Chapter Eight

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I sat frozen to my seat as I watched him walk away from me. 

I'd never experienced such rudeness in all my life. What kind of person walks away from someone after they propose an innocent friendship with them?

Pressing my lips tightly together, I dug my clenched fists down onto the table in anger. Well, he is an idiot if he thought I would give up. 

I was a stubborn ass-bitch, and if I wanted something, I was going to get it. And what I wanted right now was for Nathan Woods to see me as a friend.

Feeling a spark of determination run through my veins, I grabbed my bag, stood up, and made quick steps to catch up with Nathan, who was already out of the door. 

 "Oi Nathan," I yelled. 

He stiffened slightly when I called his name, but then he shook his head and started to walk even faster. 

This rude ass bitch...

I let out a heavy sigh, knowing I was going to have to embarrass myself a little bit. Then I did the most desperate thing a girl could do and chased after him. 

Yes, you heard me right. I chased after him. I was literally chasing a guy.

With a few long strides, I finally managed to make it to him, and I slowed down to a walking pace beside him. 

Nathan looked quite annoyed but didn't bother walking any faster. Instead, he just kept in stride with me while keeping his gaze determinedly focused on the path ahead of him.

 I stuffed my hands in my jean pockets in an attempt to try and give off a nonchalant vibe. "So...," I drawled. "I'm presuming you're on your way to the lecture, so I figured we might as well walk together," I shrugged as I snuck a glance his way.

He continued to ignore me and kept walking through the courtyard with a scowl on his face. 

I cleared my throat. "That essay last week was a real nightmare, wasn't it?" I asked in an attempt to spark up another conversation. 

More silence ensued. 

I continued with a laugh. "I stayed up like half the night, getting all the research done. How long did it take you?" 

No response.

I kept my pace up and decided to keep going. "Did you-"

"Would you shut up already?" he snapped as he swerved his head my way. 

His outburst startled me for a couple of seconds, but for some reason, the look of irritation on his face made me let out an ugly snort. He looked all ugly and dumb when he was mad, it was kind of funny. 

"Why the fuck are you laughing for?" he scowled. 

"God, I'm sorry," I laughed as I tried to catch my breath. "It's so entertaining to watch your face squish up like that when you get all mad," I snorted. 

Nathan's lips pressed even tighter together. "Oh, fuck off, would you?" he snapped before storming away and continuing on his path to the main building. 

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I laughed as I did a quick jog to catch up with him.

He ignored me and threw open the doors of the building before marching his way to the doors to our lecture room. 

I playfully nudged his shoulder. "So, bestie, what's your preferred seat of choice, the front or the back?" I asked with a chipper smile.

 He sighed. "I'm not your bestie. Don't talk to me," he spat rudely without even bothering to turn in my direction.

We entered through the doors of the lecture theatre, and he immediately made a bee-line for the row at the very back of the room. I wasn't at all surprised at his choice of seat. He probably sat there so he could catch some shut-eye without being caught by the lecturer. 

He dumped himself down into a seat, and as I was about to take a seat beside him, he rudely placed his bag down on the chair I was about to sit on. 

For goodness sake, how rude could one guy get?

Not in the mood for his bullshit, I smacked his bag off the chair and onto the floor. Then with an evil little giggle, I relaxed into the chair beside him to further dig home my small victory. 

I felt the heat of his hate-filled gaze on the side of my face, and like the annoying person I was, I gave him a small innocent little wave. "Hey, Natalie," I asked, blinking back at him with feigned innocence.

This seemed to tip him over the edge, and he sunk down in his chair and let out a long-frustrated groan.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" he grumbled. 

Duh, because I want your money.

Of course, I didn't say that though, and I smiled back at him. "Because you're my new BFF," I explained simply. 

Nathan stared at me for a long time, his eyes washing over mine in disbelief. "Why on earth would you want to be my friend?" he scoffed. "I literally called you a hooker which you almost attacked me for, remember? We hate each other!" he said as he let out a disbelieving laugh.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, lucky for you, I'm a kind person, and I've decided to forgive you for that," I lied smoothly. "I mean, you clearly struggle with human interaction, so I'm going to help mentor you through how not to be a dick," I explained chirpily while nodding my head matter of factly.

Nathan slowly shook his head at me. "You're unbelievable," he muttered.

"Yes, I agree; I am unbelievably self-less for helping you in your journey to be less of a dick," I smirked.

Before Nathan could get in another whiny remark, the lights of the room dimmed down, indicating that the lecture was about to start.

 "Thank god, I've never been happier for a lecture to start in my life," Nathan muttered with a bitter laugh. 

"Why?" I asked, scrunching my face up in confusion.

"Because you'll finally shut up," he hissed.

This actual son of a bitch...

If I wasn't trying to get into his good books, I would have slapped him around the face for that comment. But, sadly, I couldn't.

Soon enough, the lecturer began their presentation, and I quickly picked my laptop out of my bag, so I could type up some notes. I glanced over to Nathan and furrowed my eyebrows as I took in his blank desk.

"You aren't writing notes?" I whispered.

 He closed his eyes as though he was trying to search for some kind of internal strength. Then he let out a heavy sigh and turned in my direction.

 "No, I'm not taking fucking notes, Sophie. Do you have a problem with that?" he whisper shouted.

"Erm...yes," I snorted. "I'm not going to let my new friend fail. What kind of person would that make me?" I mumbled.

