No One Knows You Like I Do

Madison pulled in front of Mackenzie’s house and waited for her to get in the car.
“So, you didn’t call me after you talked to Nick yesterday, so I’m assuming everything went okay?”
Madison kept her eyes on the road as they widened. She was so in the moment with Nick, she’d forgotten what she had said to Mackenzie.
“Uh, yup. Things went pretty well.” Technically, she wasn’t lying. Things did go well, for her.
“Good. So, you’re done with him then? Other then him being your English teacher, which is totally weird. And you could always transfer out of his class.”
“I don’t think I’ll transfer out.”
“Why not? You’re going to have to look at him every day.”
“I don’t have a reason to transfer out. Not a reason the office will understand anyway.”
“Alright, just stay strong. I’m sure that in a few short weeks, you’ll forget all about the summer fling you had with him…..hey, I guess you did get your summer fling!”
“Sure did.” She chuckled nervously. She hated lying to Mackenzie. They had been friends since before they could remember and she had never lied to her before. Or if she had, Mackenzie knew it right away and was immediately forced into telling the truth. How did she not see through the lie this time?
They pulled into the school parking lot just as the bell rang, that tended to be their thing, and they got out. They headed to their first period.
“Hey.” Nick had been walking out of the office and saw Madison. He picked up speed to catch up. Madison closed her eyes and silently groaned to herself. Mackenzie gave him a dirty look.
“Uhm, hi.” Madison offered nervously.
“I know we’re really not supposed to talk too much while we’re here, but I couldn’t help myself.” He smirked. He was walking so close to Madison, their arms were touching.
“You aren’t supposed to be speaking at all, okay? Can you just leave the girl alone and give her some time and space, so she can get over you? Geeze!” Mackenzie grabbed Madison by the arm and dragged her off to their first class. Nick stopped where he was and looked after them in confusion.

Madison was sitting at her desk, trying to recover from the morning fiasco, when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out to read the text.
What was that about? I thought we were good?
Madison sighed to herself.
Can’t text right now. We’ll talk after fourth. I’ll see you then.
Nick noticed his phone light up on his desk. He continued talking to his current class as he moved slowly toward his desk. He glanced down and saw the message still on the screen. He read it and shook his head. He picked up the phone and returned it to his pocket, before continuing what he was saying.

The bell for fourth period rang. Madison and Mackenzie took their separate ways to their classes. Madison tried her hardest not to make eye contact with Nick, but it was difficult when he was staring at her the moment she walked in. She sat in the back, like she had the day before, and did her best to keep her eyes locked on her hands in her lap. Nick talked about the same thing he had in all of his other classes. Madison knew the routine speech, so she tuned him out. She wasn’t sure if she could do it for the whole forty-five minute class period, but she managed. When the bell rang, she started gathering her things slowly. She was hoping to stall long enough to for the room to clear out. She looked up and saw Nick closing the door, leaving them in the room alone.
“So, uh, care to explain what Mackenzie was talking about?” Madison walked up the aisle of the desks so she would end up right in front of him. “I thought after yesterday…well, I thought everything was okay. I mean, we--”
“Shh! I don’t care if we’re alone. You can’t say that here! And we’re more than okay.” She smiled, looking up into his eyes causing him to smile back.
“Then why did she say those things?”
“She may or may not think that I told you I didn’t want us to talk anymore. Where she would get that idea, who really knows?” She chuckled nervously and walked away from Nick.
“Madison.”
“Okay, so it was me who gave her that idea, stop pestering me!” She sighed and walked back to him. “I told her that we were just going to talk yesterday. Which, I kind of thought, was all we were going to do? This morning she jumped to conclusions and thought that because I didn’t call her, I told you I was done with you.”
“Madison!” He whined.
“I’m gonna be late. We’ll talk after school, okay? Mackenzie has this club thing she’s been doing since freshmen year, so she has to stay after school. I usually just find myself in the library or something while I wait for her. But I can always change my routine.” She smirked and made her way to the door.
“I like the sound of that.” He chuckled. “Meet me here, yeah?”
“See you then.” She opened the door and went out walking quickly to her next class, which was only down the hall, but the bell was bound to ring any second. She ran in through the door just as the bell was ringing and slid into her seat next to Mackenzie before the teacher even noticed. The class was basically a free period, it was a film class, but they weren’t doing anything until the next week. So, she was okay, this time.
“What happened?” Mackenzie leaned toward her and asked as the teacher took roll.
“I just….got caught up.”
“With….? Details, please.”
“Nick.” She sighed.
“What did he do?!”
“Nothing.” She chuckled nervously. “Don’t worry about it. He’ll, uh, get the hint eventually, I guess.” She was wrapping herself in more lies and she hated herself for it, but she didn’t know what else to do. She wanted to be with Nick, but Mackenzie didn’t think it was a good idea. It wouldn’t be fair to herself if she didn’t give Nick a chance, just because Mackenzie said so. If things didn’t work out, then it would be okay, but she needed to give him the chance. When she kissed him, fireworks went off in her head. When he smiled at her, her heart beat fifty times faster. When he touched her, even just slightly, her skin tingled for ages. How was she just supposed to give up without seeing where things could go?

