Another Side of Him

[tessalove]

Story Title: Another Side of Him
Type of story: Short/Medium fic
Main Characters: Nicole and Geoff, with Aden, Belle and original character Steph
BTTB rating: G
Genre: Drama (I don't even know lol)
Does story include spoilers: No
Any warnings: No
Summary: Nicole was the new girl in SummerBay High, over a year later she still feels like the new girl, with not many friends. Geoff is the schools most popular boy, he is the football teams captain and every girls dream boy. Nicole and Geoff get partnered together on a class project, will they work together or will they be too opposite?

Hi! It has been so long since I have posted anything in the Fanfic section, I had to write a short story for college and I of based it on H&A! lol, so I thought I would post it... If anyone knows me most of my story's were about Niff, so this is no different! Haha! I hope you enjoy it, a little bit of the past! Thanks for reading! (If you do) ElX

Geoff Campbell was the captain of the football team, School captain and he was the most popular boy in Summer Bay High, everybody wanted to be his friend and all the girls wanted to be his girlfriend, he enjoyed his life and he had come a long way from being referred to as farm boy at his previous school, when he moved to Summer Bay High half way through year 9 he told himself he would make it, and he did.

“Class, for this project you will be working in partners” Mrs Tomlinson the year 12 English teacher spoke “And no you cannot choose your partner that will be the luck of the draw, I have all of your names in this container I will be partnering you up”

Groans could be heard from the students “I know how amazing am I? I just know how much of a close knit bunch you all are and how you would love to be partnered with a different partner, someone that you may not know very well” She smirked, with sarcasm “It will be a good learning experience too, you have to work with many different people in the big bad world when you get jobs”

She reached her hand into the container and pulled out the first name “Aden Jefferies you will be working with...” reaching her hand in again “Belle Taylor” she explained “What a difference that is” she laughed, Aden and Belle were the schools hottest couple, Aden was Geoff’s best friend and Belle was his girlfriend and known around the school for her short uniform, attitude and her all round popularity.

“Aww thanks Mrs T, you rigged that right” Aden winked

Mrs Tomlinson continued to pair up the class, she called out Geoff’s name, he smirked and looked across the room at Stephanie, Belle’s best friend and probably the second hottest girl at the school, but Geoff could never say that after all his best friend was dating the hottest girl, and he never liked to hurt Steph’s feelings, the two weren’t a couple but at party’s or general outing they would also be found together, somewhere, doing something unmentionable. Steph’s name still hadn’t been picked out and Geoff just assumed he would be partnered with her, and that there probably wouldn’t be a lot of work done.

But his smirk faded when Mrs Tomlinson read out the name on the piece of paper and Geoff’s project partner “Nicole Franklin” Mrs Tomlinson continued to read out names and partner people up.

Nicole’s head shot up when she heard her name and who her partner would be, she looked over at him staring at her, she turned away seconds later.

Nicole moved to the school at the start of year 11, it was hard being the new girl, and over a year later it was still proving to be hard. She didn’t have many friends, no guys or well no decent guys were ever interested in her. Nicole spent most of her time with Ruby, Ruby was nice to her even though she was friends with Steph and the rest of the ones considered popular, she has a caring nature and never liked to see anyone left out, Ruby was new to the school too and knew how it felt but she was accepted unlike Nicole, and Nicole could never understand why she was never accepted, it wasn’t as if she was a horrible person, or ugly or stupid, she was a normal girl. When she wasn’t with Ruby she was working in the diner, which could be less fun than he imagined, everyone ate in there and the kids from school that came in just referred to her as diner girl, no matter how many times Irene Geoff’s foster mother told them off.

The bell rang and Nicole quickly got out of her seat and tried to exit the class as swiftly as possible, “Hey um, di... Nicole?” she heard a voice calling her, she knew it was Geoff. She knew what his voice sounded like because like almost every other girl in the school she thought he was the hottest guy to ever live, and his voice was just, well dreamy. She caught herself mid thought and banished the thoughts from her head, she couldn't understand how she could like someone like him, he was so cold hearted and a bit of a pig, but no matter how many times she told herself to stop, she still liked him. When she found out he would be her partner, she couldn’t help but feel a bit excited, but that wore off when she realized that she would have to put up with him at some stage, and he hadn’t ever been nice to her in the past, why would he be different now, just because they were working together, he would probably just be worse.

“Yeah” she turned around a small smile placed on her mouth, a friendly greeting, even though she wanted to do nothing else except turn on her heel and run for the door, the gates, her home.

“Ha Campbell” Aden proclaimed from the front of the room almost at the door with his arm around Belle “UNLUCKY” he pointed towards Nicole, Belle giggled before they were both out of sight.

Nicole felt like she could happily be swallowed hole right at that second, she blinked and looked back up at Geoff, deciding to let him speak first because she would probably regret what she had to say.

“So ah” he started “How do you want to do this?”

“What?” she asked a little confused, her face looking at him less than amused.

“I mean, ah we don’t have to work together, I’m sure we can just do something, stick em together and hope for the best?”

“Geoff, I don’t know about you, but I want to get good grades, I don’t know if passing or failing is really something you care about, but I want to get to Uni and get a good job someday and get out of this miserable town I have to call home, I’m sorry that by some misfortune we have been stuck together, but I don’t want to just hope for the best, I want to do work, if we do this by ourselves we could end up with everything the same or everything completely opposite, and it’s up to you if you want to explain to Mrs Tomlinson that you just didn’t feel like following the rules” Nicole looked away from Geoff, in slight disbelief at what just came out of her mouth, this was probably the most she had talked to him since her first week of school when she mistook him as a nice guy, she sat next to him in history and tried to make conversation, all that did was cause her grief and make her a laughing stalk.

“Um...” he looked slightly taken back by her comments No one ever really said anything to him like that, everyone seemed a little afraid of him, no one ever stood up to him and if they did they were chucked down the scrapheap’s at the bottom of the school, but Nicole was already there so she had nothing to lose. He stood up straight, he looked kind of pissed “I do care you know” he breathed “About school” he shifted his eyes as if this was uneasy to say “I just thought it might be easier or more comfortable for you this way” he kind of smiled, but pitifully at Nicole “But if you want to work together that’s cool”

“Good” she smiled sternly “Where and when?”

