The kiss (Sandy tags Nate, Skye)

[Sandy Meyers]

Sandy was nervous. She was taking the advice the girl had given her, do something to make the man she wanted jealous. She sighed trying to think of what to do.

She looked around for someone, to work her plan on. There were the usual people but she needed someone who would stand out. That was when her eyes fell on Nate.

As far as she knew he was single, so there was no harm anyway. She timidly approached him.

"Umm hey Nate, how's it going? The ankle doing better?" She figured it best to start with small talk before planting one on him.

[Nate Kane]

Nate had talked with Skye before the first period bell. She seemed okay with it since he apologized and told her it meant nothing, that he tells everyone he has a girlfriend. Of course there had been no announcement in the school paper. But he thought rumors would spread. Who knew there was a more important rumor spreading around at the moment. he thought everyone knew. Then again Nate had not exactly screamed it from the top of his lungs either, so it could have missed someone's attention.

He turned from his lunch, he was sitting in the corner and smiled at Sandy, "Nurse...how are you. Ankle's good. You are a miracle worker." Nate said smiling at the freshman. "Care to have a seat." He was expecting Skye to join him. he thought Skye would like Sandy. She was a good girl and a freshman so that put Nurse in the safe category.

"I can walk and run now..so thats important. What have you been up too? hiding...thats not very nice. No nurse should hide from her patient." He said joking around. "If you are getting lunch from here I suggest you avoid the thing they consider meat. I don't think it is meat." Nate warned her. It looked as if it was bubbling. Nate of course was oblivious to what was about to come.

[Sandy Meyers]

Sandy could swear the butterflies in her stomach were on a roller coaster at that exact moment. She teases with the end of her hair. "Oh umm we had to head out of town for a few days. But I'm back now.

Oh god he had asked her to sit down with him! She felt light headed by this time. She did her best to cover her emotion. "Thanks for the warning about the food, oh and thats great about your foot. Happy I could help you."

A voice inside her head started to tease her, 'Go ahead and help me now!' it went on about what was going to happen. She made the mistake of looking into his eyes.

She let out a breath, "Nate, please forgive me for what I'm about to do." She placed her hands on either side of his cheeks and kissed him deeply.

There were gasps to be heard all around.

[skyeturner]

Her morning had not really improved too much. Nate had coaxed her out of the bathroom and tried talking to her, how the girl he was talking to was nothing, that he had told her he had a girlfriend. She just let him speak, not wanting to keep going over it. Each time she thought about it, her stomach tightened up to the point where even water made her want to vomit.

She had spaced out her classes, knowing she needed to pay attention but not really finding it possible to focus for more then a few moments at a time. The last bell before lunch had rung a few minutes before, and Skye slowly walked toward the cafeteria. She wasn't hungry but if she didn't put something in her stomach, her medication was going to make her really uncomfortable.

The brunette had just stepped into the lunchroom, looking around for Nate when she saw him....KISSING another girl...her heart felt like it was being ripped in two, a giant fist reaching through her sternum and tearing the organ out, smashing it into the floor before grinding it with a dirty shoe. WHY had she trusted him? He was a dog..they never change.

Her feet took her over toward the pair before she realized what she was doing. Skye yanked them apart, shoving the girl out of the way before turning angry, hot, tear filled eyes up on him. There were dozens of onlookers, watching. "You...rotten..fucking bastard!" She growled, her voice laced with misery, hostility and hurt. "I let this morning go cause you promised me it was nothing...and now..this?" She asked, her cheeks flushed with anger. She made no attempt to try and hide her tears this time, let them all see!

"I fucking trusted you...loved you..gave you everything..and this..god..why did I even bother..I should have known better.." She turned, glaring at the younger girl.Keep it up and your numbers gonna be scrawled on the boys locker room wall...enjoy it." She shoved past them both, tears slipping down her cheeks as she fumbled through her bag, needing to get her cell. No..she wasn't going to call Mark or Cindy..she just needed to go.

Pushing past others in the hall, Skye walked quickly toward her locker. She opened it, dumping everything that was not out hers out furiously into a pile on the floor. A small photo of them taken the week before, when they'd been happy was crumpled into a tiny ball and stepped on, just as he'd stepped on her heart.

[Nate Kane]

"Forgive you...for wha..." But Nate was cut off mid sentence as he felt Sandy plant on on him. A kiss against his will. Yet he was more stunned then anything. He never thought he would ever be kissed by someone out of the blue. No one really prepared for how to deal with this. All the sudden he heard Skye screaming at him. It took Nate a few moments to realize what happened, "No...she kissed me...i never...I didn't..." But she was off. Nate rolled his eyes and sighed.

How could he be mad at the innocent look on Sandy's face. She was a freshman who had probably thought kissing a popular junior boy was the way to boost her popularity. it was not unheard of. Yes Nate wished she had not kissed him. She should have asked him about the kiss and he would have said no and directed her in the direction of other popular men, but it was not in Nate's nature to get made at a girl when she looked so pale. he stood up. "Catch you later nurse." Was all he said, cause he was too focused on what to tell Skye.

Nate followed her out and to the locker, cause no way she would got outside. She saw him taking his things out of his locker, "Listen to me..she kissed me. i never saw it coming. I swear. Ask anyone in there. They will say i was mid sentence when she kissed me." Nate tried to reason. It was the bloody truth.

[Sandy Meyers]

Sandy closed her eyes and the world around her seemed to fade into obscurity that was until what sounded like a banshee invaded the territory.

