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➸winner of The Most Addictive Story in The Writers Awards 2017
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❝ i'm going to woo you;
piece by piece,
word by word,
letter by letter. ❞
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In which Nova Hart, a star badminton player and hopeless roma...
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MORETHANATITLE
Nova, suffice to say, was in a pretty good mood the entire day.
Monica whistled as Nova sent the shuttlecock sailing over the net with a particularly powerful swing of her racquet.
Nova could swear she felt a spring in her steps, as if she was dancing while she played the sport.
"What's gotten you in high spirits today?" Her protege asked, grinning amusedly.
"Good hair day," Nova joked, which almost made Monica's mouth drop open. Nova didn't joke around during practises. She was usually strict and to-the-point.
"You always have good hair days," Monica rolled her eyes. "I take it the secret admirer has upped his game?" She asked cheekily, a knowing glint in her eyes.
Nova blushed. She actually blushed. Good heavens.
"You're so whipped," Monica snorted before dissolving into laughter.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh at me now," Nova grumbled good-naturedly. "I'll be there to dump a bucket of ice on you the first thing once you start catching feelings."
Monica shrugged, then suddenly turned serious as she stopped in the middle of taking aim and dropped her hand to her side. "You heard the rumours?" She asked, seeming afraid of Nova's reaction.
Nova sighed. "What are they saying about Addy now? I swear to god I'm going to bash someone's head—"
"Not Addy, you."
Nova stopped, her lips frozen in the middle of a snarl at the thought of someone badmouthing her best friend. "What?"
Monica shifted on her feet. "They're saying stuff... Because apparently you left the party with, well, you know... With Graham."
Nova scowled. "He was drunk," she muttered angrily, "I wasn't going to let him drive himself!"
"I know," she smiled warmly, "I was there."
Nova shot her an incredulous look. "And you let me take him? Why didn't you step in or something?"
The other girl sighed softly. "Him and I aren't friends... Not exactly. We just have a strictly no-strings-attached relationship. You, on the other hand, are his friend and I thought that's what he needed right then," she met Nova's eyes, "you know?"
Nova nodded in understanding. "How..." She started but then realised she was crossing a huge line so backtracked.
"Yeah, go on," Monica encouraged, as if already knowing what Nova wanted to ask.
"Well," she waved her arms awkwardly, "how do you keep things, you know, strictly unemotional? Like, don't the lines get blurred?"
"I don't think it'll ever get blurred with us," Monica said with certainty, "we're physically attracted to each other, yeah. But that's about as far as the relationship goes. I don't think he's what I would want in a boyfriend... And I don't think I'm someone he can see himself falling for, you know? Its not that we're not good enough for each other... We just look for entirely different things when it comes to an emotionally intimate relationship."
"So what if one of you falls for someone else?" Nova asked, suddenly curious about the way Graham's mind worked.
Too curious.
"We'll just call off this arrangement," she smiled easily, "simple as that."
"So he doesn't get around with other girls? Or you with other guys? Like —"
"No, we don't. I mean, for one, its just unsafe, unhealthy and not completely hygienic. And..." Monica took a deep breath, her voice suddenly quiet. "I guess I just don't want to be branded the school's slut... Sticking to one guy's a good way to put a sock in rumours."
Nova nodded in empathy, an unusually warm smile slipping onto her face.
"And Graham's not a player," she went on, "he doesn't want that cloud over him. The minute he starts sleeping around, that's the only thing this school's going to remember him for. Thepopularplayboy. He's more than just a title, yeah?"
Nova met Monica's eyes, seeing a shred of insecurity for the first time in those almond eyes. "We all are," she eventually said. "We're all more than just a title."