“I have footy practice now, but if you want you can come round to mine after?” he shrugged

“Yeah sure, I’ll see you later” she said just wanting to leave the classroom, she turned around and headed for the door, not bothering to say goodbye or whatever

“Hey” Geoff called catching Nicole’s attention before she left, She turned back around “Do you know where my place is?”

“Yeah, I’ve been before Irene is my boss”

“Oh, okay cool”

She left without saying another word. She hurried home feeling sick, how the hell was she going to do this? She would feel like an idiot around him, not knowing what to say or do, she wanted to kick herself for not just taking his option out of this. She was going to be an even bigger fool around school not doubt he would tell all his friends how unbearable it was to work with her.

She spent the next few hours freaking out about how tonight was going to play out, she thought that maybe outside of school when he was on his own he would be nice, and he would help with the project and she could actually enjoy her time working with him, and maybe they could be friends afterwards. She laughed at the thought, it was going to be miserable, he would be rude and obnoxious and he would probably invite his friends over so that he didn’t have to suffer alone and he had back up to make jokes and poke fun at Nicole. She considered calling him and cancelling, but she didn’t even have his number. The next thing she freaked about was what to wear, does she go in her school uniform just that way there would be no judgement, but then he would probably just make fun of the fact she hadn’t changed, what about a tracksuit? Plain and simple, she headed up to her wardrobe and looked at the mounds of clothes, half that she doesn’t even wear because she’s afraid of what people might think. She picked out a strappy pink dress and some gladiator sandals, casual but nice she smiled.

She headed back downstairs to watch some TV and have some dinner before later, her dad was just coming through the door as she entered the kitchen. “Wow, Nic where are you going?” he smiled smirking

“Studying, we have partnered project for English” she replied

“And is your partner a boy?” she couldn't see his face from the kitchen, but she knew he had his eyebrows raised and a huge smile on his face

“It is yes, but before you say anything, it’s not as if he will be interested in me, at all.” She chirped back “Not like anyone will me, ever” she added

“Hey now Nic” Roman moved to the kitchen “What have I told you about all of this, you need to believe in yourself more, Nic you are beautiful and smart and talented and any guy would be lucky to have you” he squeezed her shoulder lightly

“You have to say that your my dad” her eyes were glazed with tears that she was not going to let out, she blinked a couple of times but Roman saw before she could clear them.

“Listen to me Nicole, I know you haven’t had it easy and you still don’t, but you are beautiful and if the boys in that school can’t see that they must be blind or stupid, you’ll find someone someday and all of this will make sense, all you need to do is keep your head down and get those grade to get into Uni, you only have a year to go” he smiled “And Nic, I’m so proud of you, I know what you go through and how hard it is, and you still keep your head held high” Roman owns the SummerBay gym where Xavier Ruby’s boyfriend works part time, he filled Roman in on the things Nicole puts up with at school, although Roman never told her this, he didn’t want her to know he knew because she did hide it so well, but the moment things got worse or he could see her start to crack he would be straight to the school and do everything he could for his princess.

“Thanks daddy, but you have to say that” she giggled “But I know, it’s hard at times but I just keep striving towards my goal, all those other airheads probably haven’t even thought that far ahead, they’ll stay here and work in the diner or the surf club for the rest of their lives, it’s one thing that keeps me going”

“That’s good princess, you keep that in mind” he grinned proudly, she really did have a good head on her shoulders “So anyway, who is the boy?” he chuckled

“Geoff Campbell” she spat out “Out of everyone I get that moron”

“Nic I want to be clear here, if he does anything that upsets you I want you to tell me.” He said sternly

“I will daddy, but I’m hoping it won’t be too bad, I just want to get through it” she laughed slightly

Nicole and Roman had dinner together before Nicole left to head for Irene’s, she grabbed her school backpack and her keys before leaving “Bye daddy”

“Bye Nic, don’t be late” she smiled at him before closing the door behind her.

She walked slowly towards Irene’s beach house, her bag slung with one strap over her shoulder, taking in the scenes around her. She was so excited about moving to SummerBay, she didn’t have a great time living with her mum so when she found her dad and this amazing little town she thought that finally her life was beginning to change for the better. When she got here her and her dad got off to a bit of a rocky start, it was hard to adjust for both of them but it didn’t take long before they got on like they had been there for each other their whole lives, SummerBay was incredible, being a short walk from the beach and a bus ride from the Yabee Creek was the best of both worlds, she was so happy, until school started that was, she had met some friends in the summer when she arrived but they were only there for summer staying at the caravan park, so when they left she didn’t know anyone else, but she didn’t think much of that thinking that she would meet friends straight away when she started school, but that proved to be wrong.
She was so grateful for Ruby and Xavier, without them she would have no one, they even stuck a bit of abuse for being friends with her, but of course she couldn’t just hang out with them all the time, they weren’t in some of her classes and they had other friends who weren’t cool with Nicole dragging along.

She had spent the whole walk thinking over her time in the Bay that she didn’t even realize she was almost at the door, until Annie, Geoff’s little sister walked out of the door “Are you lost?” she snorted, Annie was what Nicole liked to call the year 10 version of Steph, she tried to be every bit like her and made no attempt to hide it, even a year 10 knew how uncool Nicole was.

“Um, no” Nicole replied “I’m working on a project with Geoff”

“oh.” She said “Right” she continued her walk past Nicole “Have fun” she said, and Nicole could tell it was completely sarcastic but she thanked her anyway.

She wasn’t sure if she should walk on it or knock or what to do, she decided to knock even though the door was wide open. Irene came to the door seconds later “Hi dawl, Have I got your shifts wrong again?”

“Oh no” she smiled “I’m here to meet Geoff, we have a project to do together”

“Oh right dawl, come on in” Irene smiled letting Nicole enter the house “I wonder what all the fuss was about with him” she winked and pointed to the table, there was buns and chips and sweets set out in bowls and jug of juice on the table where his books were sitting.

