All The Pieces

---Viola---

He was still fallowing me, as I picked up my pace. Why did the area between our houses have to be so massive? I turned to look at him and he had this weird look on his face.

“Your doing it again,” he said and his previous look was now a smug one.

I shook my head, “Doing what?”

“Bitting your nails,” he said and he grabbed my hand away from my face, I hadn’t even noticed myself doing that.

He studied my hand, sure I would bite my nails, occasionally. But it wasn’t something I did when I was nervous. “You bite your nails. Right now, you thought I was judging you, and you got nervous. So in turn you bit your nails.”

I yanked my hand away from his curious eye. “Can you just leave me alone?” I half wined.

“I promised your brother I would walk you home,” he said as he held the gate open for me.
I lifted my hand up to point at the house. “We are home. At my home,” I corrected. “So you can leave now.”

“All the way to the door,” he said pointedly. “You never know who may be lurking in the bushes.”

I scoffed. “Who, you?” I asked under my breath.

“What was that?” he asked and leaned in.

“You Nate, are a creeper,” I said.

He made a motion with his hands. “Yes, I know we already established that. What is your
point?” he laughed.

I glared at him. “My point is!” I said far too loudly. “That you the Creeper, would do something
so bold and so, so, well creepy as to hide in the bushes,” I said as I continued my quick
pace towards the house.

He looked at me like I was silly. “I still don’t see your point,” he laughed.

“Never mind,” I muttered then looked at the house that seemed to just be getting farther and farther away. I looked over at him, up and down. And he gave me a curious look and shrugged. As he looked away from me I broke out into a sprint.

“Viola!” he hollered after me. I was wearing sneakers, and he was in flip flops. Maybe I would finally get away from him. I ran and when I got to the door I flung it open, thankfully someone left it unlocked. I then slammed it and locked it. I heard a knock only a second
later.

“Viola, let me in,” Nate pleaded. “Please.”

“No,” I replied and looked out the peephole to see his face far too closely.

“Let me in, I know you need friends. Why won’t you let me in?” he asked.

“You can stay out there all night, I am going to bed,” I said and I turned from the door.

“Viola, let me in. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.

Yeah, right. That’s what they all say. I thought to myself.

-+-+-+-+-+-

“So how excited are you for the first day of school?” Vaughn asked, we were on our way to
school in his truck. Our younger siblings were in the back seat with their headphones glued to their ears.

“Super excited,” I said with faux excitement as I stared out the window.

“Vi, just try to not shut everyone out this year. It’s a new year,” he said.

“Yah, but I still have another one after this. You get to escape this hell after this year,” I said quietly and he just continued to look straight ahead.

“You could go to boarding school, Mom and Dad did offer,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t want to go to boarding school, though,” I said and I scrunched up my nose at the thought of sharing a room with a weird girl and having to wear uniforms. And being away from my family, of course.

“Okay then, stop complaining,” he said as we pulled into the school parking lot.

“Sorry,” I muttered as we pulled into our usual spot and we all hopped out. The youngest
two hopped out and ran off to class.

“Hey!” I heard Vaughn yell. I turned to see who he had greeted, it was none other than Nate.

“I’m leaving, bye Vaughn,” I said a s I quickly turned and started to walk away. “What’s up with her?” I heard Vaughn ask Nate, but I didn’t wait for his reply as I walked into the giant brick building in front of me.

“Viola! Vioooola!” Nate yelled from somewhere behind me.

“What?” I snapped as I turned around.

“I just wanted to give you your book,” he said with a hurt look on his face. “You dropped it outside when you were making your quick escape.”

“Oh,” I said and I could feel my cheeks turning pink. “Thank you.”

“No, problem,” he said and continued to walk along side me.

“You can go to your class now,” I said and raised my eyebrows.

“I am going to class,” he said with a laugh.

“Oh,” I said and I continued to walk.

He looked over at me. “I went home last night,” he said.

“Okay,” I replied what was he getting at. “And you point is?”

“That I didn’t sleep on your porch,” he said. “People will only try for so long, but they will
eventually give up.”

“Well you should just give up already,” I said as I turned quickly and walked into my
classroom.

I stopped in the doorway and Nate ran into the back of me. “Watch it,” I said as I surveyed the classroom for a safe place to sit. Only a few seats were left and most of them were next to people I never wanted to see let alone sit next to. I tried to go forward and move, but my legs wouldn’t. I could feel my throat start to tighten and it felt like the room was getting smaller. I grabbed onto the closest thing for support, which happened to be Nate’s arm.

“Viola, are you okay?” he asked.

I swallowed hard, trying to get my breath back. “Mhm, just peachy,” I managed to choke out.
He grabbed my hand, which was the last thing I expected and lead me towards a seat. He then took the one behind me.

“Do you need to go see the nurse?” he whispered in my ear. We earned a few curious glances from those around us, because of how close Nate had gotten to me. I looked over to see Hannah Loran staring at me with an amused look on her face. I just stared back for a moment before I turned to Nate.

“No, really I will be fine. I just need to get my head together for a moment,” I said as I put my head down on my desk.

“Are you sure?” he asked again, he actually sounded worried.

“Nate, really, I am totally fine. I just forgot how to breath for a second,” I said with a small laugh trying to play it off as a joke.

“If your not feeling better by the end of class I am taking you home,” he said.

“Great, who are you?” I asked him.

“Just some guy, that lives next door to you. And one that really wants to get to know you,” he shrugged and looked down at his book.

“Yeah, but why?” I said quietly, not even sure if he could hear.