I sat hunched over on a bench, trying to hide away from everyone.
I just wanted to be invisible for a change.
It wasn’t going to work. Everyone kept on looking over towards me,
wanting to know the new girl or to see what they could get out of me,
making me feel intimidated and small. I saw a pair of feet appear in
front of me, making me look up. Nathaniel stood there in his usual black
dress code and attractive beauty. The look on his face told me that he
didn’t want to be around me, but had no choice.
“Hello Brianna,” Nathaniel spoke and sat next to me.
“I thought you don’t like new people or at least don’t talk to them
and treat them like dirt?” I asked and looked over towards him.
He narrowed his eyes at me and took a few deep breaths. I could
tell that he still wasn’t a fan of me, but why was he talking to me for?
Did someone set him up to talk to me or did he have a change of heart?
“I thought that I better be nice to you for Hudson’s sake as I have no
other intention to talk to you,” he said, making me get up.
“Well, when you have the time and the energy to be nice to me on
your own accord, let me know then because right now, I don’t want
nothing to do with you,” I seethed and tried to leave but he grabbed my
arm, stopping me.
I ripped my arm out of his grip and started walking. My lack of sleep
hadn’t put me in the best mood, and Nathaniel had made it that bit
30
sourer. I heard Nathaniel call my name, but I didn’t respond back. I just
wanted to be left alone and it seemed like I wasn’t going to get my wish
today. I never got my wish on any day.
“Brianna, can we please just talk?” Nathaniel asked behind me,
making me grind to a halt.
I spun around and looked the pale skin, honey coloured hair, emer-
ald green eyed god square in the eye. He took a step back when he saw
I wasn’t playing friendly. “Why do you want to talk for Nathaniel? I have
had enough already and I don’t need you adding to it, making it worse,”
I said and waited for him to start speaking.
“Look, I know that we haven’t got off to the best of terms and that
my temper got the best of me yesterday twice and I am sorry for that,
but you need to understand something,” he said and got close to me.
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“You are getting to close to Hudson for my liking and I want you to
back off because we know nothing about you and I don’t you hurting
anyone in my circle, especially Hudson,” he hissed.
“You actually think I am going to hurt her? What about the fact I am
on Augusta’s wanted list of lives’ to ruin? What about the fact that I had
no plans on getting close to anyone here to save myself from more hurt,
and more pain that I am already going through? So if you think I am go-
ing to hurt Hudson or anyone for that fact, you are dead wrong as it is
me that always ends up with the broken heart and being hurt without
everyone realising that they are doing it, until it is too late for me to for-
give them,” I said through clenched teeth.
Nathaniel looked blankly at me after I finished that. It seemed like
he didn’t expect me to fire back at him. I shook my head and walked
past him, leaving him standing there. I walked over to where Hudson
was. She took one look over at me before running over.
“What happened?” she asked and pulled me in for a hug.
I couldn’t answer her. If I opened my mouth, I would have started
crying and I didn’t want that happening again. I didn’t want to be weak
or seem like I was. I wanted to be strong like I had been raised my whole
life. Hudson pulled back and looked at me and I couldn’t help the wave
of emotions that came over me that time. I started crying softly, making
31
her start to rub my back and try and calm me down.
“Talk to me Brianna,” she whispered and led me over to where I
previously sitting. “What happened?”
I looked at her and turned my eyes onto Nathaniel, who was stand-
ing behind her with a cold look on his face. Hudson did the same and
realised that he caused this. Her eyes narrowed and became hard to-
wards him.
“Nathaniel said that I was getting to close to you and that I needed
to back off because I haven’t told no one nothing about me and that I
would hurt someone in his circle of friends,” I said, my voice breaking.
“If he knew better and he usually does, he would have said nothing
like that to you. I know for a fact that you won’t hurt me because I trust
you and we are friends after all. I am more worried about saying some-
thing that will hurt you by mistake,” Hudson told me.
