Nikolai by Kristin Alexander

Author:Kristin Alexander [Alexander, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-10T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Hannah

There were several times throughout the day I felt compelled to pinch myself because it felt like I slipped into an alternate dimension. I was sitting in English 4a, taking notes on chapter 7 of The Catcher in the Rye, a novel I could identify with only too well. I had often felt like Holden Caulfield. An outsider, lonely and untrusting. While poor Holden ends up in a mental institution, my life had taken a decidedly more positive turn. It was like someone hit the reset button on my high school existence. In this new iteration, I was sought out, greeted, valued. It gave me a whole new appreciation for Nikolai’s disappearing act over the weekend. If he felt a tenth of the disorientation I felt, I understood his actions completely.

The bell rang, and I got up and walked to the door, but not without at least three people who I’d never spoken to in my life giving me cheery greetings as I left. I responded politely but rolled my eyes as I walked out the door.

“What was that look for?” Nikolai asked as he waited outside my class for me. This was another thing. After our talk this morning, Nikolai had asked for --demanded-- my schedule so he could pick me and drop me off at my classes. I told him it was totally unnecessary, but he mumbled something about the assholes in this school and there could be another guy like Jeff. I grinned at his possessiveness, feeling a twinge of delight that he felt so protective of me. However, I needed to check him every once in a while, to make sure he didn’t get out of hand with that stuff.

Nikolai draped his arm around my shoulders as he guided me to my next class. “I’m being kind of being a jerk, but all these random people, people who I’ve had classes with for the last three years and have never said a word to me, are saying hi to me all the time, asking me how I’m doing, that kind of thing. This is the third class it’s happened in.”

He smirked. “People are sheep, Hannah. Sometimes they need to be told who to like, what to wear, where to hang out, what music to listen to. You’ve gotten some social validation, so they’re all quick to hop on the train and act like they thought you were cool all along.” He neglected to mention that the social validation was from him. He was the reason all these random people were talking to me.

We arrived at my class and he leaned me against some nearby lockers. “You might as well enjoy people being nice to you, right?”

“You’re right. I mean, how shitty is it that I’m complaining about people being too nice?”

Nikolai laughed and nudged the scarf I was wearing to rub the pad of his thumb lightly against the mark he’d left on my neck. He’d done that once before, and it never failed to send a jolt between my legs.

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