The Football Player's Rebel

Walking Catastrophe

Melanie's P.O.V.

Monday came faster than usual.  I hid in my room all day yesterday, embarrassed about the moment me and Tuck had shared Saturday night in his driveway.  I binge watched The Vampire Diaries in my room all day Sunday and ate way too much junk food.  Tuck tried texting me but I never replied.  Asher had text me saying that he hopes to see me at school tomorrow, to which I gave a short, "I'm sure you will :)".   I still haven't told Tiff about what had happened between me and Tuck either, but I'm sure she will have tons of questions about the lingering hickey on my neck.  

I walk through the school doors and down the hallway to the cafeteria.  I avoided my mom this morning, which meant skipping breakfast, so I needed a hot chocolate and cinnamon roll stat.  I grab the two items and start walking towards the line to checkout when I feel someone tap me on my shoulder.  I turn around to see Asher standing behind me while he smiles brightly at me.

"Didn't think I'd see you first thing in the morning.  It's a pretty big school for me to run into you so fast.", he says as he grabs a sausage biscuit and apple juice from the lunch lady, falling in line behind me.

"Yeah, well...looks like it's your lucky day.", I say as I wink at him.

He just laughs at me, staying quiet.

"So what's your schedule like?", I ask, trying to start a conversation.

"Brutal.  They have me going to Spanish 3 first thing in the morning.  Then Algebra 2, History, and Chemistry before I go to lunch.  After lunch are my easy classes, though.  I have Advanced Art, then Literature, and finally Photography."

"Who do you have Algebra 2, Chemistry, Advanced Art with?", I ask, noticing that my schedule was almost the same.

"Stephens, McMullin, and Davis."

"Hm...looks like you're going to be spending a lot of time with me.  Those are all of my classes, plus photography, but there is only one teacher for that class so I didn't have to ask.  So, you have four classes with me throughout the day.", I tell him as I pay for my items, waiting for him to pay for his as well.  

"Awesome! It'll be nice to have someone I know in there with me, someone to show me the ropes.  Plus, you're not too bad to look at either.", he says as he smiles, before looking down at the ground bashfully, while I blush at his compliment.

He pays for his biscuit and juice and we start walking together.  I show him which hall his Spanish class is down before I head to my History class.  I'm dreading going to History.  I have it with both Tuck and Tiff.  I am dreading seeing Tiff, seeing as I have a little mark on my neck she is going to want an explanation for, and I am dreading seeing Tuck, seeing as he was the one who left the mark.

I walk into class as soon as the bell starts ringing, looking down at the ground, avoiding eye contact with either of them.  I take my seat next to Tiff and start sipping the rest of my hot chocolate.  

"So how was your weekend, beautiful?", I hear Tiff ask in her chirpy little voice.

I roll my eyes at the fact that she is such a morning person, always so happy when it takes me an entire pot of coffee just to get woken up.

"It was fine. Nothing special.", I reply, still not looking at her.

She scoffs, "Right...and did you get that hickey on your neck during this not so special weekend?"

Damn it, I've got to give it to her, the girl pays attention to detail.

I roll my eyes again and look at her, a smirk spreading across her face when our eyes meet.  She knows she caught me and she's loving every minute of teasing me.

"It's a long story that I just don't want to talk about right now.  Okay, Tiff?", I tell her sternly, taking another sip of my drink and looking back at my book, before turning to the page that's written on the board.

"Whatever you say, doll face.  But, quick question?", she asks as she keeps prodding me, me knowing she isn't going to let the situation go so easily.

I let out a small huff and look back at her, "What, Tiff?"

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that HE hasn't taken his eyes off of you since you walked in?", she asks me, chuckling a little and pointing a few rows back.

I turn to see where she is pointing, only to make eye contact with Tucker who is already staring at me.  He grins at me while biting his bottom lip as he leans back in his seat. 

I quickly turn back around and feel my cheeks flush red.

"OH MY GOD, MELANIE!", Tiffany whisper yells at me, "Are you serious?!  I was just joking when I asked if it was him!"

"I told you it was a long story and I didn't want to talk about it right now.", I whisper yell back.

"Well, what happened to you not forgiving him and all that jazz?  A freaking make-out session isn't really what you talked with me on the phone about!", she whisper yells back.

"WELL, THINGS CHANGE!", I irritatingly yell back at her, hunching down in my seat and crossing my arms.

"Girls! Care to share your conversation with the class? I can't imagine what's so important that it can't wait until I'm done with my lesson.", Mr. Stanley says as he raises his voice sternly, staring at us as he stands in front of the white board with a marker in his hand.

