Checkmate (Sequel to Game On)

Chapter 4: Give And Receive

I turn off the sound on my phone and put it in my bag without replying to the creepy message. Immediately after, I hurry to turn off the stereo in the dining room before leaving for school.

I've missed the bus and now I have to walk since I don't know how to drive. I'll miss the first period for sure, but as I remember it to be calculus, it suddenly doesn't seem to be that bad. What is bad though, is Nick figuring out my mobile phone number. I mean, what else does he know? Maybe he's watching me right now, maybe he is on the other side of the world. I don't know, and I think that I rather not find out either.

I don't want to live in constant fear anymore, either knowing that he's watching me right now, or that it's probably only a matter of time before he does.

I want to live a normal life, enjoying what I got and not live in fear of when or what Nick's next move is going to be.

I've got a boyfriend, perfect in every single way through my eyes despite his flaws, and I got friends, both new and old ones.

A life without Nick is a life of happiness, even though it might not be rainbows and sunshine all over it. Speaking of sunshine, I realize how chilly it actually is outside and I can feel the wind snatch my jacket and threaten to blow my black beanie off.

I instinctively pull it further down my head.

A white pair of headphones hangs loosely around my neck and I place it over my beanie and plug it into my phone. Immediately, the song 'All I Need To Know' by 'Thousand Foot Krutch' fills my ear and erase all other sources of sounds, from the motor of the car that passes to the sound of my boots hitting the slushy snow that covers the ground.

It's February, still cold winter, but I don't know if it is coming to an end or if this just is how the weather in England looks like. Maybe it's both alternatives, maybe not. It doesn't really matter either because whatever it is, it's slushy and cold.

It feels weird to say that I got kidnapped last year, but it's true. I was kidnapped barely a month before Christmas but luckily for me, I made it back home before the 25th.

Christmas is supposed to be a fun feast and even the thought of spending it with Nick makes me want to puke.

I want it all to be over, I want Nick to be out of my life forever, but it seems like I won't get my will through, at least not for a while.

Caught up in my thoughts and music, I don't realize how far I've got on the way but the slightly familiar brick wall that surrounds my school becomes visible in front of me, a few hundred yards away. I quicken my pace after checking the time and realizing that I might make it to the second period.

The parking lot is empty and as I walk through the entrance, I bump into a body and nearly drop my phone.

"Freaking fish!" I mutter to myself, not even realizing that the censured curse word has etched into my mind.

"Sorry?" a male voice, belonging to whom I bumped into, questions. I recognize the deep voice and look up and meet a pair of grey eyes with sparks of green around the iris.

"I didn't talk to you", I tell Nathaniel and look at him through lowered lashes.

He tilts my chin up and smiles at me.

"I know you didn't", he says in his absolutely irresistible British accent, "because as far as I know, I'm not a fish."

I wrap my arms around his neck and flash him a genuine smile. "Whatever."

Nathaniel chuckles slightly and peck my lips and grimace as some of my black lipstick rubbed off on his own plump lips.

"I've wondered where you were", he tells me as he runs the back of his hand over his lips to get rid of the black, "you didn't reply to any of my texts."