fifteen ; l.h.

her

when noelle's parents came home, her and kaiden managed to keep quiet about the fact that luke had ever come over.

granted, she was forced to bribe her brother in order to do so, but as long as her parents were left unaware of luke, she'd pay any price. 

it's not that she was ashamed of luke - quite the opposite, really - it's just that she knew her parents would be.

they'd pretend to feel sorry for him and then scold their own daughter for being involved with such a person, as if he were the lowest possible being they'd ever come across.

that was the last thing noelle wanted. and she knew that he was more than what he appeared to be. behind his bitter and hateful exterior was someone warm and kind and everything you could ever want in a person.

but with that came the curiosity of why people would treat him as badly as they had. how could luke possibly be seen as a bad person? how could he have fallen into this rut of depression in the first place?

none of it made sense to noelle. good things were supposed to happen to good people. that's what she originally thought; but it turned out that bad things happen to good people for all the wrong reasons.

"noelle? are you okay honey?" her dad's voice broke her out of her reverie, reminding her that she was at the dinner table.

"oh, yeah, uh," she blinked rapidly, putting food into her mouth as if she'd been eating rather than thinking, "i'm fine. what were you saying again?"

"well, i was saying that your mother and i really think that you should be thinking about which colleges you'll be attending," he told her.

an abrupt ache squeezed at noelle's heart. the fact that her own dad couldn't sense that she was lying about the fact that she was feeling okay hurt more than she thought possible. she wondered if they noticed, but just didn't care.

"college?" she repeated quietly. "i'm just about to go into my senior year. college isn't for a really long time."

"a year is not a 'very long time', noelle," her mother intervened sternly. "you have multiple places already offering you scholarships, you have to start thinking now."

"i'm not even eighteen yet!" she dropped her fork onto her plate, the clatter making her family jump. "summer isn't even half over, for god's sake. can i please just have a few weeks to just forget about my future?"

she wasn't sure where this rebelliousness was coming from, especially regarding school. usually, noelle was extremely focused on her studies. straight a's, scholastic decathlons. she was a really studious girl.

maybe it was the knowledge that luke had dropped out of school in the middle of junior year to escape the pain of being surrounded by everyone's hate that made her feel even an ounce of resentment towards the school system. the way they hadn't done anything to help keep luke away from the rude comments, physical altercations, and just all around abuse.

"forget about your future?" her mother's eyes narrowed in anger. "we've been discussing your future for far too long for you to just forget about it!"

"exactly! we talk about it all the time!" noelle rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "nothing's changed, mom. i'm still going to the college you want me to go to and taking the courses you want me to take."

"what's that supposed to mean, young lady?" her dad pitched in quickly to defend his wife.

"that means that it's always what you guys want! have you ever even asked me what i want out of my future?" when they were silent, she stood from her chair. "well, there you go; just forget about it. excuse me."