The Beginning of Never (The Never Trilogy #1) (13 page)

I got a message from
Carlie
, my best friend back home in Miami, as soon as I got
in that afternoon. She was upset that I hadn’t contacted her in so long so when
I saw that she was online, I immediately sent her a message. She replied a few
minutes later and I was just starting to tell her about Nathan, when I was
interrupted. Beverly had come into the room.

“Hi,” she said with a bright smile.

“Olivia’s not here,” I immediately announced, hoping
that she was searching for her sister and not me.

“Oh I’m not looking for Olivia,” she said, and my heart
sunk. “We have a meeting in the common room and we need your help. Do you
mind?”

“Uh … I sort of have a headache. I don’t feel very
well.”

Her smile disappeared. “Well, I’m sure you’ll feel better
when you’re with us. I expect you there now.” She said, and turned to leave the
room.

I said goodbye to
Carlie
after she left and minutes later, walked into the common room to find about
seven of her friends lounging on the couches that surrounded the television.
There were some students from my year playing a board game at the window seat,
while some others were in the kitchen. Beverly called me over when she saw me.

“Mrs.
Kempster
said that she
wants these books color-coordinated,” she told me. I turned to see the huge
bookcase that was built around the television and my heart sunk; I was going to
be stuck here forever.

“I really don’t feel well,” I insisted, but she gave me
a dirty look. It was clear then that I didn’t have a choice, unless I wanted
her and her friends to turn on me and that was the last thing I needed.
 
So I headed to the bookcase and lowered
myself to the carpeted floor to begin.

“Is she one of the girls that
is
all over
Alexandre
?” one of them asked a few minutes
after I’d already started the chore. I briefly closed my eyes and exhaled; the
hope I’d nursed that they’d at least ignore me now lost. I didn’t hear
Beverly’s response but I assumed that she did, because almost immediately, the
same girl spoke again.

“
Eww
,” she said, and they all
laughed.

“You guys shouldn’t laugh,” another said. “There’s hope
for them. This one took him over to their table last night.”

“You’re joking.” A third girl said. She had a nasal
voice that made me cringe. “What’s he even doing hanging out with them?”

“It’s a pity,” Beverly said. “And that girl … uh …
what’s her name?

“Kate,” supplied the one with the nasal voice.

“Kate. She got him to kiss her on the cheek last night.
She’s lucky she’s not in
Pendle
but then again, it
was this idiot that organized it.”

“Hey, idiot!” she called, but I didn’t respond. Almost
immediately, a throw pillow hit my back. I turned then, and she spat. “Bring it
back!”

Taking a deep breath, I reached for it and then slid it
across the carpet to her.

One of the girls snorted, “Do you really expect her to
pick it up?”

Sighing, I crawled over to the pillow and picked it up
to hand over to Beverly. She didn’t acknowledge it, but was now laughing with
her friends over something funny that had come onto the screen.

I could barely contain my fury anymore, but I kept it
in check because I lived in this house. And if I wanted to remain peacefully in
it, I had to keep from starting a fire. So I decided to just do whatever they
wanted, with the hope that this would be the last time.

I dropped the pillow on the stool beside her, and
returned to the bookcase.

More than an hour later, I was nowhere near finished
but had now sort of relaxed into the chore, since I kept on finding a lot of
interesting books that I’d never expected were on the shelf. The insults had
continued, and now all sorts of crisps and nuts that had been thrown at me to
get me out of the way or to answer a question, littered the area around me.

It was humiliating, but getting the work done and over with
as quickly as I could was more than enough motivation to keep me from reacting.

I had assumed that this was punishment for forgetting
Beverly’s errand the previous week, but it turned out that she probably
would’ve forgotten about it if she hadn’t repeatedly seen me with Nathan. The
fact that she liked him was apparent as she talked with her friends on how she
found reasons to spend time in his classes, just so that she could watch him.
She had tried speaking to him on various occasions, but he’d always just smiled
politely and walked away. She wondered why he was so distant, and since she had
a boyfriend, there was only so much that she could do to find out.

