𝖎 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚, 𝖆𝖑𝖜𝖆𝖞𝖘 | 𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖐𝖘 & 𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘

☄

I didn't see my dad that night, or the next morning before school so Hayes was still off the hook as of now. As I was getting ready for school, I was a bit anxious about what could happen today. I was unsure if he was going to try something or not, but the only way to find out was to let the day unfold. At least it was Friday. 

My walk to school was normal, I made sure to pay attention to my surroundings this time. Everything was going fine until lunch. Normally I would sit in the library, but ever since I became friends with Joey, Mouth, and Book, I started sitting with them in the cafeteria.  

As I was making my way back to the table I crossed paths with Hayes, he "spilled" his fanta all over my white shirt in front of our entire grade. I looked up at him wide-eyed, "Oops, sorry Natalie, my bad" he smirked, I couldn't tell if I was more angry or embarrassed. 

I did what my gut reaction was, I backhanded him across the cheek as hard as I could, the room fell silent, "Eat shit" I spat before quickly walking away. I went into the bathroom to see the stain on my shirt, it was a lot worse than I thought. 

I sigh, "Shit" I tried to wipe it with a wet paper towel but my attempt was unsuccessful. "Natalie?" Joey called from the hall, I left the bathroom and saw him standing by the water fountain, "Hey," I greeted. The boy extended his arm, he was holding a navy quarter-zip, "Here, you can wear this if you want to," I couldn't help but smile, "Are you sure?" he nodded, I took the pullover from him and put it on. 

It was still warm because Joey had just worn it, it smelled of his cologne and a mix of whatever he uses in the shower. The clothing was big on me so I had to pull the sleeves up, otherwise, it would be difficult to do pretty much anything involving my hands. 

When I finished adjusting everything I looked back over at Joey who was just admiring me with a soft smile across his lips. As he noticed I was looking, he shifted his eyes so they were instead focused on the bricks behind me. 

I let out a soft laugh, the brown-haired boy looked up at me trying to lessen his smile but failed. "Thank you, Joey" "Anytime" "Come on, let's go back to the cafeteria," he shook his head slightly, I looked at him confused, "The guys are library now, so that's where we're going too". 

At that moment it all truly set in. I let a gentle warmth consume me as my soul became lighter. For the first time, I felt wanted.