She froze on the spot as the dark haired girl let out a string of obscenities at the both of them. This was the last thing she wanted to have happen, she never meant to come between a couple. "But...I..." she sputtered about. The words seemed to fumble over each other. Her eyes filled with tears.

'Catch you later nurse' was what she got from him. A plan that she really didn't know how it would end exploded like a nuclear bomb.

She looked around and felt like everyone was pointing and laughing at her. Even those she knew as friends seemed to be enjoying mocking her. The tears started to flow heavily from her eyes.

She ran from the cafeteria to her locker. She was too embarrassed to stay at school any longer. She grabbed her bag and started throwing stuff in it, unsuccessfully.

Giving up, she threw it down with its guts spilling everywhere. "Why am I so stupid?" she cried as she slid to the floor, her crimson hair hiding her face.

[skyeturner]

She ignored him as he tried explaining. Frankly, she didn't want to hear it, she didn't care anymore. She was just done. Done with him..with school, with it all. Nero had burned her, Nate had just broken her..she no longer cared. He kept talking. "Just.." She shook her head, trying to formulate a coherant thought that did not involve kicking him right in the man bits. Skye opened her backpack and began shoving her stuff inside it, the personal stuff anyway. notebooks, pens, pencils, picutres, anyand everything except for the actual class books.

Her hands were shaking something terrible, and she could feel her heart racing and the constriction in her chest. Not good...oh so not good...not now. Bracing her bag between her knee and the locker, Skye pulled her med bottle out of it. She tried to twist the top off but ended it prying it off too hard, which sent the needed pills scattered on the floor. "Shit.." She whimpered. The brunette managed to get her phone into her hands, dialing a number, trembling. "Ty?" She spoke. "Can you come get me at school? Please? Not having a good day...no..they are both at work..please..I need to go.." She was all too aware of Nate standing there, trying to explain.

[Roxy Rivera]

Roxy shuffled down the hallway on her way to lunch. Yes, today was Friday, but that hardly mattered. Her grounding didn't end until Monday, so it wasn't as if she had anything to look forward to over the weekend. Dressed in a pair of skinny jeans a a tightly fitting white tank top, she wished that there would be more to her ominous weekend. She wondered if she should try and hang out with Elend again...even though that was clearly trouble. Or if she should stick to Thad and Ezzie...although Thad was probably still grounded too... Perhaps she'd give Levi a call...he was a sweet boy, although he seemed to be afraid of her...

But of course she couldn't really do any of this. She was grounded...confined to her bedroom for the weekend. And while she knew very well how to break out, her parents had been keeping an extra watchful eye on her lately...trying to figure out how she escaped from the house. So she had to be extra careful as she didn't want them to know that! After all, they'd get lazy at it again and she wouldn't want them knowing her escape route!

With her crumbled up brown paper lunch bag in her hand, she continued down the hall, only getting distracted by a red haired freshman who was crying. Roxy didn't really know her, but she recognized her from play practices as they were both in Grease. "Hey...you alright?" Roxy asked as she approached the girl who was sitting on the floor in front of her locker with her face hidden behind her hair and hands.

Roxy pushed some of her own hair behind her ear as she lowered herself so she was sitting cross-legged on the hallway floor across from the girl. "Come on...it can't be that bad...right?" she asked, hoping she could some how cheer this girl up. One thing Roxy hated was seeing anyone get hurt.

[Nate Kane]

Skye I know you are upset, but I swear it was nothing. She took me by surprise. She is a freshman, i met once before okay. She was just trying to...i don't know what she was trying to do, but it was nothing...I didn't even know she was going to kiss me. Believe me. I know how it looks, but its not what it looks like this time." He tried to reason with her, but Skye was not having it.

"I love you Skye and you know i would never hurt you." Nate said to her. He could blame the whole thing on Sandy, but Nate was not that guy. Sandy probably thought she had good reasons. Poor girl. But Nate was innocent...or he felt innocent. Either way the point was getting Skye to realize this, "Don't go...talk to me..do not walk away." He said to her. He picked up his things from the floor and put them back in the locker, "You know I can be persistent."

[skyeturner]

Her heart thundered in her chest, threatening to break free from its confines. There was a high pitched ringing in her ears and the room began to spin in front of her. Skye whimpered as she clasped her hands over her ears, praying that the universe would take pity on her and cease its unending attack. "Stop...please just..stop.." The dancer dropped to her knees, her eyes closed tightly and her hands still covering her ears. She started rocking back and forth as she fought to regain control over the attack. She could feel them all staring, millions of eyes on her as they stopped in the halls.

Nate's voice barely managed to pierce the dark veil of her mind, but she did hear him say *this time*. Had there been other times that she had not seen? Not found out about? How messed up was she that she couldn't maintain a boyfriend? Brian's words began to circulate in her head, dancing around like a taunting marionette, laughing coldly. her hands curled around the back of her neck, fingers lacing together as she pressed her forearms against her ears, unable to stop the barrage of intense badness. She rocked more, desperate to make it all stop.

She was only dimly aware of Nate asking her not to walk away. She couldn't be here..couldn't stay..didn't deserve to be alive. She fell back onto her butt from her knees, scooting backward away from him. Away from them all. Her reactions would probably look similar to a scared puppy who'd just been whipped by its master. 17 years of physical and mental abuse had broken her. Skye backed into a corner, pulling her knees up to her chest and hiding her face in them, hoping that her brother could get there soon.