Chapter 4
“What’s up Scatorrcio?” Van answered the phone on the second ring of Nat’s call and Nat almost felt relieved.
“I’m done.” Nat whispers into her phone ash she walks outside the building she’s at.
“Wait, what? What do you mean you’re done?” They sounded confused and Nat doesn’t blame them.
“The guys here think I’m awkward and weird and I’m never gonna be able to play against Cornwall on the field at this rate which is the whole reason I came here in the first place.” Nat sighs and leans against the wall. “Can you just pick me up and take me home please?”
“Look I don’t know how to help with the soccer stuff but I think I have an idea about how to help you with the guys.” Nat can practically hear the grin on Van’s face as they say this and she almost smiles.
“What did you have in mind?”
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Van is sitting in the local little pizza place that’s near Wiskayok Boarding School when they texts Nat that it’s go time. Nat enters and sees Travis, Jeff, and Randy all sitting in a booth together. When the guys see her, they immediately try to take up the rest of the space at their booth so there would be no room for her.
“Hey guys.” Nat greets them while standing beside their booth. The guys all murmur back greetings and leave it at that. Van is still sitting at their lone table when they text Jackie to come in.
Jackie struts in like she owns the place and struts all the way towards Nat. “Hey Nat.” Jackie throws her arms around Nat and Nat wraps her arms around Jackie’s waist loosely hoping that Shauna wouldn’t kill her later for this.
“Hey Jackie, how’re you doing?” She smirks putting on a show for the guys.
“Not the same without you.” Jackie pouts while running her hands down Nat’s arms.
“I know. Sorry new school, new babe pool ya know?” Nat just shrugs hoping that the script that Van came up is actually working because what the fuck is she saying. New babe pool?
“I know. I’ve been thinking about you a lot. Especially at night.” Jackie looks at Nat through her lashes and wow she is really playing this up.
“Sweet.” Nat didn’t know what else to say to that to be honest.
“Ok did she really just say that to Nat?” Jeff asked the other guys.
“What just happened?” Travis asks confused as he messes with his napkin.
“Really great to see you Nat. Call me any time.” Jackie puckers her lips and Nat panics and kisses her fingers before pressing them to Jackie’s lips. Jackie sighs deeply before walking away.
“Women.” Nat shrugs turning to face the guys again. The guys all agree smiling.
Van, who was texting Jackie their thanks texts Tai next. How they got Tai involved was beyond Nat but Nat was grateful regardless.
Tai comes in from a different entrance. “Nat, is that you?”
“Hey, what’s up Tai?” Tai wraps Nat up into a hug.
“Ok, who is this?” Travis asks in more confusion. Jeff just shrugs while looking back and forth between the interaction going on in front of him and Travis.
“I can’t believe we lost our top gun to Wiskayok.” Tai actually full on pouts and Nat is torn between being impressed and scared.
“Well, time comes for a man to move along Tai.” Nat starts leaning against the booth now and wraps her arm around Tai. Tai leans into her and sighs.
“I know, in the end we just weren’t enough for you.” Nat starts nodding in agreement.
“That’s right.”
“Just know that it hurts and I’ll miss you Nat.” Tai goes to turn around and sighs dramatically like Jackie did before.
“Needy.” Nat points at Tai as she begins walking to where Van is sitting.
“Ok, we may need to seriously re-evaluate here.” Travis says and Jeff and Randy nod in agreement.
Just then Allie comes walking up to the booth the guys were at and Randy starts grinning at her.
“Well hello there pretty lady.” Allie scrunches up her face in disgust.
“Ew are you flirting with me?”
“Uh” Randy starts but is quickly cut off by Allie.
“Uh duh uh no, girls like me don’t talk to guys like you.” Travis is laughing while Randy looks humiliated. “I’m looking for my boyfriend Nathan Scatorrcio, have you guys seen him?” Travis opens his mouth in disbelief before looking behind him and pointing her in the direction Nat was heading. “Nathan?”
Nat sees Vans eyes widen as she walks towards them and Van hops up. “We got trouble, don’t let her get too close or she’ll recognize you.” They say quickly before walking off away from Nat to exit the restaurant so Allie doesn’t see them.
“What am I gonna do?” She whisper shouts but it’s too late.
“Nathan?” Allie asks again and Nat grabs two pitchers of soda to block her face from Allie.
“Keep away from me.” She spins around still trying to keep away from Allie and sets the pitchers down on a different table. “Pardon me ladies.”
“Nathan?!” Allie cries.
Nat grabs a menu and shoves it front of her face blocking off the lower half of her face from Allie. “Ok you know what don’t come any closer Allie, it’s over!” The menu is grabbed from her hands and Nat spins around and keeps speed walking around the restaurant.
“What are you talking about?” Allie asks as she chases after Nat.
“I don’t wanna talk to you Allie!” Nat says pushing past a guy to get away from her before ducking behind the bar. “Look you’re cute Allie but there are plenty of cute girls out there.”
“Nat get from behind there and talk to me right now!”
“And the truth is,” Nat continues walking by a guy carrying a stack of pizza boxes that she takes and shoves at Allie “you have absolutely nothing else to offer!” She takes off and ends up back in front of the booth where the guys are sitting. “And when my eyes are closed, I see you for what you truly are which is a horrible person. We’re done!” Allie drops the boxes and runs out of the door stomping her feet. Nat breathes a sigh of relief before finally facing the guys again.