The last bell rang and Mackenzie went off to her club. It was the first meeting of the year, for returning members, and they were supposed to discuss when to induct new members or whatever. Madison was never really interested in the club, but she didn’t mind waiting for her, because it wasn’t like she had anything better to do at home.
She made her way to Nick’s classroom and approached the closed door. She took a deep breath before turning the knob and opening the door. Nick was in there with a few students. They were all girls that had never been interested in school. They got by on their looks, but their attitudes sucked. They were rude and catty. Madison should know. She’d been going to school with them since kindergarten. While she waited for Nick to finish up, she sat at a desk and pulled out her phone. The three girls were laughing and making small talk; it was obvious they were only there because he was attractive.
“So, tell us about your band, Mr. Santino.” One of the girls said. Madison rolled her eyes at her words and gagged at the sound of ‘Mr. Santino.’
“Ah, you don’t want to hear about that.” He chuckled. Madison looked up at his words. She could hear it in his voice. He was totally flirting with these girls. Right in front of her. And if she wasn’t here, he’d be doing it behind her back.
“No, we do!” Another girl squealed. Their voices were utterly repulsive. “We want to come to a show sometime.” Madison watched her bat her eyelashes at him. It made her gag again.
“It’ll be a conversation for another time, alright?”
“Oh, fine.” The last girl whined. “We’ll see you tomorrow. Can’t wait for your class.” The three girls giggled and squealed as they exited the room. Madison looked back down at her phone and skimmed through the tweets on her timeline. She wasn’t really reading them, she was just busying herself. The door closed and Nick was standing next to Madison. He placed a hand on her shoulder and, despite the tingling sensation she received from his touch, she ignored it. She kept her eyes locked on her screen. Nick sat in the desk next to her and had his legs turned toward her.
“Long time no see, huh?” He joked as he leaned forward and attempted to kiss her on the cheek. Madison simply turned her head, so his lips met with her hair. Nick sat back. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged. Her eyes were still locked on her screen as she reread the same boring tweet at the top of her page for the fifteenth time. Nick sighed.
“Don’t lie to me. I can tell when you’re lying.”
“And I can tell when you’re flirting. Remember, that’s how this whole thing we have here started.” She looked at him, but her eyes weren't meeting his. She stood from the desk and shoved her phone in her pocket as she headed for the door. Nick stood and followed her.
“Whoa. What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb.” She turned to face him again. “‘Ah, you don’t want to hear about that.’” She said in a deep, mocking voice, followed by a playful, mocking laugh.
“That? That was not flirting.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, because it’s definitely not going to be me again. Oh wait, did you forget about last night already?”
“Madison, stop it. I could never forget about last night….”
“Oh really? Because you didn’t even glance my way when I walked in. You were too busy talking to those…sluts.”
“Wha…what? I knew it was gonna be you who walked in. I didn’t need to look. And I wasn’t going to be rude and just stop mid-sentence and walk over to you.”
“That didn’t mean you had to flirt with them…..” Madison looked at her feet.
“I….didn’t even realize I was doing it, okay? I’m sorry.” He lifted her chin with his fingers, causing her to look into her eyes. “I don’t want to fight. I finally have you after two months of pretending you weren’t on my mind. Please?” Madison looked away with just her eyes, because Nick was still holding her chin up. She stepped forward, causing Nick’s hand to fall, and wrapped her arms around his torso. Nick smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, too. He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Let me take you out this weekend, yeah?”
“Where are we gonna go? What happens if someone sees us or--” Nick cut her off with his laughter.
“Don’t worry about it. We can just go somewhere a little out of town. I don’t care. I just want to take you out, okay?” He smiled.
“Okay.” She looked up and made eye contact with him. “Come over tonight.”
“Done.” He chuckled. “What time?”
“I don’t know, yet. I’ll call you.”
“Alright. I’ll be ready anytime.” He smirked, looking down at her. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Madison moved her hands up to his cheeks, to make sure he didn’t pull away before she was ready for him to.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, causing her to have to pull away. She sighed as she pulled it out. It continued to vibrate, meaning it was a call. She pressed the answer button. “Hey, MC. Done already?” Nick took a step back and made his way to his desk to gather his things. “Alright, meet me by my car. I’ll be there in five. Bye.” She shoved her phone back in her pocket and looked over at Nick, who was busying himself with shoving papers into his bag. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He chuckled, standing up straight. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Yeah.” She smiled weakly as she moved over to him. She pecked his lips once more. He returned to putting things in his bag as she left the room.