On Wednesday around lunch time I found myself standing in front of a random door on second floor of the school. Instead of eating in the cafeteria with my friends, I chose to humor Nick and follow his instructions of him telling me to meet him here.

Nick and I had agreed to get to know one another for no specific reason at all. We both have been judging the other from what rumors we had heard, so this was an opportunity to change things. I was nervous to say the least. I have never been good with making new friends. If it weren't for Lacey, I would be a loner like my brother Carter.

I take a deep breath and prepare myself to knock on the door. I bring my left hand up to knock a few times and soon after I hear a "come in" I hope that was Nick and not some stranger.

I walk into the room and see Nick sitting at a random desk on his phone.

He looks up to see me, "Well look who finally shows up." He grunts.

Wow, he is so mannerly.

I hold up my container of salad, "I had to get food."

"So did I, but I didn't take my sweet time." He counters. "Anyways, have a seat." He points to an empty seat across from him.

I gently sit down on the chair and sit my salad on the table along with a bottle of water and my phone. I nervously play with my bracelet, "What is the room?"

"The AV club uses it." He replies after swallowing his bite of pizza.

I nod my head in understanding, "And how do you have a key to it?"

"Last year I paid a senior to make me a key. He said he only did it so I wouldn't beat him up. I told him repeatedly that I wasn't going to." He laughs.

"I thought you ate by the big tree near the field?" I ask confused.

"I usually do. But when it is cold or raining I eat in here." He explains.

"You could eat in the cafeteria like a normal student." I quickly put face palm myself after realizing I said that out loud. "I'm sorry." I mutter and look down.

Nick chuckles, "You think every little thing you say is going to offend me. It doesn't."

Once again I nod and decide to shut my mouth and eat my salad.

Nick and I eat in silence for a while, both of us just scrolling through our phones.

"Did you tell your friend where you were going?" Nick suddenly asks.

I look up from my food, "Yep. She hangs out with Logan and I don't mind. So I should be able to hang out in one of your random hide outs."

I wasn't lying. I actually did tell Lacey. At first she was confused but I did in fact bring up that she hangs out with Logan, to which she said that Logan wasn't labelled as a bad boy at his school. She refused to let me leave until I promised her that if there was any problems I would call or text her immediately. She also told me to tell her where Nick spends his free time at school but I felt that could cross the line of trust Nick gave me.

"Are you scared to be around me by yourself?" Nick questions with his brows furrowed.

"What?" I ask.

"Are you scared of me?" He repeats.

"Uh...no." I reply.

"You seem scared." He points out.

"I'm not, I'm just not use to being around you." I say.

Okay, that one may have been a little white lie. I was scared and nervous to be alone with Nick. Any other time it was a parking lot or a kitchen with people twenty feet away. This time was different.

"Fine, I am a tad bit scared. It's just that I don't know you that well. And...and I know that this is why we decied to do this. So we could get to know one another better. I'm going to be nervous and scared." I breathe.

Nick runs a hand through his hair, "You've got nothing to be scared of. I won't hurt you. I'm actually pretty harmless. The things you have heard aren't true. I don't go around threatening people or beating them up. Johnny is an excuse because he was being a huge dick. Just because I don't prefer talking to the kids here doesn't mean I am an awful person." Nick defends himself.

I feel like a very crappy person.

"I believe you." I smile which causes Nick to give a smile that stops my heart for a minute. He has a very cute smile.

"Thank you, cheerleader." He smirks. I roll my eyes. Maybe one day he will call me Taylor.

I close the lid on my container and move it aside to put my hands on the table. "You know, people aren't correct about me either." I say and Nick nods for me to continue. "I am a cheerleader, yes, but I'm not one of those from the movies. I actually do care about what others are going through. I'm not selfish or self-centered, I do love to shop and yes I do care about my appearance. I try my best in school and I do tend to spend too much time on my phone. I don't want to be someone who tears people down just because I want to." I pause and start playing with my bracelet and brace myself for the next thing. "I've seen first hand what that does to someone and I don't want to do that to anyone." I finish with a breath.

