Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

Noah texted me several times that day. Asking me about inane things mostly. What the English homework was or about my schedule.

At the end of the day on Monday, he waited for me at the school's entrance.

"Hi," I said, walking towards the sports field. I didn't really have time for a stop and chat. 

"Are you busy?" he asked, matching my pace as we walked. 

"I have track practice."

"Can I watch?"

"Why?" I asked, confused.

He shrugged. I realized that Noah didn't have friends. Everyone treated him like a pariah or like the guy they wanted to hook up with. I felt kind of bad for him. 

"I was hoping we could hang out after school. Didn't you have fun on the weekend?"

"We got into a fight."

"A fun fight. If all my fights ended like tha—"

"Look, I'm already late. If you want to watch, you can. The stadium is open to everyone," I said, cutting him off.

"Can we hang out afterward?"

"And do what?" I asked, checking my watch.

"Anything. Want to come over to my house? We have the same English teacher so we can do our homework together."

Definitely not. Also, when did Noah ever do homework?

"I don't know if it's a good idea."

"Is this about the kiss?" He asked, walking with his hand behind his back.

My eyes widened, "Please, don't say that so casually."

"Ouch, princess," he said, covering his chest with his hands as if I had stabbed him in the heart.

"Noah," I said, stopping and turning to at him, "I'm sorry I kissed you. I wasn't feeling well on Saturday, and I barely slept the night before...it was stupid of me. I like being your friend, but that was a mistake, and I'd appreciate it if you don't bring it up anymore."

He stared at me blankly for a moment, "okay," he said, and then he smiled, "so, yes?"

I swallowed a groan of frustration, "fine, we'll hang out after practice," I said, getting antsy with how late it was getting. Coach made us do burpees if we were even a minute late.

"It's a date!" He said.

"No. No, it is not," I yelled as I walked away.

When I finished track practice, Noah and Lana were waiting for me as I walked through the gates.

Lana ran up to me first, "I finished the plans for the first banquet. It's set for next Friday? You can come?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," I said as I walked with her toward the main entrance. She could have just texted me.

"So?"

"So?" She asked.

"What else?"

"Well, I came to see if you wanted a ride to go to Maria's, but then I notice you had an admirer," she said, her eyes shifting towards Noah.

"He's annoying," I muttered.

"He's hot and very obviously interested," she said.

"I thought you wanted to hook up with him?"

"I will gladly step aside for anything that gets you out of your Robbie slump."

"He's all yours," I muttered. "Also, we're getting close to him, so let's stop talking about it. He's not deaf," I added, lowering my voice and looking at Noah waiting by the main gate.

"So, what do you want to do?" He asked me as we approached him.

"I have nothing in mind, but I have homework, so make it quick," I said, and Lana elbowed me hard in the ribs.

"Don't be rude," she muttered, then smiled up at him, "Hey, Noah, would you want to come with us to my friend Maria's house? We all have similar teachers; we can work on homework together," Lana said, slinging her arm over my shoulder.

"Uhh, I mean, I had more of a 'me and Lia' day in mind," he said.

"It's fine, Lana," I said, "I'll catch up with you later. It won't take long."

"But, that could be interesting," Noah said, shrugging.

I raised my eyebrow in confusion, and Lana smiled.

"Really?" I asked, surprised, "you want to hang out with us?"

"Yeah, why not?" He asked cooly.

"Great," She said, clapping her hands together,  "Lia will send you the address."

"Want to ride with me? Then you can just tell me where it is," Noah asked, holding up a helmet.

I let out a nervous laugh and shook my head. "No. It's not that far. I'll just see you there," I said and pushed Lana toward the parking lot.

We got to Maria's before him; Noah said he would make a quick stop at his house and then pass by.

"Noah Ryans?" Maria asked when Lana let her know he was coming.

"Yeah, he's Lia's new special friend," she said, waggling her eyebrows at me.

"Stop that," I said, sitting on Maria's couch.

"I don't like that guy," Chris said, sitting next to me and placing his feet on my lap.

"You don't like him because you've gone down to the third in the list of hot guys, and he's getting the attention of the girls you want to hook up with," Lana said, giving him a pointed look.

"Whatever," Chris mumbled.

"Should I hide my valuables?" Maria asked.

"No," Lana said; at the same time, I said, "probably."

Maria gave us a concerned look.

When Noah arrived, we were all sitting around her coffee table working on homework.

"Wow, you guys actually do homework," he said slowly as he took in the pile of textbooks and schools supplies that were strewn about.

"We're all trying to get into Ivy's," Lana said, making a space between her and myself.

"Sure," Noah said, sitting down.

"So, Noah, you live by here?" Maria asked, smiling at him.

"Yeah, four blocks east," he said, leaning back on his hands.

