Chapter 5

Nate was furious when he saw Amelia holding the picture of him and Destiny. He didn’t like anyone to know about her, which is why he never let anyone go inside his room.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have come inside the room without your permission,” Amelia said, her eyes were full of regrets.

“I need you to leave, right now!” he said with his voice full of rage.

“Look, I said I was sorry, okay?” she insisted.

“I don’t want to fucking hear it. Just get the fuck out of my house.” Nate said heatedly.

“Okay, I get it,” Amelia said and ran downstairs. She didn’t understand what the big deal was. She had a feeling he was angrier about her looking at the picture than the fact that she was inside the room. She was curious to know why but she didn’t want to push him.

It took Nate a few minutes to calm down. He knew he overreacted a little bit, but she did cross the line by entering his room without his permission. He picked up the picture and looked at it. He should get rid of it, but he didn’t have the heart to do it. It has been almost a year since that day.

The next day at lunchtime, he grabbed a tray full of food and headed to his table.

“Hey Nate,” he looked up and saw Amelia standing in front of him.

“What do you want?” Nate said.

“Just want to talk,” she said quietly.

“Look, I am okay with working with you on the project, but that’s it,” Nate said, scowling.

“I don’t know what your problem is. I admit I was wrong for entering your room without permission, but you don’t have to treat me like dirt. I am only trying to be your friend, and you keep pushing me away,” her eyes were dark with sadness.

“And I told you I don’t need a friend. Especially not you,” Nate said bluntly.

Amelia came closer to him and touched his hand. “Why not? What happened to you? Did she break your heart that badly? Please tell me. I can help.” Amelia wasn’t willing to give up on him just yet. For some reason, she felt drawn to him.

Nate hesitated for a moment, and his eyes softened for a split second. But then he shook his head and smacked her hand away from his, making her flinch.

“You know how you can help? By leaving me the fuck alone. You are loud, aggravating, and obnoxious, and I cannot stand you,” Nate said cruelly. “So why don’t you find some loser that is crazy enough to like you?” he hissed.

Sadness enveloped her face. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said quietly. “I’ll leave you alone if that you really want.” With that, she walked away from the table.

The next day, Nate saw Amelia in class but avoided her gaze.

“Alright, everyone, it is almost time to finish the project. We will be presenting tomorrow,” Ms. Webb said.

Shit, the project, Nate thought. He looked at Amelia, who was writing something on a piece of paper. She passed the paper to him quietly.

“Don’t worry about the project, I’ll finish it tonight and bring it in,” the note said.

Great, he thought. He didn’t want to spend any more time with her.

He did feel kind of bad for telling her off. He could’ve handled it a lot better, but sometimes he can’t control his anger.

After school, he went home and plopped down on his bed. He received a text from his father.

“We are having dinner next week on Friday night. I expect you to be there.” his text said.

Typical Dad, always making demands. Nate would rather do anything else in the world than go to this dinner, but he didn’t have any choice. His dad wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Amelia’s face kept popping up in his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about the sadness in her usual cheerful eyes when he told her off. He shouldn’t have been so harsh. He knew she was only trying to be nice to him. In fact, she was the only person who was nice to him and genuinely wanted to be his friend. He knew he tends to self-sabotage every time someone got too close to him. He was still too afraid to let people in.

Amelia was thinking about Nate too. She usually didn’t let people get to her, but his harsh words hurt her feelings this time. She didn’t know why she felt a certain pull toward him. All she knew that she liked him. A lot. But he made it clear that she was a nuisance.

Maybe I will leave him alone, she thought. She started to put the final touches on their project. After the presentation is done, she won’t speak to him again.

The next day, everyone in the class was preparing for their presentation. Amelia came in early and started to get ready. Nate walked in a few minutes later.

“Hey,” he said and avoided her gaze. He didn’t have his usual scowl on his face. It was replaced by sadness. Did he feel bad about what he said to her? she thought. She immediately rejected the idea since Nate didn’t seem like the type who felt bad about anything.

“Hi, so I finished the sculpture. Take a look and see what you think,” she said and took the cover off.

Nate looked at it in amazement. It was an extremely realistic looking Pink Lily. The details were so precise that they looked real at first glance.

“Wow!” he said before he could stop himself. “That looks really cool.”

“Thank you. I hope we get an A on it,” Amelia said seriously.

Pretty soon, it was their turn to present. Everyone in the class, including Ms. Webb, gasped when they saw her sculpture with admiration in their eyes.

They took a seat after the presentation. Nate turned around and looked at Amelia.

“That went pretty well, huh?” he said awkwardly.

“Yeah…” That’s all she said.

I guess she is still upset about the things I said to her, he thought. Good. Maybe she will finally leave me alone now.