“You know, I had thought that today would have been a better day,
but it isn’t. In fact, it is a living nightmare that I didn’t want to happen,” I
muttered and got up.
Hudson did the same and looked back over to Nathaniel, who was
talking to Brandon. “Stay here,” she told me and walked over to them.
Sighing, I crossed my arms and slowly started to walk the other way
so I could hopefully go into hiding. I made my way to the girls’ bathroom
and pushed opened the door, seeing that I was alone. I caught my re-
flection in the mirror and saw that I looked like death. I should have just
stayed home. The door opened and Hudson walked in. She looked at
me, but didn’t say anything.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you going to be able to go to class or are you going to ditch
until you feel better?” she asked.
“Hudson, you can go. I am just going to stay here until I calm down a
bit more, but tell Mrs. Franklin that I will be late,” I said and turned
around so I didn’t have to look at her.
“What am I going to tell Nathaniel when he sees me? You do know
that we sit together in class for the time being.”
“Crap. I totally forgot about Alex. He is going to worry about me,” I
said, remembering my cousin when she mentioned Nathaniel’s name.
32
“I will talk to Alex about what happened. I still can’t get over that he
is your cousin. Alex is going to be so angry once I tell him about what
happened.”
I turned around and looked at her. What did she mean by that Alex
would be angry about what happened? Hudson had a smirk on her face,
but didn’t say anything. “What do you mean Alex will be so angry for?” I
asked.
“Alexander and Nathaniel don’t get along. They haven’t like each
other since the Pryor’s first moved here. Nathaniel thought Alex was a
rebel, while Alex thought Nathaniel was a spoilt brat and they haven’t
got along since.”
Would Nathaniel be treating me the way he was because of Alex?
Did he really think that I was the same as my cousin? Hudson walked
out of the bathroom, leaving me in my own thoughts. I screamed in
frustration, before grabbing my school bag and walked out of the bath-
room, stalking back towards the building.
Hudson wasn’t anywhere to be seen when I entered. I walked over
to the classroom and opened the door. Mrs. Franklin looked up and re-
lief shot across her face when she saw me standing there. I looked at
Nathaniel and noticed that he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at
the table, gripping it with his bare hands. If he gripped it any harder, it
looked like that he would have taken chunks out of it.
“You need to apologise to Brianna, Nathaniel. I don’t want to lose a
friend because of you,” I heard Hudson whisper in an angry tone.
“I apologised to her this morning, and look what happened,” Na-
thaniel hissed back.
“Do you think I care? Brianna is my friend and I will be damned if
you dare drive a wedge between us over you and your freaking temper
tantrums. You need to fix this,” she hissed back.
“Since when do you run my life?”
“Brianna isn’t like Alexander and what right to do you even have
telling her to back off? You don’t even know her and you are ruining
your chances of doing so.”
I kept my eyes trained on the floor as I made my way to the table.
Alex looked at me with questions in his eyes.
33
“Don’t ask,” I muttered and grabbed everything I needed.
“At least, can you please explain why Nathaniel and Hudson have
been fighting since she walked into the classroom and passed me a note
saying that she had something to tell me later?” Alex asked, not giving
up.
I looked at cousin and puffed out my cheeks. I was getting frustrated
and I knew it wouldn’t be long until I blew up and lost my temper. Alex
dropped it once he knew that my temper was about to let go. Most of
the lesson, I kept my eyes trained on Nathaniel’s back, burning holes
into it. Hudson looked over her shoulder at me, before saying some-
thing to Nathaniel.
“Mrs. Franklin, can be excused?” Nathaniel asked suddenly, his tone
hard and not giving away much emotion.
“Of course, but don’t be too long,” Mrs. Franklin said, glancing at
him.
Nathaniel walked out of the classroom, but took one last glare at
me. That was it. Grabbing my bag, I got up and walked over to Mrs.
Franklin’s desk and looked at her. I placed my hand on a piece of paper,
making her look up.
“Brianna, what can I help you with, my dear?” she asked, smiling up
at me.
