Chapter 12

When I was nine years old, our house was right across the street from the school. I really liked it since it meant that I didn't have to wake up early. After all, it only took about a minute to cross the street. Anyways, one day I forgot my homework about long addition or something like that and I didn't remember until the teacher told us to turn it in. Instead of owning up and admitting that I forgot my work, I excused myself to the bathroom, ran across the street to my house, stuffed the paper in my sweatshirt, and ran back to the school to turn it in.

The point of the story isn't that you should run home to pick up your homework every time you forget it. If anything, don't do that because I got caught in the end. The point is that I'm naturally a good person, especially when it comes to school. Skipping school has crossed my mind hundreds of times, but I always chicken out in fear of getting caught and suspended.

So why am I comfortably eating nachos in the food court at the mall instead of rushing back to school and facing Zoey? Well, the idea of facing Zoey is a big reason, but the main reason why I'm not in a rush is because of the person who's currently buying me a drink right now.

Maybe about five minutes into entering the mall, the same guy who works at the dark jewelry store stopped me from running to the bathroom to hide and started a conversation. I don't know why he even wanted to be near me considering I ruined one of his shirts with my snot and tears. Oh, let's not forget about how I tried to kiss him without knowing his name.

Classy aren't I?

He appears in front of me and places a drink on the table with a smile. "Orange banana, right?" he asks, pushing the drink towards me while holding his own drink. It looks like a blueberry and some other fruit smoothie. That's something Jason would drink but I don't think about it too much. People have similar tastes these days.

"Yeah, thanks," I say, taking the drink. I start taking long sips of my smoothie while watching as the liquid slowly starts to go down. When I look up, the guy is staring at me with a soft smile on his face. The look in his eyes gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside making me smile back at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask, tucking some of my hair back behind me ear.

He shrugs while keeping his eyes on me. "I like looking at you," he easily replies,, leaning across the table and getting closer to me. With the lack of distance between us, I can easily pick up the smell of peppermint on his breath. I like the smell of peppermint.

I clear my throat and lean back against my chair away from him. Can't have him thinking I'm trying to kiss him again. "You know," I start, trying to change the subject, "I've cried on your shoulder, you've offered me a ride home-"

"Which you declined," he interrupts, pointing a finger at me.

I roll my eyes. "And now you brought me a smoothie. I don't even know your name."

He stays silent for a while, making me raise my eyebrows at him. It looks like he's contemplating on whether or not he should tell me his name. I don't see why not. It's only his name, it's not like it's anything dangerous.

"Layton," he answers, giving me a wary look.

I give him a weird look before continuing to sip my drink. Why did he look so nervous to tell me his name? Wait, is he a wanted criminal. That's just great. My first major crush since Clyde Barns had to be a criminal. I discreetly pull out my phone and make up some excuse of texting someone even though I'm actually typing his name on Google.

Turns out, to find someone on Google, you need their last name. But how am I supposed to get that without sounding so weird? Maybe I just lead a conversation towards it somehow? Okay I got this.

"You know what's weird," I blurt out, making his look up at me. He raises his eyebrows while his lips curl up a bit. To me it looks kind of...cute. I swallow while trying to think of something weird to tell him since he's looking at me with the expectation to hear something odd in the next ten seconds.

"My name. Nebraska Shay is so...statey," I say, rubbing my arm. A full blown smile appears on his perfect lips as he lets out a low chuckle. I look up at his eyes to try and keep myself distracted from staring at his lips.

Big mistake.

Even his eyes are perfect. Everything about him made me feel something inside. There's really not one fault in him and I don't know if that makes me happy for him or jealous that someone so perfect could exist.

"Statey?" he repeats, sounding amused. His shoulders start shaking from how hard he's chuckling making a little part of me melt inside. Why am I feeling this way? I barely know him! It's just a crush, I shouldn't be feeling this way. Or should I? I never felt this way with Clyde. But then again, he turned out to be such a huge jerk. Maybe this new feeling means that this guy won't be like Clyde?

Wait why am I thinking so hard about this? I don't know him!

"Yeah. I mean Nebraska is a state and Shay sounds like a city in Iowa. So if you think about it, my name consists of states," I ramble, feeling my cheeks heat up from how stupid I sound.

"Well what's your middle name?" he asks, crossing his arms which only make his muscles bulge out more. Is he doing this on purpose?

"Oh...uh...Dakota," I reply, hiding my face in embarrassment. Nebraska Dakota Shay. Don't ask me what my mom was thinking in the delivery room because according to her, she wanted me to have a unique name. I hope she knows that there's a difference between unique and weird.

I feel someone lift my chin up and soon my brown eyes connect with his dark blue ones. The wonderful peppermint smell hits my nose and I subtly try to inhale as much of it as I could. His eyes briefly go to my lips before looking back up again.

Common sense is screaming at me to move away but I tune it out. Suddenly, something flashes in his eyes before he promptly lets go of me. It's like cold water water is poured at me and I stand up before running out of the smoothie shop.

