Believe In Me FF:: Updated pg. 6 - Page 5

Caitlyn sighed and slammed her locker shut. It had been a horrible day. That Monday morning, she had thought she could trust Mitchie enough to tell her about rescuing Nate, but to help get Caitlyn popular, Mitchie had blabbed it to the entire school.

Not that being popular was bad, but everyone had been hanging on to her sleeves all morning, annoying the hell out of her. And to add to her misery, Miranda got even more jealous of her.

"Caitlyn! Come on!" Mitchie waved from down the hall, with an excited grin spread on her face.

Caitlyn grumbled and walked over to Mitchie, whom she could never really stay mad at, "Mitch…you promised not to tell anyone! Look at me now!"

"Oh please, you're finally getting some spotlight! I did it for you!" Mitchie smiled at some random stranger beaming at them and waved, "I mean…look at them! They're all over you!"

"Yea, not for the right reason," Caitlyn retorted, "They just want to meet Nate. That's the second problem. Once they find out I really don't have any connections with him, you know everything will go down the drain, right?"

But Mitchie was not listening. She was staring ahead with a shocked and dazed expression, "Cait…Caitly…Caitlyn, loo-look…oh...my…oh, oh, oh…oh my goodness!"

Caitlyn gazed at Mitchie confused and quickly turned her head in the direction her friend was pointing. She stopped in her tracks. Three very familiar figures had just entered through the high school front entrance. One of them was definitely Nate, who looked completely cured, and other two must have been Shane and Jason. Well, they obviously were, Mitchie's posters told that already…

It felt like the high school stopped moving, like everything was pulled into slow motion. People fell silent, and books were dropping. Okay, that was a bit exaggerated, but it was the appropriate time to use it. After about a minute, high pitched screams and squeals filled the air and people were rushing to the band and smushing them in between their large mobs; Mitchie was one of them.

Caitlyn gaped at the whole scene happening in front of her eyes. People were so…desperate and crazy when it came to celebrities. The bell rang, but nobody moved. Rolling her eyes, Caitlyn gathered her stuff and rushed to her English class.

"I wonder why they're here…could it be…to see me?" Caitlyn thought to herself, "No, that's stupid. I'm still a nobody. On the bright side, maybe Mrs. Crawford will give me extra credit for being the only student to show up in class!"

Her hunch proved true. Nobody was in the classroom when Caitlyn stepped in. Her petite teacher looked up and smiled, "Oh, I'm so glad somebody showed up! It's like everything stopped. Do you know what happened?"

Caitlyn smiled meekly, "Err…yea, some famous band showed up at the front entrance. Everyone's crowding around them…"

Mrs. Crawford looked shocked for a second, "Well! That never happens, now does it? You can take you're seat…I have to inform the principal."

"Umm…Mrs. Crawford?" Caitlyn asked as her teacher looked up again, "Can I have…extra credit?" She had never actually been very strong in English.

Her teacher broke into fits of laughter, "I suppose so…you are after all the only one who showed up."

Caitlyn sat down satisfied and inspected her nails. A part of her wanted to jump out of her seat and run back to the mob to ask Nate how he felt and to tell him that she saved him, but that would be stupid. She would be just like everyone else then. Soon enough, an announcement was heard over the intercom.

"All students must return to their classes at once, or there will be severe punishments! I have been alerted that some unexpected guests have arrived, and that will be taken care of. But I repeat, all students please return to your respective classes or the following punishment will be given: An after school suspension for two weeks for three hours, in which the student will be assigned to clean or help with some part of the school…"

After a couple minutes, Caitlyn could hear the groans and bustling of the high school once more. People had actually listened. One by one, all her classmates filed in the room and took their seats as usual. Many gave her surprised looks, but she chose to ignore them. They were talking severely amongst each other, until Mrs. Crawford silenced them.

"Excuse me class! I know you're excited, but we really do need to move on now!" she announced. More groans were heard and she waved them off, "Thank you! Now, open you're text books to pg. 320."

Besides the giggles and gossip of the girls in the back of her class, everything seemed to back in place. About thirty minutes passed very slowly, and right when Mrs. Crawford was about to assign some big project, two people entered the doorway.

With wide eyes, Caitlyn recognized Mr. Rivera, the principal, and with him was none other than Nate Black.

Mrs. Crawford peered out of her glasses and beckoned at them, "Is there anything I could do for you Mr. Rivera?"