Nicole looked at the table confused, her heart felt a little uneasy as she thought he might have invited more people round, why else would he go to all of this trouble? He couldn’t stand to be alone with her so he had made it into a study party. “I’ll just get Geoff love, you have seat” Irene smiled walking towards a room at the bottom of the stairs “Geoff love, Nicole is here”

“Okay Irene be out in a minute”

“Listen dawl, I’ve got to go catch my shift, feel free to get yourself a drink while you wait on him, he’s probably completeing his moisturiser routine, I swear sometime I think that boy would have been better off a Sheila!” Nicole let of a slight giggle “Have fun dawl, and I hope the project goes well”

“Thanks Irene, I’ll see you tomorrow” Nicole smiled as Irene lifted her bag and headed for the door.

[tessalove]

Thank you for the nice comments! It's been so long since I have written anything I'm afraid that this is terrible! Lol, so thank you again!

Chapter 2:

Nicole sat on the sofa alone for a few minutes, she took in the house, she had been in it a few times but never for this long, she would sometimes call by to arrange different shifts with Irene or if she had a message to do for her dad, but she had never just hung out in the place. It felt strange; there were photos of Annie and Geoff on the walls and photos of other kids with Irene from a few years back.

Geoff’s door opened and Nicole chose to not turn around, to play it cool and just sit there until he came to her “Hey” he said coming around the sofa, he sat at the other side “You look nice” he smiled

Her eyes widened a little, Geoff just complimented her, she didn't know what to say or to do, she fidgeted a little fixing her dress “Thanks” she smiled “You do too” she added, he did, it wasn't like she was lying.

“So ah, Joan of Arc then?” he sighed “Do you know anything about her?”

“A bit” she spoke “Not a lot” she added

“Me either, this is gonna be fun” he laughed “I guess we should get started, I got us some snacks and stuff, so I hope you’re hungry”

“If I had of known I wouldn’t have had dinner, you’ve enough here to feed a small army” she laughed as she sat down at one of the chairs at the table

“Yeah, I got carried away sorry” he chuckled “But its energy food, it will keep us going” he said proudly

“I’m more likely to get a sugar coma” she giggled “Sweets are my downfall”

“Now that I would love to see”

It was the strangest feeling, she was having a normal conversation, with Geoff Campbell, and he was being nice, more than nice to her. “We should get this started”

“Yeah, let the torture begin” he laughed and picked up a textbook, she pulled her own books from her backpack and opened them and began to read.

They continued to work for a few hours, getting a lot of their project done “Oh gosh, I told you sweets were my downfall; please tell me you ate some of these without me realizing?” Nicole said as she looked at the empty bowl in front of her.

“Nope” he said an amused look on his face “I’ve been setting my focus on these chips”

“Oh dear, I’m for sure heading to the gym later”

“What? Why? You don’t need to do that” he said looking at her with a serious look on his face “It’s not like your fat Nicole” he smiled

She smiled back at him “Thanks, but if I continue like this I will be” she let out a laugh

“We can treat ourselves once in a while” he winked as he picked up a cupcake and shoved it in his mouth “See, so yummy” he said, she could barely make him out and she laughed as bits of cupcake flew from his mouth

“Wow, so mannerly” she giggled

“Here you try” he said lifting a cupcake and aiming for her mouth “Come on” he said as he tried to fight her arm away “You know you want this” the two put up a fight, but Geoff finally won as the cupcake landed in her mouth, she accepted defeat and began an attempt to chew and swallow.

“Wow, well em that was interesting, cupcake was yummy though” she smirked

“Told ya!”

“I should go, I think we've done all the work we can do tonight, my brain hurts!” she laughed “Thanks for the sweets, and we can arrange another time to do some more?”

“You don’t have to go, I mean if you don't want to. I think the working is finished, my brain is gone to mush, I was going to go for a walk if you want to come?” he suggested

“Are you sure?” she asked a little bewildered, this wasn’t how Geoff behaved, he didn’t act like this, he wasn’t this nice. Not around her anyway.

“Yeah, I could do with the company”

They had been walking for about 15 minutes in complete silence, taking in the still night. The waves came in and out by their feet and slight cold chills hugged their bodies. Nicole carried her sandals in her hands and the sand felt nice in between her toes and the water even though it was night was still a bit warm, it was so refreshing.

“So Nicole, how do you like living in the Bay?” Geoff asked turning his head to look at her for the first time since they left the house

“It’s okay I guess, it’s different from living in the city, but I like being here with my dad. It’s so beautiful too” she smiled looking out at the ocean

“I bet, I’ve always lived in smaller places, I mean when we were little and still lived with granddad on the farm we barely seen anyone, moving here was a real change, but I love it. And living with Irene is so cool; it was so great of her to take us in”

“What happened with your family?” she found herself just asking, like he was her best friend and these were things they talked about all the time, she bit her lip slightly when she realized what she had asked “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that”

“It’s fine” he smiled at her, they both made their way towards the sand dunes and sat down in perfect sync “My parents died in a car accident when I was little, my granddad raised us on the farm, he was good to us, but we barely got time to do school work because he always had us working, and socialising was a no go, he was rather strict and set in old ways, I loved him but sometimes I just wished that I could get out of there, I really hated it at times. But well he died too just before we came to live in the bay, I moved school and people seemed to like me, I always thought I was an awkward person that wouldn’t really get along with people because of the way I was brought up, but I guess I made myself be that person I wanted to be”

“I wish I could do that....” Nicole slipped out

“Why don’t you? I mean you don’t seem to be the girl that everyone sees in school, your way cool” he grinned trying to make her laugh or smile; he didn’t like the look she had on her face. “What happened with your mum that you moved here with your dad? If you want to tell me that is”

“My mum is very self centred, and in the city I was just like her, I was the popular girl in school, I always had boyfriends, guy who weren’t my boyfriend hated my boyfriend and made that pretty evident which caused so many problems, I got into so much trouble all the time and my mum was never there to care. I got sick of the freedom, I wanted someone who would care for me, and make me home cooked meals and ask me about school, not find out how I was doing from report cards and detention slips, it all got too much one day and I came here to find my dad, I showed up on his doorstep and fell into his arms crying, we had barely spoke before and I already loved him because right from that second he cared for me”

“I’m sorry” he said, “that must have really sucked” he sighed

“It did, but it’s over now. I just kind of wish I still had friends like I did back then, I mean sure some of them probably just wanted to be my friend so that they weren’t on the outside and a lot of them probably hated me but they were still my friends, someone to talk to and hang out with.”

