Chapter 5- The Pretty Boy

It was as though her mind had conjured him from one of her many romance novels.

“Hi, you must be Natalie Sanders.” He greeted with a little smile.

Natalie was awestruck, star struck... in fact all the kinds of struck there was. The poor girl could barely get her mouth to remember the process of talking, much less get her brain to formulate a decent conversation, and so she just sat there, spluttering like some fish out of water.

The pretty boy chuckled. He looked to be in his early twenties, having this charming, boy next door look that was offset by his intimidating height and ripped body. He looked... he looked like that tall guy in that kissing booth movie! His name had quite slipped Natalie in that moment, but she was sure she’d remember it eventually.

“You're… different.” The man-boy muttered, the words snapping Natalie out of her awestruck bubble. “Different?”

“Yeah, different. You know, Bloomingdale Valley hasn’t had someone like you around in a long time.” He explained.

Natalie struggled to her feet at this, cast and all, anger fueling her every move, totally numbing the pain. “What the hell is that even supposed to mean? Look, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you don't know me, so don't classify me into some fucking category as if you have me all figured out, because you don't.”

The beautiful man was completely taken by surprise. He had definitely underestimated the girl, thinking her to be the shy, laid back, allows-everyone-to-walk-over her type and he was glad to know that he had been wrong, but she had completely misunderstood him. “I’m so sorry, you have it all wrong, I honestly meant it in a good way, I swear—”

“It’s fine really. Whatever you think about me doesn’t matter to me anyway.” Natalie cut him off. “Uhm… are you looking for my parents? Because if you are, they're not around. You'll have to go and come back another time.”

“Actually, I'm here for you.” Came the reply.

The words warmed Natalie's heart somewhat. I mean, not once did she think that the extremely hot guy before her would actually come looking for her... it-it made her feel,

Flattered.

“Okay? Well, what do you want?”

“I was actually asked by college to bring you your assignments and other things concerning school work, seeing as I’m your closest neighbor and all.” He explained.

It was then that the silver haired girl took in his entire appearance, her eyes shifting to the plastic bag in his hands, Bloomingdale Valley University boldly written on it.

Oh.

Once again, the teenager was rendered speechless. “I-I’m sorry. It’s j-just that you caught me at a very bad time, I’m usually n-not like this.” She tried weakly.

The boy opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was, was cut off by the sound of a male voice hollering the name Tristan so loud that Natalie thought her ears would tear off. Their attentions both shifted across the street, where a black boy around the same age of the handsome stranger stood, the look on his face the literal picture of impatience if it were a person.

“Tristan!!! Yo, the Alpha wants to see you.” The guy called out again.

“I’ll be there soon, fuck… do you have to shout so loud?!!” The boy, who Natalie reckoned was called Tristan yelled right back, turning to shoot her an apologetic look and a sheepish grin. “Sorry about that.”

“No problem. The Alpha though?” Natalie teased, fidgeting slightly. “What is this? Some real life episode of Teen Wolf or something?”

Tristan chuckled. The pretty girl was interesting, he’d give her that. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell her certain things, and he’d have to alert the council to make people tread carefully whenever they were around the Sanders family. The boy struggled to think of how best to explain things to her without revealing any secrets. “Uhm… so, the Alpha is just a nickname the townspeople have given my father because of how uptight and annoying he can be sometimes, that’s all. He’s the mayor.”

Fuck, that was so lame.

He thought to himself, but funnily enough, she seemed to buy it. If only she knew how close she had been to being right in just one guess.

“Oh wow, so you’re the mayor’s son. Interesting.” Natalie mused.

“Well I guess you can say that.” Tristan chuckled again. “Uhm, anyway… I’ve got to go, here are your uhm-stuff,” He handed the bag over to her. “It was nice meeting you Natalie.” He smiled slightly.

Natalie shot him one right back. “Nice meeting you too, Tristan.”

The girl watched him leave, the little smile that had been on her face was still there, and from the look of things, it looked like it wasn’t going to go away any time soon.

*******

Perhaps it was the joy of having someone else other than her parents speak to her, or perhaps Natalie had had enough of her silent treatment —no one really knows— but that evening, at dinner, the teenager struck conversation with her mother and father… the first she had done all week.

“You know, Bloomingdale Valley Uni sent someone to bring my school supplies today.” She said.

Phil and Lynn Sanders shot each other a look. Where the hell did they sleep yesternight to be gifted this pleasant surprise?

“Oh, they did? That’s great!” Phil exclaimed enthusiastically. For him, seeing his daughter’s eyes light up again was the best thing that could have possibly happened to him, for he had been consumed by guilt and he was glad that she had finally decided to take the first step towards forgiveness.

“How’s your leg?” Lynn asked in concern. She was doing quite alright herself after that weird incident. After having gotten a priest to come cleanse the entire house the day after, nothing bizarre had happened again ever since then. For that, Lynn was grateful, because she rather liked their new house.

She really did.

And it’d be such a shame to have to sell it on account of demonic inhabitation.

“My leg’s doing better by the day, I’m pretty sure I’ll be out of the cast by next week.” Natalie informed them.

There was a comfortable silence as everyone dug into their dinner but Natalie broke the silence. “Look guys, I’m really sorry that I’ve been much of a jerk this whole week, I-I just didn’t know how to handle the whole situation.” She explained softly.

“It’s alright, honey,” Lynn quipped. “We shouldn’t have lied to you in the first place, and honestly speaking, we didn’t think about the consequences Martha’s death will have on your social life, and for that we’re sorry.”

“We really are, Nat. But you know one thing that I absolutely believe?” Phil asked the young woman who shook her head in the negative. “I believe that once they take the chance to know you, they would come to love you for the amazing person you are.”

Natalie smiled softly. “Thanks, dad.” She looked at both of them, a small smirk gracing her lips. “So no more secrets?”

Phil and Lynn shot each other a look, their gazes shifting back to their daughter as smiles broke out on their faces. “No more secrets.” They chorused.

****

That night, Natalie sat in front of her dresser, brushing her long silver hair before bed. Her eyes constantly kept shifting to the worn out diary still sitting lazily atop her dresser, and each time, she’d tear her gaze away from it to the mirror instead, focusing on the whole process of detangling her hair, but it got to a point where she couldn’t take it anymore.

Sighing deeply, the young woman reached for the diary and opened to the first page, her fingers running across the brown colored paper absentmindedly.

She reached out for the blue pen on the dresser, her body slightly quivering in anticipation as she silently contemplated shutting the diary like she usually did, only this time she didn’t want to do that.

Only this time, she actually had a story to tell.

Sighing deeply again, Natalie uncapped the pen, and for the first time ever, she wrote in the diary;

Dear Diary,

I met someone today.