CHAPTER 16

CAROLINE'S POV

"What is happening to him!" I screamed at Phoebe and Elly who looked at me with concern eyes.

"I don't know Care" Elly answered sighing

"I guess he knocked his head hard somewhere" Phoebe suggested which I nodded to.

"Or maybe he's just genuinely into you" Leo said with a smirk on his face while I glared daggers at him.

"THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE! HE IS NICHOLAS 'JERK OF THE YEAR' DAVIS. HE IS MEANT RO BE A JERK. HE CAN'T CHANGE INTO A GOOD PERSON SO EASILY. IT'S AGAINST NATURE" I screamed frustrated.

This confusion was going on because that jerk head decided to suddenly use the brains that God gave him and be nice. But the thing is he...he is acting weirdly nice, if that makes any sense. And after the Halloween party he won't stop texting me. OR calling me. He was so persistent that it got CREEPY. Now the bigger deal breaker...

He asked me out. I know right? SICK.

"Carolineeeee" Phoebe whined

"Please can we go to school

now?" she asked tired.

"Okay, okay let's go"

"BYE MOM" I shouted to my mom, heading out.

We walked, and walked and walked until...there he was again. This guy's timing was just undeniably horrible. Everytime it's a beautiful morning, with the sun shining brightly, and birds chirping, with the slight breez brushing against under my skin, THAT COW RUINS IT. Like just imagine that beautiful day and suddenly...

'Mooooo' a cow. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL. I mean no offense to the cow though.

"Nick this is SERIOUSLY not the time" Elly started because I think there might be smoke coming out of my ears.

"Wait. Wait. I just wanna talk. Its harmless" he said

"ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING YOU DO IS HARMFULL" I shouted back.

"Oh come on Caroline. I know you wanna talk to me."

I laughed hearing this

"Ouh please. I'd talk to a camel for a year than talk to YOU." I retorted and walked passed him.

"Or maybe you're too scared" he said as I turned to him

"Scared of WHAT"

"Scared that you'll fall for me, scared that you might lose you're self respect, scared that you might not be able to take your eyes of me..."he suggested smirking.

Right now, I could feel the devil on my left shoulder and the angel in my right shoulder.

"You shouldn't do it" said the angel while...

"You should totally do it. Show him who's the boss"

Now THAT sort of pumped up my ego and I did the mistake. Way to go Caroline.

"Fine, I'll talk" I said pulling him towards a bench at the nearby park.

I asked the others to go to school first. Although they were too worried leave me with that piece of shit. But I forced them to leave anyway.

"Talk" I said while he smirked.

Why is he smirking? About 30 seconds past but it honestly felt like and hour. He was just looking at me with a really creepy smile on his face. He looked like a serial killer. Not that I've seen one. But you know that creepy look on the face which makes you feel like he's seeing through you. I couldn't take it anymore and screamed at him impatiently

"I ASKED YOU TO TALK. NOT STARE AT MY FACE"

"Oh. Sorry, couldn't help it" he said, charmingly but I felt like I was about to barf.

HE IS SO DISGUSTINGLY FAKE!

"So as I was saying, I like you Caroline!" He started

"DON'T EVEN SAY THAT. You're clearly lying. What are you trying to get from me huh? You were being a complete jerk to me for all these years Nick, and suddenly you LIKE me? That's BULLSHIT and-"

"IT'S NOT BULLSHIT BECAUSE I HAVE ALWAYS LIKE YOU CAROLINE!" he screamed.

My eyes balled out and my mouth hung open. He...how? After what felt like an eternity he continued.

"I always liked you Caroline. But I was DUMB. I thought dating the most famous girl will build my reputation and I thought if I accepted the feeling I had for you people will see me as a loser. I never wanted to hurt you. But I was scared. Scared that I'll fall for you so badly. Well, I fell for you anyway. I said all those things about you to Jane so that she will believe that I don't have feelings for you. But...you heard it and well I had the ego as tall as mount Everest so I tried to be the best JERK possible around you... When you talked back to me well, I was shocked and a little...proud? I was grinning all the way to class when no one saw. You changed so much. And well, gave me more reason to like you. I was sad EVERY SINGLE DAY Caroline. Remember the picture we took in 6th grade? I use to see that PICTURE everyday and say sorry to it. Because I really am Caroline. I'm really, really sorry..."