The principal cleared his throat a bit nervously, "Actually, yes. We have a new student! Mrs. Nate Black would like to enroll in this high school for the time being. I would appreciate it if someone could show him around and give him direction for the rest of his classes…"

"Yes of course!" Mrs. Crawford looked delighted, "I'll have someone do that. Nate, you can take that empty seat next to Miranda…"

The class was once again buzzing, and all eyes were on Nate. Miranda looked extremely happy and gave Nate a wide goofy grin when he took his seat.

"I can not believe this!" Caitlyn thought, turning her attention back to the teacher, "I wonder if I'll ever get a chance to talk to him…"

"Now…as I was saying, I've thought of a fun project you can all do!" Mrs. Crawford chirped, obviously not seeing that nobody was paying attention to her, "an English Journal!"

Caitlyn leaned forward. She looked around for a quick second and caught Nate's eye. He glimpsed her staring and smiled slightly. She blushed and quickly turned around again.

"What I mean is that I'll give you a list of twenty random topics, allright? You will be assigned a partner to work with, and each of you will write ten small stories of any genre as long as they relate to the topic I give you. Put your stories together as a book in anyway, as long as it is typed, and I will grade them according to correct grammar and creativity!" Mrs. Crawford finished, clapping her hands together, "Now let's assign partners!"

She grabbed a hat with scraps of paper tucked inside messily, and grabbed two at random each time.

"Lisa Harrison and Shawn White!"

The two students smiled at each other.

"Probably friends," Caitlyn thought, "or a couple…"

Before she picked the next to, the young teacher smiled goofily, "Oops, we have a new student, don't we?" she glanced at Nate warmly, "We'll have to add your name in of course!"

She grabbed a notebook, scribbled something on it, and tossed it in the hat. Then she continued calling out names.

"Brooke Johnson and Zeek Bail!"

"Tiffany Thomas and Fiona Redwater!"

"Jerome Klompen and Jessica Bryans!"

"Caitlyn Gellar and…oh! Nate Black!"

Caitlyn sucked her breath; she didn't hear or care about the rest of the names being called. She was paired with him, and now he probably knew. Taking the chance, Caitlyn glanced cautiously over. Nate gave her an award winning smile, a smile any one would die for. Sinking in her seat to avoid anyone seeing her bright red cheeks, Caitlyn sighed happily.

After class was dismissed, Caitlyn walked shyly over to where Nate was still gathering his stuff.

"Hi, I'm…I'm Caitlyn," she said, bending over slightly so he would hear her. He looked up from his books and grinned again, "I know, I finally found you…"

"Found me?" Caitlyn asked, "What do you mean?"

Nate shook his head, "You have no idea! I practically racked this town for Caitlyn Gellar. I owe you my life!"

"You do? Oh! You mean the car accident…" Caitlyn remarked stupidly, "Right, well, there's no need to thank me. I was happy too help." She finished awkwardly; it sounded like she was talking to him about helping with a homework assignment. For the tenth time that day, a blush started seeping up her cheeks.

"Yea, well, thanks anyway," Nate finished awkwardly as well, "I'm glad I got partnered with you and not that stalker girl next to me. You know, the one with the dark hair and seductive grin?"

Caitlyn laughed, "Oh, you mean Miranda! Just stay away from her and you'll have a happy year."

"I was planning too," Nate chuckled, "By the way; can you show me where my next class is?"

Oddly, talking to Caitlyn was very easy. Normally, girls scared him… but Caitlyn was so…so…different, and beautiful.

As the thought occurred to him, Nate blushed and grew silent. It was a blessing Shane wasn't here, or else things would turn out pretty embarrassing.

"Yea, sure!" Caitlyn piped at ease, "Let me see your schedule."

Scanning at it quickly, she replied, "You have Chemistry next; that's in Room 208, down the hall, up the stairs, and to your left."

Nate smiled again, "Thanks, do we have any classes together?"

"Lunch, I think," Caitlyn replied automatically before scanning the schedule again. Then she groaned, "And gym."

"Why the groan, not good?" Nate teased, "That's allright, I won't laugh." Caitlyn stuck her tongue out, "Haha, and no, I do not suck. I am actually very good, just the gym teacher is worried about letting me play because he insists that something is wrong with my joints."

Nate laughed, "That's interesting. Why would he think that?"

"Long story."

Nate shrugged, "I have time." Caitlyn's eyes grew wide at the mention of the word.

"Shoot, time! I missed my class!" she panicked, "I have to go!" She started to speed out the door when Nate caught her arm.

"It's okay," he assured, "The teacher knows you're showing me around."

Caitlyn looked unsure, "Maybe, but I still have to go. I don't want to miss the lesson."

Nate looked disappointed but let go immediately, "Right, see you at lunch then."

"See you," Caitlyn whispered wistfully as the both parted.