“Sometimes having too many friends can suck, because not all of them are really your friends, it’s like you said they just don’t want to be on the outside, I don’t understand what the whole big deal with fitting in is, we were all made to be different, but I just can’t help but fit in, it’s like I need to or something.”

“Geoff can I ask you something?”

“Sure” he chirped

“Why are we here? Like right now? We don’t speak, I seen your face when my name got called out as your partner you were embarrassed to be partnered with me, you wished it was Steph right?”

“I’m not going to lie to you yeah I did, I thought since Aden and Belle got put together me and Steph would, but I’m glad I got you now, like I said before Nic, your cool. You’re not like the other girls in our year, shallow and barely two brain cells to rub together, you don’t want to hang out with me because I’m Geoff Campbell, I doubt you even want to hang out with me”

She caught the fact that he called her Nic, and tried her best to keep her cool, no one calls her Nic here except her dad, he must actually kind of not hate her a bit if he has gone to the trouble of calling her by a nickname “I don’t hate you Geoff, it’s not a huge chore to hang out with you, I’ll be honest before I left the house I was dreading it, I didn’t want to hang out with the Geoff Campbell from SummerBay High because he was a tool and I kind of may have hated him, but you’re different, I don’t know why but you’re being nice to me and making an effort, and you are the first person in the school to do that”

“I’m sorry for all the times I was a tool, you didn’t deserve that. I feel like I have to keep up this appearance at school or no one will want to bother with me anymore, I started being this fake person when I started to get people to like me, and now I’m at the top and I can’t get down, I’m scared I don’t want to go back to being socially awkward and alone again, at my first school I was bullied everyday and it sucked, I made sure that wouldn’t happen again”

“Geoff I’m so sorry, I never knew that” she looked at him with pitiful eyes, she smiled a small smile at him when their eyes met

“No one did, it’s not something I like to tell people” he stated “Don’t tell anyone okay?” his eyes were pleading, and she smiled at the first secret someone had told her in a very long time. For the first time since she got here she felt like she had a true friend.

“I promise, your secret is safe with me”

“Thanks” he smiled, his teeth were perfect white and his eyes wrinkled at the corners and it could possibly be the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. “We should probably get home, it’s getting late”

He walked her home and when he got to her door he hugged her “Thanks for coming for the walk” he smiled “And for listening to me, it’s nice to have someone like that”

“Yeah, it was nice. I’ll see you tomorrow” She smiled reaching her hand out for the door, her eyes were still locked with his and she wanted nothing more than to lean over and kiss him, but she turned the handle and entered her home closing the door behind her smiling one last time at Geoff through the narrow gap still in the door frame, he took off walking down her path and she closed the door completely setting her backpack down on the ground she made her way to the kitchen for a drink before heading to bed.

[tessalove]

Thanks Sarah, Pembie and Danni! I'm really glad your enjoying the fic! I hope everyone who reads is liking it too!

Chapter 3:

The next day she was excited to go to school, it was the first time she had been excited since she started at SummerBay High. “Hey Nicole” she heard a voice calling from behind her as she walked along the grass, she turned her head and smiled at Ruby running up to catch up with her. She stopped until the small girl caught up.

“Hey” she said “You’re hair is gorgeous today” she told Ruby looking at her curled long brown hair

“Thanks, I’m going for a new style, it’s called the I don’t know what to do with my fro anymore” she giggled

“Well it really suits you” Nicole laughed

“How did last night with Geoff go? Did you get much of your project done?” Ruby enquired, she was a bit worried about Nicole having to work with Geoff, she knew how much that group of friends annoyed her and gave her a hard time, and she was worried that Nicole would get hurt or upset

“It went well” she smiled “We got a lot done, and it surprised me a little” she continued

“Surprised you?”

“Yeah, Geoff was so nice, it was strange, he had snacks and stuff laid out when I got there and we kind of hung out afterwards

“Hung out? I’m glad it went well, I was a bit worried” Ruby admitted

“Yeah on the beach” Nicole told Ruby, “Honestly, me too I was dreading it”

“Well, it’s great that it was good, I’ve gotta go meet Xav, I’ll catch you at school. Bye” Ruby dashed off towards the Palmer/Austin house to find Xavier. Nicole continued walking slowly towards school, she chose to take her time as she was early and had plenty of time to get there, she took in everyone around her, walking with their friends or boyfriends or someone who they had, and she kind of had no one, it always upset her thinking about how little she had here, she thought so many times about going back to the city, where she had so many friends. But that meant leaving her dad and going back to live with her mum, and her mums boyfriends, and she thought that would be worse.

She walked through the school gates and headed for her first classroom, she chose to sit in there until the bell rang instead of lingering awkwardly in the corridor. The bell rang and the students began to fill the classroom, Mrs Tomlinson walked in and sat down at her desk filing through papers and storing them in her drawer. Geoff entered the classroom and shot a smile at Nicole, Nic smiled back and looked back down at her desk. Aden caught the smile and looked at Geoff with confusion

“I trust you have all started working on your project” Mrs Tomlinson asked raising her tone to state that it was a question “Yes?” she prompted when no one answered, “Good” she said when a few voices replied with a yes. “I want you to continue to work on them today” She stated “Go one, move to your partners”

Nicole sat awkwardly not wanting to move towards Geoff as he was still surrounded by his friends, she turned her head to look towards him “Here Geoff, I think that girl wants you to sit with her, Unlucky!” Steph giggled “Try not to miss us too much, I hope you survive loserville babe” she added laughing at her own stupid jokes. Geoff laughed too, which hurt Nicole a whole lot inside, she turned away and looked at her textbook, trying to find anything to read and to block out whatever was being said.

“Mate I would listen to her, can’t you just ask Mrs T to change your partner? She likes you, I’m sure she would” Aden said suggestively winking.

Geoff laughed and shook his head “No mate, we’ve already started”

“Gutted” Aden chuckled “Right babe, wanna tell Mrs T we need to go to the library, and make out instead?” Aden turned his look to Belle, who nodded and giggled stupidly.

Geoff walked across the room and sat down next to Nicole “Hey” he said

“Hi” Nicole returned “So, I don’t think we have much more to do, we maybe could get it done today if we tried” she stated, trying to avoid eye contact with him or any contact with anyone else in the room, she could feel that Steph was staring at them and she tried to not care.

