Terrified of Love

Chapter 9

[Clayton]

I'm walking down the hallway with a note in my hand. I walk to Izzie's locker and try to slip it in but she walks up, "Did you write me a love note, Newton?" She asks

"Oh, hey, Izz" I say

"What is that?" She asks

"You know, maybe later" I say

"Let me see it" She says

"No. It's not anything" I say
"Give it" She says

She trues to grab it, "It's nothing, really" I say

"I want to read nothing. I love nothing" She grabs the note, "Nothing's my favorite" She says as she chuckles

She opens the note, "I was going to tell you in person. But I chickened out. So I wrote it. Obviously" I ramble as she reads it

"You and Nate kissed?" She asks

"No, he kissed me" I say

"That asshole" She says
"I know" I say

"I can't believe he did that. I'm going to kill him" She says

"Do you want to go talk about it?" I ask

"Nope" She folds up the note, "I just need time to think" She says

I stand there, "Sorry, I'm not good at this" I say

"Yeah" She says and walks away

[Bedroom]

Jeremy and I are in my bedroom and I told him about the Nate thing, "Aren't I a good boyfriends for not saying, I told you so, about that Nate guy?" I give him a look, "Cause most boyfriends would say, I told you so about that Nate guy" He says

"Yeah, you're being really cool about that Nate guy" I say
"Thanks" He says

"You know I didn't do anything to make him kiss me, right?" I ask
"Yeah, I believe you" He says

"Alright" I say

"It's just that we were joking about it happening, and then it actually did happen. So, you know...any other guy would be, like, a little bit insecure" He says

"But not you" I say

"Oh, no" He says

"No. Good. Cause you know I don't care about Nate at all. And I think that Izzie and I can get through this. I just...I know I haven't known her for that long, but I, like, love her. Like, we just got so close so fast" I say
"Yeah, girls are weird" He says

"Yeah, we bond quickly or not at all. And I just feel like we're supposed to be friends. Like, we're so alike. I think we'll be okay. I hope we'll be okay" I say
"You'll be okay" He says

"Stop" I say

"I promised Abigail that we'd meet her at Don's Pizza. Because, as she puts it, she has a Cam-shaped hole in her heart which is a very...sexy-shaped hole" He says

I laugh, "That just sounds so gross" I say

"That did sound grosser than I expected" He says

[Clayton]

I'm waiting for Izzie on a bench when I see her walk by. I stand up, "Hey. I've been looking for you" I follow her to her locker, "I flicked a freshman in the ear, I thought it was you. I had to pretend it was hazing" She doesn't respond as she opens her locker, "Is everything okay?" I ask

"Yep" She says

"Did you break up with Nate?" I ask

"No" She says

"No?" I ask

She closes her locker and looks at me, "That's what I said" She says

She goes to walk away but I stop her and turn her towards me, "Izzie, what's up?" I ask

"I asked Nate about what happened. He said you kissed him" She says

"What? No, I—That is not true" I say

"I don't know what to believe" She says

"Believe me" I say
"I've known him longer. He's my boyfriend. I've seen you guys flirt. I just thought you liked the attention" She says

"Izzie, I didn't do anything" I say

"That's now what he said. So just...back off, Cameron" She says

"Cameron?" I see her go back to Nate, "What happened to Newton?" I ask as tear form

[Home]

I walk in the door and see Jeremy, "Oh, thank god you're here. Izzie went all nuclear on me. Come on" He points to the wall and there's no more hole, "Wow, that looks really good, Mom" I say as I walk upstairs

"Yeah. She crushed it" Jeremy tells me

[Later On]

I'm sitting on my bed when Sam walks in, "I'm going to be a polar bear" He says

"Totally normal things to say when you walk into a room" I say

"Well, I'm going to Bowdoin" He says

I look at him, "What do you know about Bowdoin?" I ask

"Well, Paige said that—" I cut him off, "Paige, of course. Look, Sam, I know this is a hard decision but you literally just replaced Mom with another bossy lady who's telling you what to do" I say
"Yes, but I have to pick a college" He says

"You gotta stop listening to other people. What do you want to do?" I ask
"What do you think I should do?" He asks

"Sam, if you're going to go away to college, you have to stat making decisions for yourself" I say
"I've tried. I've done so much thinking today, I've thought myself out of thoughts. I have no idea what I'm going to tell Ms. Whitaker tomorrow" He says

"Okay, whatever, no pressure. It's just your future at stake. Sorry, that was mean. I just had a hard day. My new best friend dumped me" I say
"The one who knows about turtles?" He asks
"Yeah" I say
"That's too bad" He says and walks away

[Clayton]

I'm getting ready for practice when I grab my shoes out of my locker. When I do, I see slut and ho written on the toes. I sigh before I head t the sink and try to wipe it off. I'm vigorously trying to scrub it off as tears start to fall.

[Home]

I walk in the door to see my mom, "Why are your shoes all wet?" She asks

"Joined the swim team" I say walking past her

[Next Day]

I walk into my bedroom to see a nike shoe box. I walk over ran open it to reveal black and orange running shoes. I turn to see my mom, "Mom?" I ask

"I was going to write, screw you bitches, on the toes but I wasn't sure there'd be enough room. I hope they fit" She says before walking away

I smile to myself before I put the shoes on.