He finally finished his rambling and I lost the ability to talk.

I was staring at him, mouth agape. He literally confessed everything that happened in his life that involved me. And well to say I was shocked would be an understatement. But I also had this question. What changed? Why didn't he continue being that jerk? I realised why but I asked him anyway.

"What changed? Why did you have the thought to say sorry?" I asked him, already in the verge of crying.

"I...I learnt to accept my feelings for y-"

"LIES" I cut him off

"The reason is my DAD, Nick!" I shouted and he looked taken aback.

"You thought I'd never realize, huh? The day I came back to school after dad got admitted you apologized. And continued apologizing after that. You just felt sympathy. And you hurt me so much. You think all these things that you said is gonna change what I felt all those years. I felt like I didnt belong here Nick. I felt pushed away and I felt it BECAUSE OF YOU. But then SUDDENLY, my dad had a coma and you wanna apologize? Are you even listening to yourself? It took my dad to be on the verge of death for YOU to realise that you hurt me? YOU FEEL SORRY FOR ME NICK. YOU DONT FEEL ANYTHING ELSE." I screamed, tears rolling down my cheeks.

Before he had a chance to speak, I walked away... I walked as fast as possible ignoring the voice that was calling me. When I reached school, well I was late, so I entered my class immediately. Neither Elly nor Phoebe was the class since they had cheerleading practice.

I know what you're thinking. Phoebe? Cheerleader? She's in cheerleading in an athletic way. Not like those weird girls who like to show of their beautiful skin. Elly too. But Elly does genuinely like gymnastics. After the bell rang I kept my books and went to the field to find them. I was furious with Nick. And I was crying. Not because I was hurt but because I was angry. Here's the thing about me. I cry if any of my emotion gets heightened.

Too sad

Cry

Too happy

Cry

Too angry

Cry.

Too scared

Cry

So, I needed to find my support system before I murder someone who's innocent. I finally found them being all cheerleader-ish.

Weird word.

What it meant was they were doing all those flexible stunts. They immediately walked towards me after they saw me. And they realized that I was crying and came to give me a hug but I stopped them in their tracks.

"I need you to do anything right now to make sure that idiot gets of my mind." I said to them, demanding.

They looked sceptical because I guess they didnt know what to do. It was not easy for me to take my mind of things. Usually to take my mind of one sad thing I think of another sad thing. But that's not very healthy now is it? So they needed to do something. They looked at each other one more time and nodded to themselves. Now I was sceptical. In a millisecond both of them LITERALLY carried me to the locker room while I was screaming.

"WHAT THE FUDGE ARE YOU DOING?" I screamed

"Taking your mind off of things" Phoebe said smiling.

How are they even carrying me. I'm heavy. Well, guess all that cheerleading paid of. Wait, why are they bringing me into the locker room. People only go there to change. Realization dawned upon me...

...

"NO ELLY" I screamed at her

"CAROLINE ELENI WILLIAMS! YOU ARE GONNA WEAR THIS RIGHT NOW AND COME OUT"

Phoebe scolded and practically locked me in the room with those short cheerleading uniforms.

"You are gonna get ready and enter cheerleading and show your graceful moves to Claudia" Elly said and I could mentally see the smirk on her face.

IDIOT.

In the end I gave in and wore it since I knew they wouldn't open the door without me changing. And even if I cheat and come out somehow, I'm not faster than those two cheerleading minions. I came out looking down, feeling disgusted to wear the short skirt. Never have I ever thought this will happen to me in a million years.

"Who are you and what have you done to my friend?" Elly asked as I rolled my eyes.

"Oh my god, Care. You look so cute in that. I have to take a picture" Phoebe teased.

"Stop sounding like my mom. Lets go" I said annoyed.

I stepped outside and well...people were seeing me. Girls, boys. Everyone. Well, I guess they also never imagined me in these. I felt a little self conscious since all the football guys were looking at me like perverts. The school had two fields, one for football and one for cheerleading and it was next to each other. So all the boys could see me. And the fact that I was tall wasn't helping. Trying not to turn and run away I walked straight without looking at those horny teenage boys. Disgusting. When I reached the middle slouching like the laziest person ever...

