Smile - Lachlan

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve (Lachlan's Pov)

There was something off about the usual atmosphere of the school. Instead of the usual anxiety and overconfidentness there was sorrow and distress.

It seemed like everyone at the school had just been diagnosed with depression by their local doctor. Preston walked with his shoulders slumped instead of his almosy-skipping. Madi wears a oversized grey hoodie that is covering her face. Mitch has both his hands in his pants pockets instead of his phone out. Jerome walks along silently. For him, thats saying something.

And, the one person I'm the most worried about is Natalie, who is nowhere to found.

No texts.

No calls.

Not even the usual knock at my door at 6:30am to make sure I had not hit the snooze button on my alarm once more so that she woud have a ride to school.

Fall was just begining.

Also known as the time of homecoming.

My phone rings the default ring that everybody has so, you never really know if its your phone that is going off. I quickly check the text but, its not from Natalie.

It's from Lacey.

I think we all are wondering where your precious little girlfriend is.

Something inside of me just drops. I half run/half jog all the way to my car, not even bothering to tell anyone where I am going.

I slam my door and rest my forehead on the steering wheel.

"Hello Lachlan," A female voice says.

I jump up and stare at Lacey who sits in my backseat. "Lacey what the hell!? Why are you in my car?"

"I was wondering where Natalie was too! God, just take me home if you hate me so bad." She says so harshly that I could barely regconize her.

"I'm not that big of a douche bag," I defend myself.

Lacey starts to crawl over my glovebox and onto the passenger seat. "Good, I wanted to talk to you too."

"There's not much to talk about."

"Lets talk about Natalie," She replies as she slides her fingers between mine.

I pull my hand away. "Again. There is not much to talk about."

She rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed my lack of consideration. "Fine! If you don't want to listen to any of my questions then why don't you ask me some?"

All that can run through my mind is why she is in my car.

Not how she got in because I always leave my car unlocked.

"Why'd you cheat on me?" I ask, regretting that I said it because of the silence I get in return.

"All the girls wanted you, Lachlan. They all wanted to try to see how easy it was to get with you because apparently if you date me, that's setting your standards really low. So, I thought if I cheated on you that everyone would care about me and leave you alone."

Something inside of me believes her.

Yet again, something inside of me doesn't. "You should've said something."

She sighs, defeated. "If I said something. You would've told your little group of friends and whatever. Then everyone would be talking about you all over again."

"Maybe I liked it. All these girls were interested in me. Have you ever thought that?" I stopped and looked at her. No nod of a head or a yes. Just stares.

"But, Lachlan. I knew you didn't like it." She smiles a somewhat comforting smile.

A laugh escapes my lips before I am able to stop it. "I hate how you know me so well."

For the first time in a while, I return the smile.

"Remember our first date? I spilled my water all over myself!" It seemed liked just yesterday we had our first date but, it was four years ago.

She laughs before talking. "How can I forget it? You were so embarrassed it was cute."

"Or the time you tried to take me on a romantic beach date but, it started raining." She brings up yet another disastrous date.

Then once it was all silent and, you only heard the voices of student walking past my car in the parking lot, Lacey sighs, "Or once you broke up with me."

Guilt spreads through me.

I wish I could just be back in Freshman year when I was young and in love.

I place my hand on hers for a sense of comfort. "Lacey," I say her name softly, being careful to not sound harsh. Her eyes meet mine and, I can see tears in them trying so hard to escape and, cascade down her cheeks.

I don't know why but, I kiss her. A nice gentle kiss perfectly placed on her lipglossed lips. She kisses back just as gently with one of her hands on my chest.

"You're heart is beating so fast, Lachlan," She whispers like a billion other people are in the car and, she doesn't want them to hear. "I know," I whisper back and finish with another kiss.

I attempt to kiss her again but, she pushes me away. I watch as her fingers perfectly wrap around the handle and open up the car door. "There's no need to break another girls heart."

She closes the car door and leaves me alone in the silence.

NIGHT

My bedroom door opens and Preston and Mitch walk in.

I pull away the bottle of whiskey that was just on my lips and set it on my bedside table."What are you doing here?"

Preston sits down on my chair by my computer. "Your mom let us in."

"Does she know you're up here drinking?" Mitch asks, sitting next to me.

I put my thumb up. "Totally. Yep. Absolutely. Loves that I've been drinking Gatorade now."

Preston rolls his eyes. "Gatorade my ass! You're drinking whiskey!"

"No, I swear. I am drinking fucking good juice," I say, taking another sip.

Mitch slaps the bottle out of my hand and it shatters on the floor creating a sickening smell. "Hey man. That's not cool!"

Preston stands up and pushes me back onto my bed, crushing some of the glass as he walks over to me.

"We know about your little encounter with Lacey." Mitch say with a harsh tone. "In fact, everyone knows because we set it up."

I laugh,"I guess that explains Natalie's text."

"Actually it doesn't," Mitch replies. "We did the same thing to Natalie too."

"Who kissed Natalie then!?" I raise my voice.

"I did." Preston admits with nervousness in his voice. "It was Lacey's idea."