A Shade of Cool

XXXIV: What's Going On?

A week went by. Noah's parents heavily insisted on him riding into school with them and not taking the bus, I barely saw him unless he passed me in the corridor. And I was guilty for that separation. Every time I caught him looking at me I'd tell myself that it was the right thing to, stay away and focus on me. I didn't want to put him on thinner ice with his family and i most definitely didn't want to force myself into anything. I loved him, but I needed to be by myself before I could be with him.

He hurt me. That wasn't an easy pill to swallow.

To distract myself, I wrote to Ana a lot more. Hearing about her days at the Centre. She'd told me about a friend she made, McKenna. Apparently she was this Vegan girl with nudist parents from California. They'd sent her there after they found out she had screwed half her school and within a week she was labelled as a sex addict. I found that weird but Avery would laugh every time it was brought up, I just secretly prayed Ana doesn't bring her back with her from this Centre. She also told me how she had taken up painting and sent one to me of a deer in a forest, which was nice.

I deeply missed her and this was the longest time I'd been without her. It was coming close to a month since she had been gone and I still kept her necklace on me.

It wasn't as bad as before, I mean with my new found freedom came followers. I mean followers. Mostly girls who hung around me, asking me what Noah was like to kiss, if we'd been on a date, what we have done together. Others were just Tom's group who consistently asked me if anyone was bothering me. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all good. There was always the occasional asshole who yelled 'Faggot' at me or drew penis' on my locker. I knew who they were and the funny part is, the next day they'd slope past me ignoring my entire existence?

I didn't know how Noah was coping. I wanted to ask his friends, see if he was okay. But instead I just continued with my work and kept myself to myself. Inside; I was screaming for him.

"So, once again what year was the Pearl Harbour?" Kathy asked from behind the study cards she had drew up.

"Um... December..."

"Yes..."

"December 7th..."

"Yes..."

"December 7th... 1942?" I guessed.

"WAH!" She cried, sounding our imaginary horn, "Wrong, December 7th 1941. Should we try it again or are you done?" She asked. We had been on the lawn of the school for ages now, a little picnic at our feet as we guessed millions of study cards. I was done.

Groaning, I shook my head, "Please, no."

"I'm with you on that, I still got a few months to go before I become a Senior, I do not wanna be listening to this," Alanna complain as she laid out on her jacket, soaking up the sun. The SAT's were only a few months away and I knew I needed to study as much as I could but it I never was good at this. Studying under pressure. Not forgetting it was a nice day out today and I just wanted to relax.

"Fine!" Kathy tossed down the cards, "If you fail blame yourself!"

Alanna mimicked a cat hiss and looked over at Kathy, "Chill, Kath. It's nice day, don't spoil it by being a little nerd."

I picked up my bottle of water, sipping it to undry my mouth that had not stopped moving wit each card Kathy pulled out. So far we had executed English Literature and Biology and that took up the majority of our lunch break, but on a good note, I got each one right apart from the last.

"Hey."

We all looked up and the silhouette of the person standing in front of us, sunlight beaming behind them as they towered us. Eyes adjusting to the light, we saw it was Noah. I averted my eyes as soon as I realised, idly fiddling with the bottle cap. "Hey, handsome, how's your day going?" Alanna smirked, sliding up her shades and winking at him playfully. Kathy kicked her slightly and shot her a look, "Aren't you mean to be studying?"