Click

Blade walked me home. It was nice not walking all the way to my house by myself, but what confused me a little bit was why Blade was willing to walk all the way to my house, which was in the complete opposite direction that his was in. He’d just have to turn around and walk all that way back, which was pretty much twice as long.

He didn’t seem to mind though. It was a little weird for me, though, because this was like the most popular, most good looking guy in the entire school, and when he could have been spending time with his girlfriend or hanging with his basketball buddies, he was walking me home—me, a girl who he’d known for a mere three or four days and had never talked to before that. I was like the bottom of the food chain when it came to popularity status at our school, and yet Blade was making nice with me for reasons unknown to me.

What made the walk enjoyable, though, was that I got to learn about Blade as a person, and not BLADE DONAHUE, The School Hunk as most girls referred to him. It was like, he was a completely different person compared to what others thought of him. They just automatically figured that someone of his status, and with his good looks, couldn’t possibly have any problems, but they were definitely mistaken. He even talked about Amanda a little bit, and how she drove him insane.

“Then why are you dating her?” I asked him.

“Because people figured that the prettiest girl in the school should be going out with the apparent hottest guy in the school,” he replied, shrugging and hooking his thumbs through his belt loops. “I don’t even really like her.”

“I could tell. You didn’t look all that pleased whenever she tried to kiss you,” I pointed out, smiling.

He smirked and moved his bangs out of his eyes so he could look directly into mine. “So you’ve been watching me, huh?” he teased. I scoffed to hide the fact that, yes, I have been watching him. Every morning before he came into class, at least. It wasn’t like a serious stalking kind of thing. It was just that Blade made it pretty much impossible to not watch him.

“It’s not that I’ve been watching you,” I objected. “It’s that whenever your girlfriend attempts to tackle you to the ground, her squeals make it sound like there’s a pig being tortured nearby.”
Blade burst out laughing. “It’s not like she snorts when she does it,” he objected. “She just gets a little bit over-excited when she sees me.”

“And she has no idea that you’re not attracted to her?” I asked him, smiling. He shrugged.
“I think she might have a tiny idea,” he said. The corners of his lips tugged upwards slightly and I raised my eyebrows at him.

“What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. So hey, who’s this internet guy?”

I frowned. “I thought you weren’t going to tease me,” I said. He laughed and shook his head.
“I never said that. You just told me not to and I nodded,” he objected, smirking in amusement. “But I’m not teasing you, anyways. I’m just asking a question. What’s he like?”

“Promise me you won’t get judgmental,” I said.

He held up his right hand. “Scout’s Honor,” he joked, but I knew that he was making the promise anyways.

“Well, his name’s Nathaniel and I really like him. He’s really sweet and sincere, and funny. And he calls me during my lunch period just to see how I’m doing.”

“So you’ve talked to him before?” he asked. “Like . . . not just over the internet?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess he’s not like most of those guys who try to put off meeting the girl they’re talking to. I’m not even sure why they do that.”

“Because they’re creepers who lie about their age and most likely have to resort to Viagra for their . . . personal needs.”

I slapped him on the arm and he laughed. “You’re wrong. Nathaniel’s not that kind of guy.”

“How do you know? You’ve only talked to him for, what . . . five days?” he asked. I frowned.

“How did you know when I started talking to him?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. He shrugged.

“Lucky guess,” he replied. “I kind of figured you were lying when you said that website was stupid the first time we talked.”

“Oh.” I looked down at my feet and cleared my throat. “Well, whatever. I know he’s not lying about his age.”

“How old did he even say he was?” Blade asked.

“He said he’d seventeen,” I replied.

“Yeah, he’s a loser,” Blade said, shaking his head and smirking. “No guy admits their age to some random girl on the internet that they don’t know if they’re smart. They’d either say they’re eighteen, or they’re older than eighteen. Eighteen means they’re the legal drinking age, so if they wanted to meet the girl at a bar, they wouldn’t get kicked out for not having an I.D, they most likely have a car, and they’re thinking about College, which means that they’d have money as well.”

“Not all girls can be bought,” I pointed out. “I like him for who he is. Not what he has. And just because he told me he’s sixteen doesn’t mean he’s a loser. So what if he told me he wasn’t eighteen? I like the fact that he didn’t lie about it. That’s an honorable quality in a guy. Besides, you’re sixteen. Does that make you lame?”

“Nope. I'm seventeen. You're sixteen,” Blade said. “And you are lame.”

“Hey!”

He laughed. “I’m kidding. I didn’t mean it how it came out. But are you sure you can trust this guy? You just met him a few days ago, and besides it’s not like you’ve actually met him in person or anything so you can’t tell if he’s being honest with your or not.”

“You’re starting to sound like my dad,” I said. Blade’s face went slack and he stopped walking.

“Okay, you’re going to have to give me a minute to shake that off,” he said, violently moving his shoulders and cringing. “All right, I’m back.”

I smiled. “Well, speaking of my dad, it looks like he’s home early,” I said, nodding to my driveway where my dad stood, leaning against his car and checking his watch. When he looked up and spotted me walking toward the house with Blade, his eyes narrowed.

“Uh oh,” Blade said simply, smirking. “It’s the father.”

I glared at him. “Please don’t embarrass yourself,” I said. Blade laughed.

“Can I embarrass him?”

“Blade!”

He turned to look at me. “Christabelle!”

“You do know if you embarrass my dad or give him the impression that you’re not fit to be my friend, he’s going to make sure you never take one step toward me, right?”

