My Undefined Romeo

“Hey, beautiful.”

I jumped a little in surprise when an arm was slung over my shoulder as I walked to history. How was I supposed to know that the person was talking to me? No one at school ever called me beautiful. Heck, barely anyone talked to me period.

“Nate,” I growled. He had a big grin plastered on his face while his damp brown hair was falling in his sparkling blue eyes. And it was probably just me, but his skin seemed to be glowing. I felt the butterflies in my stomach awake from their short nap.

“You don’t sound happy to see me,” he noted, pouting.

I wasn’t happy to see him right here, but I wasn’t unhappy to see him either. I hated all the looks that the people were giving me. I knew I didn’t belong to be seen with Nate, and they knew it too.

“It’s not that,” I said quietly. “It’s just…nothing. Never mind.” I could see the history door. Almost there.

Nate was silent for a moment thinking about it, and then it sank in. “Ooooooh, I know what’s wrong. You still think that we shouldn’t be seen together, huh? You’re worried about what other people are going to think.”

I shrugged his arm off of me. “So? It’s the truth. We’re not alike at all.”

Right as we were fixing to step inside the history class, Nate stopped and grabbed my wrist. My whole body erupted in goose bumps. “What do you want, Carter?” I asked in a bored tone.

He let go of my wrist, sadly, and rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re friends, right, Emma?”

I blinked, letting the question sink in, and then rolled my eyes. “Yes, Nate. We are friends.”

His eyes met mine and he smiled. “Good. Just making sure.” He walked forward, tossed his arm around my shoulder again, and then led us both into the classroom.

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die the minute I walked in that room with Nate. If felt like millions of eyes were on me, watching me... I felt like I was going to puke. Thankfully, I made it to my normal seat and Nate went to his. Everyone was silent, staring at either him or me.

“So,” someone with a deep voice said. “Five bucks Nate’s gonna get laid tonight!”

A few whoops and cheers erupted into the air with a loud applause of agreement.

I sunk down in my seat and ruffled my hair. This was exactly whyNate and I couldn’t be friends! People would just automatically assume that he was using me. Which, now that I think about it, doesn’t really make sense. Everyone knows that Nate’s actually a really good guy… But still, I guess what people do in private is completely how they act when they’re in public. Maybe they all think Nate is some wild beast in the bedroom…

Wait! What the hell are you thinking, Emma! God!

“So, Emma,” a football player that sat behind me said. “How’s Nate in bed?”

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. Where the hell was the teacher?! If he didn’t get here soon there might be an unconscious football player on the ground when he does. Instead of getting up and punching the guy like I wanted, I kept my head up and stared straight at the smart board.

The football player poked the back of my shoulder. “That good huh? I bet she screamed your name all night, right, Nate?”

For this, I turned my head slightly to the left to see Nate’s reaction. He face was hard set as he stood up from his desk.

“You’re way outta line, Rob,” Nate said practically growling.

Rob smirked. “Don’t like me talking about your personal life? That’s fine, man. Sorry.” Nate slowly sat down in his seat. “I mean, I couldn’t see any other reason why you’d be with her unless you were fucking her.”

I took a sharp intake of breath and pushed myself up in the seat. See. I told Nate. I told him!

“Oh,” Rob said. “Did I hit a nerve?”

I ignored him, gathered my stuff, stood up, and started walking out of the class. I heard Nate call my name, but I ignored him too. This was his fault. For the rest of the day, probably even couple of weeks, everyone would believe that I was Nate Carter’s little fuck buddy. I could just imagine the names: slut, whore, bitch, tramp, etc.

“Emma?” My eyes refocused and I saw a very confused looking Mr. Smith staring at me. “What are you doing out here? You never skip class.”

I stood there with my teary eyes trying not to cry. “Um, I was just… going to the bathroom.”

Mr. Smith eyed me carefully. “With all of your books?” I opened my mouth to say something but he waved his hand admissive. “Never mind. Take all the time you need.”

I nodded and forced a tiny smile. “Thanks.” I rushed past him and headed for the bathroom. Once in there, I locked a door stall behind me, dropped my books on the ground, and sat on the toilet.

I was feeling so many different emotions. I was angry, upset, mad, sad… I didn’t know what to feel. I wanted to let Nate in, and I was starting to, but now this happened. If I continued my friendship with Nate, then the rumors would surely become worse and worse. Or maybe, they might slowly reside. Maybe people would eventually accept that Nate and I were just friends. People aren’t that bad, right?

And anyways, I wantedto be friends with Nate. I liked the way he made me nervous whenever he was around, or the way my heart always skipped a beat when he smiled at me. I liked the way he made me smile even when I wasn’t in the mood. I liked his laugh, his smile, his voice. He made me want to take chances that I normally wouldn’t take. He made me feel like I could fly.

“Ohmygosh! Did you hear?”

I held my breath and silently picked up my feet from the floor and settled my head on my knees as I listened in. Had I been in here that long? Huh, I must have been too deep in thought to hear the bell ring.

“No, what happened?”

“Well, you know that freak Emma? She’s in love with Nate Carter.”

“No way!”

“Yeah! I was in the class! Rob accused her of fucking Nate so she started crying and then ran out of the room.”

“What’d Nate do?”

“He didn’t like us talking about his personal life, so of course, with it being Nate, we stopped. He said that it wasn’t true. That they were just friends. And you’ll never believe this! He actually said that he liked her. He said he had a thing for her.”

Gasp. “Are you kidding? Who could ever have a thing for that loser?”

“Perhaps Quasimodo is still alive somewhere looking for a bride.” The two girls started laughing.

“Well, lets go to lunch, Vicky. We can start spreading the gossip: Emma, the school slut.”

“Yes, lets!”

Once they were gone, I put my feet back on the floor. Even though I wasn’t crying before, I was now. Emma, the school slut. That’s who I’d be now. I’d kill to go back to the “emo girl who sits in the back”. Now I would be known as the school slut. I’d never even kissed a guy before!

I wiped my face with a tissue then quietly exited the stall. My eyes were a little red and puffy, but I still looked barely decent. Oh well. Might as well get it over with. I braced myself for the insults and walked out of the bathroom and into the hall.