The Story of Us

by Rebecca Harner

  The principal wrote down everything I said and the lady had a hand over her mouth. He said, “Well, we are going to report this to the police after we talk to Ryder and Nash. Ryder has had this history in other schools and we thought he was getting better. We are truly sorry this happened to you, Violet. Have you told your parents?” He was being really nice to me about the situation. I think he felt bad that this happened to a brand-new student.

  “My parents went away on a business trip. They won’t be back until tomorrow night. My brother knows, though.” Oh, great. I hoped I hadn’t brought him into the problem now.

  “Okay. What happened to Nash’s face? Did Ryder hit him as well?” I told them about the misunderstanding with my brother and him at my house. I think they believed me, because they both just kept nodding while I was talking.

  I left out some small details about Nash and me. Considering I didn’t want to tell them what happened between us, I knew Nash wouldn’t talk about it either.

  After they talked for about five more minutes, they finally let me go back out into the waiting room. Ryder was sleeping in a chair and Nash was on the other side of the room on his phone. They called Ryder in, so I walked over and sat next to Nash.

  “Hey. How was it?” He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer toward him.

  “I told them the truth. I did leave out some personal details about you and me, though.” I looked around the room to see if the secretary was there, but she wasn’t. “It would’ve been awkward to talk about us to them.”

  He nodded and looked back down at his phone. He seemed sad but frustrated at the same time. “Is everything all right?” I asked him.

  “Umm . . . I’m fine. It’s just some of my fans and stuff on Vine.” I could tell he was lying. Something was definitely wrong.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” he said. I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. We stayed this way for about five minutes, until the door swung open.

  “Can you two come in here?” the principal asked. He seemed frustrated and annoyed with Ryder.

  Nash and I both got up and went into the room. Ryder was sitting in one of the chairs, smirking. I glared at him and just stood in the back of the room. Nash came right up next to me.

  “You two can sit down.” I looked at the three seats in front of me. Of course Ryder was sitting in the one in the middle. I grabbed one of the seats and pushed it farther away from Ryder. There was no way I was going to sit that close to him.

  “So we have enough information from the two of you that I really don’t see the point in talking to you privately, Nash,” the principal said. Nash nodded.

  “Anyway, I will be reporting this to the police. Assaulting women and forcing yourself on them is illegal, Ryder. Since none of this happened on school grounds, I cannot give out any of my own punishments. Ryder, I want you to leave Ms. Burns alone. Any classes that you two share will be changed on your schedule. If I ever hear again that you are attacking another innocent young lady, I will expel you. Mark my words.”

  Ryder rolled his eyes and said, “Whatever.”

  “Moving on, Nash, I would like to thank you for standing up for Violet. Even though you did attack Ryder, you did the right thing. I don’t like violence but I can understand why you did it. Maybe next time you let the police take care of things instead. All right?” The principal was acting a lot nicer toward Nash than he had to Ryder.

  “I understand.” Nash looked relieved. I don’t know why he thought he was going to get into trouble. He did nothing wrong.

  “Violet, I suggest you talk to your parents about the incident. The police might want to ask you a few questions as well if you wish to fill out a report. If anything else happens, I would like you to inform me so I can take some action. The school board is very sorry this happened to you, especially considering you are a new student.”

  “I will. Thank you, sir.” That was all I could say. I was mad that he wasn’t going to expel Ryder or at least give him detention. I would be filling out a report, though. He deserved to be punished, that piece of shit.

  “You guys may leave. It is the last period, by the way. But Ryder, you need to stay behind so we can fix your schedule.” Nash and I bolted out of the room and headed to English.

  Everyone was glaring at us when we walked in, but we just ignored them and took seats in the back.

  When the bell finally rang, Nash and I couldn’t have gotten out of the building any faster. As we were walking out to his car, more kids were staring at us and Nash could tell I was mad.

  He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me as close to him as possible. He then kissed me on top of the head. I started to blush and looked up at him. He was smiling down at me and his blue eyes stared straight into mine. He glanced down at my lips, making me anxious. Why wasn’t he kissing me?

  “Oh, just kiss me already, Nash,” I finally said. He leaned down and grabbed my face. I leaned in a little bit and closed my eyes right before our lips met. The kiss got more powerful and I put my arms around his neck to pull us closer. He was a really good kisser.

  We both pulled away at the same time and he started to chuckle. I noticed his cheeks started to turn a slight red color as he smiled, which of course made me grin like a complete idiot. He opened the passenger-side door for me and I hopped in. “I don’t care what people think about us, Violet.” I looked back out and saw even more kids looking at us. Girls glared at me and gave me dirty looks. The guys glared at Nash, but then stared at me. People were putting two and two together. Nash and I were a couple now and no one was going to change that.

  Nash

  Today was very stressful and all I wanted to do was relax with Violet. I invited her over to my house to meet my family and, well, I wanted to talk to her about Vine.

  Ever since that Vine was uploaded of her and me at the party, my Vine, Twitter, and Instagram had been filled with hateful messages. My fans were not happy with me being with her. Wait till they found out we were dating. I needed to warn Violet and just explain the situation to her.