"Sorry, Mr. Stanley!", both Tiffany and I say in sync.

Once the lesson ends, Mr. Stanley gives us the last ten minutes as free time, either working on the homework he had just assigned or homework we didn't quite finish up over the weekend for another class.  Tiff, however, decides to take the next ten minutes to get the scoop on this weekend.  Shocker.

"So are you going to spill the tea, or what?", she says a lot more calmly now than she was at the beginning of class.  She crosses her left leg over her right knee, and leans in towards me.

Seeing that she has calmed down has helped me want to open up to her about it.  She knows that when people start bringing emotions into it I tend to close up, like her anger, or when Tuck got really emotional at the skate park about his feelings and our past the other day.  I'm really bad at handling emotions and confrontation and Tiff knows that.  However, she uses that information for her advantage sometimes.  She knows that all it takes, is for her to calmly talk to me, for her to be able to get what she wants out of me.

I sigh and close my eyes, taking in the last few seconds before I dish out everything.

"Tiff, Tucker was my best friend for seven years.  The summer before freshman year, our last summer we spent together before he became who he is now, he confessed his love to me.  In return, I loved him back, so much that it hurt.  Sure, we were only fourteen, but we truly did love one another.  It was only an innocent, pure first love, that's all.  But, when I told you that he hurt me by leaving me, he didn't just leave me as a best friend, he shattered my heart that year.  Tuck told me he loved me, opened up my heart and gave me an amazing summer with so much love in it that it was unreal, and then just abandoned me because popularity was calling.  I can't be mad at him, he was a fourteen year old teenage boy, and I feel like most teenage boys would have done the same thing.  Love is too much to handle at that age, and it's just human nature to want to be socially accepted.  So, I've forgiven him for that. I'm not an angry person, you know this.  I don't like the feeling of being filled with anger towards someone, all the negative energy that just takes over your body, it's not who I am.  So, I had to forgive him for myself, not for him or anyone else, but for myself.  I really hope you understand that.", I whisper at her, confessing everything I hadn't told her about what truly went on between Tucker and I, hoping no one else had heard.

Tiff stares at me, with tears in her eyes, "Mel, I don't understand why you haven't told me this before.  You know you could've told me about what actually happened, right?"

"I know, Tiff.  But, it was just too raw, too painful.  I never wanted to let go of that summer being between just me and him.  I wanted to keep it as my own memory.  I wanted that summer to be between only me and him.  I hope you don't hold that against me?", I say to her as I gently smile at her.

"Oh my gosh, Melanie.  I could never hold that against you!  However, it does make a lot more sense as to why you were so depressed when I first met you.  Look, it's your life, and your decision on who you want in it.  If you choose to forgive him, then that's your call.  I'm your best friend no matter what, and I hope you know that!  I just can't help being protective over you, because you deserve the world.  You're such an amazing person, and you don't deserve to be hurt that way.  You deserve someone who is going to cherish the unique, beautiful, awesome, badass woman that you are!  I hope you understand that.", she tells me as she grabs my forearm, squeezing it to comfort me.

I nod and smile gently at her.

"But, that still doesn't explain the hickey.", she says as she grins and wiggles her eyebrows.

I start laughing at her, knowing I wouldn't get away with it that easy.

The bell rings and we start gathering our things.  I cram my books into my backpack, pulling the straps over my shoulders and turn to grab my empty cup off of my desk.  I walk to the trashcan and throw it in the bin.  

"Mind if I walk you to your next class?", I hear a familiar husky voice say from behind me.

I smile and turn around to see Tucker standing behind me, one hand shoved into the pocket of his varsity jacket, and his other hand clenching the strap of his backpack he has dangling on one shoulder.  

I turn and look at Tiffany, my eyes telepathically begging her to help me out of the situation, because I wasn't ready for people to see us together.  She menacingly snickers, pointing two fingers at her eyes and one finger back at Tucker, meaning that she's "watching him".  He laughs and nods his head at her in understanding.  

I'm going to kill her for not helping me out of this predicament.  What kind of best friend is she?!  She literally just hated the guy two days ago and now she's purposely helping him out?

I roll my eyes and look back at Tuck, who is staring at me with a soft smile on his face, brown curls falling in front of his green eyes.  My eyes catch the sight of the small purple mark on his neck and I look for only a second before looking back at him, hoping he didn't see me looking at it.  However, he did catch me looking, and he smirks at me while wiggling his eyebrows.  It's only then that I notice everyone has cleared out of the room and it's just the two of us.  He must've noticed too, because he slowly walks towards me and grazes his hand on my shoulder.