“Why rush? We have until next week, let’s not work ourselves into the ground” he smiled, she smiled back at him and he just stared at her for a few seconds “So what else do we have to do?” he asked, they continued to talk about the project and what they had to do and they shared out roles and began to write notes down and read different passages of textbooks. “Okay, I need a break, this is boring, no offence to Joan but seriously? My brain is going to explode”

“Geoff it’s only been half an hour” Nicole raised her eyebrows as Geoff leant back in his chair “You clearly don’t last long” Nicole giggled and then giggled some more as she saw the expression on Geoff face “No, I didn’t mean that” she said still giggling

“Oh I hope not, cause let me tell you that is not true” he said laughing along with her

“Gross Geoff, too much information” she stated playfully hitting his arm

“Truth” he shrugged “Right I need a drink, do you want a soda?” he asked getting up from his desk, she nodded “Kay, Mrs T I’m going to get me and Nic a drink, be back in a second” he smiled a cheeky smile before exiting the classroom.

Nicole glanced across the room and saw Stephanie glaring at her, not even trying to be discreet, Nicole turned her head away and began to glance around the room looking at what everyone else was doing, it didn’t look like there was a lot of work being done and she felt like herself and Geoff were the only ones that had done anything, Connor and Matt were playing some sort of game and everyone else had their phones out, trying to be discreet about it. Geoff came back and handed her a can of cherry soda “I forgot to ask you what you wanted, I hope you like that” he said as she a sat back down in his seat

She nodded “It’s my favourite actually”

He grinned “I’m good, right?” he laughed

She giggled “Yeah... you tell yourself that” she took a sip of her soda, it was cold and refreshing she smiled as she felt immediately better after having a drink “I don’t think many people are doing this project” she laughed looking around the room again, Geoff followed her gaze and laughed himself

“A class of genius’s were in” he stated sarcastically “Well at least were almost done and won’t be up to 5am the night before trying to do it all”

“You know I never took you to be someone who cared about school work” she told him “No offence, I just mean you never came across that way to me” she added when she caught his look

“Thanks...” he said looking at her, he laughed and added “I care about my work because I don’t want to end up in a dead end job for the rest of my life; I want to go to Uni and stuff and do something productive with my life”

“That’s exactly how I feel! I felt like I was the only one though and all everyone else cared about was status and being the most popular person they could be in High School, It kind of made me feel a bit better when I thought about the days when I made it in life and they were still stuck in the same boring job with barely any qualifications, It made it easier to get through the school days”

“I never realised you felt that badly about school”

“I hate it” she said he eyes sad “It’s horrible having to come somewhere where no one likes you and everyone enjoys making fun of you and never stop to think how you might feel”

“I’m sorry Nic, I really am! I know I’ve probably been the cause of some of what you felt in the past” he said looking seriously into her eyes

“You were never that bad actually” she told him, a small smile appearing on her lips

“Well I’m still sorry” he said, with that the bell rang and they both looked around the classroom, they were sitting facing each other closely, and if anyone cared enough to be paying attention it might have looked like something serious was going down, Stephanie was of course paying them her full attention, as soon as she heard the bell she made her way quickly across the classroom, without even a word she had her lips pressed against Geoff’s for several seconds before he pulled away staring at her “What was that?” he asked, his relationship with Steph was strange, they were never officially together, but when they were out together at a party or something they could be found hanging off each other’s lips, or in the nearest bedroom, but they were never together in school.

“I just really missed you, it’s been a while, you know... I think we should just be official, I mean we may as well be a couple, right?”

“No” he said confused “We don’t have a relationship Steph, we have hook-ups”

“Yeah, but we can change that, I want to have a relationship with you Geoff, I really like you” she had these puppy dog eyes on and Geoff didn’t really know what to do, Nicole was stuck as her desk was against the wall and Geoff was on the outside, she tried to work out a way to get passed them but her only option was to jump over the table and that seemed a bit extreme and would probably attract attention.

While she was thinking of other ways her thoughts were stopped by Stephs droned out voice directed at her “You can leave you know, it’s kind of pathetic and creepy that your hanging around here, this is a private conversation, so go, be on your way freak.” She knew that Stephanie knew she couldn’t have gotten out and that she wanted Nicole to hear what she said, but she didn’t let it bother her and she chose the jumping the table option, she threw her legs over and was quickly standing at the other side collecting her books and leaving.

“Nicole” Geoff called her, she turned around without saying anything just looking at him “Do you want to finish the project tonight?” he asked her

She was just about to reply when Steph jumped in “No, you can’t Geoff we have plans remember?”

“No?” he looked at her with a quizzing gaze

“Aden and Belle asked us to do something with them silly, so sorry he can’t do anything with you tonight, maybe you should just finish it alone, right Geoff?”

“Em, yeah sorry Nic. I’m sure you could finish if you wanted to? Just let me know what you did afterwards? We have most of it done anyway” something didn’t feel right when he said this, he felt like he was the worst person in the world, but he didn’t know what else to do. It was like Steph was his puppet master, he didn’t know why but he did almost everything she said, he was a different person when he was around her.

“Run along now, and maybe for your own good sort out those hideous brows of yours, I mean gosh do you own tweezers?” she laughed as Nicole left the classroom, nudging Geoff to aid him to laugh with her, instead he put his head down choosing not to meet Nicole’s gaze.

Nicole felt like she wanted to cry, he just spent so much time in the class apologising and feeling sorry for her and then he went and let that happen, she hated him and she was glad he suggested finishing the project alone, but she wasn’t going to finish it for him, no she would be telling Mrs Tomlinson exactly what happened, she was sick of keeping quiet, she didn’t care anymore, she wanted her credit where it was due.

[tessalove]

Thank you very much for the comments, this is the second last chapter (unless I add more lol) Hope you enjoy this one!

Chapter 4:

She went to her next class which thankfully Ruby was in and Geoff and Steph were not, she told Ruby what happened and asked her if she thought telling Mrs Tomlinson and getting her credit was right, Ruby agreed and she spent the class attempting to make Nicole feel better, it worked because Nicole could see the effort Ruby was putting in and she liked it, knowing that someone cared enough to do that.

