[Chapter thirty-two]

~2 YEARS LATER~

-Noah-

"Noah, dude, you stare at that letter every night, why don't you just open it?" Dylan questions, leaning on the door frame of my room with his arms crossed.

"She didn't didn't tell me why she was leaving, she didn't say goodbye," I start listing, not looking at him. "She said goodbye to everyone but me, so why the hell should I open the letter?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because the letter might explain everything!" Max shouts, appearing in the doorway next to Dylan.

Carter left two years ago, not a word to me and hasn't contacted anyone but Megan since. Last year, we graduated high school. This year is our first year of college. It's been about four months since the college year started. Max, Dylan and I are dorm mates, and Megan has a room to herself.

I'm not going to lie, I think about Carter everyday, but I hate her for leaving. No goodbye, no nothing. Even a text saying, 'Hey, Pebble, I'm moving back to New Zealand, bye asshole' would have sufficed, but she didn't even try to come see me for the last time. All I got was this damn letter that she had Danny give me and she also told him to tell me that I was right.

And I knew exactly what she meant.

I was right about her hiding something from me.

I moved on from Nevaeh. I'm dating Hazel now, but I can't say I'm happy. She's clingy and annoying, but Carter wanted me to move on, so I did. I'm not going to continue to let some silly high school crush stop me from dating other girls.

If she was just some silly high school crush, why are you so mad about the fact that she left?

Aren't you supposed to be agreeing with me?

I'm your subconscious, idiot. I'm the logical side of you. Why the hell would I agree about the stupid things you think?

See what she's done to me? My subconscious has a Mexican accent and wears a sombrero, and argues with me all the damn time. I'm going crazy.

Dammit, I hate Nevaeh Carter!

No, you don't.

Shut the hell up, Pablo! Yes, I do.

"She should have told me to my face, or at least given the letter to me herself," I start, my teeth gritted. "Not given it to my little brother to give to me."

"Did you ever consider that the fact that maybe, just maybe, she's hurting too?" Dylan starts. "And that if she tried to say goodbye to you in person, she wouldn't have been able to leave?"

"Wouldn't that have been a good thing?" I ask, standing up, putting the letter in the bottom left drawer of my desk and harshly pushing my wheely chair in.

"No," Max shakes his head. "Not if you knew the reason, which you would if your stubborn ass would just read the motherfucking letter!"

Ever since Carter left, Max has matured a considerable amount. Of course he's still goofy and childish at times, but he's a lot more serious now.

Dylan's still the same, although you can tell he's also matured a bit more. He and Joey Sanders have been in an on again-off again relationship ever since senior year.

If only Carter were here to talk some sense into him.

Megan's a whole different story. The reason she doesn't have a roommate was because she didn't want one, and every time she got a roommate she would do something to get them to move out, so they eventually stopped assigning her a roommate. Apparently she and Carter always talked about going to college and sharing a dorm, and that's the only person she wants to room with. She has a few female friends, but they're not very close. She usually just sticks with us.

Oh, and she still despises Hazel. So do Dylan and Max.

They question my sanity everyday for dating her.

To be honest, I question my sanity too.

So do I.

Shut up, Pablo!

"Why do you look like you're about to sit alone in the dark, listening to Air Supply's greatest hits while crying about how much you miss Nevaeh?" Max pipes up after a moment.

"You're more of the, 'I pretend to play the guitar to impress girls, but when I'm alone I listen to Air Supply's greatest hits while crying about how I'm forever alone'."

I almost smile at the memory of the first time Nevaeh came to my house. Almost.

I shake the thoughts of Carter away.

I scoff, throwing a shoe at Max. "Shut up, you arse."

He laughs loudly as he dodges and bolts out of my room.

Dylan chuckles, shaking his head, pushing off the door frame and walking over to my closet, opening it and pulling out a random hoodie before throwing it at me. I shoot my hand out and catch it. "Come on, we're going to Pizza Palace."

He walks out and I shrug before pulling the plain black hoodie on. I slip my feet into a pair of plain black Vans and walk out of my room.

*~*

-Nevaeh-

"-and please, Aroha, don't do anything stupid."

I roll my eyes playfully even though Aunty Mila can't see me through the phone.

"Why would I do anything stupid?" I ask, wheeling my suitcase behind me into the elevator and adjusting the strap of my Nike duffel bag on my shoulder before pressing the button for the fifth floor.