The guys all cheered for him, along with some of the other patrons in the restaurant. “You’re the man!” Travis smiles as he hits Nat on the shoulder. “Scoot over and let's make some room for the man!” Nat sits next to Jeff. “You’re officially my idol now.” Travis high fives her and Nat smiles.
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Nat, Travis, Jeff, and Randy are all sitting in Biology waiting for class to start.
“So how long did you date that girl anyways?” Travis asks Nat referring to Allie.
“Way too long man.” Nat laughs.
Travis was about to reply when he looks up and sees Lottie walking in with Akilah and Mari not too far behind them. “Oh my God, she’s in our class.” He ducks his head down to hide behind his hand.
“Dude you gotta quit blushing. That’s lame.” Nat teases him even though she knows she would be the exact same way right now if she wasn’t acting so confident.
Their teacher comes walking up with a jar full of paper slips. “Everyone please take a slip and read off the name of your lab partner.” Nat and the guys all take a slip before the teacher walks away to other tables.
Travis opens his slip first. “Misty Quigley.” Jeff groans sadly and Travis looks over to where Misty is sitting. Misty sends him an almost too excited smile. He smiles awkwardly back. “You gotta be kidding me.” He goes to put his hand up to his head and Nat slaps it.
“Be nice dude.” Nat scolds him and Jeff agrees with her.
“Yeah man, she’s got a little something something.”
“Yeah a hit list.” Randy laughs at his own joke while Nat looks down at the slip in her hands.
“Lottie Matthews.” Nat feels her heart skip a beat and she looks over to where Lottie is and waves shyly. Lottie smiles and waves back.
“Dude, I can’t believe you got her as a partner. Switch with me.” Travis tries to snatch the slip out of Nat’s hand but Nat keeps it out his reach.
“I can’t. I said her name out loud.” Nat shrugs an apology before picking up his stuff and heading over to where Lottie is sitting.
“Hello again.” Lottie smiles at Nat when she goes to sit across from her and Nat blushes a little before holding out her hand for Lottie to shake.
“I don’t think we introduced ourselves before, I’m Nathan but you can call me Nat.” Lottie grabs her hand and shakes it gently.
“I’m Lottie.” Nat smiles shyly and lets go of Lottie’s hand.
“If I’m being honest, the whole dissecting thing kind of freaks me out so you might have to take the lead on this one.” Nat smiles sheepishly at Lottie and Lottie looks at her in amazement.
“Wow, most guys wouldn’t admit that.” Nat’s eyes widen at that because she forgot for a moment she’s supposed to be acting more masculine.
“Shit, you’re right.” Before Nat can try to take back her statement, Lottie grabs her hands.
“Don’t worry. I think it’s actually refreshing.” Lottie smiles at Nat and Nat can feel the blush creeping on her cheeks.
“You do?” Nat starts smiling shyly but before she can respond again, Mari, who had been sitting at the end of the table, interrupts.
“Hey, no paper near the Bunsen burner!” And holds out one of Nat’s papers in front of their faces.
“What’s this?” Nat panics when she notices what it is and tries to take it back but Lottie just holds it out of reach. “Poems?”
Nat sighs before deciding just to tell her. “They’re lyrics. It’s some old stuff that I used to write with my cousin.” Which is true. Nat and Nathan used to write songs together whenever Nat wasn’t busy with soccer and Nathan needed help with lyrics. The one in Lottie’s hands however is one that Nat had written on her own and had kept private until now.
“Is it a relapse if it’s just a drink? A picture perfect full of friends I used to keep…” Lottie started off smiling but trailed off as she kept on reading the lyrics. “This is really good Nat. It’s so honest.”
“Thanks, I wrote it about being sober.” Nat blushes and Lottie looked like she was about to ask a question when Mari interrupted again.
“Uh I write songs too Lottie!”
“Really that’s great Mari.” Lottie doesn’t even look away from Nat and Nat’s blush deepens.
Then Mari starts singing. “I see you through your window, while I’m standing on a tree outside…” Both Lottie and Nat look away at that.
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Class ends and Nat finds Travis waiting for her outside. “We need to talk.” He grabs her arm and drags her to a bench and sits her down while sitting across from her. “Did you mention me at all?”
“No, was I supposed to?” Nat looks at him confused.
Travis looks at her exasperated. “Come on man, this is perfect. You get to spend an hour with her every other day. You can convince her to go out with me.”
“Dude, she had that option for like 3 and a half years.” Nat reminds him, plus she may or may not be developing a crush on said girl. Travis gets a serious look on his face.
“I’ll tell you what. You convince Lottie to go out with me and I’ll work with you on your soccer. I’ll make you good enough to make first-string.” Nat’s eyes widen at this.
“Wait can you do that by the Cornwall game?”
“Absolutely! So what do you say, do we have a deal?” Travis looks at her expectingly and Nat nods vigorously.
“Alright man, you got yourself a deal!” Travis fist bumps her excitedly.
“You’re the man!” He smiles at Nat and Nat grins back.
“Fuck yeah I am.”