Drunken Mistake

Chapter 10: Surprise!

I wake up to the smell of bacon. I slowly sat up. I was feeling groggy as I didn't sleep much. I get out of bed and drag myself to the bathroom. I noticed that my bathroom was bigger than it used to be. Also, I don't remember having blue walls in my bathroom. My eyes widened as I realized that I wasn't home. That's right, I stayed the night with Lucas at the place where they had the party.
"You should have woken me up," says a groggy voice. I look towards the door to see a shirtless Lucas leaning.
"Well, I might have done that if I remembered where I was when I woke up. I guess in my mind last night was just a dream," I reply looking away. I didn't know if he would take offense to what I had said.
"Then next time I better get my point across so you would never think of it as a dream," he says with confidence. I looked back at him to see that he was smiling at me. My brain still can't process what happened yesterday. I had locked lips with Lucas. I mean who would believe that if I told them? Well no one, that's who.
"If you don't mind, I need to pee. You can stay and have a good look, or..." he drifts off. I just quickly left as I was prepared for that, even if I'd seen it before.
I go back into the bedroom to wait for him to finish. I need to get presentable before going downstairs. Plus I need to go home today to reassure Xander that I am fine. I heard the sink and headed back into the bathroom. I started fixing my hair. Once he was done, I washed my face the best I could. Once done I was ready to head downstairs to eat some bacon. Well that is if I am allowed to eat. I do hope so. I went downstairs to the kitchen to see Nathaniel, Liz, Dereck, and some other teammates. Nathaniel was cooking the food while everyone else was sitting at the table.
"Wow, Nathaniel, you can cook?" I ask. He looks back and smiles at me.
"Yeah, I'm their personal chef or at least that's what it feels like," he laughs.
"You're telling me that no one else on the football team can cook?" I asked with my brow raised.
"Besides Lucas, no and he doesn't even live here," Nathaniel mentions.
"That is a bit shocking," I mumble.
"Hey, it's fine. Better I cook, than the house burns down," Nathaniel chuckles.
"Oh, by the way." He got my attention, " I am so sorry about last night. I shouldn't have tried to put my moves on you when you are my friend."
"It's fine, I start, a bit too embarrassed to talk about it. I should have known that he was probably too drunk and thought I was some hot babe.
"No, I have a rule not to hit on my friends that are girls. I just got a bit too tipsy and you're a very attractive girl that my brain went for it." He explained.
"Thank you for the compliment and apology," I smile.
"Have you never been told that you're attractive?" John asks as he walks into the kitchen.
"Uh no. I haven't. Well unless you count Xander, but he was just saying it to make me feel better," I explained.
"Why the hell not," Nathaniel turns glaring.
"Well I was always the fat girl so no one thought I was attractive," I explained
"That's fucking bullshit Harper. You are not fat," Nathaniel growls.
"Well then I wished I went to school with you then. All the schools I've been to, I've been bullied for my weight," I smile sadly.
"Wait, didn't you go to school with Lucas and Justin?" John asks with his arms crossed.
"Yeah," I frown. Right when I answered, here comes Lucas walking through the kitchen entry.
"What's everyone talking about? It's a bit tense here." Lucas asks.
"Well Harper was telling us that no one has ever told her that she was attractive except that brother-like childhood friend of hers," Nathaniel says through gritted teeth.
"That can't be true Harper," Lucas said, shocked. I looked at him shocked, did he really say that?
"Really Lucas. Do you not remember how much I was bullied in school," I bring up.
"Yes, we've talked about it. What I'm shocked about is how no one has ever told you that you're attractive," he stated.
"Wait, you knew she was bullied at your school," Nathaniel glares.
"I couldn't control what everyone did at my school Nathaniel," Lucas was getting annoyed.
"I mean it's not a big deal anymore Nathaniel," I try to say.
"No, it is a big deal. Did Lucas ever bully you?" He asked, but I knew I couldn't say anything because he did bully me.
"That's in the pass," I mumbled.
"What about Justin?" Nathaniel asked.
"What about me?" Everyone turned their heads to the entryway to see Justin leaning against the wall.
"Did you bully Harper in High school?" Nathaniel asked.
"That's none of your damn business," Justin glares.
"If she is going to be a part of our friend group, then it does matter," Nathaniel retorted.
"She will never be a friend of mine," Justin shouts with hatred.
"I should probably leave," I start, but a hand grasps my shoulder. Holding me in place so that I couldn't make my escape. I look back to see that the hand belongs to a very angry Nathaniel.