She was walking to her next class when someone pulled her into the corridor in front of the principal’s office, it was small and quiet and after everyone went to class no one was about. “Listen Nicole...” Steph began “I can see what you’re doing, you like Geoff and you’re trying to make him like you, well that’s never going to happen, because you see Geoff would never go out with anyone like you, he’s told me that before, rated you right at the bottom of the school girls list we did, so I would advise you to stay away from him, for your own sake, I mean I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. And you will if you continue this” she spoke sternly, Nicole wasn’t sure if it was threat whether she meant Geoff would hurt her or she would “Geoff and I are destined together and you wouldn’t want to interfere with that would you?” she continued her tone patronizing “You, well your destined to be alone or if you do find someone it will be down to your standards, Geoff is well above your reach, he’s the top dog and your right down at the bottom, it doesn’t make sense. It’s unfortunate that he got stuck with you as his partner and Geoff is a nice guy he didn’t want to hurt you, he could have just ask Mrs T to change his partner but he didn’t, but I wouldn’t read into that, he just felt sorry for you and how pathetic you are.” She said with a cruel smile on her face “So are we clear here? You stay right away from Geoff and things for you will be okay, you can go back to being no one”

Nicole turned on her heel and walked away, trying to not let the tears that filled her eyes spill out, she didn’t know where to go, there was nowhere on the school grounds that she felt safe, she left school and headed for her home, she opened the door and before she knew it she was on her hands and knees on the ground crying, she couldn’t take it anymore, she hated this place so much. The only good thing that was here was her dad, but even that didn’t seem like enough to stay anymore. She ran upstairs and lifted her suitcase down from on top of her wardrobe and began to fill it, she didn’t want to go back to the city but it felt like her only option right now. Once she had packed her suitcase she put it in the boot of her car, she returned to the house and sat herself down on the sofa waiting on her dad to come home from work, she couldn’t leave and not tell him, she knew he would be upset and he wouldn’t want her to go, but her mind was made up, she wanted to be happy and being here didn’t make her happy.

She decided to take one last walk on the beach, Roman wouldn’t be home for at least an hour, probably more and she didn’t want to sit anxiously waiting, that way she would talk herself out of it or talk herself into just leaving without a word, leaving a note perhaps.

She closed and locked the door behind her walking slowly down towards the beach, once she got there she took in the beauty, nothing looked like this in the city, it’s one of the few things she would really miss, she wanted to take it all in before she went, because she never would be back. She sat down on the sand dunes a looked out on the water, it was beautiful, it was so clear and peaceful, the waves came in and out and further down the beach a group of people were playing in the shallow water, she was saddened when she realized she would never be in that water again, not that she ever spent much time in it like that with friends, herself and Ruby would go for a swim every now and again, but the beach seemed to be Steph’s territory, every time she went down for a swim she was there, she didn’t know if she picked unlucky times or if Steph was out to make her life a living hell, but whatever the case it worked.

Her thoughts drifted off to everything positive about the bay, the times she spent with Ruby and Xavier, and the times spent with her dad, the diner and the woman who worked there, they always looked out for her and they were always so kind, they were going to be crushed when she didn’t go back to work, she didn’t even have the guts to tell them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when something was put over her shoulders and a body sat down beside her, she didn’t even realize until then that she was shivering “You looked cold” Geoff said

She shrugged the jacket off her shoulder and turned her head away from him, focusing on the ocean and hoping he would go away, but he didn’t he sat there for what seemed like forever, she got up and walked away from him, but it didn’t work, she felt him grab her wrist and turn her around to face him “Nicole what’s wrong?” he asked a puzzled but worried look on his face

“Nothing Geoff, just go back to your life” she answered

“My life? What do you mean?”

“The life were you don’t pretend to be my friend”

“I never pretend to be anything, well maybe I do pretend to be that other person when I’m at school, but I’ve never pretended with you.”

“Geoff please, don’t bother. I know you don’t like me, I don’t know what game it is your playing but it’s not fair, you can’t get my hopes up, you can’t pretend that you care about me, please don’t be nice to me when it means nothing, it doesn’t matter anymore anyway, you don’t have to bother anymore, I won’t be around”

“Nicole, I never pretended to be your friend once, I was never just nice to you because it was necessary, I’m going to be honest, when I found out I was your partner I made a face, I joked about it with my friends, but when I seen you sitting across the classroom looking broken I knew it wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair that I treated you like that, I never should have treated you anyway apart from the right way, and I apologise for that, hanging out with you and talking to you was one of the greatest things that happened this week, I loved being your partner, you have been the best partner I have ever had” he said, his hand was on the top of her arm squeezing it lightly, not enough to hurt her but enough for her to know that he was serious and that he was upset at what she had said and thought “Now do you believe me? I don’t play games, I’m straightforward, if I didn’t want to make effort with you and if I didn’t like you then you would know all about it”

She nodded her head “I believe you, I’m sorry I was upset” she said a tear falling down her cheek, Geoff watched the tear escape her eye and followed it until it hit the sand below

“Nic why are you so upset? What’s happened?”

“I’m upset because I’m always upset, I haven’t had one day here when I’ve felt at home, where I could say that I love my life and the day has been perfect, I thought moving here would be a new start, but it’s been hell and I hate it” she told him “I was so angry at you because you never defended me, not once even though you claim your my friend, you let Steph talk to me like I was nothing and didn’t say a word, you didn’t disagree when she told me to finish our project alone, you agreed and that hurt, and then when she told me to...” she stopped realizing what she was about to say, Steph could tell she had a crush on Geoff and she couldn’t tell him about what Steph said without admitting that

“When she told you to what Nic?”

Fresh tears filled her eyes, she tried so hard not to let them out, blinking to try and hold the back she failed, tears fell down her cheeks and she couldn’t speak, she choked when she tried to tell him it was nothing, not to worry about it

“Nic, tell me” he said, more demanded

She thought for a second, she was leaving and planned never to come back here which meant never seeing him again, so she shrugged “She told me to stay away from you, that you felt sorry for me and how pathetic I was, that was the only reason you were being nice to me, that you were a good person and that I shouldn’t read into it” she told him, tears stopping, she couldn’t let herself care anymore

“Is that why you weren’t in class today, I thought you were sick and had to go home”

She shook her head, she was angry now “No I went home because Steph made me feel like crap, like she always does, I just couldn’t take it anymore, I’m sick of being the new girl, the freak, the girl who no one cares about, the ugly girl that’s at the bottom of the heap, I’m just sick of it. I’m leaving, tonight. I have my bags packed and when I go back and say goodbye to my dad no one will have to worry about me again, I’ll not have to worry about trying to avoid people in the hall just so that I don’t feel like crying or just running away, or doing something stupid.”