"Nebraska!" he calls. I don't bother to listen and keep running. Luckily, since it's a school day, not many people were around which makes it easy to run without bumping into anybody.

I make it to the bus stop and thankfully catch the bus before it leaves. When I got home, there's no sign of my brother or mother anywhere. Looking at the clock, I see that it's about five minutes before my brother would be let out of school so Mom was probably waiting for him outside of his school. She knows not to pick me up since I told her at breakfast that I could get a ride home from Haley.

Walking up towards my room, I plug my phone in before falling face first on my bed. My mind goes back to the kiss that almost happened again, only for him to pull away just as our lips were about to touch.

What was I expecting? No guy like that would ever be interested in a plain Jane like me. He looks like the kind of guy to reject supermodels, there's no way he could be into someone like me. Why did I even think I had the chance? Just because he brought me a smoothie doesn't mean he likes me. He probably feels sorry for me since I look like death's ugly sister.

I could hear my phone ring but I don't bother to get up from my bed to answer it, knowing that it's Haley with the homework and notes that I missed. But I just don't have it in me to answer the phone right now.

Tired from the day's events, I close my eyes and soon fall asleep before my brother and Mom come home.

***

I punch another hole in the wall, making it the tenth. Seeing her beautiful eyes tear up like that made me feel like I was being stabbed in the heart multiple times. It's one thing to see her cry, but knowing that I caused it...

My fist connects to the wall again, making a cracking noise. I brush off some paint that fell on my knuckles before looking around. The entire room is covered in holes and cracks. It's a wonder how this house is even standing.

Looks like I have to go house hunting again.

I hear the door open and groan. Can't wait to hear what he would say about this mess, I sarcastically think. He enters the living room and his eyes slowly scan the room. He drops his backpack on the floor and calmly rubs his forehead. "What happened now?" he asks in a bored tone, walking over to the fridge.

"I should ask you that!" I counter, suddenly remembering something. He raises an eyebrow at me in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Why isn't she in school?" I ask. Now that I think about it, this whole thing is his fault! If he had just kept his eye on her, then he would have stopped her from leaving school. Then she wouldn't have shown up to the mall, I wouldn't have talked to her which means that I wouldn't have made her cry.

He throws away the empty bag in the trash. "How should I know? I'm not in the same grade as her you know! I can't keep an eye on her when I'm relearning a stupid math formula that-"

"It's your job to keep an eye on her and listen to whatever happens to her!" At this point we're screaming at each other's faces.

"Who the fuck do you think I- wait actually, I think I got something on her," he says. We sit down on a nearby couch and I listen intently on what he's about to say. If it involves my angel then I'm all ears. "So during study hall, I was sitting with Haley and Lucas-"

"They're her friends right?" I question, trying to remember if they were. He gives me a look and nods. I do feel bad for not knowing that but my mind is on something else right now.

"Right. I asked Haley where Braska was-"

"Braska?" I ask, frowning at the nickname. I recall her brother calling her that but I thought it was only because he couldn't pronounce her whole name as a child so he just stuck to calling her that even though he's a bit older.

"Yeah, everyone calls her that. Even her teachers." Alright, so I won't call her Braska. I don't want to be like everyone to her. If calling her Nebraska is something special to both of us, even without her knowing it, then I'll do it.

"Okay, continue."

"Haley told me that Braska had to leave school. At first, she wouldn't tell me but after I wore her down with my charm and charisma," I roll my eyes, "she told me. I'm not sure if this is the whole story but-"

"Just tell me already!" I snap, my patience wearing down into a thin line.

He sighs. "There's this girl, Zoey Grayson, who apparently bullies Braska- let me finish before you punch another wall," he says, holding my arms down when I stand up.

I'm seeing red. Someone was bullying my angel? She's going to wish she was never born! No one hurts Nebraska and gets away with it. After taking several deep breaths, I calm down enough to sit down and listen more of the story. Might as well learn everything to judge exactly how painful to make her death.

"From what Haley said, Zoey really, and I mean really, hates Braska. She doesn't know why, all she knows is that this Zoey girl has always had it out for her. When Haley entered homeroom today and say next to Braska, everyone started laughing so she ran out and left."

"I don't care that she's a girl, I'll kill her," I seethe, standing up.

"Wait! Hear me out on my idea first," he says, smiling a wide smile that shows off his fangs.

"What?" I sigh, not really in the mood to hear it.

"Let's watch her for a while and see how she acts."

"I'm not letting her get near Nebraska again!" I exclaim, looking at him like he's the dumbest person in the world.

"She's got practice right now. Just come with me, act NICE, and we can watch and see for ourselves," he reasons, shrugging his coat off.

I think about it for a moment before rubbing the back of my neck. "Fine, but if I hear one negative thing about Nebraska I'm going to kill her on the spot."

_________________

Seriously, I hate exams with all my being.

So does anyone have tips for having a fast pinewood derby car?