tangled up in blue

bonus chapter- 05

2022 AN- barely edited this chapter bc its a slay idc .. lets go girls

cw- light drug use

Helena

Men, as a whole, are terrifying.

But where men lacked tenderness, Noah was soft and sweet and unlike any other boy I'd ever met.

We'd kissed the night of my party, so when news spread of Jace Jackson's very own gathering, I had every intention of kissing him again.

"You look... um, different," I said when I saw him, stammering like a lovestruck idiot. "Good different, though." I had to admit- the smokey eye look on a male face was something else.

He thanked me, and I wanted to drag him off somewhere. I wanted to ask if the kiss meant anything to him. If we could-

"Who are you?"

Marcella was speaking. Marcella was looking at me.

And so it began.

~~~

After she'd stared at me like that, like I was the only person alive in the room, I'd fled. Jace nearly beating up his best friend and then chasing a very pissed Noah out of the kitchen served as the perfect distraction, no matter how confused I was towards the whole ordeal, and I desperately needed distracting. I didn't like the way Marcella looked. Something about her intimidatingly beautiful face made my skin itch, as if it wanted to crawl from my body just to escape her dark gaze. But of course, I couldn't hide for long.

"He's gone, y'know."

I was outside, standing on my tip toes and scanning the edge of the vineyards to see if Noah was around. I hadn't seen him since Jace's outburst, and I wanted to. I had to, because Marcella was so close, and being around her was like watching an asteroid head straight for you. In every direction, she was crashing into me.

"Who?" I quipped back, pretending to be uninterested.

She scoffed, her red lips curling to flash those infuriatingly perfect teeth. "The one that doesn't like you back. Who else?"

"We kissed," I snapped, whirling on her with indignation. "Why wouldn't he like me?"

"God, you popular girls are all the same. So full of yourselves. Astounded by the thought that not everyone's in love with you."

I frowned as she shook her head mockingly.  And here I was thinking she was nice. Now I know why she and Jace are friends.

"You're popular," I accused.

"Not like you." She looked so confident, so cocky that I forgot about my kind, cool tempered nature. I wanted her to stop looking at me like that. I wanted her to stop.

"And what's so bad about me?" I said, head held high as I stepped towards her. "I mean, there must be a reason why you've been following me around all night."

Marcella laughed, and I hated how she looked while doing it. "There's also a reason that you're friends with Regina George." Before I could snap at her, she chuckled and continued speaking. "Hey, hey. Calm down, Your Majesty. I never said I didn't like you." Huh? "I'm just saying that Noah never will. Not in the way you want."

Her opinion didn't matter. It had no reason to. But for some reason, that last sentence sent a pang of hurt stabbing through me.

"Well. Thank you for your concern towards my love life, but if you don't mind, I have places to be." Nose turned up, I started to walk away.