Drunken Mistake

Chapter 8 - Friendship

I ran alongside John and Derek, as we rushed to get to our Geology class. Our professor was an ass and kept us over even though they knew that most of us had a class right after.
"Come on, Harper! You got this girl," yells John.
John's words of encouragement gave me the motivation I needed to pick up the speed. By the time, we got to our Geology class, we were all three sweating and panting with three minutes to spare.
"I take it you three were held over and were worried about being late," our professor says with a brow raised.
Still panting, the three of us take our seats near Lucas. He too, had his brow raised, as he had just seen the most interesting thing happen.
"Great job," John says, patting my back before taking his seat beside me while Derek sits beside him.
"What happened to you guys?" Lucas asked.
"Our professor for General Studies thought it would be awesome to hold us ten minutes after class had already started. She told us that if we thought about leaving before she said we could, we would get an F for the day," John explained, as me and Derek were still too out of breath to answer.
"Damn, what a bitch," Lucas breathed out.
"Right," I pant.
"Harper, you still need to catch your breath. You're not ready to speak yet," John chuckles. I feel like this man has taken me under his wing and treats me like: I'm either his younger sibling or his child. I haven't figured out which one it is.
"Oh shit, Harper I should warn you," Lucas starts.
"What, warn me? warn me of what?" I asked confused, worried, and panting. Dammit, I really should listen to John on catching my damn breath first. My lungs feel like I set them on fire with a lighter and gasoline.
"You're going to have Justin in one of your classes," Lucas winces as he knows how this is going to go.
"Wh...." I almost yelled, but couldn't because John quickly covered my mouth. We all looked at the professor who was still preparing for our presentation. Seems like he is struggling with putting up the PowerPoint, which in my luck means he didn't hear my almost outburst.
"I know, but please don't freak out. He's going to be in your Drawing 101 class. Your class is at three o'clock, right?" Lucas asks. I nod my head while glaring at him as I couldn't speak through John's hands at the moment.
"Then I am right, that the class he moved into because he never wanted to be in Music History and was waiting for a spot to open. Your class seems to be the only one to have a spot open," Lucas explained.
I think back to last Friday when a girl complained about how boring the class was and how she thought she would be able to draw whatever she wanted. She must have followed through with her plans of dropping the class and moving to Theater.
"Class I am having complications with bringing my PowerPoint up. How about we use this class to work on the project that I have assigned all of you? I can come around and check everyone's progress and that will be the grade for today," the professor smiles. Everyone begins to take out their laptops bringing up what they have gotten so far.
"Hey, I know Derek and Nathaniel are partners, but who is your partner John?" I asked knowing that he didn't sit with his partner. Also, I only paid attention to my name when names were called.
"That would be me," groans a familiar voice. I look up to see Justin holding his backpack with an eye demanding he get a seat next to John. Derek moved to the other side of Nathaniel so that Justin could take his seat next to John.
"Oh, goodie," I mumbled hoping he didn't hear our little conversation about him being in my drawing class and how I despise it.
"What happy to see me Piggy?" Justin asks with a smirk knowing I would glare at him for saying that god-awful nickname.
"Come on man. Harper is cool," John says, getting Justin off my back or at least trying to.
"When did you get all buddy-buddy with her?" Justin asked with a brow raised.
"When you told the whole team to never leave her alone," John replies.
"Yeah, why was that Justin? You didn't tell us to pick on her only to just always be around her," Nathaniel asked.
"Because I knew it would annoy the hell out of her. I just never expected you guys to actually befriend her," He growls as if his plans were foiled.
"Not really great at getting back at someone, are you Justin?" I almost laughed as his plan was completely childish.
We all laughed, well except for Justin, at my little comment.
"Oh, Harper, you never gave me an answer to the question I asked you yesterday," Nathaniel pipes up gaining my attention.
"Well, it depends," I began to start.
"Depends on what?" He asked. All five men's eyes were on me now.
"Well, it depends on if I could bring a friend or two with me," I say, catching Justin's expression as he looks at me. He seems confused about what we are talking about, which is good for me.
"Heck yeah, you can. We wouldn't have a problem with that," Nathaniel smiles while John and Derek nod in agreement. I smile, before turning to Lucas so that we can do some work on our PowerPoint. I didn't want the professor to think we slacked off the entire class. We decided to do the easiest task while we were in class. Which was to look for diagrams and examples to represent each structure. When the professor came by and asked to see our progress, he was impressed with how much we had gotten done. Once he was done he moved on till he got to the last group, he checked over their work and told us we could leave. Students began to file out of the classroom when I started to pack up.
"Hey Harper, do you want to get a snack before we go to English?" Nathaniel asks.
"Wait, y'all have another class together?" Justin and Lucas asked in sync.
"Well yeah, I have another class with basically all of you." I say before answering Nathaniel, "Yeah sure. We have the time so might as well."