"Why the fuck not," Nathaniel growled. I watched as John and Dereck got in the middle and Justin started to get closer with his fist clenched.
"That's none of your fucking business," Justin growled back. The tension in the room was suffocating. All I wanted to do was leave. I never understood why Justin hated me so much, but he always had.
"It's fine, not everybody is going to like me," I blurted because I couldn't stand how quiet the room was. All eyes landed on me and now I had brought attention to myself.
"You can't make Justin like me. He has never liked me..." I stopped, I didn't know what else I could say. I stated a fact and that's all there was to it. I don't see why I had to be friends with all the guys from the team anyway. I am perfectly fine with the few that I have become friends with.
"So he did bully you," I could hear Nathaniel gritting his teeth when he spoke.
"Nothing extreme though. Just said some hurtful stuff, but he never laid his hands on me or pulled any cruel jokes," I explain. Why am I helping Justin out? Maybe it is because I don't want these guys to fight over me and over something that happened in High School.
"That's just as bad Harper," Nathaniel groaned.
"No, not really. Plus, I was used to it. At least they weren't as bad as my previous school..." I mumbled off. I didn't want to remember all the awful things my old classmates used to do to me. They were brutal when it came to their bullying. I can still remember when they dumped my lunch on me and yelled how it was a good look for me.
"What happened at your old school?" Lucas' voice came out and I could tell he was worried about what I had been through. I looked around to see multiple faces marked with worry. It even looked as if Justin was worried about me.
"Let's just say that they were not just vocal about their bullying," I admitted. " I mean come on, why do you think I moved so far away from my hometown? Why do you think Xander is so protective of me," I could feel the burn when you wanted to let loose and cry, but I was done crying. I was not going to cry anymore, especially if it involved me crying over my past. The room is quiet for a good few minutes, before shuffling and chairs moving is all you can hear. I looked around to see everyone was sitting down while Nathaniel passed out plates and distributed the food. Even Justin was sitting down at the table. I take a seat at the table as well. I watched as Nathaniel placed a plate in front of me and beside me where an empty chair was. He filled up our plates and took a seat.
"Could you tell us more?" Nathaniel asked while the others nodded.
"Why?" I asked, confused about why they wanted to hear all this. Guys don't care about stuff like this. So why do they want to know?
"We want to know more about our friend," he answered. I paused, I didn't expect that. I never expected anyone to care besides my parents and Xander. I check everyone's facial expressions to see that they are genuine. I began my story, explaining that it wasn't all that bad at first. How I got called names because of how big I was. I explained how, at first, I could ignore all their comments because my mother would remind me that I was perfect in my way. But after hearing the same cruel jokes and comments every day. It began to bother me. I wore baggy clothes so that my figure wouldn't show, but that didn't help. Once I hit High School, that's when things escalated. I started getting shoved, pushed, and tripped in the halls. I was covered in bruises several times. Two times I had been tripped or pushed down the stairs and it was claimed as an accident. I had food and drinks poured on me more than once. I had been stuck in the locker room naked because the girls thought it would be funny to take my clothes. The last straw was the incident that happened at prom. I had a girl ask me if I could go with her. She said I'd be going with her as a friend. I had told her that I would love to and that I would wear a color that matched hers. She told me that she was going to wear yellow to prom. I thought it was not the best color to wear, but I didn't want to upset her with her decisions. So my mother searched high and low for the perfect dress. She found a beautiful sunflower dress that fit me nicely. I got my hair and nails done, plus Mom did my makeup flawlessly. It was the first time in my life that I had ever felt beautiful. I was so excited for prom even if it was just with a friend. But that excitement died as soon as I entered the gymnasium where we were having the event. Everyone laughed saying that they couldn't believe that I had come.
"You really thought I would go to prom with a fatass like you," the girl laughed along with her friends. I thought they would end my misery by just laughing, but I was wrong. I started getting pushed back and forth by the other students. Some would pull at my hair and dress, ruining all the hard work my mother put in. My breaking point was when I was grabbed by one of my male classmates with disgust on his face as his girl poured a red punch all over my yellow dress. I tried to run away but the guy holding on to me grabbed my hair roughly, jerking my head all the way back so we could make eye contact.