“Nathaniel is what you can help me with. Can I go see what his
problem is, as he seemed upset when he left?” I asked.
She sighed and didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “I don’t know
if that is wise,” she finally said.
“If he has a problem with me, don’t you think I have the right to
know what it is so that we might be able to fix it?” I asked.
“Honey, you don’t know Nathaniel like I do. When he is like this, he
snaps at anyone who pesters him and it is better that he is left alone
until he can calm down and wants to talk. His temper isn’t really the
best and I don’t want you getting hurt because of him.”
We would make a good couple. With my temper and his cruelness,
we would be a force to be reckoned with.
“If you want to risk it, you can,” Mrs. Franklin said.
I nodded and walked out of the classroom, and towards the exit.
34
When I got outside, Nathaniel was leaning against the bricks, looking
straight ahead with a dead look on his face. I walked over to him and
cleared my throat.
“What do you want?” he asked with his tone harsh and cold.
“I want to know what your problem is with me. Have I done some-
thing to you that you don’t like or do you just like treating me like this
for the fun of it?” I asked.
“Did Mrs. Franklin send you to check on me?” he asked suddenly.
“I sent myself with her permission and you still haven’t answered
my question Nathaniel. I need to know what I have done wrong.”
He laughed, making me cross my arms and look up at him with an-
ger in my eyes. He slowly started to walk away from where I was stand-
ing. There was no way in hell that he was getting out of this one.
“Where the hell do you think you are going?” I asked and followed
him.
“Away from you,” he replied.
“Once you answer my question, maybe I will leave you alone,” I shot
back.
“You want to know what you have done to me?” he asked and I
nodded. “You are Alexander’s cousin and you seem the same as he is.”
I took a step back and laughed. How dare he think that I am the
same as my cousin? Did I say to him that he was nothing like James and
he should start acting like him just to see how he liked it?
“For you information Nathaniel, I am nothing like my cousin and I
would never will be even if anyone wanted me to.”
“Then why do we know nothing about you?” he asked.
“That’s for me to know and for Augusta to spread once she gets
wind of me talking to you,” I snapped, regretting saying it straight away.
“What did you just say Brianna?” Nathaniel asked, taken aback.
“Do I need to repeat what I just said? Augusta plans on making my
life here a living hell and I don’t even really know what she is capable of
doing to me, but I do know that it won’t be pretty.”
Nathaniel walked over to a bench and sat down, leaving room for
me to do the same. He leaned forward and placed his face in his hands. I
could tell something was bothering him since I snapped about Augusta.
35
“Is that what you meant yesterday about Augusta wanting to cause
trouble?” he asked and looked at me.
“Would I make up something like that just for the fun of it?” I asked.
“And I have cruel and cold for no reason thinking that you are just
like every other girl here trying to get my attention when you haven’t,”
he muttered.
“Wow, who would have thought that Nathaniel Norwood-Pryor
would realise that he was wrong?”
He glared at me, but I didn’t care. He needed to be told that he was
wrong, but he didn’t seem like the types that like being told that.
“I guess I have to say sorry.”
“You guess?” I asked and got up. “You need to. For the past forty-
eight hours, you have made my life a living hell and all I wanted was to
be your friend Nathaniel. I couldn’t figure out how someone so cold, so
selfish and so vain could make me only get two hours sleep from trying
to figure out why you hated me and it was only because of Alex, which
is stupid. You might have your opinion on Alex, but there is no way you
can think I am the same because we are two completely different peo-
ples who are only related by a blood bond.”
Nathaniel didn’t say anything during my rant. All he did was look at
me with an emotion I couldn’t place.
“What are you looking at?” I asked.
“You,” he replied and got up, walking over to me.
“What about me?” I asked, taking a step back.
“I never noticed before, but you are a very beautiful girl. I have nev-
er seen a hair colour like that before,” he said and moved a piece of it
from my face, tucking it behind my ear and his touch lingering.
