talk about.” Shelby smiled, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
As Ashleigh and I made our way out of the cafeteria, I caught sight of Nate and Helen looking at us the exact way I had imagined. Nathan was observing us with discomfort, and was that disappointment I saw reflected in his eyes? Nathaniel simply smiled lopsidedly and waved enthusiastically to me.
“So what’s up with the project?” Ashleigh hopped onto her table and sat there expectantly.
“Erm, actually…” I hesitated, fiddling with a strand of my hair and staring at the floor. “That wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Oh?” I forced myself to look up and she raised an eyebrow. “Then what?”
“I don’t really know. I just wanted to know if everything’s alright with you.” I mumbled.
“Sure everything’s fine!” Ashleigh chirped, “Why? Did I seem off colour to you? It could be the sun.”
I shook my head, “No, no… I don’t mean that. I mean…” I suddenly found the words to express what I wanted to convey, “Why do you hang out with Shelby and the others? Sometimes you don’t even seem comfortable with them, and they made fun of you.”
Her face fell, becoming guarded. “Well, they are my friends.”
“Friends who laugh at you and make you feel uncomfortable in some way?” I challenged.
She sighed heavily, running a hand through her silky blonde hair. “Let’s just say that unlike you, I’m a coward.”
I opened my mouth, but she cut me off. “You have to meet some Puckley girl right? I overheard you during second period. I should get going. Shelby wants to see me as well.”
Hopping off the table she started to head for the door while I quickly added, “Ashleigh… do you like Nate?”
She paused at the doorway, placing one hand on the doorframe, and the other presumably on her forehead. “Yeah. I like him a lot,”
Letting her hands drop, she exited the room, but spoke loudly enough for me to hear, “But he hates my guts.”
***
“Erm guys, I need to borrow Nate for a while.” I fidgeted uneasily on the spot.
“Sorry, he’s already on loan.” Nathaniel chuckled, retrieving a book from his locker.
“What’s up?” Nate glanced at me, his eyes an impenetrable shade of green.
Hopefully my hair would shield my blushing from his view, but I doubted it. “C-could I speak to you for a moment please? In private?”
“Kay.” He nodded and turned to his brothers, “You guys go ahead without me. I’ll call Russell. Oh yeah, and Helen told me to inform you that Trey’s picking her up today.”
“Going for a date on a Monday?” Nathan frowned, “I think I need to speak to Trey. He may not get hysterical over his grades, but Mrs. Keeane will over Helen’s.”
“Gosh, give it a rest already, Nathan. You’re worse than Mrs. Keeane.” Nate scoffed and with that, took off after me with Nathan scowling darkly at him.
***
“Of all places… you chose the stairwell.” I sighed, rubbing my forehead.
“Well, it’s not like I could hold a private conversation anywhere else without people walking in on us.” Melody retorted defensively. I chuckled at her ‘feistiness’, noting that she had been less shy lately.
“Oh on the contrary, you remain blissfully ignorant of the fact that this is the popular spot for one too many amorous lovers to do their dirty deed.” I drawled, grinning wickedly at her.
“W-well t-then,” Melody stuttered, completely unaware of the stairwell’s infamous reputation, “They’ll just have to f-find s-somewhere else!”
Such an innocent girl.
“Straying from the topic here. I believe you wanted have a tête-à-tête with me about…” I trailed off suggestively, raising an eyebrow.
“About… about… about…” Goodness, her face was turning green, like those eyes which refused to meet mine.
“Yes, yes, about.” I murmured impatiently, itching to know what she had to say. “But about what?”
“About… us” I had to strain my ears to catch the last word. I could feel the heat flash in my cheeks, burning brightly.
Hell, Nate Peyton doesn’t blush!
Okay fine, except that mortifying episode when my mother divulged an all too graphic little fact to Helen, which I care not to bring up or mention. Ever.
“… Us?” Cursing my hoarse voice, I could feel the beat of my heart, more frantic than drums in a rock concert. Recalling my unabashed declaration of fancying her, the colour in my cheeks deepened.
Melody’s eyes widened in a mixture of shock, horror and pure, unadulterated embarrassment. “N-n-no!” She squeaked, wringing her hands in a hysterical fashion. “I didn’t mean that!”
There was an awkward pause. I wanted to laugh at her adorable manner of denying things. Her face by now, looked a much darker shade than mine. At the same time, my male ego was rather wounded, for she seemed somewhat adverse to the idea of us. Was I that repulsive a person to be with?
Running a hand through my hair, my forehead wrinkled in bewilderment and I decided to break the silence. “Then what do you mean?”