“You’re leaving?” he said, now his eyes looked like they were full off tears, like he could burst out crying any minute, she nodded and he didn’t say anything after that.

She turned and walked away, making his hand that was still holding on to her arm fall. Fresh tears filled her eyes and she tried not to let them out, she picked up her pace until she was running, when she was almost at the path she felt his hand grab hers, he made her stop and he turned her around to face him.

“Nicole, you’re nothing like what you just described and you should never feel like that, you’re beautiful and you’re smart, not many of the girls at school can say that”

“Don’t, Geoff” she cut him off

He shook his head, putting his finger to her lips, he moved his finger from her lips placing his hand on her cheek, before she could do anything his lips were on hers, she pulled her head away and looked into his eyes, they had a look of sincerity on them, and this time she brought her lips to his, after a while he pulled away.

“The first time I seen you I thought you were beautiful, I even said to Aden and he agreed, but when Steph took a dislike to you, everyone else followed her and I was too proud and worried about losing the top spot that I did nothing about it, I let people ridicule you and bully you, I probably was one of the worst, and I hate myself for that” he shook his head, a look of disgust painted on his face “But Nic I want to make it up to you, please don’t leave, please stay here?” he asked her “For me?” he added

She didn’t know what to say, she looked from his face, to the sand, to the ocean, to the path trying to figure out what she could say “I don’t know” she said

“Do you really want to leave? If you can leave without having regrets about it or second thoughts then go” he said pointing up the path “But if you would look back and regret going then stay, with me and I promise that you won’t ever feel worthless or anything less than what you are again, and I promise that I will try to make every day from now on perfect.”

She looked straight into his eyes not caring about the tears in her eyes, letting them fall freely down her cheeks “No one has ever said anything like that to me” she choked out

“I mean every word of it, I don’t care what it does to me, I want you in my life”

She nodded, closing her eyes releasing the last few tears caught there.

“You’ll stay?” he asked

She nodded, letting a smile form on her lips, he leant forward and kissed her once more “Thank you” he said taking her hand in his

“One condition” she said

“Anything?”

“You have to help me unpack” she giggled quietly

“That’s not a problem” he smiled leading her up the path towards her house. She was glad that when she got back her dad still wasn’t home, they were able to quickly move her bags from her car to her room and unpack them, putting her clothes back into her wardrobe.

“You have a lot of clothes” he laughed, hanging dresses on hangers and placing them into her wardrobe

“I like fashion” she shrugged

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you were the majority of this stuff”

“I figured there was no point, there was never anyone to impress, it didn’t matter what I wore people always found something wrong with it, something to pick at that made me feel like crap, I usually stuck to the school uniform, it’s not like I went out much apart from school, when I was in the diner I wore jeans and a plain top, I didn’t want to do anything to draw attention”

“I’m really sorry that you felt that way, that is the crappest thing ever, having all these amazing clothes and looks like yours, I for one would have appreciated this” he said laughing holding up a mini dress

“I wore that once, to a party in the city, I love that dress” she said smiling as she looked at it

“You know people only tried to make you down on yourself because you’re hot right, and there jealous?”

She shook her head “No, I’m not like the other girls at school

“I know, you’re better” he smiled, “No, stop” he said stopping her when she opened her mouth, before she could say anything “You need to stop this, I know your used to always being down on yourself, but you have got to see how great you are”

“I can’t” she said

“Come here” he said taking her hand, he moved her across the room to her mirror, “look in there, you see her I think she is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, her body is just right, he hair is beautiful and her face is so naturally pretty, altogether she makes up the perfect package and I can see why other girls would be jealous, I’ve never seen anyone that has everything”

She turned round so that she was looking at him “Okay, I promise that from now on I’ll be more positive, but you have to promise me something?”

“Anything”

“Don’t leave me; I need you to be my friend. If after tonight we go into school tomorrow and you ignore me, or things go back to the way they were before I don’t think I could handle it, so please promise me that this isn’t a joke or a sick game?”

“Nic, this is real. I’m real, not very many people see the real me, they see bits because I don’t like to be fake, but no one has seen every side to me like you have, I couldn’t leave you, I promise that I’ll always be here for you”

She smiled, letting herself breathe a sigh of relief, he pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her she leaned her head on his chest “Thank you” she breathed.

[tessalove]

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on this! Your comments were very much appreciated! This is the final chapter, I might do some sort of sequel one day, but I'm not to sure. So for now thanks for reading this fic, and I hope you enjoy the final chapter!

Chapter 5:

They spent the rest of the night on the sofa watching TV until her dad came home, “Hi” he said with raised eyebrows as he walked through the door, he set his gym bag down at the bottom of the stairs “What’s up?” he asked casually trying not to be too obvious, but he was curious as to why Geoff Campbell was in his house, as far as he knew Nicole hated him and all his friends

“Hey Dad” she smiled “Geoff and I just finished off our project a while ago”

He nodded “Okay, that’s good did you get it all done?” he asked deciding not to ask any more questions

She nodded “Yep”

“Great” he smiled “Have you two had something eat? I’m starved”

Nicole looked at Geoff who shook his head “I could eat” he said

“Were hungry too” she shouted to the kitchen

“Okay, well I can’t be annoyed cooking how about pizza?”

“Pizza sounds great” Nicole smiled at her dad as he sat down on the other sofa and lifted his phone from his pocket

“Yeah, if you don’t mind me staying for some of course?” Geoff politely added

“Course not mate, the more the merrier”

Nicole smiled at her dad and then turned her head to smile at Geoff, he smiled back “I’ll call Irene and let her know I’ll be another while” he took his phone out of his pocket and searched for Irene’s name, he had 6 messages and 4 missed calls from Steph, he deleted them and called Irene.

Geoff left Nicole’s house around midnight “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you home, it’s really dark”

“I’ll be fine Nic, I’m a big boy” he laughs

“I know” she giggles “But still, text me when you get home” she tells him, he nods kisses her lips and makes his way down the path

She closes the door and a massive grin appears on her face, she leans her back against the door resting her head there too and she can’t help but smile, she covers her face with her hands and has the urge to pinch herself to make sure she isn’t dreaming, but chooses not to.