"I really wanted to see you yesterday after what happened Saturday night.", he says in a soft voice, stepping closer to me.

I back away from him, "I was busy."

He drops his hand from my shoulder and chuckles at me, "Binge-watching TV and eating junk food?"

Shit.  I forgot that his window is right across from mine.

"It was a very important docu-series.", I say, trying to cover my lie.

"The love life of Elena Gilbert IS pretty important, I guess.", he says with a mischievous smirk.

DAMN IT! I'm caught.

I cross my arms defensively over my chest and furrow my brows at him, "Why were you just staring through my window all day yesterday, you creep?"

He smiles down at me, "Couldn't think of anything more important to occupy my time."

He reaches his hand up again and brushes my hair out of my face.  I step back and away from him again, pulling the straps of my backpack tighter over my shoulders.

"I'm going to be late for class.  You walking me or not?", I ask him as I scowl at him.

"Well, of course!", he says a little bit too excitedly, not backing down from the look I'm giving him.

We walk out of the classroom and I quickly notice that the hallway is still filled with other students.  Then, I feel him put his arm over my shoulders.  I turn crimson red and my breathing becomes uneven.  I try to avoid eye contact with all the other students in the hallway, but I can still feel their eyes on us.  I start hearing whispers from girls as they evilly snicker.  

"Wannabe", I hear as we pass by one group.

"What the hell does he see in her?", I hear another girl whisper to her blonde friend as we pass by them.

"She's such a freak.", I hear a cheerleader scoff as she talks to the group of cheerleaders standing next to her.

"He is WAY too hot to be lowering his standards to THAT.", I hear another cheerleader say back to her.

Then I hear someone shriek, only to look up and see Sara Johnson stomping her way towards us.  Her blonde curls bouncing and long tan legs taking gigantic strides towards us.  She has so much grace in the heels she is wearing.  She was almost running towards us she was so irate, but surprisingly she didn't trip in them or twist her ankles, as she frantically pushed her way through the crowd towards us.  I, however, trip over my sneakers when I'm just walking normal on any given day, unlike her.

"Are you kidding me, Tuck?! You broke up with me for THIS loser?  A walking catastrophe?  She's always dressed like a freak! Always reading and skateboarding.  Just a homely bottom feeder.", Sara yells out in front of half the student body, looking at me when she calls me a 'homely bottom feeder', thinking she might strike a nerve.

I roll my eyes at her.  Sure, I get embarrassed when it comes to people being close and intimate towards me.  But, taking up for myself?  This I can handle.

I snicker while I push Tuck's arm off of my shoulders and step closer to her.  Sara takes a step back, looking frightened, like she wasn't expecting me to step up to her, but to cower down instead.

"A freak, Sara? Really? Let's talk about freak, shall we?", I yell out, opening up my arms and turning to the students in the hallway as if I was inviting them in to watch.  

"My hair...", I grab the strands of my hair and tug at them, "...real.  Born with it this color."

"Your hair...", I reach up and tug at hers, only to pull out a bleach blonde clip in extension, "...Oh! Look at this! FAKE!"

"My face...", I rub my hands on my face and show her my palms, proving that I didn't have any makeup on, "...I'm f*****g beautiful without the help of any makeup!  What's that shade of lipstick? Ruby red slippers? Or, the eyeshadow you have caked on? Powder blue playboy bunny?  Everything from your head to your toes is fake, and that's pretty FREAKY to me."

Sara swallows as she looks around at our peers, cheeks flushing crimson red now.

I step closer, lowering my voice, "...and as far as a homely bottom feeder and a loser who is always reading, I'm in the top five students of our class right now and have already had early acceptance into Berkeley.  So, while you're busy climbing your way up the social ladder of high school, this walking catastrophe has already planned out an amazing life that is just getting started.  Unfortunately for you, you'll reach your peak in life right here in these hallways, and it'll end here in a year when we graduate."

I turn and look at the rest of the students.

"By the way, for all of you nosey ass girls who are so JEALOUS right now, Tuck and I are just friends and have been neighbors for over nine years.  We aren't dating....",  I look at Tuck and finish off by saying, "...and I wouldn't be interested in it, even if he was."

Tuck looks at me defeated, disappointment filling his face.

I turn and start walking towards Algebra, which is at the other end of the building, the bell ringing when I'm only halfway there.  

I roll my eyes, mad that the whole dramatic scene caused me to be late.