"That's a nice area; you get a really nice view of the park, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. We have the penthouse, and my mom is always mentioning the view," he said, and I could tell he was bored.

Things continued to be as stunted and awkward. Noah was restless next to me. I felt like I wanted to throw him and Chris out the window.

I was trying to help Chris with his calculus homework, and between Chris' whining and Noah's jitter-ness, I was going to go nuts.

"Can't you just dress up like me and take the exam for me," Chris groaned, checking his watch.

"Chris, it's not hard," I said, frustrated with how little effort he was giving,

"Or maybe it is, and I'm just really dumb, take pity on me, Gomez."

"Or maybe it's hard because you keep checking your watch and phone instead of trying to do your work," I said, taking his phone and hiding it under me.

"No!" He said, trying to grab it from me. "I need to see if my coach calls us. We might have lacrosse practice today."

"On a Monday?" I asked. I knew his schedule from last year. They only practiced on Wednesdays and Fridays until the season started.

"Well, we lost Liam–"When he said Liam's name, both Maria and Noah made a noise of disgust.

Maria looked at him in surprise.

"Guy's a prick," Noah said, shrugging. Maria seemed pleased that he said this. I wasn't going to tell her that he probably felt that way about everyone in this room, including her.

Chris managed to get the phone away from me, "Yea, well, he was a prick, but he was good, and we lost Jessie too. Robbie left us the year before that," he said.

"Can't Robbie just play with you guys again? He was gone because of the deal he made will Liam. There's no more Liam," Maria said, using her phone to order food.

"Robbie barely makes it to soccer practice. If he wasn't as good as he is, he would have been cut already. Your grandfather is so demanding this year if he's not catching up on schoolwork his flying to another continent."

"Can I try out for the team?"

Everyone turned to look at Noah.

I had to double-take to make sure I heard him correctly.

"You've played?" Chris asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I played on a private team called Emerson."

"My team is private too. Emerson is is really fucking good. You really played with them?" Chris asked, sounding impressed.

"Yeah, from fourth grade till my sophomore year. You must have been a freshman?"

"Yeah. That's when I started playing. I mean, sure, yeah, try out. We need players."

"Great, text me the Coach's number," Noah said, writing his number on the corner of one of my papers and sliding it in front of me towards Chris.

The rest of the evening they spend it talking about sports. I moved to sit in between Lana and Maria, and eventually, we just left the boys in the living room and moved to Maria's room to hang out while she got ready for a late class.

"So? I mean, he's pretty cute, Lia," Lana said.

"He's so...strange, though," I said slowly.

"I don't think he's good for you," Maria said.

"You're going to say that because you have loyalty to your brother," Lana scoffed.

"That's not true. It's just Lia is a completely different person than Noah," she said.

"Look, I know Noah; he was in my grade. He's a slacker and a clown. Also, he's crazy, like legitimately crazy. He would do things just to shock people sometimes. Why would you want to date someone you would constantly have to babysit?" She added.

"Eeh, I thought those things were hot," Lana said, grinning.

"Of course you did, Lana," Maria muttered, rolling her eyes.

"All I am saying is Noah can be an asshole, and yes, he partakes in some questionable activities that may or may not be dangerous. But that's perfect. I'm not telling you to find the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with. I'm just saying. He's hot. He has a really nice body, especially after he went through that military school." She made a chef's kiss motion with her hand before continuing, "When you're done getting your kicks, you just end it. "

"I mean, Lia, do you even find him attractive?" Maria asked.

Did I find Noah attractive? I didn't know. He was good-looking; you'd have to be blind not to realize that. He didn't give me butterflies like Robbie, but his kiss was significantly more interesting than when I kissed Chris.

"I don't know," I said after a pause.

Maria and I exchanged a look.

"You both are so boring sometimes," Lana said, leaning back on her chair.

I looked at my watch and realized I should be heading home if I wanted to beat my dad. I was trying to avoid him as much as possible; I was still pissed with what he did. Sometimes he apologized. But he hadn't yet, and I didn't feel like looking at him.

"I should head out," I said, getting off her bed.

"Do you need a ride home?" Lana asked.

"Nope just ordered a ride," I said, holding my phone up.

I left Maria's apartment with Noah.

"So. What happened to 'all Trinity kids are preppy assholes'?" I asked as we walked down the long hallway toward the elevator.

"Well, you made it seem like there were exceptions, so I figured why not give it a try. I don't really have any friends, and my therapist is always saying I need to branch out."

"Lacrosse is a pretty preppy sport; I'm surprised you ever played."

"You don't really get to choose your extracurricular when you're ten."

"Fair," I said, pressing the button to the elevator.

"You know you don't have to carry my textbook," I said, grabbing hold of it.

"I need to work out now that I'm going to be an athlete again."

"Excuse me," said a voice, and both Noah and I looked up to see Robbie standing at the door of the elevator. 

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