How to Be a Virgin

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CHAPTER 4

[ Noah ]

The movie lasted way longer than I thought it would. It was rated R, something that Derek and Maya chose not to disclose with me and I knew my parents would kill me for seeing that kind of movie without their permission. Well, that's if they didn't already kill me for coming back home nearly three hours after curfew.

As soon as I tip-toed into the house, desperately hoping that my parents were asleep and not waiting up for me, the light in the main foyer flicked on, bathing it with a soft, yellow light. Chewing thoughtfully on my bottom lip, I slowly brought my gaze to meet my dad who was standing at the foot of the staircase with his arms folded against his broad chest.

"Hi, Dad," I greeted with a strange amount of optimism for lack of anything better to say.

"Noah," he scolded, "it's 12:45! On a school night! Where the hell were you?"

"Um..." I racked my brain for an excuse. I couldn't exactly tell him that I had gone to the movies with the popular kids who were much older than me, so I sufficed for, "...Holly and I were working on a school project."

He raised a skeptical, furry brow. "And you couldn't call? Or text? Noah, you had us worried sick!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry!" I cried out. It was really unfair of me to put my parents through all that torment. They had been nothing but good to me. "I lost track of time. It won't ever happen again, I promise. Please don't hate me."

Dad's soulful brown eyes softened and his muscles seemed to relax. "Noah, I don't hate you," he said with a sigh. "I could never hate you."

I gave him a small smile as I slid my backpack off my shoulder. "Where's Poppa?"

"In a conference call," he replied, short. I knew that meant he didn't want to spread light on the issue. "Is your homework done?"

I gave him a slight nod.

"Okay, good, just..." He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and it hurt me to know he was frustrated with me, "...just go to bed, okay? I don't want you staying up too late."

"Okay." Gaining a steady grip on my backpack, I walked past him and slowly ascended the staircase with my bedroom as my final destination. As soon as I was behind closed doors, I hastily grabbed my cell phone from my back pocket and redialed Holly, who had been calling me non-stop ever since school ended.

I plopped onto my twin-sized bed and stared at the ceiling fan, biting my lip in anticipation. Holly answered on the third ring. "Noah Jamison Taylor!" she basically shouted into the phone. "You have a lot of explaining to do, mister. I had no one to talk to at the bus loop!"

"He kissed me, Holly!" I blurted out, not being able to contain my excitement any longer. "We went for frozen yogurt and then he took me to his house and we kissed and we saw a movie with his friends and-"

"See, what'd I tell you?" she interrupted. I could tell just by the tone of her voice that she was stroking her ego a bit too much. "Holly is always right. Holly is never wrong."

"Well, Holly needs to stop being so conceited," I countered with a slight chuckle.

She scoffed. "That comes with the title, Taylor." Somehow, I imagined her flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. "So what does this mean, now? That you guys are dating?"

"Well, not exactly." I debated whether or not I should tell her about the pact. Surely, she'd find a way to embarrass me for it, so I assumed it would be best if she didn't know. "But we're something, for sure."