"Just yesterday you were about to shove a metal fork into the toaster because your bagel got stuck." I can practically see the blank look on her face.

"What was I supposed to use? A plastic fork?"

"Yes!"

I chuckle. "Don't worry, aunty. I'm not going to do anything stupid."

"See, now that you've said 'don't worry', I'm worrying even more." Her calm voice comes from the other end of the line. "And you're not hiding your face with the hood, are you?"

I shake my head before realising she can't see me. "No. I'm not going to wear the hood anymore."

"Good. I didn't spend two weeks preparing that speech for nothing."

A couple months after I moved back to New Zealand, Aunty Mila sat me down and talked to me about hiding my face, and how I didn't need to, especially not because of -and I quote- 'my dumbass mother'.

Everything she said was right and I realised I didn't need to hide my face.

Also, about ten months into chemotherapy, I decided that I didn't want it, nor did I need it. I was going to die anyway, so what's the point?

It took a while for my hair to grow back, but when it was just past my shoulder blades, I gave it a chop so it ended just above my shoulders, which I did a few days before coming here.

I laugh. "Love you, aunty, byeee!"

"I love you, too, Aroha, be safe, ka kite." She bids goodbye before the line goes dead.

I shove my phone into the back pocket of my jeans just as I reach dorm 355.

I take a deep breath before knocking on the door. It swings open a few seconds later and I see the familiar face of my best friend staring back at me.

"Kia Ora, roomie." I grin.

"OH MY GOSH, NEVAEH!" Megan squeals, throwing her arms around me and nearly squeezing me to death.

"Hey, Meg." I chuckle, hugging her back just as tightly.

She pulls me inside, along with my bags before slamming the door closed.

"Bitch," she throws a couch cushion at me. "You said you weren't going to be here until next month."

I grin cheesily. "Surprise."

She laughs, pulling me into another hug. "I missed you."

I smile softly. "I missed you, too."

Her eyes flicker down to my hoodie before traveling back up to my face as a grin slowly grows on her face. "You're not hiding your face anymore?"

"Nope." I shake my head, still smiling.

"What do you say we head down to Pizza Palace and order a half Hawaiian and half Sausage, huh?" She smiles widely. "Like old times?"

"Hell yeah." I nod. We start walking to the door but I stop. "Uh, hey Megan, how's..."

"Noah?" She finishes. "Well-"

"He didn't read the letter, did he?" I sigh knowingly.

She shakes her head, making me sigh again. "He's pissed, Vaeh."

"I told you he'd hate me."

"He doesn't hate you, you idiot." Megan sighs. "He's just mad and hurt, and damn stupid for not reading the letter."

"I left without a goodbye, he has the right to be mad and hurt." I shrug. "I just couldn't say goodbye. I didn't know how. I was scared that if I talked to him in person, I would break down and tell him everything."

"I understand. I may not understand exactly what you're going through, but I understand why you couldn't tell him." Megan smiles softly. "Now, pizza?"

I smile gratefully. "Yeah, let's go."

*~*

-Noah-

"All I'm saying, is that Voldemort would look really weird with a nose." Max finishes, taking a sip of his Dr Pepper as we sit at a table at Pizza Palace with three different pizzas being shared between us.

"Max, no one asked." I state bluntly, taking a bite out of my slice of Hawaiian pizza.

Dylan chokes on his pizza, laughing loudly. Max pouts, kicking my shin underneath the table.

I chuckle, kicking him back. We then start kicking each other back and forth.

The bell above the door rings as it's pushed open, but Max and I pay no attention to it seeing as we're too busy kicking each other.

"No way..." Dylan breathes out, his eyes fixated on something at the door.

Max and I stop kicking each other before sharing a look and switching our gazes to the door.

Standing there with Megan, is a girl with bright blue eyes, wavy light brown hair that just barely brushed her shoulders, her dimples visible as she smiles at whatever Megan had said. She is also wearing a familiar basketball hoodie.

The odd thing though, is that the hood isn't covering her face.

She looks away from Megan and locks eyes with me.

Her smile slowly fades as a pained expression makes its way onto her face.

She knows. She knows I didn't read the letter.

Megan looks between us sadly before patting her arm and whispering something to her.

She merely nods before going to find a booth at the back as Megan goes to the counter.

I get up, storming out of the pizzeria.

She's back.

Carter's back.

*~*

I was honestly going to wait a couple months before starting with Part 2, but I didn't, so appreciate me HAHAHAHA.

-Lee🦄