Claudia, the leader of the cheerleading team laughed at me.

"Hey Caroline, I know you became thin but cheerleading isn't about size. It's about stamina, posture, gracefulness and flexibility" she watched me up and down before continuing, "and you don't look like you have any of those.

Bitch.

I'll show her what I got.

"Oh really Claudia! Wanna see something?" I taunted and straightened but she was still smirking.

Well, I wasn't an expert. But I did try some stunts by myself when I saw Phoebe and Elly did. Wait for it...wait for iiittt...

I did a double card wheel and landed with a split. I watched her eyes bulge out of its sockets.

And I heard all those "ooohh" and "damn" which was kinda fun.

BUT I also heard all the disgusting remarks from those football guys. Ew. Just like their captain Nick. JERKS. I proudly walked to Claudia.

"Watch out Claudia, I might just take your position" I taunted and walking past her.

Just as I was enjoying my victory of cheerleading, I saw him and my smile was replaced with a frown. Did he have to ruin all my moments. He was watching me up and down and for a moment I didn't know why. Then I realised that I was wearing this really cute pink skirt and I immediately looked away. Not wanting to murder someone, I continued with their routine of stretching and warm ups. We did a few new stunts and I must say, I'm a quick learner.

"Boastful much" my conscience commented as I ignored it.

After the practice was done I took my backpack and followed Elly and Phoebe to my locker. Leo came up to the locker and looked at me as if he saw an alien.

"Who are you and what have you done to my friend?" he asked sarcastically.

"Did you two like plan this? Elly said the exact same thing!" I said pointing to him and Elly.

Elly blushed hard at the statement. Aw look at her blushing for everything. Relationships change everything and everyone.

We walked back home and I was in that skirt the whole time because they didn't let me change. As I entered the house with them my mom's eyes widened and her jaw dropped to the floor.

"Mommmm" I whined before my mom started to talk all the admiring/ embarassing things about me.

"Aw you look so cute in this. Stay right there I'm gonna take a picture" she said and ran upstairs and let me tell you she would've beaten Usain Bolt.

She came back and started taking pictures of me and well everyone except me were posing.

"By the way, I have great news. The doctors said dad's condition has improved a lot because of all the things we did. The atmosphere is really helping." she said

I couldn't be happier at that time. I basically pounced on mom, she almost fell. I did a lot of research after dad's coma. And google said that a warm atmosphere with good memories can help. So I put many pictures around him with soft music and his favourite flowers, daisies. I was so happy that it was helping and guess what, without even realising I was crying. See!.

Too happy!

Cry

"Aw don't cry. You're supposed to be happy" Elly said patting my back.

"I am happy! You know me, I cry for everything." I said crying while smiling.

"Cry baby" Phoebe teased as I glared at her.

After all the crying I finally changed from the ridiculous short skirt into a pair of shorts since its exteremely hot. After settling on my bed with my fellow friends we opened our books and began our journey to success...

Hah. You wish. We were eating chips like buffaloes. As we were eating... or should I say I was eating, Elly and Leo were talking to each other, Phoebe was chatting with Mike. Boring. And disgusting. Who am I supposed to talk to?

"Hello?" I asked.

No response

"Hello?" I asked again a little louder.

No response

"HELLO" I screamed.

And guess what.

No response.

Deciding to not be a third wheel I went out. As much as I hated them for ignoring me, I was happy that they were happy. As I was walking I saw Damian's door slightly opened. I entered and saw him reading something.

"Hey!"

"Hey! Thought you were hanging out with your friends?"

"Well, they're too engrossed into something else" I answered and sat on his bed.

"What are you reading?"

"Its a History book" he answered and I rolled my eyes.

"Are you seriously reading a history book after school?"

"Yeah?"

"Wow. I guess all of you are crazy"

"What is THAT supposed to mean?" he asked and before I could reply, the door bell rang.

I skipped down the stairs and opened the door. An extremely loud and dramatic gasp left my mouth.

MY GOODNESS

"You?" I asked the blonde standing infront of me infront of me in shock.