Tara :Wolf Chronicles

Chapter 11:The Storm

Thalia:

October 2011

Nate ignored me like I had the plague .If I was him, I would ignore myself too. He ignored me entirely at school. He avoided me with a ducked head as if I had the plague. He didn't joke or smile playfully or his melodious laugh. He didn't make those origami or paper planes that zoomed around the class or got stuck on Ali's hair. I had grown to miss them even if they annoyed me slightly. I wasn't the only one to notice his unusual behaviour. Nathanial was the sunlight to a cloudy dull day but now he blended with the storm clouds.

Nate avoided people but he never did but his classmates noticed.

Ali removed his glasses, cleaned them and placed them on his desk. He caught my stare and squeezed his face. I darted my head to the wall as my body trembled. I wrapped my arms around myself as I felt bullet holes drilled into my back.

It was all my fault!

Ali leaned forward and tapped Nate gently on the shoulder but he stirred. His back was covered in knitted fabric as he wrapped his arms around his face on the desk.

"Nate," Ali asked calmly with a concerned expression. "Are you feeling good?" He shook him again. His back tensed as his body jerked up uncontrollably. He darted his eyes and gripped his chair hard as if he saw a ghost. He looked different--no, he felt different. Ali leaned back with horror. Nate's skin paled until it was paper white and his eyes were a lighter shade of green. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and he stared at him with bloodshot and baggy eyes as the chair shook.

"Nate," He repeated,more slowly. His body tensed as he continued to tremble and his chest rose and then fell. His eyes landed on me with wide eyes. Some students looked at him, and me weirdly or whispered mostly to the girls.

Nate blinked with raised shoulders. "Ali, Is that you?" He asked groggily, with a dazed expression. Sweat ran from the rivulets on his neck and soaked his collar. He sweated profusely and blinked multiple times as if he was forcibly woken up from a dream or a deer caught in the headlights.

Ali nodded confused with a slight frown." Dude, are you okay? Of course, it is me. Are you feeling okay? "His eyes landed on me with a frown.

Nate chuckled and forced a shaky smile."Yeah, I know?"

From the back row, "Is Nate okay? That was freaky. Really freaky. "She commented as she glanced over her shoulder," I'm very surprised he hasn't screamed yet. And Nate's acting odd. I dunno," People in her row stared or glared at her for her outburst. I sank into my seat and spread my scared fingers on the desk.

I glanced over my shoulder and stared at Nate. He averted his gaze from me as his bottom lip trembled. I abruptly turned away, eyes widened and buried my head with my arms.

It's my fault. The guilt suffocated me like a vacuumed room. You invited him into the house fully aware of what will happen to him...

***

In the hallway, Nate walked aimlessly and wandered passed the locker-lined corridor with a dazed expression. There were bags under his eyes and he seemed to gaze into the distance. He constantly bumped into things and people that earned him glares. It was hard for him because of the loud bell; He scrunched his nose in pain and placed his hand on his ear. He slipped as a sea of teens went to their next class or stood to chat with their peers. They laughed or joked. He groaned as the bell rang. He was covered in sweat. It hurts to watch. A large shadow hovered over me as I tensed.

Was I being watched? Heck no?

At class, Sasha drilled daggers into my back as it followed me out. I peeped cautiously and expected Sasha but instead, it was Hayley. I jumped startled as a laugh escaped her lips, long and cheery. She was happy and smiley with pigtails and bright colourful scrunchies and bunny hairpins. Her expression melted from amusement to concern and sadness.

"Thalia, you okay? "Hayley asked, fixing her pastel sweater. She was taller than me and fuller. "You've been quiet and you've been staring at Nate. A lot." She narrowed her eyes with a smile." Did something happen? "She raised her brow.

I hunched my shoulders," It's fine. "I muttered, and then turned to her, "was it that obvious that I stared at him—I'm just worried about him."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes "Well, you better speak. People think you did something. I kinda miss your Miss-Know-it-all thing. Where had she gone? You aren't a mouse you know." She paused and eyed me deeply," But ignore his sorry ass—excuse my language." Hayley said.

"You sure? "I echoed, surprised and confused. "Do you believe the rumours? "I asked.

She shook her head violently and clutched her violet folder to her chest." Hell no, why would I ever do that? Thalia, I know you, like you and I miss your attitude. Don't you get worked up because of him but boy, he'll come through. "She paused. "Why did you ask?"

I shook my head and muttered softly," No, It's nothing. It's because I wasn't myself. I'll believe it too."

She frowned and continued with her determined mentor voice, "Nate's behaviour always annoyed me a lot but he didn't prank, joke or annoy anyone in our grade or even others. And it's just the first period. He hasn't made origami or said anything perverted. He didn't waltz into the eleventh-grade class to torture him or irritate him but I oddly miss it."

I nodded, deep in thought as we diverted ways towards second-period Biology class without my books for some odd reason. My eyes trailed the white ceiling as a janitor crossed by with a dirty mop bucket and whistled into the empty air as students murmured and laughed from their classrooms. Sunlight streamed through the window as gardeners mowed the grass and nurses moved the students in wheelchairs to trees to read to them. The seniors walked down the stairs with thire books and sneaked their cells and laughed. Everyone was lively but me.

As the day progressed, Nate's behaviour worsened and Sasha wasn't

having it. She narrowed her eyes at me, glared at me when I walked and shoved me when I tried to greet her. It stung but I swallowed it in. Her face turned red and she pursed her lips before she strode away. She brushed past me with hard shoulders or bluntly overlooked me or pretended I wasn't there. I blinked the tears away.

In class, Sasha seemed to talk a lot and oddly loud so that everyone between a hundred radiuses could hear her.

At the corner of the class, Sasha and Ali packed their desks together."Thalia obviously did something to him. "She said loudly.

Ali looked surprised and yanked his dark blue necktie or awkwardly fixed his collar. "No, she didn't." He interrupted sharply. "Why would Thalia hurt Nate?"

"I don't know," she huffed, then turned over her head to me as I read a book on Physics, "Let's ask her." She narrowed her eyes as she sat sideways.

My shoulders tensed and I clenched my jaw as sweat formed on my forehead. My fingers clenched the pages tight till they wrinkled. Puffs came out of my lips as I breathed in and out.

"Hey Thalia," Sasha cried with a wave, about two metres away from her seat. Ali shook his head and whispered to Sasha to stop and leave me alone but she ignored him and scowled." Why is Nate acting this way? What did he do to you, huh? Answer me!" She demanded, her voice raised.

I took a deep breath, closed my book and mentally blocked her voice and her accusations but she wasn't wrong. Nate was pale—deathly pale, sweaty and drained of all the positivity of life. His eyes had lost their vibrant emerald green but they faded into a fern. It was all my fault. Because of me, he was in this mess. Not even begging could bring back the sun into everyone's lives. It was just not the same. His complexion, his eyes and his happy persona. I simply replied, "Nothing," I huffed but she wasn't satisfied so she narrowed her eyes further.

"Liar," She spat with crossed legs.

Other ninth graders and even tenth graders seemed to whisper amongst themselves but when they saw me walk passed the hallway. They stopped to stare or point at me and it felt as if a dozen eyes were glued at my back or the air seemed lighter.

"That's her," Another ninth-grade girl muttered.

"Are those rumours true?"A boy asked, a year older than the girl.

"Yeah, creepy."

"I heard she traumatises them. The hell!"An eleventh-grade guy muttered as he drank on a fountain.