TROUBLE (HaydenChristensenxNataliePortman)

Chapter Seven

Once they drove up to the brick mansion-like house, Hayden gaped. "Wow," he said, putting Natalie's car in park from where he sat in the driver's seat.

"What? It's a big house. It's not like it's new to you."

Hayden turned to look at her. "Whatever."

They got out of the car, Hayden walking up behind Natalie. It was quiet, until they got closer to the house and the open gate where they could hear loud pop music playing.

All of the sudden, when they were almost all the way up the driveway, Hayden stopped. "Natalie," he said, in a half groan sort of tone.

"What?" she asked, panicking. Was something really wrong?

She walked over to him and leaned down, pushing his hair back. He was kneeling on the ground, his eyebrows turned up in worry.

"You okay, baby?" Natalie mumbled, kissing the side of his head.

"I feel sick," he grumbled, looking up at her.

"All of the sudden? Just like that?" Natalie furrowed her eyebrows. "Well, just try to tough it out. If in another five or ten minutes you really still don't feel well, we can go home."

He nodded slowly, looking like an innocent puppy. Once Natalie had stood up and continued walking, turning her back to Hayden, he rolled his eyes, suppressing a frustrated groan. He'd have to get her to leave somehow.

They walked around the side of the house, entering through the back gate, as Natalie had been instructed before they got there, and as soon as they got through they were greeted by a cobblestone area with a huge, in-ground swimming pool built in the middle of it. As it got darker outside, more and more lights in the pool under the water and strung up around the huge area behind the house lit up, creating a.... romantic feeling.

But the only problem was, it had been about an hour and Natalie had lost Hayden somewhere in the ever-growing crowd of people from school.

Before she knew it she was sucked up in the crowd, and she felt like she was suffocating. She had always avoided the hallways at school until they cleared. She kept calling Hayden's name, but no one payed attention. It was like no one could hear her at all, that she was invisible. That she wasn't even there.

"Hayden!" she screamed to the top of her lungs. Someone pushed her to the ground, and she hit the concrete beside the pool with a slam. This party was not at all what it was intended to be.

But then she realized something: was this revenge? From Brooke Benton? Brooke had always been jealous of her, and always trying to get her back because Natalie was pretty. Natalie was smart. Everyone liked Natalie. Natalie attracted better guys that Brooke did, and most important of all -- Natalie was more popular than Brooke; the most popular girl in school.

Brooke stood over Natalie, and then leaned down, touching Natalie's face. "Aww. Are you alright, Nat? I'm sorry that it has to be this way, it's just.... well, everyone knows the wanna-be you really are. Poor baby." Brooke stood back up straight, laughing. "You wanna know where your boyfriend is? He's gone. Scaredy cat. He acts all cool but really, he's just a little geek after all. Now we get to see what you look like without makeup on, your hair wet.... because you're gonna go straight into this pool, where all your secrets will be exposed. And I'm going to drown you. Natalie Portman, because I want revenge. You've always tried to steal my show. Now it's time for me to be the most popular girl in school, with the boys attached to me, all begging for me to be their girlfriend. It's what I've always wanted, Natalie. And you've always had it, ever since middle school. Bye bye, you little brat."

Natalie looked at everyone else, breathing fast. No one was even coming to help her. They were all just standing there, watching in fear. They were all too scared. Scared that they would never be invited to one of Brooke Benton's parties again, scared that they would embarrass them, too, so none of them stood up to help. Was Hayden really gone?

Did he really leave, just like that?

Natalie couldn't trust anyone anymore. She was so dumb to come to this party. She was so stupid. She should've known that this would happen.

It was all her fault.

"Like your outfit, too," Brooke said with a smirk. "It really shows your.... wait. Your curves that you don't actually have?" Brooke laughed again. She was the wannabe here. She was the immature one here. She wanted to be just like Natalie, and Natalie knew it.

"Get up," Brooke snapped at Natalie. She got up, struggling. The minute she looked Brooke in the eyes, she felt a slap across her face. A white hot handprint on her cheek. The blood drip down from her cheekbone from the cuts from each of Brooke's long, witch-like nails.

"What do you want from me?" Natalie yelled at her, tears coming to her eyes. She was frustrated, angry, upset, embarrassed. She felt everything, all the weight push down on her.

"What do I want from you?" Brooke repeated with a little laughed. "What do I want from you, Natalie?" She sighed, looking around. "Everything. Your boyfriend. Your house. Your face, your body, your clothes, your makeup, your hair.... I want everything from you. I want to be you," she said, her voice softening. She sniffed. "I'm sorry, I --"

"No, no," Natalie said softly. "It's okay."

Brooke walked over to the edge of the pool, Natalie following her. Natalie put a hand on her shoulder. "Brooke, I'm sorry --"

"You should be," she said, grinning. She pushed Natalie into the pool, and Natalie screamed. She tried to come back up to the surface again, but she couldn't. She couldn't catch her breath. She was drowning.

She was going to die.

She screamed under water, and she opened her eyes. She couldn't see anything except for the cloudy blue water, infused with red blood from her own body.

After that, everything went black.