The Romance In Our Rivalry

19 | The Romance in their Rivalry

Nova

Nick's birthday was coming up, but I had yet to think of what I could get him, or if I would even get him something. We barely talked over the weekend and our conversations were short and dodgy. If my perception of Nick is anywhere near accurate, then I'd say he feels bad about ratting Aubrey and I out to Jason—or better yet—about indirectly exposing me to an entire school at a party.

I groaned and briefly hung my head as I attempted to push away the many thoughts that clouded my brain. It was Monday and whether I liked it or not, I had school.

I rushed through everything. Washing my face was fast, brushing my hair was faster, and throwing on clothes was the fastest. I wore green cargo jeggings, a variation of jeans and leggings, with a black sweater and white Air Forces. Although it doesn't exactly get cold around here, it was starting to get a bit chilly.

I left my hair in it's natural curly state. It wasn't bad looking and complimented my look today anyways. Normally by now Nick would ask if I wanted a ride or just simply beep his horn if he was pulling up on me by surprise, but he didn't. So I sucked it up and began walking to school.

The walk wasn't that bad today, but that may have been because my anxiety had me walking at a thousand miles a minute. Once I reached the school, I damn near dashed to the girls room—to get another look at myself, of course. I definitely wasn't avoiding Nick, or anything like that.

I looked at the mirror as I examined my outfit choice. It wasn't bad, no, but the more I looked, the more I realized that my outfit was very similar to my "prude" days. Did I subconsciously wear this outfit for another reason? Was it really that I was rushing, or was there a connection to my current feelings and the feelings I had when I'd gotten bullied at my old school? I mean after all, both situations are related to relationships.

I shook my head as if I had been having a real life conversation with myself. "You can still wear sweaters and oddly styled pants Nova" I voiced aloud, smiling at myself the in the bathroom mirror. "It doesn't mean anything. In fact, think about it as conquering a fear. Good job."

I gave myself one last good look in the mirror before heading to class. I was worried out of my mind about me and Nick's situation at this point, but at the same time, my mind felt like a handful of cable wires tangled up with one another. It's like, I couldn't even process enough to be deep in my feelings.

To my surprise, Nick was sitting in class when I walked in. Scared to make things awkward, I quietly made my way over to our teacher, asking if I could temporarily have my seat moved. She agreed, and I was allowed to sit upfront for the day.

Class seemed to go by with no problems, for the most part. About ten minutes before the bell rang, my phone lit up. It was a text, from Nick.

"That's how it is?" he asked, alluding to the fact that I chose against sitting in my usual seat. With my back facing Nick, he couldn't see me rolling my eyes.

"You seem mad" I very quickly replied. "You didn't offer to pick me up today or even look for me before class. I figured you just need some space."

"I assumed you might've been with Aubrey" Nick responded with pure pettiness on his mind. I left him on "seen." As fresh as the situation was, I was already tired of Aubrey talk. But unfortunately, I could see Nick making her the nucleus of our relationship. I'm not living this down anytime soon.

"Okay" Nick followed up with a second text, seeing that I had no intent of replying to the first one.

"Can we stop talking about Aubrey?" I asked in correspondence to his "okay" message, "please."