Nick glances down at my bracelet, "What's the story with that?" He asks.

"We don't know each other well enough for you to know." I whisper.
"Okay." He simply says. I mentally release a breath. If he knew that story, he would end something that hasn't even had the chance to begin. He most likely will never find out.

"I have another story." I announce.

"Tell away." He urges.

"For my fourth birtday I asked my parents for this doll house that I spotted while at the mall. My birthday came and I got the doll house but that was also the day my parents sat me down and told me that I was going to have a little sibling. I was so upset that I didn't play with the doll house for two weeks. Not long after I went to my mom's ultrasound appointment with her, the doctor showed me the baby and I fell in love. I was so happy that I finally started playing with the doll house." I pause to look over at Nick.

"You wanted this doll house but got so upset that you punished your parents by not playing with it. All because you didn't want a sibling." He says trying to understand it.

"Yes, but there is more." I say.

"Continue." He orders.

"A couple of months later my mom had another docotrs appointment to find out the sex of the baby. I had been so sure I was going get a little sister, I already had one brother, two would of been too many." I laugh. "Well, turns out I was insanely wrong. I got a little brother instead. Once again I was upset but didnt stop playing with the doll house this time around. The family was already in a very serious situation that needed to be resolved, so I couldn't bail out on them. In time I came around to the fact that I now had two brothers. Actually, thinking about it now, I prefer it, I having been giving my parents hell here lately. It's good they've only got one daughter." I finish.

"Does your brother know that you rather he be a girl?" Nick asks curious.

I laugh a little, "He does. I would try to get him to play Barbies with me but he refused. Pretty sure he was thrilled when I went to school."

"I wasn't as pissed at my parents when they told me I was transferring here." Nick blurts out.

"You weren't?" I raise an eye brow.

"Nope. I understood where they were coming from. They wanted me to have the best education. Believe it or not, I do care about my grades and my grades reflect well. My friends were pissed so I acted pissed. But, once I got here, I was fine with it. I liked my old school, but a change was nice." Nick explains.

"You didn't get kicked out of your old school, then?" I ask referring to a rumor I heard when he first arrived here.

Nick chuckles, "Nah. My parents would not have sent me here. They would have sent me to live with my grandparents in Vermont."

Ah, so his parents play the grandparent card as well.

It's so interesting how one piece of information can change your whole image of someone. A part of me knew that Nick wasn't all bad, I mean he did protect me from Johnny. He puts up a wall just like me, Lacey and the rest of the kids here at school.

I look down at my phone to see that our lunch period is coming to an end. I can't help but feel bummed. I actually enjoyed this time with Nick. He is a lot better when he isn't around people who expect certain things from him. I'm sure I would have noticed this side of him with his friends if I wasn't to busy seeing red from Micah's comments about us attending a Prep School.

"Times up for today." I say holding up my phone.

"Seems like it." Nick agrees.

"This was nice." I comment.

"It wasn't torture." He jokes.

"Bye Nick." I say grabbing my garbage and throwing it in the trash can.

"Later cheerleader. " Nick bids.

Nick waits in the room and I know exactly why. Even though we just spent the past forty-five minutes talking and getting to know one another, he is still on the fence about people seeing me with him. If I am being honest, I don't give a shit if they see us together. If it were up to me, we would of had this one on one session in the cafeteria where everyone could see it. Including Johnny.

I wanted to tell him that I didn't mind if he walked out of the room directly behind me, but I figured we needed to take baby steps. I didn't want to spook him. I finally had the thing I had been wanting for the past month, a friendship with the one guy in school who avoids everyone. After he saved me I wanted to know more about him. He was like an up and coming celebrity who no one knew yet they all wanted to. So far I have had a peek at it and I was no where near ready to stop.

- - - - - - -

Heyyy!!! This one is a little bit shorter than the others, my apologies.

I hope the book is good so far. Things between taylor and nick are certainly heading places. Taylor is very interested in him. Nick is getting there, slowly but surely.

Stay tuned...we've got a birthday to celebrate soon. Any guess who's????

BYE!!!!