When he did that, my heart rate decided to pick up. It was like he
was trying to flatter me so he didn’t have to apologise.
“If you are trying to distract me from you apologising, you have an-
other thing coming,” I said.
“I’m not,” he whispered, coming back in closer to me
“We need to get back to class before they send a search party for
us,” I said and stepped away from Nathaniel.
Nathaniel’s jaw clenched before he nodded and started walking
36
away. I didn’t know if he wanted me to walk with him or not, so I kept
my distance. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to look at me. I picked up
my pace and walked with him.
“So where does this leave us?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
“Are we friends or not? And I am very sorry for being mean at the
beginning. I won’t be like that anymore, I promise you.”
I sighed and placed my hand on the doorknob before looking at Na-
thaniel. He had a hopeful look on his face and I couldn’t find it in me to
reject him.
“Yes, we are friends, and you are forgiven for treating me the way
you did but don’t even think about doing it again,” I said and opened
the door.
“Scouts honour,” he said, making me laugh.
As we walked back to our classroom, Augusta walked past in her
usual revealing clothes get up, but froze when she saw that Nathaniel
was walking close to me, and not avoiding me. I stopped, making him
look behind before he noticed Augusta standing there.
“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” she asked, her voice as
hard as ice.
It was safe to say that she was filthy at me for making friends with
Nathaniel. The murderous look on her face told me everything.
“Augusta, leave Brianna alone. You don’t have the right to tell her
who she can be friends with,” Nathaniel said, sticking up for me.
I wasn’t expecting him to do that. I shot him a smile of thanks be-
fore looking at Augusta. Her arms were crossed, but she wasn’t looking
at me for a change. Her eyes were glued onto Nathaniel and it looked
like she was up to something.
“Nathaniel, I told her to stay away from you since we could be to-
gether and Brianna could ruin that for us by stealing you and I don’t
want that happening,” Augusta said, in her sickly sweet voice when she
wanted someone or something.
“You have a boyfriend and also, if Brianna and I decide to start a
relationship one day, you won’t be able to stop us from doing so do us
both a favour and leave us alone,” Nathaniel said before grabbing my
37
arm and dragging me away from Augusta.
When Nathaniel mentioned the word ‘relationship’, my heart
skipped a few beats. What was he doing to me? I felt like a school girl
who had a crush, and I swore to myself that I did not have a crush on
Nathaniel.
“I warned you Brianna. Stay away from everyone else or be ready
for everyone to know about your secrets, including Nathaniel,” she said
behind us, making the colour from my face drain.
Nathaniel opened up the classroom door, making everyone look up.
Mrs. Franklin walked over to us and placed a hand on Nathaniel’s arm.
He looked at her and nodded before walking back to his seat and mut-
tered something to Hudson.
“What happened?” Alex asked when I sat back down. “Hudson told
me what happened with Nathaniel when you left but as usual, she
wouldn’t go into detail on anything.”
“We just had a chat and he apologised. I am pretty sure that we are
friends now but I don’t know how long for,” I said and looked at him.
“If I was you, I wouldn’t have forgiven Nathaniel,” he said.
“I know you don’t like him, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to
either. I try to see the best in people and you know that, Alexander,” I
said and went back to completing my work.
“What happens if he does the same thing again?” Alex asked.
“Alex, stop trying to make me doubt myself,” I snapped.
Throughout the lesson, Mrs. Franklin was looking between Na-
thaniel, Hudson, Alex and me and I didn’t know why. Hudson got up and
walked over to me before getting down to my level.
“Nathaniel wants to meet up with you after school,” Hudson said.
“What does he want?” I asked and looked at her.
“He didn’t say,” she said and looked at Alex before going back to her
table.
I could feel Alex’s eyes burning a hole into the side of my head, but I
didn’t look at him. He cleared his throat, trying to catch my attention,
but I wasn’t going to cave. I didn’t feel like a lecture off Alex and he
couldn’t tell me how to live my life. He wasn’t my guardian. Mrs. Frank-
lin clapped her hands, catching everyone’s attention.
