In the Open

"Wow, I'm honored."

"Reynolds!"

I hear his voice shout my name. All I want to do is lay down and eat ice cream out of a cup, but of course Nick is stopping me from doing so.

"What do you want?" I say, continuing my walk to the exit of this dreadful school building. Zayn is waiting outside for me, and I just want to run to him and ask him to hit Nick with his car so I'll never have to see him again.

Wow. That was a little violent.

"We have to work on this bitch ass project remember? Perfect school girl Naddy hasn't forgotten about her partner right?" He says with a smirk.

"You can go to Zayn's if he lets you. Or you can just let me do all the work, I'm used to it," I say, walking quickly to the exit of the school building and away from the troll who is following me.

"Absolutely not princess. I want to actually work for a grade for once. I guess your disgustingly perfect GPA has inspired me to put in effort on this project," he smirks, and pats me on the head like some sort of dog.

"Wow, I'm honored." I roll my eyes at him, surprised that I successfully used sarcasm for once. I guess staying with Nick for a while really did rub off on me.

He rubs the back of his neck and believe it or not, his cheeks turn pink with embarrassment and he rubs the back of his neck.

He's so cute. I hate that I think he is, because he's such a jerk. Ugh, I could just strangle him with my bare hands. That's how furious he makes me.

"I actually uh, wrote a script for us already. But obviously you're smarter than me and I want you to look at it and edit it how you please."

We both make it to the parking lot and before I can reply to him, I feel and arm around my shoulder. Looking up, I see a smiling Zayn. His grin is so adorable and combined with his hair, he could be a model. He looks down at me with his dimples and freckles, and I can't help but grin back up at him.

"Hey man," Nick says quite loudly, pulling Zayn away from me and does that weird bro-hug thing. You know the one I'm talking about, right? First they grab hands, and then pull one another in, and slap each other on the back. It reminds me of when you're making dough and you slap it for absolutely no reason.

I'm really hungry.

"I gotta take Nadine back to my place, I'll see you later bro," Zayn tells him, giving him a fist bump. What's up with males and their really weird mannerisms? You would rarely see a girl greet another girl by knuckle knocking, or fist fiving. It's just strange in my opinion.

"Nadine and I actually have a project to work on, so would you mind if I came over to your place?"

Zayn shrugs his shoulders and says he doesn't mind. We both get in his car and I don't look at Nick, but I can practically feel the evil smirk on his face. He loves torture me, I swear.

"So how was school? It feels weird to say that. I hated that place, so it's weird to see it or talk about it," Zayn says as he drives. I laugh at him because I don't see why he would've hated it. He is very attractive and muscular. I definitely take him as one of those guys who had a very high social status in high school. Girls most definitely swooned over him and I feel like he played a sport.

"You were likely popular in high school, why would you have hated it?"

He chuckles loudly and I can't help but smile at him. I haven't heard such a joyous sound in a long time, and it makes me happy.

"Nadine, you have so much to learn about me," he shakes his head. "My freshman and sophomore years of high school were rough. I had glasses, acne, and braces. Everyone called me Darla because of my speech impediment-"

My laughter cuts him off. Loud, shrilling, and highly unattractive.

"They... called you... that girl f-from Nemo?" I look at him and try to stop the laughter bubbling uncontrollably from my lips.

"Yes. And you know what else? I was the president of the chess club, and I made myself a badge and always wore it on my shirt."

This time he laughs along with me. Reminiscing about his high school years has by far been the best conversation we've had. However, it also made me curious.

"Why did you change? You seemed to be happy with your presidential status," I tease him.

"I realized that the world is cruel. We can't be happy kids forever, and at some point we have to grow up. So I dropped the chess club, started working out, got contacts, and went through about a hundred different outfits and face washed until I turned out like this. Oh, and I joined the basketball team. Pretty soon everyone forgot about the Zayn they used to push against lockers and throw into trashcans, because I was finally good enough for them."

"Zayn...," I sympathize, putting my hand on him arm with a comforting squeeze.

"Don't worry about it," he chuckles, although the sadness within it is quite obvious.

He doesn't say anything else but I leave my hand on him, rubbing soothing circles on his arm until he pulls up to an apartment building. It actually looks really pricey. The building is about ten stories, and the face of the apartment is mostly glass. I look up at it in astonishment. The rent at this place must be more expensive than my whole house, and everything inside of it.

"That's not very good for privacy is it...?" I ask as he leads us up the stairs at the side of the building, until we reach the very top.

"I have curtains. No one can see us unless we want them too, I promise," he assures me and unlocks his luxurious door with the luxurious key he has in his oddly luxurious hand. Is he rich...? I can't stay here if he's rich, it'll be like I'm using him for his money.

"I can see those wheels turning in your pretty little head. So I'll just clear everything up for you. I'm not rich, but my parents are and they own this building along with several others. Now get in here."

He laughs at me as I look down and shuffle my way inside.

It's so beautiful. Unlike Nick's place, there are colors everywhere. The walls are a pale orange color, and they are decorated with stunning paintings. The floors are wooden and shiny, with a beautiful gray couch set in the middle of his living room. The kitchen is large and gleaming white, with splashes of color here and there. The contrast is perfect and the design of it is amazing.

I stare wide-eyed at him and he leans against his counter with his arms crossed over his chest, making his muscles bulge under his thin shirt. I look up at him with my cheeks tinted pink, and I walk over to him and jump up, wrapping my arms around his neck in a tight hug. He stands still for a second before wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Thank you Zayn. It means so much to me that you're helping me out like this," I whisper in the crook of his neck, feeling him tighten his arms around me and smile against my shoulder.

"Wow, I didn't know I'd be walking into a sex hug when I came in. Maybe you should take it to the bedroom? You could be a little bit more classy Nadine, you've been seen fooling with enough guys already. It gives you a bad rep," Nick sneers as he walks into Zayn's apartment. Anger and shame fills me and I scramble away from Zayn as fast as I can.

"Hey man, not cool. Don't fucking talk about her like that." Zayn comes to my defense and glares at Nick.

He puts his hands up as if he didn't mean to offend anyone. Although that's exactly what he meant to do, it always is.

"Let's work on that project, princess." He smirks at me, only this time it looks spiteful.

Great, this will be so fun. Note the sarcasm.