I couldn’t believe a lot of things they said as I
worked. If I’d known weeks ago that all the care I’d taken to avoid any
unnecessary attention was going to be burnt into a pile of rubbish, and all
because of a boy, I’d have laughed my head off. But now here I was, and I
didn’t know what to do.

It did surprise me though that I wasn’t as angry as I should
have been. Maybe it was because the chore involved me working with books, which
I naturally didn’t have a problem with, or maybe it was simply because my life
had become a little bit interesting. The highlight of my post-Nathan drama was
still finding the forest, so as I sat there discovering more novels that I was
excited to take upstairs with me to read, I also pondered on when I’d see him
again so that I could ask him to the stream. It seemed that that was the only
place I would ever have peace in.

*

I didn’t finish with the
bookcase before dinner, but Beverly had long left with her friends so I put the
uncoordinated books back in their place, and headed upstairs to get ready.
Minutes later, I walked into the hall yawning, to see Kate at the table we had
sat at the previous evening.

Luckily it wasn't full yet, so I walked over and sat
next to her. I was just about to tell her what had happened when Nathan walked
in with James. He wore his white house shirt over navy blue sweatpants and
looked more than worth the trouble I had gone through. I sighed. This boy was
complicating my life more and more by the minute.

I held my breath when he started to look around like he
was searching for something... or someone, and eventually, his eyes came to
rest on me. But still, I wasn’t certain I was the one he was looking for so I
stayed put. He raised his hand to flash the book that he had in it, and my
heart jumped at the confirmation; he wanted to see me.

However, the last thing I wanted was to get up in front
of everyone so I waved, and tried signaling to him to come over by pointing to
my table. But he just stared pointedly at me. I got the message and rolled my
eyes to let him know what I thought about his stubbornness, and then calmly
made my way over to him.

Unfortunately for me, Beverly and two of her friends
chose that exact moment to walk in. Again, I rolled my eyes at how complicated
my life was indeed becoming. As soon as she saw me and noticed who I was going
to meet, her smile broke. But I didn’t expect it when she brushed my shoulders
with hers as she walked past. I stumbled back a few steps but Nathan’s hand was
already on mine to steady me.

“Are you alright?” he asked. I nodded, but kept my head
lowered so that he wouldn’t see the anger in my eyes.

“What was that about?”

“It’s nothing, just ignore it.” I said and tried to
focus my attention on him.

I forced myself to let it go, but the sound of their
mocking laughter ringing in the air as they walked away drove even more nails
into me. Nathan tightened his hold on my arm to get me to meet his gaze and I
did, but I was already so upset my breathing had turned ragged.

He was studying me intently, trying to decipher what
was wrong, but all I could think about was how I hadn’t even done anything with
him, and already I was a target. They’d ruined my afternoon, and now in front
of everyone, embarrassed me. I decided right then to put on a little show for
them; to give them something to really frown about. I took a step closer to
him.

"Could you please put your arms around me?" I
asked.

He blinked. Then as an amused smile slowly curved his
lips, I felt a hot flush in my face. But I couldn’t back out now- I didn’t want
to anyway.

“What?” he
asked,
and I
repeated the request.

He took a brief glance around,
then
took what seemed like an unconscious step closer to me. Bringing his face
closer to mine, he asked.

“Can I ask why?”

At that moment I completely forgot about Beverly; the
feel of his warm breath on my face drove a steady frenzy through me as he held
my eyes in a captivating hold.

“Please just do it,” I eventually said, annoyed at how
much he was able to affect me even when I felt hundreds of eyes boring into my
back. When he still didn’t seem convinced, I just closed the distance between
us and lifted myself up on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his neck. But
still, he didn’t move.

“Nathan,” I whispered, fear rapidly filling me since it
would soon become obvious that I was the one forcing myself on him. We were
standing in front of an audience of more than a thousand for Christ’s sake.

