Disabled.

Sixteen

Sixteen

Nadia stared out of the window, her eyes seeing the scenery pass by as her mind went back to what had happened with Mandy. 

"I don't know what came over me. I guess I really wanted to fit into Chris and Ashley's group. But without you, I never felt accepted. 

They always reminded me of how I used to get picked on and I thought I would have to hurt someone else to make it in. But I've come to realize that that's not friendship. I'm really sorry Nadia," she remembered Mandy's words clearly, as if she was right beside her, repeating her words into her ears.

"I don't know what I can do to gain your forgiveness but I'm truly sorry for acting the way that I did towards you."  

She turned her head away from the window when she felt the bus come to a sudden stop as the voice of an elderly woman filled the confines of the bus.

"You missed my stop!" the lady had said as she began to sit up, holding onto her walker. When the bus had completely stopped, she unlocked the brakes of her walker and walked towards the front door of the bus, looking at the driver. From where Nadia sat in her chair, she could see the apologetic face of the driver as he lowered the ramp of the bus for her.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to do that," he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt and walked towards the woman, helping her off the bus. Nadia watched as the lady smiled at him and shook her head, saying,

"You don't need to apologize, we all make mistakes."

When Nadia heard that, she couldn't help but to remember Mandy looking at her after school had ended, looking as if she was keeping herself from approaching her. The lady's words and how easily she had forgiven the bus driver repeated in her mind causing her to wonder if forgiving Mandy was the right thing to do. After all, just as the lady had said, we all make mistakes. Nobody was perfect.

She allowed those thoughts to dwell in her mind as she watched the bus driver return to his seat before apologizing to the passengers and starting the bus. As the bus pulled away from the curb, she couldn't stop looking at the lady as she pushed her walker before her. She felt a tap on her shoulder which broke her out of her thoughts, causing her to look to her right side where Mason and Selena sat.

"Everything okay?" Mason asked, looking at the window for a split second before looking back at her, causing her to smile. She nodded her head in reassurance as she said,

"Yeah."

She couldn't describe the warm feeling which filled her whole body— what she could feel of it anyway. Even though it had only been a few months since her friends had deserted her, at that moment, she couldn't remember the last time she had felt the comfort of having someone care about her.

---

Nadia pushed herself off the ramp after thanking the bus driver when it reached their stop. She pushed herself behind Selena as she led the way to their house. The first tutoring session had been scheduled to be that day and Selena had suggested having it at their house instead of the library at the school, stating with a straight face,

"I need fridge access whenever I do school work; I can't survive without it." To which she and Mason had laughed. 

"Here we are, our humble abode," Selena announced once they reached the door. And as Nadia read the house number on the wall, under the wall light, she remembered the day that she had gone there looking for Jackson's parents.

Almost as if Mason had remembered as well, he broke the silence.

"Let's go in, I'm starting to feel cold," he said as he shivered. A small smile appeared on Nadia's face at that as she felt grateful for his action. 

When the door opened, they were greeted with warm air which carried the scent of a freshly home cooked meal. 

"You're back early," Nadia heard Selena's mom say as she walked towards them. And when her eyes landed on Nadia, she couldn't miss the look of curiosity on her face.

"You brought a friend," she said simply. Nadia forced herself to smile as she looked at her.

"Mom, this is Nadia," she gestured towards Nadia before saying, "and Nadia, this is my mom."

"You can call me Amanda, it's nice to meet you." 

"This is actually your second time meeting," she heard Mason say from where he stood beside her. Amanda looked at him confused.

"She was there when Lena woke up. She's the one who called me." 

A dark cloud appeared over Amanda's face for a few moments before it disappeared as she visibly forced a smile. Behind her, they all noticed Selena's dad as he walked towards them. 

"What are you all talking about?" he asked as he entered the small circle they had formed.

"Dad, this is our friend Nadia."

"Nice to meet you Nadia, you can call me Ben." She nodded her head as she said, "nice to meet you."

As soon as she finished speaking, her phone rang, causing her to excuse herself from the group. She felt grateful to whoever had called her for giving her a reason to leave the sudden awkward situation.

"Hello?" she said after leaving the house and answering the call.

"Are you coming home late?" her mother asked on the other side of the line.

"I forgot to tell you, I had to go to Mason's house for a tutor session," she told her mother.

"That was today? Okay, have fun. Call me when you're done and I'll pick you up," her mother said to her, causing her to nod her head even though she knew her mother wouldn't see her. 

"Okay, see you later mom." 

When she hung up the phone and turned around, she found Mason standing in the doorway, looking at her with a small smile. She smiled back as she wheeled herself towards him.

"Are you ready for a tutor session from hell?" he asked, his face suddenly turning serious. Nadia chuckled at his words.

"Try your worst," she told him, her face equally serious. 

"You asked for it," he replied before moving over for her to enter the house before closing the door behind them as they made their way to Selena's dad's study where they would be having the so-called tutor session from hell.

* * *

A/N:

I am forever apologizing for late updates so I'm going to stop now (lol). But anyways, thank you for reading this chapter! It wasn't very interesting because it's more of a filler to show how the relationships are slowly changing.

So what did you think about Nadia and Mason's interaction at the end? (*wink*)

Once again, thank you for checking out this chapter. And I hope to see you in the next one!

~candysweet101