She makes her way to her bedroom and pulls some Pyjamas from her drawer, she removes her clothes and puts them on, she takes a face wipe from the packet on her bedside table and wipes over her face, she pulls her blankets up and climbs into bed, her phones buzzes just as she pulls the blankets over herself

I’m home safe. The monsters didn’t

get me. I really loved tonight, thank

you and remember that you are

amazing, I can’t wait to spend more

time with you, sleep tight. I’ll meet

you at the diner at 8 in the morning

before school. Xo

She grins and rests her head on the pillow; it’s not long before she drifts off to sleep.

On my way. Sorry running slightly

late lol. Xx

She presses send on her phone before rushing down the stairs, “I’m going to school” she shouts to her dad who is in the kitchen

“Wow, hold on what about breakfast?

“I’m getting some at the diner before school” she smiled, opening the door and rushing out, she dashes down her path and walks quickly to the diner where she finds Geoff leaning against the wall outside “So sorry” she says rushing over to him “I lost track of time”

“You look amazing” her hair is curly and her makeup is perfect on her face “I’ve never seen you look like this”

“It’s not too much is it?” she asked him

“No, no it’s really not” he laugh staring at her, he kisses her lips softly before they make their way inside

“Hey Irene can I have my usual and...” he looks to Nicole

“Em, bacon and toast please” she smiles

“No problem, darl I’ll bring it over”

They choose a table and sit down, their facing one another and she can’t help but smile when she looks at him “This is like a dream” she tells him

“What am I that dreamy?” he jokes

She shrugs “Well, yeah I suppose you are” she smiles

Irene brings their food over “That was quick” Geoff comments

“Only the best service for two of my favourite people darl. Enjoy and get to school straight after I’m not having you two late” she remarks

“Don’t worry Irene we have plenty of time” Geoff grins at the older woman

“Uh huh”

They eat their breakfast, chatting about school and the classes they have that day when they here Geoff’s named being called, they both turn round to see Aden, Belle and Steph walking towards them, Steph sits down on a spare chair at their table and Belle sits on the other one, Aden pulls a chair over from another table.

“What are you two doing here?” Steph says smiling, the fakest smile anyone has ever seen

“Having breakfast” Geoff says, making his tone have a ring to it that says the answer was an obvious one “What are you’s doing?” he asked

“Belle wanted a coffee before school” Aden answered “Which I should go get, be right back” he said getting up from his chair

“So were you two working on your project? Nicole not able to it?” Steph said with a patronizing tone in her voice

“No we were just having breakfast” Geoff stated, he could tell that Nicole was feeling uncomfortable, he lifted her plate and stacked it on top of his, “We’re going to go” We’ll see you at school” he said smiling at Aden as he arrived back at the table with Belle’s coffee

“You’s don’t have to leave, school doesn’t start for a while yet, were just going to hang here if you’s want to also?” Belle said, her gaze on Nicole

Geoff looked at Nicole questioningly, she nodded and they both sat back down “So how was the movie last night?” he asked, he decided not to go, he was sure that was why Steph was trying to contact him last night

“It was good, the first one was better” Aden stated

“You would know if you didn’t ditch us, I thought you wanted to go to the movies? It was your idea!” Steph said with a raised tone

“Sorry, I ended up with other plans” he told her

“What did you end up doing?” Belle said her tone light, Geoff sensed she was trying to ease the tension

“Me and Nic just hung out for a bit later on in the night”

“Nic? Seriously Geoff, you’re giving her a nickname? What the hell Geoff, were your friends you’re not meant to ditch us for her. Since when was she your friend?” She said, anger and frustration was clear on her face

Geoff looked at Nicole, it was clear that she was getting upset and she felt even more uncomfortable than before “She’s not my friend” he told her

Nicole’s head shot up, this can’t be happening she told herself, she looked at him, her was staring back at her “She’s my girlfriend” he explained, he stood up from his seat and reached out his hand, she took it and followed him, “We’ll see you at school” he said as they made their way out of the diner hand in hand.

Irene couldn’t help but notice the two’s enjoined hands, and the look on Steph’s face, a look that looked like she had just been punched in the stomach.

“What?” she almost screamed “He can’t do this to me!”

“Actually he can” Belle pointed out “It’s not like you two were ever officially dating” she told her

“You were the one that said you didn’t want him to be your boyfriend, just a hook up remember?” Aden said, shrugging his shoulder “We better get to school, coming babe?” he said reaching for Belle’s hand

They both left while Steph sat there, shaking her head a look of anger and devastation on her face.

Geoff and Nicole were only a bit away “Yo, Geoffrey” Aden called “Wait up”

Geoff and Nicole looked back, Nicole looked to Geoff worry on her face “It’s okay it’s just Belle and Aden” he reassured her

The two couples caught up “Hey” Belle said a small smile on her face but with a look of guilt “Em Nicole, I need to say sorry to you. I know we’ve never been friends but if you’re going to date Geoff I need to apologize, I treated you real bad and I regret that, even when I was doing it I regretted it, it’s Steph she has this thing about her that’s infectious, but it’s not me. I’m not a bitch I promise” Belle said her smile small and apologetic, she laughed a little and Nicole nodded and smiled back

“Yeah what she said, sorry” Aden shrugged, apologetically

Nicole nodded “It’s okay, new beginnings and all that” she laughed quietly

“Yeah, it may be our last year but things can change” Geoff smiled putting his arm around Nicole as they walked along the grass

“You know she only bullied you because she was jealous?” Belle told Nic, “Yeah Aden told us one day that Geoff said you were hot, it was like your first day” Belle added when Nicole threw her a confused look “She said then that she would make your life hell, I should have stopped her there and then” she continued “I can’t blame her for being jealous though, you have got to teach me how to get my hair like that”

Aden and Geoff looked at one another and smiled, they both walked with their arms around their girlfriends enjoying the morning breeze on the way to school “We should go swimming later” Aden said nodding

“Yeah that would be really fun” Geoff added

“You just want to see us in bathing suits” Nicole chuckled

“True” Both Aden and Geoff chimed