We walked to the part of the Dining Hall where it was like a mini-mart of food you can grab and go. I noticed that not only did John and Derek follow us, but so did Lucas and Justin.
"Okay, did everyone end up wanting a snack?" I asked, looking around myself to see that I was surrounded. Jesus Christ, you would think I was a celebrity with how they are swarming me like a bunch of bodyguards.
"Well, of course, Piggy. What you thought we were following you around," Justin chuckles looking down on me.
"Actually, I did since you are all basically swarming me. I mean, I don't mind," I paused before smirking while glaring back up at him.
"Well except for you that is." I continued.
Justin looked down on me, shocked by my response while the other men burst out laughing.
"Damn Harper that was a bit savage," Derek chuckled.
"Hmm was it," I smirked at Justin, showing him that I did indeed mean for it to be savage. I can tell I'm pissing him off as I can hear his teeth grind. I decided to end my fun. I began to look for something to snack on. I randomly picked something that would hold me off till late with a Body Armor in my favorite flavor, strawberry banana. Once everyone paid for their stuff, we all split up. I and Nathaniel were left to walk to class.
"So, if you don't mind me asking. Why do you hate Justin and Lucas so much?" Nathaniel asks.
"Oh man, coming out with the big gun questions, aren't we?" I laughed as I didn't expect anyone to ask.
"I did say if you didn't mind," he smiles.
"Well, I have made a truce with Lucas. So I can't really say I hate the guy," I say. Not sure if I want to explain my situation to someone else, besides Xander.
"Okay, but you did hate him and you still hate Justin. I want to know why," he asked, brown eyes looking into mine.
"Well, you see Me, Lucas, and Justin all went to the same high school," I start. I let out a deep breath before I continued, "While I was in high school, I would often get bullied or picked on by them and all their buddies plus all the cheerleaders. I hate Lucas so much because he let me think we were friends and then just hurt me. With Justin, he was just a dick the whole time. He always gets the football team to play pranks or bother me. Piggy is the nickname I received from Lucas, but Justin was the one who spread it out so that groups of people would know," I explained.
"What the fuck," Nathaniel starts, but I cut him off.
"Look, its really not a big deal. It hurt at the time, but now I have already worked everything out."
"Harper, it is a big deal. No one should have to tolerate bullies," he frowns.
"I just," I paused, "all I ever wanted was a friend. All I ever had was Xander, but he is so much older than me."
"Who is Xander?" He asked.
"Xander is my childhood friend. He has been with me for as long as I can remember, but honestly, he is more like a brother to me than he is a friend." I explained. 
"So, he's the only friend you ever had," he asked, amazed as it is hard to believe.
"Yep, I have never been liked. I think I might have had some friends when I was little, but once I turned ten. That is when it seemed to all change for me. I started getting picked on because I was fat and too smart, and for some reason girls never really liked me. But when I moved here to Virginia, I thought it all changed. Sadly I ended up being wrong," I frown.
"Is that because of what you said early on how you thought Lucas was your friend," he mentions. All I could do was nod. I was beginning to be sad as these memories were never fun to recall. I wish to just get past them.
"That is why I went to school here. I thought I could start all over again, but these two seemed to have followed me," I sigh. I looked up from the ground to see we were closing in on the building we had to enter, which was good because I could feel rain tickling what skin I had that was bare. Our conversation ended when we entered the building. We headed up to our class, taking a seat next to each other beside Liz. Liz raises a brow every time I come to class with Nathaniel, which has only been two times now. She was about to say hello when the English professor barged in and demanded we all take a seat. Class started immediately, Nathaniel and I rushed to get our notebooks out to begin writing down all the nonsense he was saying. Our professor does a ten to twenty-minute lecture. Before diving right into the reading assignment we had before assigning another one.
I look out the window as the rain pours down from heaven as my professors drone on about our most recent assignment. The reading assignment was very converse as it's the type that is based on how you take things. Honestly, I hate these types of assignments because my option is the one that isn't very popular. In all honesty, I thought the sister and family were total assholes to the main character. I completely understand why she left all of them, and I didn't want to come back. But as I hear the ongoing rant the professor is giving. I can tell he doesn't feel the same way as I do. Which is why I lost interest and why watching the rain coming down is more fascinating.
After about thirty minutes of going over the reading, he moved on. It seems that we are going to have a group project... Well, kind of. He wants us to group up into groups of three. Once we have finished, he gives us a reading assignment. Which turns are to be different Brothers Grimm Tales, you know the fairy tale stories that aren't so sweet like Disney. Me, Liz, and Nathaniel got the classic tale of Cinderella. I think we got lucky on which tale that we got. He assigned us to write a paper about what we thought about the tale in comparison to the others in our group. What lessons were to be learned from these tales? At the end he wanted us to also make the comparison to our Tales to any movie adaptation of the tale that we have. Hell, one group got the tale of Puss in Boots. I didn't even know that was a fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm.
