[Chapter twenty-nine]

"Yes, home time." I whisper to myself happily as I make my way towards the front doors of my shitty ass school. "Best subject of the day. Tied with lunch, of course. Wait, I'm talking to myself. People probably think I'm weird. Meh. Don't care."

As soon as I get out of the school, I'm pulled aside.

"Dylan, what the hell, bro?" I pry my hand out of his grip and turn around to face him.

"Vaeh!" He breathes heavily, bending over and placing his hands on his knees as he catches his breath.

"Did you—did you run to catch up with me?" I raise an eyebrow, suppressing a laugh at his disheveled state.

"No!" He scoffs. "Maybe...yes! Okay, yes I ran to catch up with you! Shut up!"

I snort. "I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it." He points at me accusingly.

I laugh loudly. "Anyway, what's up, Dildo?"

"After lunch, while I was walking to class with Max, I kind of, blurted out that I was gay." He explains quietly.

I stand up straighter. "What happened?"

"Well, he was shocked at first, then he got real happy and hugged me, saying 'yay, I've always wanted a gay best friend'."

I chuckle. "That's cute."

"Yeah, whatever." He waves my comment off. "I still need to tell Noah."

"Okay, and...?" I cross my arms, staring at him expectantly.

"I want you to come with me to make sure I don't chicken out." He tells me.

"What? No! This isn't any of my business." I protest. "I'm irrelevant! Seriously, half the people at this school don't even know my name. They just know me as 'Hoodie Girl', but that's alright because I hate people."

"That has got to be the most relatable thing you've ever said." He blinks at me before shaking his head. "Please, Nevaeh!"

"Why are you so scared of telling Noah?" I question. "Just do what you did with Max. Blurt it out."

"But what if Noah gets mad at me for keeping a secret from him for that long?" He ask.

"Stop overthinking things." I order. "He's your best friend, he's not going to get mad at you."

"But—"

"Oi!" I cut him off. "Noah may be an asshole, but he's a rational asshole."

"Bu—"

"He's not going to get mad over this. He'll understand." I start. "And you know that. Now stop being a pussy and go."

"So you'll come?"

"Dude—" I cut myself off. "I tell you all that and you still want me to come?!"

"Please?!"

I open my mouth to protest again but shut it when I see a pleading look on his face.

I sigh. "Fine."

"Thank you!" We start walking out to his car.

We get in and he starts the engine before starting to reverse out of the parking space.

"Wait!" He slams in the brakes, making me whack my head on the head rest of the seat.

"What?!" I exclaim, rubbing the back of my head.

"What if he kills me?"

"Motherfucker, you nearly gave me brain damage for that?!" I glare at him. "Just go!"

"But what if he does kill me?!" He repeats.

"Then I'll kill him." I say bluntly. "Now go! And try not to damage any other parts of my body."

*~*

"So Noah and Max are going to meet us here?" I ask as we walk into Pizza Palace.

"Yeah." Dylan nods as he taps on the table nervously.

"Relax." I whisper, placing my hand over his, silencing the sound of his nails on the table.

"Are we interrupting something?" A deep, British accent rings out, making us look up.

"Yeah, we were just about to start talking shit about this guy named Noah King. You know him?" I question sarcastically, raising my eyebrows at him.

He sighs and rolls his eyes. "Carter—"

"Shut up."

"How am I supposed to—"

"Max, Dylan, do you hear something?"

"-explain if you—"

"Seriously, I think I hear someone talking."

"-keep cutting me off?!" He finishes, his fist clenching.

"Oh, I think it's just the wind." I shrug.

Max and Dylan stare between us, debating on whether or not they should interrupt us or not.

"Would you stop being so petty?" He says through gritted teeth.

"Would you stop being an asshole?"

"You're the one that told me to move on!" He throws his arms in the air.

"I told you to move on, not forget my name!" I argue, standing up.

"I didn't forget your name!" He defends himself.

"Right. Is that why you completely blanked when it came to introducing me?"

"You looked like you wanted to rip her head off!" He states. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to introduce you to her!"

"How is that supposed to make me feel better?!" I throw my hands up in frustration.

"I don't know, but I don't need you getting expelled because you ripped the new girl's throat out!"

"That—" I cut myself off. "...that actually makes sense."

"See—"

I cut him off again. "But I'm still mad at you!"

"What?! Why?!" He yells, tugging at his hair in annoyance.

"Because I hate you!"

"Oh please," he scoffs, stepping closer to me.

"'Oh please'," I mimic in a deep voice. "What?"

"You and I both know you don't hate me." He says as a matter of fact. "You're just too stubborn to admit you like me."

"I do not like you." I scoff. "If I liked you, why would I tell you to move on?"

"Because you're scared and there's something you're not telling me." He mumbles, smirking slightly when he sees my eyes widen slightly. "Yeah, I know you better than you think, Carter."

"Maybe I just don't like you back." I shoot at him, watching his face stay expressionless.

"Why's it so hard for you to admit it?" He questions, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "You already know I like you."

I roll my eyes. "If you like me so much, why were you so quick to try and get with the new girl?"

"You told me to move on!" He raises his voice slightly.

"Guys?"

"You didn't have to listen to me!" I almost shout.

"Guys!"

He looks like he wants to strangle me.

"Carter!" He growls. "Did you ever consider the fact that maybe, just maybe, I don't want to move on?"

"B—"

"I was doing what you told me to!"

"GUYS!"

"What, Max?!" We shout in unison, snapping our heads to look at him.

He flinches slightly at our anger. "Uh...everyone's staring."

Noah and I both look around and find everyone in the store staring at us.

"Um, nothing to see here, people!" Dylan speaks loudly. "They escaped from a mental hospital! Just go back to your pizzas! There's nothing to worry about!"

"You two couldn't have yelled at each other somewhere more private?" Max grumbles. "You know, at one of your houses, or the abandoned park down the street. Just not in the middle of a pizza place!"

"We didn't even come here so you dumbasses could yell at each other!" Dylan whisper-shouts. "We came here because I needed to tell Noah something!"

"Oh, shit." My eyes pop wide open. "Right. Sorry, Dylan. Go ahead."

I step away from Noah sheepishly.

"Thank you, Nevaeh." He says sarcastically while standing up before sighing deeply and turning to Noah.

"You alright, Dylan?" Noah raises an eyebrow.

"I-uh—" He looks at me and I give him an encouraging look. He looks back at Noah. "I'm...I'm gay."

Noah doesn't look fazed. "I already knew that."

"What?!" Dylan, Max and I all shout in unison, looking at him with wide eyes.

"How'd you know? Max told you, didn't he?" Dylan turns to Max with narrowed eyes and points an accusing finger at him. "You told him, didn't you?"

"If I told him, would I be yelling 'what' at the same time as you and Nevaeh?!" Max slaps Dylan's finger out of his face. "Now get your dirty ass finger out of my face!"

"Max didn't tell me." Noah states. "It was pretty obvious."

"But..." Dylan trails off.

"Dylan, you're my best friend." Noah starts, placing his hand on Dylan's shoulder. "I know you and Max better than anyone. I've known since we were thirteen."

"How'd you figure it out?" Dylan question.

"I saw you making goo-goo eyes at Antonio Rodriguez in Math." Noah smirks.

"You saw that?" Dylan's eyes nearly pop out of his head. "Kill me now."

*~*

Yes, I updated.

FINALLY!

And it's pretty long.

I think.

I hope.

I also updated 'Her Emerald-Eyed Angel' after like 716282927261 years, so go check that out.

Thanks,

-Lee🦄