Until They Met

Chapter 21|The Unconvincing & The Unconvinced

🔱NOAH'S POV🔱

I walk into school, my pace slow as though I'm dragging myself. Lack of sleep is probably very evident on my face. My mind goes back to last night, I was in my room, photos and scraps of papers around me, the room was empty except for my thoughts and I. I shake myself out of my reverie as I approach the door to the biology class. I frown as I assess my surroundings and realise the absence of a particular student. A student who's never late and mostly reaches school before anyone else.

I take a seat next to the absentee's seat and place my bag near my foot, under the desk. The class is mostly empty with the exceptions of a few usual early arrivals. Though, none of them are the one that I'm looking for. I suppress all alarm bells that start ringing in my head and convince myself to think that there's nothing wrong. Since most of the students are already present in class and those that are just arriving occupy themselves with either a book or their phone, there is no sound to distract me except the eery ticking of the clock.

Just as I'm about to plug my ears in with my earphones, my eyes flit to the ajar door and standing there is the girl that awakes an unusual feeling in me, whenever she's around. When she notices that I'm sitting in the seat beside hers, her eyes widen for a fraction of a second before returning to its previous state; calm and collected. There's a look of forced nonchalance on her face and it only peaks the curiosity in me. She walks to her seat but there's something weird in the way she does, almost like she's trying not to wince everytime she takes a step. I eye her each and every move, openly checking her out to see if there's any evident reason for her limping.

Once she's seated beside me, I turn to look at her.

"Hey, " I mutter at first, wondering whether she's heard me.

She turns to look at me and I'm shocked by how dull her eyes look. A spark that usually lights up the green in her eyes and accentuates the golden flecks are missing. And I want nothing more than to be able to rekindle them.

"Hey." She curtly responds, her voice hoarse but her expression giving away nothing.

I lean forward and lightly touch her palm and immediately her eyes meet mine. It's vacancy scares me and begs me to look away, but I don't. Instead, I continue to search her face, hoping to find a way to light up her eyes again.

"Are you okay?" I question, willing her to let me in just this once. I realise just how little I know about her. She has the ability to break other's walls down while her own remain tall and strong, guarding every part of her. Oh how I want to break those walls like she's starting to do to mine.

She nods firmly in response but the twitch in her lips and the crossing of her legs don't go unnoticed by me. I remove my hand from hers, instantly wishing I hadn't.

I want to question her more and pry till I know who or what has taken away the light from my sunshine, but I know better than to fuel an already burning fire.

There was something wrong with Aleisha, and I'd go to the ends of the world to know what.

***

🔱 ALEISHA'S POV🔱

The moment the bell rings, signalling the end of the period, I rush out of the classroom, wincing as I try not to limp.

I shut my eyes and pray a silent prayer; that Noah doesn't catch up with me.

But, the odds aren't in my favor today.

"Aleisha, wait!" I hear Noah's voice call out from behind me. I sigh frustratedly and turn around to meet him, putting on the fakest smile.

"Yeah?" I respond calmly, even though my heart is beating at an abnormally fast pace.

"Are you okay? Why are you running?" Noah inquires, a sense of urgency in his tone.

My eyes widen when they come in contact with his. One look at them makes me want to tell him everything. But I can't, because I am Aleisha Matthew, the girl who helps others get rid of their problems, not the girl who burdens people with her own.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I reply, looking at everything but him.

I can feel his gaze boring into me, and although I shouldn't, I look into his eyes again.

I stare at the swirls in his sea-green eyes until the surroundings all blur together and all I can see are his eyes.

"Aleisha. Aleisha?"

I blink twice and suddenly I'm aware of everything again, the clanging of locker doors and the squeaks of sneakers against the linoleum floors. I look up when I feel a hand on my shoulders and see Noah peering down at me.

"Huh? Did you say something?" I ask, bringing my hand up to rub the blurriness out of my eyes.

"I asked you, why you ran out of class?"

I am now aware that Noah's hand is still on my shoulders and it is preventing me from forming coherent thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah that. I had um a student council meeting?"

"During school hours? Isn't that stuff in lunch or something?" He quirks an eyebrow.

He notices my fidgeting and immediately drops his palm from my shoulder. He looks away just as I notice the tinge of pink at the tip of his ears.

"Yeah yeah. You're absolutely, completely right. Um...I had to meet with the principal."

Really, Aly? Did you have to use double adjectives in your sentence. You wierdo.

If Noah knows that I'm completely bluffing, he makes no attempt to show of it.

Noah nods and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Okay," he drawls out. "You know you can tell me anything right?"

His eyes pierce into mine again and I can respond only with a nod. He nods once more, and then turns and leaves.

I heave out a sigh of relief once he's gone and scoff.

What did he want to know? That I cry myself to sleep at night? That I have reoccurring nightmares? Or maybe I should tell him that I'm a pathetic girl who pretends to be happy when in reality I spend my nights on bathroom floors, with a tear streaked face, blood on my thighs and a blade in my hand.

Yeah, no.

~~~

So....

This chapter was really hard to write because I had no idea how to continue the story after the previous chapter. I tried my best to make this chapter slightly humorous just to lighten the mood a bit. Because the last chapter was some pretty heavy shit. So, as you guys have probably realised, Aleisha has some issues. And they seem to be connected to her 'twin brother', whom you guys have no idea of.

All I can say is...THE PLOT THICKENS. AND WILL GET MORE THICKER.

Okay, that was too dramatic for my taste, but, what I mean to say is, the story is starting to unfold little by little.

Stay tuned to know more....

That was dumb.

Byeee.

P.S: please tell your friends, family, pets, pet's family and even pet's family friends to check this book out. I really want this book to get discovered and hope you guys do too. So please recommend it to everyone you know. Or even almost everyone.

Byeee. Thank you.