"Now, once you have all individually read your tale, I want you to get together during your free time to discuss what you have learned. This isn't a very big project, so you will have till Monday to get it finished. Now take the remainder of the time to discuss when you all want to meet among yourselves." The professor announces. Liz immediately moves her desk to connect with mine.
"Alright girly, spill," she says sternly.
"What exactly do you want to know?" I asked, confused about what she wanted me to say.
"Well since last week I have seen you around this jock. I know for a fact you don't like jocks because you call them meatheads all the time. So what gives, are you two dating," she questions.
"NO," both me and Nathaniel say in unison. I start to explain the whole situation to Liz. From the part where I got harassed at the mall to Justin demanding I apologize or wep the consequences. I explain how he got all the football plays to tail me and to be basically up my ass. I told her about my making friends with John, Derek, and Nathaniel. I also told her about the truce that I had with Lucas.
"Are you serious?" She asks surprised.
"Yeah, it's been a bit wild. Now I'm always surrounded by meatheads," I laughed looking back at Nathaniel.
"Hey," he started with an offended tone to play along.
"Well baby cakes, I would embrace it. I mean you got a bunch of sexy hunks surrounding your sexy ass." She smiles while booping me on my nose.
"Liz, it's not like that," I laugh as I imagine what she is thinking. Probably something crazy and by the expression Nathaniel is giving her, I'd say he's thinking the same way I am.
"Hmm, your lost then. Anyways back on track, when do you guys have free time to meet up?" Liz asks.
"Well, Harper and I are always at the library until she has to leave to meet Lucas," Nathaniel pipes in.
"Yeah, but that is from eight in the morning till noon," I reminded him. Liz looks like she is thinking of suggestions.
"I could come back, that is if you needed me to. Also, I have a small gap between my Child Development class and Drawing 101," I suggested.
"What's the time on that Harper?" Nathaniel asks.
"Twelve-thirty to three o'clock," I answered. I'm hoping that maybe Nathaniel wasn't busy, and neither was Liz. I really didn't want to come back to campus after having my meeting with Lucas.
"Well that works for me, practice isn't till close to five o'clock. What about you Liz?" We both turned to Liz to see what she thought.
"Actually, I have available time then. How about we meet this Friday at one o'clock," she smiles. Nathaniel and I nod in agreement before packing up and leaving. We all part ways as we run in the rain to get to our next class. By the time, I made it to the building that held my Child Development class. I was soaking wet. Water was dripping off of me and my clothes caked onto my skin leaving nothing to the imagination. My hair is a complete mess that needs a good brushing.
"Damn Harper, why don't you have an umbrella," Lucas says behind me. I turned to look at him, who was under an umbrella. Damn, wish he was in my last class so we could have walked under that nice umbrella.
"Well, unlike you I didn't check the weather report for today and with how sunny and nice it was this morning. I thought I was going to be alright, but obviously, that was my mistake," I sighed as a chill was starting to sink in. 
"Oh shit, here," he says while taking off his letterman jacket to give to me.
"Lucas I can't wear this," I say, not wanting to wear it since I know I'll get a lot of people staring at me, thinking he might be my boyfriend or something.
"Harper I'm not taking now as an answer. You are shivering because you are soaking wet plus..." he pauses, looking away.
"Plus? What, Lucas?" I was confused about why he paused and was acting weird. All he does is point at my chest while looking away. What the hell is he pointing at...OH MY GOD! I completely forgot that I am wearing a white shirt which is now wet and see-through to the point that you can tell I am wearing a lacy pink bra. I snatch his jack, quickly putting it on and buttoning up the buttons. I'm so glad he has broad shoulders because if he was a skinny guy. I would never get this jacket on. Plus, with him being broad I can actually button this up all the way.
"Can I ask something?" Lucas asks.
"Shoot," I say as I start to head to our class.
"Why do you wear shirts that make you look way bigger than you actually are?" He asks, halting me completely.
"Well, that is because I had someone tell me how gross I was for having such big breasts," I answered before continuing forward.
"Harper there is nothing wrong with your body," Lucas says. I looked back to see if he was playing me, but his facial expression was genuine. I entered the classroom and prepared for class. I thought about our conversation and wondered what made him even bring up my clothing choices. Though, he has been pretty weird since we entered college. Would say he acts like he has a thing for me, but I knew there was no way that was true. My class droned on and on while I wrote down my notes. Once finished, I tried to give Lucas his jacket back, but he told me he would get it the next day.
I nod knowing that I wasn't completely dry yet and I didn't want to freeze in my drawing class. Luckily it wasn't raining anymore by the time I had to run to Drawing 101. When I entered the classroom, I felt Justin's eyes glaring at me, but he never approached me. For the entire class, and even when class ended, Justin never approached me or even talked to me. He went on his way without even looking at me. I was relieved because I didn't want to deal with him today. When I got home, I was so exhausted that I just passed out as soon as my head hit my pillow.