“Tell me why,” he insisted again, and that hurt me.
Letting my feet rest completely on the floor, I started to pull away from him
but he surprised me when with a small laugh, he tightened my arms back around
his neck, and wrapped his around my waist in a fierce hug. My feet completely
left the ground.

“Hey!” I protested at his exaggerated display, and gave
him a hard tap on his shoulder.

He released his hold, but not before planting a quick
kiss on my forehead which I doubt anyone saw, but either way, it struck me dumb
for a few seconds.

“That’s two favors now,” he again leaned in to say
before handing the book over to me. I recovered enough to take the old but neat
copy of
J.R.R.Tolkien’s
The Fellowship of the Ring
.

“Don’t tell me you’ve read it already.” he said. I
shook my head.

“Well it’s one of my favorite books, and dare I say it,
but it should be an upgrade from your vampire novels.”

“Hey!” I scolded. “Don’t hate on my choice of
literature.”

“Those are
not
literature,” he said with a soft tone, so I couldn’t even take offense.
Grateful, I took the book from him but when he gently brushed my hair away from
my face I froze, because suddenly, I remembered exactly where we were and the
eyes that were probably on us.

“Thank you,” I said, and returned to my seat with my
eyes lowered, refusing to check how much curiosity we had garnered. Sighing
heavily on how I continued to make myself the subject of attention, I slid into
my seat, only to meet the glares that the entire table gave to me.

I ignored them, but only realized later and well into
the meal that Kate hadn't said a single word to me. I turned to see her toying
around with the lasagna on her plate, and her eyebrows furrowed in a frown. Not
wanting to make any assumptions as to why she was upset, I gently tapped her on
her arm to ask, but she wouldn't look at me.

"Kate?" I called, but she took her time
taking a sip from her glass of water, before finally turning to give me a cold
stare.

"What?" she asked flatly. I was taken aback.

"What's wrong with you?"

“Nothing,” she said and returned to her meal. I watched
her for a few more seconds and then decided to mind my own business. I still
refused to assume, but I hoped that it wasn’t in any way related to me hugging
Nathan, because if it was, I was going to be very disappointed.

So I kept to myself through the rest of the dinner
hour, hoping she’d snap out of whatever was upsetting her and talk to me. She
didn’t, so I left the hall when it was time, alone and irritated.

*

Kate came into class the next
morning and although we didn’t usually exchange greetings every time, our eyes
did meet from time to time and she always offered a sweet cheery smile.

Today however, there was nothing from her, so when it
was time for lunch, I hurried out of my seat to catch her before she could
leave. When I caught her hand, she surprised me by pulling it away. Then she
folded her arms across her chest.

I frowned at her, offended that she would act this way.

"Kate, I can't believe you're acting like
this," I said.

When she still didn't respond to me, I went on to
relieve her fears just in case that was what was bothering her. "There's
nothing going on with me and Nathan, you know that right?"

Instantly, she reacted. "Are you kidding me, or
did I not see him kiss you last night?"

“He didn’t kiss me,” I said. “And it was all an ‘act’
for Beverly; she bullied me because of him."

"What?"

"She made me color-coordinate the common room
bookshelf yesterday, and as if that wasn’t enough, she hit me when I stood up
to collect a book from Nathan. I got angry, and that was why I put the show on.
He just played along."

She seemed calmer now, but it was obvious that she was
still upset.

"I don’t think it’s just that," she argued.
"I see the way he is with you. He’s so comfortable. I won’t be surprised
if he actually did like you.”

"Don't be silly Kate," I said, but her tone
increased.

"I'm
not
.
How can you not see it? He does stuff for you, he listens to you. Out of the
entire school you’re the only girl he allows anyone to see him with and he’s
been here for a year. Tell me I’m being stupid again."

I was surprised. “So if you see it this way then why
are you upset with
me
?”

“Because you’re encouraging him by
always being there.
And it’s so unfair because you don’t even like him.”