38
“I know it’s not even only a week into the first term, but I have de-
cided to change a few of the seating places around. Hudson, you will be
sitting next to Alex while Brianna, I am going to place you with Na-
thaniel. That will give you a chance to work out a few issues that I don’t
want to plague the class for the rest of the year,” she said.
“Mrs. Franklin, I am happy sitting next to Hudson and I don’t want
to change,” Nathaniel said, trying to get out of the change.
“I don’t care Nathaniel. This is going to happen if you like it or not,”
Mrs. Franklin said.
Hudson grabbed her things and walked over to where I was and sat
them on the table, before looking at me with amusement.
“Are you moving or staying here?” she asked.
“Give me time,” I said and got up.
“What has made Mrs. Franklin decide to change spots?” Alex asked
as I got up.
“I don’t know. I can only think that she is trying to play match maker
with Nathaniel and Brianna but I can’t be sure,” Hudson replied.
I grabbed my things and walked over to where Nathaniel was. He
glanced at me, but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t happy with this move.
I could only hope that he didn’t decide to take it out on me. I was get-
ting sick of being the brunt of people’s anger. His jaw locked and I heard
him clench his teeth.
“Nathaniel,” I said.
“Brianna,” he replied and glared over at Mrs. Franklin.
“Look, I know that you aren’t happy about this, but do you think
that you might be able to hold your frustrations in?” I asked.
“She is up to something. I’m sure of it,” Nathaniel said and grabbed
his water bottle.
“Whatever it is Nathaniel, I’m sure she will forget about it in time,” I
replied.
“You don’t know Mrs. Franklin like I do. When she puts her mind to
something, she gets it. She is friends with my mother, Bethany so I know
her very well and have lost count how many times she has got her way,”
he told me
“Do you always jump to conclusions?” I asked suddenly and looked
39
at him.
“Do you always ask so many questions?” he asked back.
It was obvious that we weren’t going to get along anytime soon, so
it seemed like we were going to be bickering for a while. I tried to ignore
him, but I couldn’t do it. I could sense him sitting next to me, looking
over at me all the time. This was going to be fun. I looked over at him to
see that he had what looked like a smile starting to form.
“Hudson said something to me that I want to confirm so I don’t look
a complete idiot later,” I said.
“About me wanting to meet up with you after school, right?” he
asked, making eye contact with me.
“Yeah; why do you want to though? I don’t understand,” I whis-
pered, having trouble finding my voice for some reason.
“Well, we are friends so I thought that we could try and see what
we have in common,” Nathaniel said and smirked at me.
I didn’t have a chance to respond as the bell rang. I got up and
grabbed everything before walking out of the classroom. Nathaniel
somehow caught up to me quickly. I looked at him with questions brew-
ing in my mind, but didn’t get a chance to ask as a girl ran up to Na-
thaniel. She had light blonde hair, brown eyes and had a petite frame
but she had beauty that Nathaniel and his whole family had. She was as
thin as I was, but she didn’t look sickly like I did when I accidently lost a
few kilos if mum couldn’t afford to get enough food in the house.
“Nate, can I have your keys?” she asked and looked at me.
“Amylia, you have your own car so use that.”
“I didn’t bring it. James wanted to come in his so I let him, and are
you doing to introduce us Nathaniel?” Amylia asked, looking over at me
before back to Nathaniel.
“Amylia, I would like you to meet Brianna. Amylia is James fiancée
and has been for five years,” Nathaniel said.
“Oh, so you are the Brianna that Jay was telling me about last night.
He is right, you are very beautiful,” she said.
“Thank you,” I replied.
“And I have also heard that Jason has been hanging around you. Let
me tell you this. Don’t hang around with him. He is bad news.
40
“He told me not hang around you for the same reason and that you
lot only care about yourselves so I don’t know who to believe anymore.”
It sounded like Nathaniel growled, but I couldn’t be sure. Amylia
cleared her throat and looked