“I mean about you, Helen, Nathaniel, Ashleigh and me!” Melody blurted out.
I could feel a slight anger bubbling inside me. Granted, it was an irrational and unreasonable anger, but I would never admit that. “You leave Nathan out of this, but drag Ashleigh in for some excuse.” I stated flatly.
“Nathaniel isn’t really part of this either.”
“So what precisely is ‘this’ referring to?” I muttered, dreading where the conversation would lead to.
“Your biased treatment towards Ashleigh. Towards every other female besides Helen… and I.”
“What does it matter to you?” I growled, fighting to keep my emotions in check.
“What does it matter to me?” She echoed, glaring at me, “It matters to me that you keep thinking that Ashleigh is out to hurt me! It matters to me that you hate her so much! It matters to me that because of your hostility, I can’t have both you and Ashleigh as my friends!”
“I have my reasons despising her.” I spat, “I detest girls like her. They’re all deceitful creatures-“
“Don’t call them creatures!” She snapped, “They’re human beings just like you and I! At least be more respectful and tolerant towards them even if you loathe them so!”
I clenched my fists tightly, hissing through gritted teeth, “What? So what do you want me to do? You want me to befriend them? You want me to change?”
Exhaling loudly, she stared me straight in the eye, her light green orbs gleaming with unspoken determination. “No, I can’t force you to do things you don’t want to. I just want to know why.”
“Why what?” I snapped in frustration, sick of her vague statements and having to ask her for an elaboration. Seeing her flinch immediately made me regret the harsh tone of my voice, but I didn’t say anything, waiting for her to speak.
“Why do you dislike girls so much? What did we… they ever do to you to deserve such bitter resentment?”
I didn’t know why, but her question just triggered something in me; something that was bottled up inside for a long time.
“Because she broke up with me over some shallow thing!” I exploded, not caring if students passing the stairwell would hear. “I thought I loved that girl and she broke me up over some stupid little thing! She didn’t even tell it to my face properly that we were over. The very next day after I told her, she went after some freaking jock just because I wasn’t the type of guy she wanted. Hell, I wasted one bloody year going out with her, thinking that we were meant for each other!”
Slamming my fist at the concrete wall, the pain in my hand did not bother me. It was my heart that hurt much, much more. Remembering her always sent a searing pain tearing through my chest, because I could not forget. I wanted to forget, but I couldn’t.
Still, Melody stood there calmly, watching me breathe deeply, my chest rising and falling rapidly. But her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“What was her name?” She asked softly, not making any move to approach me.
It wasn’t a name I would ever forget. “Michelle. Michelle Travers.”
I felt a cooling line run down my cheeks, only then did I realise that I was crying. I dropped to the floor and leaned against the wall, burying my head in my trembling hands. “She left me, Melody… she left me… Just like her, they’ll all leave me… they’re all the same… they’re all the same…”
I heard a sniff and I lifted my head to spot Melody crying as well. She bent down and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. I cracked a bleak smile, “Silly girl, why are you crying?”
Wiping her tears with her free hand she smiled weakly at me, “Because I feel sorry for you, even though I cannot understand your pain.”
I absolutely hated being pitied by people, but for some inexplicable reason, I wanted Melody’s sympathy. I clung to it, like a lifeline.
My heart felt much lighter now. After so long, I finally told someone else besides Helen and my family what happened. Yet, I didn’t feel like I’d managed to move on a single bit. I was still stuck, trapped in my past, unable to let go.
Fresh tears sprang from eyes and I dipped my head down again. After all, I was still a guy, and letting Melody see me cry was embarrassing and-
Man, I can really cry.
It revealed my weakness. Instead, Melody quietly sat down next to me, wrapping an arm around me while her other hand gently stroked my hair and caressed my wet cheek.
It would have been considered an intimate gesture, if she wasn’t radiating so much sisterly warmth.
So that was it. She couldn’t like me in that way, and I think neither can I like her back that way. Now… how should I go about clarifying it with her?
I couldn’t walk up to her and say: “Hey Melody, remember the time when I told you that I liked you? It was a joke. I don’t. Ha ha, isn’t that funny?
I also noticed that she hadn’t asked me just what exactly did she break up with me over. Perhaps she sensed that I would tell her when I was ready. Well, she sensed right, because I wasn’t. No matter how slim, there was a chance that she would just be another Michelle.
And I’ve let down my guard on Melody, breaking my resolution and promise to myself that I would never trust another girl other than Helen, that I would never befriend another girl.
But, by not fully telling her what happened, it showed that I did not trust Melody too.
… Why?
*
