Chapter 9

One thing I didn't miss was the sound of beeping at six in the morning.
"If you don't shut that fucking thing up then I'm going to," Caiden growled and I ignored him and put the pillow over my head. I was finally falling asleep again but then the sound of shuffling by my bed and something hitting a wall had me up.
"What the hell?" I yelled, looking at my now silent phone that was broken into pieces by the wall. He raised an eyebrow and I coughed fixing my voice." You're buying me a new phone, man."
"Okay, let's get a few things in your head. One, you're a freak. Two, go buy your own damn phone,” Caiden sneered. If looks could kill I would be six feet under.
"Are you always so cold?" I asked him and he narrowed his eyes and responded with,
"Baby, you haven't even seen cold yet.” My eyes narrowed at the statement.
"Baby? I'm a guy and I don't roll that way,” Caiden only rolled his eyes before going into the bathroom. I got out of bed stretching my body up; I cringed as some of my muscles popped. "I really need to start working out,” I said. I wouldn't be playing basketball anymore and I couldn’t join a sport here because I'd only kick all the guys’ asses.
I got dressed and started collecting my notebooks and all that crap and put it in my book bag. I didn't even realize I was humming the doctor who theme song until something hard hit my head causing me cry out in pain.
"What the hell?"
"I will get you kicked out of this school if you don't stop being an annoying little shit," Caiden snapped making me frown, rubbing the back of my head from the impact of the remote.
"Why do you hate me so much?" I asked him watching as he tied his black combat boots.
"Because you're an annoying little fucker that doesn't believe in silence."
“Must you swear in every sentence?" I asked and he walked over to me his fist connecting straight with my eye. My eyes teared up at the pain and gasped lightly touching my eye. “Okay, ow ow ow."
"Maybe next time you'll learn to keep your mouth closed," Caiden said before 'accidentally' stepping on my finger and leaving the room. I stuck my tongue out childishly before tears welled up in my eyes and I won't lie, I cried like a baby for 15 minutes. Don't judge it's the first time I've ever been hit. I winced at the pain as I gently touched the spot.
What an ass.
Welcome to the world of males.
Yeah, that doesn't help the pain.
I brushed my teeth and hair or well my regular hair and my wig before I grabbed my bag and kept my hand on my eye, deciding to go to the nurse first. It seemed the guys across the hallway were walking out too as they all laughed loudly together over something. One of them made eye contact with me and frowned. My eyes widened in realization at the sight of Nathan. Of course, because that's my luck!
I quickly tried to rush off to the elevator but it seemed they were also coming this way as well. The elevator opened and I tried to quickly press the elevator close button but the three guys made it in just in time making me cringe. I avoided all eye contact and looked at the ground with my right eye, the one I could actually see out of, as my hand still stayed covering my left eye, which was closing as it started to slowly become swollen. The pain made me want to go back in my room and cry for another twenty minutes but I didn't really want to be late for my first class of the day which just so happened to be my dad’s, so as soon as the elevator opened I rushed out or well tried to as I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.
Damn it.
"Do I know you from somewhere? You look very familiar," Nathan said, narrowing his eyes he noticed my hand on my eye and raised an eyebrow." Are you okay?" He added and I just nodded and tried to walk off.
"Is there a reason you aren't talking?" he asked me and I bit my lip, shaking my head. His eyes followed the movement before they widened suddenly. He looked at me carefully, his gaze holding curiosity. “What are you doing here, Claire? In an all-boys school?"
"Hey, Nathan," I said giving him an awkward wave before looking around to make sure no one to close to hear our conversation. I sent him a sheepish smile as I pulled him to the side of the hall.
"What the hell are you doing here dressed as a guy!" he exclaimed quietly and I didn't respond, not sure if I should just jump into the explanation. He removed my hand from my eye and frowned, a worried look replacing his look of amusement.
"Oh, Claire-bear, what happened?" he asked, running his finger along the side of my bruised eye making me wince a little. He immediately removed his hand away, seeing my flinch from the contact.
"I pissed off my roommate," I told him and he shook his head a lazy smile playing on his face, yet his eyes still held worry.
"Of course, you did. Let's get you to the school nurse and on the way, you can explain to me why you're here and dressed as a guy,” he said looking at me, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
"Well, it started with my mom," I said before explaining the whole story, by the end, he was laughing so hard he had to kneel over his hands on his knees due to the fact that 'it was a classical Claire's mom thing'. His words, not mine.
"Don't laugh,” I hissed and he stood up straight, wiping the small tears of laughter out or his eyes. I lightly touched my eye and Nathan's laughter disappeared as he grabbed my hand a, sudden intense look on his face.
"What happened to your hand?" he asked and I scowled.
"He accidentally stepped on my hand.” I made quotation marks with my fingers and Nathan's fists clenched.
"My fist is going to accidentally connect with his face,” he said and I nodded.
"You can't tell anyone about this, Nathan," I said making him promise not to tell.
