The Leap Of Faith

Chapter 17

There's no way. There's absolutely no way.

I rubbed my eyes a little, not believing what I was seeing.

He's here. Here here. What the hell is going on?!

And, apparently, I wasn't the only one in shock. He, too, looked at me with his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes wide, he seemed to regain his composure and gave me a determined look.

He's coming here. Don't panic.

Noah walked towards me with a fast pace and I was rooted to my spot, still shocked. As he reached me, his smile broadened and when he finally reached me, he had a face-splitting grin.

"Riley." He simply said my name and I snapped back into reality. I reached up and hugged him tightly and he returned the gesture almost immediately.

"Oh my God, Noah. What are you doing here?" I asked and stepped away from him and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I go to school here-What are you doing here?" He smiled at me with his eyes still wide open in surprise.

"I'm new." I answered simply and then I heard someone clearing their throat from beside us. We both turned and found Ginna with an amused expression on her face.

"Uh, how do you two know each other?" She laughed a little towards the end of her question.

"Oh, hi there, Ginna." Noah greeted and gave her a small side hug. "We met this summer." He explained simply and nodded a little at Ari, who was almost ogling at him.

"And you didn't know you were attending the same school?" She asked a little suspicious.

"It never came up." I answered, now a little more put-together. And then, I felt someone grab my shoulder from behind, making me jump a little and I turned to them.

"Riley?" Isaac asked and then gave me a small hug. "I didn't know you were coming here! Noah didn't say anything." He said, smiling.

"I didn't know, either." Noah answered his brother.

"Oh. And is Leah..." Isaac said, looking around for a bit.

"No, I'm sorry." I gave him an apologetic smile and he turned to me with a small pout, which made me laugh a little. "I'm the only one of us here. Sorry to disappoint." I said playfully.

"As you should be!" He said and we both laughed a bit. Then, Isaac turned and greeted Ginna with a hug and a quick smile at Ari who, again, looked a little lost. "Well, we gotta go. I came here to get my brother." He said and turned to him.

"Why-" He said and then we heard someone loudly wheasle at our direction and a group of guys (again, all very handsome) started waving at the brothers to come join them. Noah looked between his group of friends and me and gave me a small apologetic smile. "I gotta go, sorry. Catch up later?" He asked hopeful.

"Yeah, sure. It's nice to know I know people here!" I said and he smiled wide at me and turned with a little wave and disappeared into the increasing mass of people in the cafeteria.

"You've got to tell us everything." Ginna called from behind me. Ari still looked a little lost. Ginna laced one of her arms through Ari's and the other through mine and she led us to the line.

We had our dinner and walked towards and empty table, setting our trays down, and thankfully, Ari came back to her bubbly self when they demanded details.

I told them what had happened over the summer and they listened to my every word, asking questions here and there. I didn't tell them about the bet, or the almost kiss. I decided it didn't really matter anymore, specially now that Noah and I were classmates.