"How about you do the world a favor and just off yourself" he growled before shoving me. I fell to the floor, wanting to cry as everyone started agreeing with his statement. Everyone that surrounded me wanted me to die because they could not stand my presence. I ran all the way home from school. Once I got home, after being out for four hours. I went straight to my room and downed an entire bottle of my depression medication. I woke up days later in the hospital. After that, my parents wouldn't let me go back to school.  Honestly, I didn't want to go back. I spent the rest of my Junior year at home. Once my teachers learned what happened they would just send notes and my homework home for me to work on. Xander was the one who suggested I move to Virginia so that we could be close. After all, I needed a friend.
After I finished my story. I look around to see all the different emotions. Most of the emotions I saw were a mixture of sadness and anger. The one that confused me the most was Justin. Justin was looking down with his hands under the table. He seemed upset.
"Hey, I'm fine. There is no need to be sad," I try to cheer everyone up as it made me sad seeing them all sad.
"Harper..." Nathaniel trailed off before hugging me in a tight hug. Soon I felt more warmth as everyone came in to hug me. I felt tears whelm up from the gesture they were all showing. The only one who wasn't in the hugging pile was Justin.
"Guys you're going to make me cry," I groan.
"It better be a groan of happiness," Nathaniel grumbled.
I let myself smile. I haven't ever had a friendship with another one besides Xander. It was nice to have people like your company and care for you the way I am being shown.
"How about we all go out and do something," I suggested.
I felt everyone move back so they could look at me.
"What would you want all of us to do?" Lucas asked.
"Well we could all go watch a movie and after that we can eat out. Oh or we could go to an arcade or skating rink." I suggested.
"Do you really want to see a bunch of men fall on their asses," John stated.
"I mean it would be fun," I giggled.
"I'm up for either a movie or the arcade," Liz says. We all looked back at her as if we had all forgotten that she was here.
"What movie?" Justin asked, wanting to get involved.
"Well, I like scary movies and action movies," I pause as I think of some of the movies that have been released.
"We could watch Imaginary..." I trail off thinking of the other movie I wanted to watch.
"Isn't that the movie about the teddy bear?" Justin asked.
"Yeah, but there is another movie that I am trying to remember. It's a Marvel movie...." I think.
"Do you mean Madame Web?" Lucas asks.
"YES!" I shout, getting excited all over again.  I really wanted to watch the movie.
"Well, I guess that's what we are doing today," Nathaniel smiles.
"Yes, but first I need to go home and get ready. I am not going like this," I point to myself. I really did not want to wear the clothes I had on yesterday.
When all of our plans were set in stone. The boys took me and Liz home so that we could get ready. They went back to get ready themselves. Once everyone was ready, we all texted Nathaniel. Nathaniel was picked because he had a vehicle that could hold all of us. Lucas, Me, Liz, Justin, John, and Dereck all piled up into Nathaniel's Toyota Highlander. You could say it was a tight fit, but we made it manage. I was the lucky one who won rock-paper-scissors and got to ride shotgun. We all laughed and made jokes as we drove to the movies. Once at the movie theater, we made our way to the ticket counter first to get our tickets. We had about twenty minutes before the movie started. Which was plenty of time to get snacks and drinks, before we go find seats.
When I got to the counter where the snacks were, I felt an overwhelming sense of nausea. I pushed off the feeling of being super hungry. I ordered a caramel popcorn with a large Coke, but as soon as the popcorn was right in front of me. The feeling of nausea was too much for me. I ran to the bathroom into a stall, throwing up my morning breakfast.
"Are you okay?" Liz asks from behind me. She must have run after me.
"Yeah," I mumble as I get up. I head to the sink to wash my hands and face. I don't understand why I got so sick.
I exit the bathroom with Liz. The guys are all gathered together waiting for us.
"Are you okay Harper?" Nathaniel and Lucas ask.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I say, embarrassed that I ran off like that.
"Here is your stuff," Dereck says while handing me my food and drink.
"Thank you so ..." I start to say, but as soon as I get another smell of the popcorn. I got so sick again and started puking into the trash can near me. I couldn't make it to the bathroom because of how awful the smell was.
"Harper! What's wrong?" Nathaniel asks worried.
"Does the popcorn small that bad?" Lucas asks while smelling the popcorn.
"Are you pregnant?" Liz asked. Everyone's heads turned to Liz in shock.
"Wait, wait ... .that can't be," I mumbled, but now that I was thinking about it. When was the last time I had a period?
"Harper, How long ago was the last party you went to?" Lucas asks.
"I don't remember," I say, thinking of how long ago that was.
"It was three months ago," John says out loud.