Blade shrugged. “Hey, meeting the parents might be fun.”

“Parent,” I corrected him.

“Oh right. Want to get Anne out here then?” he joked.

“Shut up,” I mumbled, causing him to laugh. I looked up at my dad as we stepped onto the driveway and cleared my throat, shifting uncomfortably. Blade stood straight up and smiled at my dad. I knew he was doing this just to tease me because he knew how much I disliked my dad at the moment.

He raised his eyebrows at Blade and crossed his arms over his chest.

“How come my daughter is late coming home from school and has brought a boywith her?” he asked, referring to both Blade and I in third person like we weren’t standing right in front of him at the moment. I sighed and closed my eyes, shaking my head.Please don’t call him “sir”. Please don’t call him “sir”.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Hawthorn. Christabelle was helping me with a project at the last minute. I didn’t intend on making her late so I decided to walk her home,” Blade lied. I had to bite my lip to keep my jaw from dropping wide opened. This was going to score some major brownie points with my dad.

His face softened, but then his brows furrowed in worry and the frown returned to his face, instantly wiping away my earlier thoughts from my head. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Blade,” he replied.

My dad raised his eyebrows at him. “Blade?” he repeated.

“Dad, come on. Don’t,” I said, knowing he’d relate the name to a weapon. I was surprised that my dad wasn’t already pinning my new friend to the concrete and making sure he didn’t have any dangerous objects in his pockets.

“What’s up with your parents? Did they not like you or something?”
“Dad!”

Blade’s smile vanished. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that Christabelle’s guy friends had to have a name that went over okay with her dad,” he said, crossing his arms. “I’ll remember to tell my parents to name me something different next time they give birth to me.”

I looked over at him in amazement.

God, this couldn’t be happening.

“Excuse me for questioning your name. Yours just isn’t one that’s used a lot,” my dad said, shrugging as if Blade’s earlier comment didn’t faze him.

Blade smiled again. It definitely wasn’t a natural one, though. He was forcing it. “Well, who said parents were normal, you know? After all, you should know what I’m talking about, Mr. Hawthorn.”

My dad scowled. I knew from that scowl that he wasn’t going to argue back. Blade turned to me and this time, smiled a real smile where he actually didn’t look uncomfortable to be standing on the driveway in front of my house for once.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow, Chris,” he said, turning and walking off down the sidewalk. I turned to my dad with wide eyes.

“Did you have to be so rude?!” I exclaimed.

“Arrogant son of a bitch,” my dad mumbled, shaking his head. Then he smiled. “I like him.”

I shrieked loudly and marched into the house, slamming the door.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

God, I hate my dad.

How come?

One of my guy friends walked me home and my dad pretty much bit his head off. Well okay, not quite but that probably would have hurt him less.

Haha, poor guy.

You have no idea.

So who is he? Do I have more competition?

Lol, funny. No, he’s just a friend. He’s the “Mystery Guy” that you seem to think I have a big fat crush on.

Ooooh that must’ve been awkward. So you two are friends now?

Well, we were forced to spend 75 minutes together during fifth period, but he’s really cool and he’s easy to talk to, so yeah, I’d say so. We get along, which is a good thing.

Who is this guy anyway? Seriously

Well I guess there’s no harm in telling you now. His name’s Blade.

Blade? No kidding, lmfao. What a funny name ;) lol

Hey now, lol. You once told me your name was Blade so it’s like calling your name funny.

Well my name is funny.

You know what I mean though.

Touché. Well I gotta go—the ‘rents are back and are demanding I make supper. Ttyl :)

Bye Nathan :)

I turned off my computer and stood up, heading downstairs and into the kitchen where Anne stood over the stove, finishing up dinner. She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled.

“Hey Christabelle. How was school?” she asked. My dad, who sat at the table reading the newspaper that was easily a week old by now—but he was most likely just looking for an excuse to make it look like he was busy doing something while he eavesdropped on any conversation he could—glanced up at me, narrowed his eyes warningly, and then looked back down.

I cleared my throat. “School was fine. Afterschool was not,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at my dad. Anne frowned in confusion and looked over at him, sighing.

“Kevin. . .”

“Yes dear?” my dad asked sweetly, looking up at her and smiling.

“Did you ruin another relationship for the poor girl?”

“Of course not,” he objected. “I liked him. He seemed like a nice boy.”

“Dad, you were insulting him,” I said. “You didn’t have to get so rude. You have no idea what he’s gone through with his parents.”

“Well if he had the nerve to insult me back about my parental skills—”
“He didn’t!”

“If he had the nerve to insult me back about my parental skills,” my dad repeated himself, “Then obviously he cares about you enough to not worry about what your old man has to say.”

“He’s just a friend dad,” I pointed out, looking down at my feet and gritting my teeth.

My dad laughed sarcastically. “Oh, well that’s interesting! The first guy I actually like and you don’t take an interest in him!”

“Kevin!” Anne exclaimed.

“Anne!”

“Kevin!”

“Anne!”

“Kevin!”

“Anne!”

“Dad!”

They both looked over at me. “Do you want me to stay single for the rest of my life or something?” I asked him. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes.”

I scowled at him. “You’re seriously telling me you don’t want me to be happy? That you don’t want any grandchildren when I get older?”

My dad frowned. “Yes.”

I screamed and threw my hands up in the air, walking out of the kitchen when Anne and my dad went back to arguing. There was, for sure, no way to negotiate with my father, and betting on how he treated Blade earlier, there never will be.