Surfing California

Chapter 4

"Bitch, I've been waiting here for 20 minutes." Matt scolded me for being late as he got into my car.

"Okay, it wasn't 20 minutes. Plus I was talking to Haley." I replied.

"Oh yeah! How did that go?"

"Well, I mean, it went great. Until I offered her a ride." I said pulling out to the main road.

"You? You offered her a ride?" Matt said incredulously.

"Oh shut up. She just said her boyfriend is coming to pick her up. Plus I only offered because we're both going to the same place to pick our sisters up."

"Oh so that's what you were talking about this morning," he said, "how old is her sister?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask." I pulled up to Steff's school just in time to see her run out the front doors. I park and get out of the car to get her.

"Sissy!" She yelled as she spotted me and ran into my arms.

"Hey Steff!" I said bending down to hug her. "How was your day kiddo?"

"Good!" She squealed as we made our way back to my car. "There's a new girl in my class. She talks funny."

"Steffie that's mean." I scolded her. "What was her name?"

"Clarke." She said simply before she ran to say hi to Matt.

Well shit

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Haley's POV

His strong hands squeezed my thigh as he drove. He starts trying to go up higher but I stopped him.

"Nick no, we have to go pick up Clarke." I said, pushing his hand off my leg.

"Come on baby, we never do this anymore." He said trying to do it again.

"I said no, Nick." I said more sternly. Bad idea.

He slammed the breaks and pulled onto the side of the road.

"What the fuck is up with you Haley? You've been acting so strange for a while now."

I looked down, avoiding his accusing gaze. "I'm just tired." I said pathetically

"Tired? Of what? Of me, or yourself?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "How could you say that?" Not once has he ever used that against me. Not once. I don't understand what got into him.

"Haley..."

"No Nick. I don't even know why you would bring that up right now." I cut him off.

I started gathering my things to get out of the car.

"Where are you going?"

"Going to pick up my sister." I said while opening the door to get out. He grabbed my wrist harshly.

I gave him the most intimidating look I could without breaking down right there. "Let go of me." I said slowly through my teeth.

"Fine. You can walk for all I care, bitch." He said before I slammed his door and he sped off.

Great. Nice going Haley. Now how the fuck are you going to pick up Clarke?

I started walking in the direction of her school and my thoughts went to Tori. She had offered me a ride earlier but Nick was supposed to bring me to pick up Clarke. Maybe I could give her a call...

No that's not a good idea. I thought to myself. She's probably already at home from picking her sister up.
But I'm out of luck, and the school is at least ten miles from here.

Oh fuck it

I dialed her number.

Hello? I heard her voice after a couple rings.

"Uhm hey Tori." I said dumbly. Mentally cursing myself.

Hi Haley. What's up?

"Nothing much. I was actually just on my way to go pick Clarke up, but something happened." I said

What do you mean? Are you okay? I smiled at her concern.

"Yeah. I'm fine! I was just wondering if you could pick me up? I'm kind of stranded."

Of course I can! Where are you?

I told her my location and she hung up after telling me she'd be here in ten minutes.

Why the fuck did you do that Haley? Now you're going to have more problems with Nick.
I shook my head trying not to think about that. But it didn't help. I couldn't believe he said that. I only told him about my depression because I trusted him. Never in a million years would I have thought he would say something like that. A couple of months ago, I had been feeling really bad about myself. I would always get these moods in where I would feel worthless, like the whole world was against me. I would question everything I did. I started pushing everyone away, including Nick. Eventually I told him about it, and he was supportive of me. At first. Up until now, I thought he was the best thing that has ever happened to me.

My thoughts were interrupted when someone pulled over beside me. Tori.

She rolled the window down "need a ride?" She called with a smile.

I shot her a gracious smile and got in.

"Thank you so much Tori. I'm sorry for calling, but I didn't know who else to call."

"It's no problem at all Haley." She said "Wasn't your boyfriend going to pick you up?"

"He did. But we just had an argument." I said as I looked out the window.

"I'm sorry" she said quietly after a moment. I looked over to her and gave her a sad smile.

"It's okay."

The rest of the ride was silent. The radio was playing lowly on the way to the school. When we arrived, I saw Clarke sitting by herself on the front steps. My heart ached for making her wait so long.

"Thank you again Tori. I owe you for this." I smiled as I got out of the car.

"It's no trouble at all, Haley." She gave me a sweet smile. "Tell Clarke I said hi. Do you need a ride home?"

I shook my head. "No it's alright. I live really close to here so we can just walk the rest of the way."

She eyed me, "are you sure? It's no trouble really."

"I'm sure. Thank you though, for bringing me here. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"It's okay," she smiled, "go get your sister." She said and waved me off before she left.

Was it just me, or did she seem more confident today? It's kind of sexy.

Oh god, get a grip. I thought to myself.
I shook my head and went to go get Clarke.