"You can trust me, Claire-bear. But punching you and trying to basically break your fingers is too far. Don't put up with his shit,” he whispered to me before we headed inside and I only nodded. Honestly, you can't get better friends than Nathan and Mia.
"Oh my, what happened?" the nurse asked rushing over to me.
"I ran into a door," I lied, for some reason, I felt like I would get in big trouble if I told her it was Caiden and I didn’t mean in trouble with the teacher I meant in trouble with him.
“You don't have to lie to me,” she said with a small frown ushering me to the bed. “What's your name?"
"Jason Lockwood," I told her and she nodded typing it on the computer.
"Do you have any headaches and how bad is the pain on a one to ten scale? One - you feel like you're on cloud nine. Ten- you feel like you're dying.” I stared at her for a second. What she serious? Why would I be here if I felt like I was on cloud nine?
"No and a five," I responded flatly.
"Okay, you're over eighteen, correct?" she asked and I nodded. She looked at the sheet to double check. “I’ll give you some ibuprofen and an ice pack.” She handed me a couple of pills and a glass of water before turning around to get an ice pack.
I looked out the door to see Nathan still waiting- his hands tucked in his trouser pockets and his right foot on the wall behind him. I put the pills in my mouth and they easily slid down my throat with the help of the water. "Here you go, if you start to feel dizzy, nauseous, or any more pain then just come straight back. The ice should help the swelling go down and you will probably have a purple eye for a day or two.” I thanked her and made my way out of the nurse’s office and went straight to Nate.
"You good?" he asked. Suddenly a huge smile appeared on his face he hugged me.
"Claire-bear, I missed you so much,” he told me, wrapping his arms around my waist and I rolled my eyes. A silly smile lit up on my face as I dropped my ice pack and book bag and let my arms wrap around his neck. He pulled me as tight as he could to his body.
"You know someone's going to think you're gay," I told him pulling back a little my hands still on the back of his neck as my forehead touched his.
"It’s okay you'll be gay too. We can be gay together,” he said smiling down at me. He was only about two or three inches taller than me but it didn't bother me, much.
"You're such a dork," I said hitting his chest lightly with my right hand.
"Me a dork? No, never,” he said, a playful smile on his face and I couldn't help but return the smile.
"I'm supposed to be mad at you,” I pouted and he raised and an eyebrow, clearly showing his amusement.
"Oh? Why are you supposed to be mad at me?" he asked.
I bit my lip before saying, "Because you canceled our trip to New York for a trip to LA and you didn't even tell me you were going here."
“You never told me you were going here either,” he pointed out.
I narrowed my eyes. “You never asked and I told you a hundred times I’m sorry. My mother forced me to stay with my dad while he was in LA."
“Well then I’m mad at Cole,” I told him as his grip loosened as I bent down to pick up the ice pack.
“You know he was only here for a short time before he went back to his lovely country,” he told me and I nodded, a small frown forming on my face as we pulled away making our way to class. I always felt bad for Nathan when I found out about his parents. When he was younger they got divorced and his dad left the country going straight to London, never saying goodbye. He eventually came in contact with him again and they talked it out. His mom did get remarried to some guy named Jordan and his father now has a girlfriend plus a kid, but I'm pretty sure she is adoptive since she is about eighteen or nineteen.
"How'd that go by the way?" I asked him clearing my throat and making my voice go lower as we walked into a more crowded hallway.
"Well, he is the reason I'm here. He expects me to just drop my life and take over some agency he owns. He even tried to convince me to fly back with him so he could introduce me to everyone at some award ceremony," Nathan said sounding irritated. "He signed me up here and also a few different fighting classes and also shooting classes.” He ran a hand through his hair frowning.
"Did you try telling him you didn't want to take over?" I asked and he nodded.
"He freaked out on me giving me a long speech how happy I should be and he has people fighting over this position. “He mocked his father making faces making me lightly laugh. "It took forever for us to come to an agreement, but he will have his adoptive daughter, Riley taking over, but I'm just going to tell her to take it over for good."
"I'm sorry. But hey, when school's done I'll come with you to London to sort it all out. I've always wanted to live there! I'm sure Mia would come too,” I said, smiling brightly and he returned the smile.
"I'll hold you to that,” he told me, elbowing me with a playful smile.
"Trust me, that's something you won't have to hold me too," I said and he shrugged.
"I don't know, you may fall head over heels for some guy here,” he said and I scrunched up my nose.
"Definitely not," I said and he only rolled his eyes, showing he didn't believe me.
"Nathan, you know my heart only goes to you," I said dramatically and he snorted.
"Please take your heart and bury it. I got eyes for something else. It's called food,” he said and I placed my hand on my heart while pouting.
"You suck."
"Yeah, but you love me,” he said smiling down at me, sending a flick to my nose.
I returned the smile and scrunched up my nose a bit. "Lies," I muttered.
He chuckled. "Whatever you say, Claire-bear."