Believe In Me

"Ok guys, write this one down." Mr. P commanded after switching the slide on the smart board. Dailee mindlessly wrote down the story problem and waited for him to continue. After a good four minutes he walked up to the board and picked up a marker. "For this you need to draw a picture," he started while drawing a picture of something on the board with a triangle behind it. It looked like a submarine to Dailee, but she went back and read what she wrote. It was supposed to be a truck. "Wow, Mr. P. Nice truck." Some random kid called out. The boy next to her snickered and looked up before saying, "I agree. It looks like a Helen-Keller-drawn truck."

Dailee's eyes widened at his comment, while a couple students who heard him laughed. The girl in front of him turned around and glared. "Alex, you're so mean. That was uncalled for."

"You're face was uncalled for."

She scoffed, "Wow, real mature."

Dailee started writing down the notes from the next slide, trying to ignore the useless bickering between the two.

"You're mom's real mature." He was mocking her now and she just kept talking. Dailee hated this kid. He was a real pain in the butt and never knew when to stop.

"How would you know? You've never met my mother." She whispered making a face in the process.

Alex's lips twitched into a nasty grin. "Yes I have. In bed she gave me a real friendly-"

"Alexander James, shut the hell up. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say." She didn't know what came over her. She had heard it all before, but something made her snap. She had known the kid since about middle school and it had been the same unnecessary, canny come backs every time…

He slowly stood up and started applauding. Everyone was staring at the two now; just what he wanted. "I never knew you over came your illness, Dailee! You know, the one that took your voice? Why don't you stand up and take a bow. Hell, you should even give an acceptance speech because the award for Miraculous Recovery goes to you!"

She stood up and faced him. "You know what? You're a real Jackass. I hope you have fun living with yourself. I'm going to laugh the day you realize Karma's a bitch." She picked up her books and left the room, ignoring the calls from Mr. Plourde. She ran to her locker, opened it and dumped her books on the bottom, not caring if they were damaged. After slamming it shut she practically sprinted to the cafeteria. She opened the door and looked around, spotting him towards the front of the deli line. She went up behind him and snaked her arms around his toned stomach. "Whoa, there." He jumped and turned around wide-eyed. "Oh, hey baby. Wait, what are you doing here?"

"You know I love you, right? Tell Darla what you want before answering." Nick was next in line. "I want this little lady right here." He stated while pulling her into a hug. Dailee rolled her eyes and laughed while Nick told a smiling Darla what he wanted food-wise. He paid for his meal, and walked to a half empty table with Dailee. They sat down across from each other and Nick took the lid off his soup to let it cool down. "So are you going to tell me why you're here?"

Dailee laughed a little. "Only if you promise not to beat up Alex."

"Alex Kovan?" Dailee nodded. "…It depends on what happened."

She sighed before countering, "I won't tell you unless you promise, Nick."

Nick groaned, "Fine. But if he hurt you, I can't promise anything."

"He didn't hurt me. He just… doesn't know when to stop." She explained to him their little 'conversation' that wound her up in front of him. After she finished, Nick had his eyes sealed shut. "He said that to you?" His voice sounded strained. She stood up and walked around the table to sit next to him. He was watching her every movement now with guilt laced eyes. She placed a hand on his knee. "Nick, why are you looking at me like that? It wasn't your fault." After a minute he nodded and placed his hand on hers. "I know. It's just I can't believe he said that to you. He doesn't even know what happened." Brushing his thumb across her knuckles slowly, he turned toward her and tried to smile. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok, nobody knows what happened. I'm use to it," she stated. "Besides, I told him off, so I feel slightly better."

At that he had to laugh. She smiled with him and a thought came over her. "Hey, did you get the geometry homework? And notes?"

"Of course, but why did you leave class in the first place? And what did Mr. P do?"

"I think," she started, "that I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible, and I wanted to see you. And Mr. P did try to get me to stay, but I just ignored him." She gazed off, and Nick took this opportunity to start eating. After a couple minutes of silence Dailee glanced up at him before speaking. "Hey, do you know what a teacher does when a student just leaves a room?"

Nick pursed his lips and swallowed. "I'm not sure, but we'll find out tomorrow."

Nick and Dailee got off the bus and started walking towards Nick's house. It occurred to Dailee that the car had not been in her driveway the whole time she has stayed at Nick's. She hadn't given it much thought because she was actually focusing on other important things in her life, like Nick and school, for the most part. It dawned on her that something might be wrong. She also realized that she didn't really care. Nick snapped her out of her thoughts as he laced some of her fingers with his. She sighed in contentment and smiled at him, the sun catching her hair and eyes. "You're beautiful," he breathed out.

Blushing, she looked at the pavement and whispered back, "Thank you."

He lightly squeezed her fingers and grinned at the fact that, for once, she didn't deny it. A car pulled into the driveway right before they reached it and the engine was cut off. Joe hopped out of the driver's seat and started to head inside at a quicker pace upon seeing the couple walking up the driveway. Nick shot a funny look to his back and looked at Dailee with confusion drawing his eyebrows together. She shrugged but kept her eyes on the ground.

Oh, how this boy loves to frustrate me so.

They were all inside and in their respected rooms doing homework, while Mrs. Jonas kept Frankie busy and away from them. Dailee didn't get three sentences into the Shakespeare play she was assigned to read before she stood up. Nick looked up from his geometry problem and asked her what she was doing. "I'll be right back, promise." Nick just shook his head and went back to work as she slipped out of the room.

Knock, knock

A mumbled response was taken as a "come in" before Dailee opened the door to Joe's room. She took three steps into his room, but that was as close as she would allow herself to go. He glanced up from the book he was reading. When he saw Dailee he pulled his glasses off, folding them before setting them on the bed next to him. He kept his gaze on his bed spread almost as if he were embarrassed to look into her eyes. "You can go ahead and yell at me some more instead of staring at me."

Dailee looked over at his desk chair before sitting down in it. "I'm not going to yell at you. I wanted to talk to you."

"Well, I don't really want to talk to you right now, sorry." She laughed and shook her head. "Joe, we need to talk now. I just have a couple questions you need to answer."

Sighing he agreed.

"First question: why did you kiss me the other night?"

He shifted his body up against the wall and laid his head back with his eyes sealed. "Please, don't do this, Dailee. I beg you, please."

Rolling her eyes she looked to her left. "Please, don't tell me you like me, Joseph. I swear to God-"

"Oh! Jesus, Dailee, you honestly think I would do that to Nick? To you? Come on, I have to have more credit than that from you."

She half-smiled before saying, "Sorry. What would you expect me to assume if I had been awake?"

He shook his head and looked at her. Shrugging he responded, "I don't know. I don't even know why I did it in the first place. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"It's alright. I'm just glad to get at least that cleared up," she said standing. "I better get back to my homework. We can talk more later on if you want."

"Definitely," he agreed. "We should after dinner."

"Sounds like a plan."