Bending down, I rummaged through my bag and pulled out a couple blank pieces of lined paper. I placed it down in front of him with a proud smile. 

"See, paper," I explained in a whisper. 

He raised a single eyebrow and stared down at it without a word.

 "Oh, I almost forgot you need a pen," I chuckled. I picked my pen out of my jacket pocket before placing it flat on the table.

Again, he remained silent and stared at the paper unmovingly before slowly moving his gaze up to mine.

"Ugh, you're helpless," I huffed. 

 Reaching for his hand, I wrapped it around the pen. He stiffened slightly as I touched him, but he didn't say anything. 

"Now write," I snappily whispered as I pointed to his page.

 He made a dramatic show of rolling his eyes, but surprisingly he listened to me and started to jot down a few notes. 

Huh, maybe there was hope for this future college drop-out after all...

About ten minutes into the lecture, I was busily typing up my notes when I suddenly felt movement beside me before a piece of paper was dumped rudely on top of my keyboard.

 I turned my head and looked at Nathan with curious eyes. His arms were crossed, and he was staring at me with a taunting little smile. He nodded his head down to the paper, silently indicating for me to read it. 

Did this prick want to show off the fact he could write notes or something? Who did he think I was, his mum?

Deciding to humor him, I glanced down at the paper. As soon as I did, I felt the blood rise to my face as embarrassment washed over me. Written all over the page, from top to bottom, was the same sentence over and over again. 

Sophie Wright is an annoying pushy bitch. 

I'd never felt more stupid in my life. I could hardly believe this jerk had spent the past ten minutes writing this shit-down instead of taking down his economic notes.

Actually, you know what, I'm glad he wrote this. It re-inforced exactly why it was okay for me to essentially shit on this guy's life.

 He was a dick - always had been, always would be.

Shoving my anger to the back of my head, I forced a fake smile on my face.

"Aww, you know my last name. Has someone been stalking me? I playfully teased as I pouted my lips.

His smile immediately dropped from his face. "I hate you," he hissed. 

"That didn't sound like an answer to me..." I sang softly under my breath.

"Okay, fine, whatever. I looked you up. Happy?" He snapped.

 I smirked at his confession. "Very," I snickered, my smile growing ten times wider in size.

 A look of embarrassment washed over his face, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "B-but I only looked you up because I wanted to know what kind of pyscho-maniac I was dealing with," he spat under his breath.

 I gave him a pitying look; and reached out and gave him a comforting double pat on the back. "There, there, Natalie, there's no need to get all upset because you got caught stalking me," I murmured condescendingly. 

He made a weird growling sound at the back of his throat before rudely shrugging my hand off of him.

"I hate you, so don't touch me," he hissed. 

What was this boy, part-angry chihuahua?

Deciding I had tormented him enough, I left him in peace for the rest of the lecture and quietly went back to typing notes out on my laptop. Towards the last five minutes, the lecturer said something which made everybody let out an audible groan and slump down in their seat.

 It was the sentence that every student dreaded to hear - group project assignment. Everybody knows that a group project always ends with one person doing all the work (aka me) while the other person does jack-shit. 

I listened as our lecturer dragged on about how we were going to have to work in pairs to come up with an essay-style report, answering the question - Why are fewer women majoring in economics than men?

As soon as she read out the question, I got a few looks my way, and I rolled my eyes. Just because I'm a part of the small ten-percent proportion of girls in the room, people felt the need to leer at me like a monkey in a zoo.

I have to admit though, the question was quite an interesting one even though they seemed more philosophical than economical. I couldn't help but feel quite excited. She told us the list of our respective partners was attached to an email she had sent to us.

So, as she finished explaining the last little bit of the lecture, I opened up the document she had emailed us from my laptop. I scrolled down the long list of names in search of my last name - Wright. Once I'd located it, I placed the tip of my finger over the name and traced it along the page to see who I had been paired with. As soon as I saw who I was matched with, a smirk overtook my face, and I let out a disbelieving laugh.

This was almost too perfect. 

My partner was none other than Nathan Woods. This was so convenient! It was almost as though God was rooting for me to gold-dig him. 

Okay, maybe that was going slightly too far...

With an excited smile on my face, I gave Nathan a harsh jab with my elbow to gain his attention.

 He twisted his head to face me with a scowl. "What?" he spat. 

"Guess who my partner is for the project?" I sang as I wiggled my eyebrows.

 He looked confused for about a second before all the blood drained from his face.

He shook his head frantically. "No, no, no, don't you dare say it, Sophie. Don't you dare say it," he repeated over and over like a madman. 

He then surprised me by grabbing my laptop and pulling it towards him so he could see for himself. 

"Oh, for fucks sake," he cried as his eyes washed frantically over the page. "Lazy pieces of shits, had to do it in alphabetical order, didn't they?" he muttered bitterly to himself.

I didn't even realize until he said it, but he was right; the only reason we were paired together was because both our surnames started with W. 

Thank you, fate. 

I let out another chuckle as I heard him mutter profanity after profanity under his breath. With a chuckle, I slung my arm over his shoulder, causing him to stiffen. 

"Don't worry, Natalie, I'm going to be the best project partner you've ever had," I smiled. 

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Author's note:

Hope you guys enjoyed chapter eight! And yeah you read right, her plan is literally to annoy him into friendship lmao.

Anyway, what do people think of group projects?

Next update: Monday (6-8 PM - UK time)

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