My Handsome Crush

The cafeteria was buzzing with activities as usual; students talking and arguing; laughing and yelling. The sound of the voices and noise mixed together sounded like badly composed music. Natalie Jones held tight to her tray as she walked to the empty seat at the end of the cafeteria; the same seat she had been sitting on for the past two years. The seat was empty as usual. Nobody had ever came to sit with her and she was too scared to go sit with anyone else. She stumbled ahead and tried to concentrate on her balance. She couldn't afford tripping over herself and falling down.She looked up and caught sight of lily staring at her. Their eyes met. Lily whispered something to the girl sitting beside her and they both laughed. Natalie could tell it was about her. Lily did that a lot whenever she sees her. Natalie's face burned. As she was walking past lily's table, lily stuck out her leg and Natalie tripped against it, falling forward; the contents of her tray spilled all over the floor and some of it flew to her face. The whole cafeteria erupted in laughter. She heard lily whisper "ugly loser" Natalie fought back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. She got up and ran out, barely seeing ahead of her as her vision was clouded with tears she wouldn't let fall down. She burst into tears the moment she entered the restroom and shut the door. She stood behind the door and cried until she could stand no more. Then she slide down the door and sat on the floor. This restroom knew her more than anybody in the school, she thought. What with all the time she had spent crying in here. She stood up and walked to the tap, turned it on and washed off the mayonnaise that had flew out of her sandwich and stained her hand. She took a napkin and wiped the rest off her face. She looked in the mirror arranged in front of the taps and sees a fat girl with black hair, dull eyes and a face ravaged with pimples. She hates herself, she thought. And she hated lily. It's surprising how people could change so much in just a number of years

She and lily used to be good friends when they were little and even up to middle school. Then they got to high school and lily started dating Michael and started to treat her like trash. Natalie tooks some wipes to dab her eyes. She looked into the mirror again. She was tempted to squeeze one of the pimples on her face but she didn't want to go to class with a bloody face. The bell rang. Her next class was English. She would hardly pay attention to the teacher because Micheal was going to be in this class. She was a straight A student but her grade in English was beginning to fall, and she knew it was because of Micheal Kruger. She's had a crush on him since middle school, way before lily started to date him. Back when she and lily were still friends. She had told lily about it and lily had said she was going to match make them. A week later, Natalie found lily and Micheal kissing in the locker room of the gym. Natalie took one last look at herself before stepping out of the restroom into the passage. She kept her head down as she walked to her locker to get her books and then to her class.

Micheal was sitting on the table chatting with some guys when Natalie walked in. The teachers usually gives them 10 minutes to settle down after lunch before they come in. Natalie walked to her seat at the back and settled in. From the point, she could have a good view of Micheal; his light brown hair, his leavy green eyes and perfectly sculpted face. How could he be so handsome? She wondered to herself. She continued to stare at him as he chatted and laughed. Some new guys came in and Micheal shook hands with them. He was popular with all the boys in the school. And most of the girls too. But he was dating lily and no one was willing to cross her.

The English teacher, Miss Zoe, walked in.

"Settle down class" she said and sat on her desk.

They talked about the book she had asked them to read. Natalie had done her assignment and they submitted for her to mark. She spent the greater part of the class looking at Michael. The class was over too soon. The teacher left and the students scampered out to their next class. Natalie hurried out too, not wanting to lose sight of Micheal. There was some traffic on the door entrance and Natalie strained her neck to see Michael. She saw him standing in front of her and she stumbled forward, stepping on his toe by accident.

"Sorry, sorry" she begged

Micheal gave her a cold look with his green eyes. Seeing those eyes so close up, she stopped breathing

"Clumsy bitch" Micheal said

Natalie's eyes filled with tears. She looked away and hurried out, again to the restroom. Nothing had hurt her so much in her life. Micheal, the guy she had spent her whole life loving, had called her a 'clumsy bitch'. The tears streamed from her face soaking her blouse.

The rest of the day went by painfully slowly. Natalie couldn't wait to get out of the school and go home. Not that home was any fun considering her stepbrother was there but at least she had her room to go up to.

Her mother came to pick her up. Her mother, Jane, ran a department store not far away from her school and she was happy to pick her up and drop her home everyday after school. The blue sedan pulled up at the front of the school. She got out of the car and smiled when she saw Natalie coming. Natalie tried to smile back but her face felt stiff from all the crying.

"You okay, honey" Jane asked, her forehead creased in worry.

"Yes, I'm fine" Natalie said and got into the car before her mother could ask her any other question. Her mother got in the driver's seat and peered into her face.

"You look like you've been crying. Did something happen?" Her mother asked

"Nothing happened," Natalie said, her voice breaking. She knew her mother wouldn't let her be until she knew what was wrong. She just had to look for a lie to tell her. Maybe she could say she was sick. Or something. Jane pulled out of the parking lot and zoomed out of the school. She kept glancing at Natalie all the way home. Natalie was beginning to get angry. She wanted to tell her mom to stop staring at her. She wanted to cry. But she had done enough crying for one day. She turned to Jane.

"I'm okay mom, really" she assured

"Okay...if you say so" Jane said. But she didn't look convinced.

Natalie's mom dropped her off at home and drove back to work. Natalie braced herself before entering the house. She knew her stepbrother Roy would be inside the house already. He closes a little earlier than her. They attended different schools and that was because Roy insisted on it. Her school Madison High has a middle school close to the high school but Roy would rather be far from her. Roy was only 12 but he really knows how to snub someone. He could literally walk past Natalie a hundred times and pretend she was not there. Natalie tried to wear a friendly face as she entered the house. Roy was in the living room when she got inside. He was sitting on the floor and had papers spread all over the table. He didn't even turn to look at her when she entered.

"Hi Roy" she said cheerfully

He didn't answer.

"Roy"

Silence.

She walked up to him. He was drawing on a piece of paper. Natalie bent down to get a better look. S