This Girl

Chapter 2: She'll Run Around Like a Child at Christmas

When I get home from school, I toss my keys onto the key table and walk into the kitchen, taking a chocolate bar from the fridge and walking into the lounge room. I take out my laptop and work on my English and French homework.

Just as I'm about to finish my work, the front door unlocks, and I hear Paul and my mother's voices. I walk into the foyer to greet them.

"Hi Nat!" Paul says and continues talking to Mum, who leads him into the kitchen. He obviously had a good day. I look over at Lucas and walk over to him.

"How'd your first day go, Lukey?" I ask him.

He shrugs and plays with his shirt buttons again. "Paul's friends don't like me."

"Who says you have to be friends with Paul's friends?" I ask, and he shrugs again. "Did you meet anyone else?"

"I met another boy called Anthony," he says. "I think he likes me. He only started at the start of this year."

I smile at Lucas. "That's great! You guys can be B-F-F's!"

He laughs and hugs me. "How'd your day go, Nat?"

"Normally, I met this annoying guy, though."

"Guy?" Lucas wiggles his eyebrows at me and I shove his head backwards. He laughs and follows Mum's voice into the kitchen.

I really hope this Alex guy leaves me alone, from what I've heard from Chloe and her friends, he's a big player. I do not want to get involved with this guy.

***

The next day I get up super early to make sure I didn't look like I did yesterday, people would probably recognize me as the 'weird hoodie girl that shouted about trash in the cafeteria' and I didn't want that happening. I take my hair out of its fishtail so its curly and tie a bit of it up in a half-up-half-down style. I then pull on some leggings and a shirt, taking a denim jacket out of my closet and tying my laces. I stuff my belongings in my bag and call out a good bye to my parents before hopping into my car and connecting my phone to the speakers. I play "Crazy in Love" by the Beyoncé on repeat all the way to school.

I pull up at school and plug in my head phones as I walk to my new locker. I think I'm adjusting to this school pretty quickly. I unlock it and put some books in and take some out. I feel a hand snake around my waist and I look up, slamming my locker door closed. Its Alex. I roll my eyes and push him off me. He starts speaking. I wait about five minutes watching his expressions, some seem sympathetic, sometimes he raised his eyebrows or smirks, others he looks at the ground. I push my hair back and take out my ear phones.

"Sorry, what were you saying, babe?" I ask, locking my locker. He looks crest fallen.

"You -you- you didn't hear any of that?" he splutters.

"I saw it," I say. He rolls his eyes. I start walking to my next class and he walks along beside me.

"Where're you from? You've got an accent," he says. I roll my eyes.

"Everyone's got an accent, girlfriend."

"But yours is British, and most of the American population has an American accent," he shrugs.

"I'm American," is all I say and he huffs.

"How'd you get an accent, then? Are you parents british?" he asks.

"No," I only respond to the second question, and ignore the first, this guy doesn't need to know anything about me.

"Then why do you sound British?" he asks again.