  “I need to warn you about some things,” I told her as I pulled up in my driveway.

  “What?” she asked, a confused look on her face.

  “Well, my younger brother, Hayes, he is thirteen, and he can be quite a jerk sometimes. But he will probably flirt with you and try to hit on you. Also he and Will, my older brother, love to embarrass me, especially if anyone comes over.”

  She started to giggle a little bit and pulled me out of the truck. “I’m sure they won’t be that bad.” As soon as we walked into the house, we heard screaming and laughing in the kitchen.

  “Is it always like this?” she asked. I nodded and showed her where everyone was.

  When we walked into the kitchen, Will, Hayes, and Skylynn turned around and stared at me. Hayes and Will had whipped cream all over their faces and Skylynn had it in her hair. My mom had her phone out and must’ve been filming a smack-cam Vine.

  “Hey, guys . . .” I saw Hayes run toward me with a handful of whipped cream, but I jumped out of the way just in time, only to hear it hit someone else.

  “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

  Violet

  When Nash led me toward the kitchen, he stopped right in the hallway. I was stuck behind him and couldn’t see what he was looking at.

  “Hey, guys . . .” Nash started to say, but then he jumped to the side. Before I knew it, something hit my cheek and I was left with something cold and fluffy on my face. What the hell. Why did he just smack whipped cream on my face?

  “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” A younger boy stepped out in front of me with a shocked look on his face. He resembled Nash a little bit but he was a lot shorter. Hayes.

  I looked around and saw two other people with whipped cream on their faces. Oh . . . I knew what was goi
ng on.

  Nash pushed Hayes out of the way. “What the hell, man?” He was furious. His face softened when he walked toward me with a paper towel. “Here, let me help you with that.”

  When he came closer, I wiped the rest off my face and into my hand. I jumped on Nash and smeared it all over his face. When I hopped off him his mouth was hanging open in shock. Everyone started laughing and I was gasping for air because I was laughing so hard.

  “Why don’t you give me a hug?” He started walking really fast toward me with his arms open. I ran out of the room and locked myself in a nearby bathroom.

  He started banging on the door. “Oh, come on. I just wanted a hug.”

  “Nope. Not until you clean off.” I sat on the toilet seat, waiting patiently until he responded.

  “Fine.” He stomped away from the door but I didn’t come out. Just to be safe. A couple of seconds later, someone started knocking on the door.

  “You can come out now.” It sounded like Hayes’s voice, so I opened the door slightly to check. It was him.

  “I don’t know. Are you armed?” I asked him.

  He started to laugh. “No . . . not this time.” I opened the door and walked out.

  “I’m sorry about that, by the way. I had no clue you were there.” He sounded like he really was sorry. How could Nash say he was a jerk?

  “Hey, no problem. My family gets crazy sometimes too. My brother was the one who hit Nash.”

  We walked back in the kitchen and the rest of his family was cleaning up the mess. Nash saw me walk in and ran toward me. He put his arm around me. And cleared his throat. Everyone looked at him.

  “Anyway, this is Violet Burns,” Nash said. “She is our new neighbor. Violet, this is my mom, Will, and Skylynn. You already met Hayes.” They all chuckled a little bit.

  His mom came over and shook my hand. “Hi, Violet. I’m Elizabeth. I came over to your house earlier today to meet your parents, but nobody was home.” She was really pretty; I saw where Nash got his good looks from.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. My parents are always out on business trips and my brother and I were at school. They’ll be home tomorrow night, though.”

  A smile gathered on her face. “Oh, good. I hope we can have you all over for dinner sometime. Actually, you and your brother are invited to have dinner with us tonight, since your parents are out.”

  “That would be great. Thank you so much.” She grabbed me and gave me a tight hug.

  “If you need anything, just come on over. I’m always home.” She was extremely nice. She was actually nicer to me than my mom was. I loved my mom, don’t get me wrong, but we had our moments. She didn’t always understand me and some of the choices I made.

  “I’m going to go put Skylynn down for her nap. Try to be quiet, everyone.” She picked up Skylynn and carried her upstairs. The rest of us just kind of stood there awkwardly in the kitchen.

  “Sooo . . . do you want to go upstairs and do our homework?” Nash asked. I nodded and picked my backpack up off the floor. Will and Hayes were just smirking at me as we walked away.

  “We’ll be checking on you two in a little bit,” one of them yelled. Nash and I just looked at each other and started to laugh.

  Nash’s room was a typical guy’s room, but it wasn’t that messy. Right when I walked in I saw a wall covered with signs, letters, and pictures. They must’ve been from his fans.

  “Nash, this is amazing. Your fans really like you.” There were pictures of Nash with some girls with a backdrop that said “The Fam Tour.” I wondered what that was. There were WE LOVE YOU NASH signs and hundreds of letters to him.

  “Yeah. Well, I wanted to talk to you about that.” I was confused. I had no problems with Vine or his fans contacting him. They were just fans.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

  “Come sit down.” He patted the bed next to him. “I want to tell you something.” I walked over and sat down next to him.

  “Friday night, a couple of people from the party recorded your reaction about Vine and posted it on all of their social media. They tagged me in it, so my fans saw it. Since most of my fans are girls, they are like obsessed with me. I don’t know why. I mean, I’m just a normal guy. When they find out that I’m dating you, they are going to get really mad. They got mad at me for that reaction video just because I was hanging out with you. They were saying some really mean things. I posted a tweet telling all of them to leave you alone and that they need to just accept you. They eventually calmed down. I don’t want you to get worried, but I just wanted to warn you before you got hurt.” He grabbed my hand but I pulled away.

  “Can I see the comments?” I asked. I wasn’t mad at him, but I was hurt. It looked like his fans really cared about him—but why were they hating on me?

  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” He shook his head and put his phone in his pocket.

  “I mean it, Nash. I want to know. I’m not mad, I just want to know what they are saying.” He still refused.

  “Fine.” I pulled out my phone and went to the App Store. I typed “Vine” in the search bar and downloaded it.

  “What are you doing?” Nash asked.

  “If you’re not going to let me see, I’m just going to have to look for it myself.” He immediately stood up and grabbed my phone. He held it above him so I couldn’t reach it.

  “Nash! Give it back!” He was making me jump for it and I was starting to get mad.

  I quickly reached into his pocket, grabbed his phone, and ran out of his room. I ran into the next closest room and locked the door.

  I turned around and Hayes was sitting on his bed playing Xbox. He looked surprised.

  “I’m sorry, Hayes. Nash took my phone because he didn’t want me to look at something, so I grabbed his phone,” I whispered.

  “Violet, where did you go? You don’t know my password anyway.” I heard Nash calling for me and opening doors.

  “Don’t tell him I’m in here! Please, Hayes.” I started hugging him, hoping he would give in.

  “Fine. You have to hide. He is going to know you’re in here if the door is locked.”

  “Where should I go?” He walked over to his window and opened it.

  “You want me to jump out the window?!”

  He started laughing and I threw a pillow at him to shut him up. “No, smart one. The roof right here is completely flat. Just wait out there until Nash leaves. I’ll pull down the blinds so he won’t see you.”

  I hopped out the window and sat down next to it. He closed the blinds but left the window open so I could hear. “Hayes. Open the door.” I heard Nash banging on the door.

  “I’m busy. What do you want?” I heard the door open and then Nash walking around.

  “Is she in here?” Nash asked.

  “No. Why would she be?” Hayes said in a smart-ass tone.

  “Listen. This isn’t some joke. I don’t want her reading those comments. She is going to get really hurt.” Why was Nash trying so hard to protect me from what his fans were saying? I wasn’t a child—I could deal with some hateful words.

  “Did you check downstairs? I thought I heard someone run down there.” I loved Hayes right now.

  “I’ll go check. If you see her, tell me.” I heard the door slam shut and the blinds were pulled up. Hayes grabbed my hand and helped me back into his room.

  “Thanks, Hayes. Now, do you know his password?” I hugged him again but he pulled away.

  “Yeah, but I’m not telling you.” All right, I was mad.

  “Please, Hayes!” I was on my knees, practically begging for mercy.

  “You have to do something for me, though.” Where was he going with this?

  “What?” I stood up and crossed my arms.

  “I want you to let me make a Vine on his account.” I started to laugh.


  “Okay. Whatever you want,” I said. I tossed him the phone and he sprinted out of the room, yelling for Nash. That little asshole.

  Violet

  I sighed and sat down on Hayes’s bed. I give up. Obviously the comments are terrible if neither of them will let me read them.

  I looked up at his TV and saw that he’d been playing Call of Duty. I grabbed his remote and started playing for him. My brother and I used to play this game all the time, so I was pretty good. I was so involved with the game that I didn’t even notice them walk back into the room. I jumped when Nash put his arm around my shoulder. I ignored him and went back to playing the game.

  “Are you mad at me?” Nash started to rub my back but I kept on ignoring him.

  “Can I have my phone back? I need to text Hayden,” I said.

  “Do you promise you won’t go on Vine?” I rolled my eyes and paused the game. I tossed the controller on the bed and walked out of the room. I just wanted to be left alone. He could have my phone. I was going home. I passed Mrs. Grier while heading down the steps.

  “Is everything all right, honey? You look pale.” She was so sweet.

  “I actually don’t feel too good. I was going to go home and lie down. Can we reschedule dinner for another time?” I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I didn’t want to see Nash right now.

  She pulled me into a hug and rubbed my back. “Absolutely, honey. Call me if you need anything.” I gave her a small smile and headed out the door.

  I walked quickly back to my house so Nash wouldn’t come after me. I ran inside and locked the door behind me. I fell to the floor with tears rolling down my face.

  I put my head in my hands and continued to cry. How was it that I managed to pick up a boyfriend in the first couple of weeks that I’d been here and there were already issues in our relationship? This was just added to my long list of problems I had going on. This past year had been the hardest year of my life. With my parents thinking about divorce, my brother leaving soon, the car accident, moving again, and now this with Nash, I was sick of everything. Nothing in my life was ever easy.