His Tiny Dancer [COMPLETED]

Bonus Chapter (XX, XXII, XXV)

{Noah's POV}

Chapter XX

~Thursday, January 13th~

I give my best attempt at suppressing the frantic butterflies in my stomach and press the "call" button on my phone's screen.

It's just a tutoring session, I remind myself, she can't reject you if it's just a tutoring session.

"Hello?" Her voice sounds through the phone, releasing all the butterflies in my stomach from their temporary cage.

"Hey Teresina, it's Noah," I say, bouncing my leg as I sit on the edge of my bed.

"What's up?" She says, followed by a quiet sniffle.

"I was wondering if you're free for another tutoring session tomorrow, since we have a test next Tuesday?" I begin confidently, though as I continue to speak all my courage starts melting away.

"Sorry Noah, I've got a, uh, thing tomorrow," she says with a shaky voice. My eyebrows furrow in confusion at the idea that she might be crying right now for some reason. Evidence is added to my suspicion as she sniffles again, letting out an unsteady breath. I find myself beginning to get angry; who or what is making her cry?

I force my temper to relax and attempt to comfort her instead. "Are you okay?" I ask softly. Though I can tell something seems off, I don't want to push her boundaries. I still don't know Teresina that well, and wouldn't be surprised if she'd be unwilling to open up to me about something emotional.

"I'm fine," she responds right away, but I don't quite believe her. I open my mouth and inhale in preparation to attempt to offer her some kind of help, but she speaks before I get the chance. "Look, I'm sorry, I just had a really long day. We can meet some other time, just not tomorrow. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning." She hangs up before I can get another word in.

Something is definitely wrong - she normally isn't this avoidant. Regardless, she obviously doesn't want to talk to me about it; she made that clear by hanging up on me.

After a few short minutes of contemplating whether I should give her more space or try to be there for her, I decide a text will suffice.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I send.

"I'll be fine, I just had a long day," she responds as soon as my text delivers. I still don't quite believe that there isn't something else going on, but I've said everything I can to try and help without pushing her to overshare.

"Okay, goodnight." I respond. As much as I want to show Teresina that I can be someone who cares about her and can be there for her, I can't do that until I prove to her that I'm someone she can trust. And I doubt she truly trusts me after how rudely I've acted towards her. But I know I'm willing to put in the work to show her that I'm redeemable.

Chapter XXII

~Friday January 14th~

Of course my chance to work on another group project with Teresina is entirely ruined by a third member in our group: Charlie. Any other student in this class, and I wouldn't have a problem sharing Teresina with them. Like Olivia, for example - why couldn't she have been in our group instead?

I don't even know what it is about Charlie, but he gets on my every last nerves. Any time Teresina is talking to him, I start thinking about how she could be spending that time talking to me instead, and my blood boils.

Mr O'Connor places the assignment on my desk, and before the next paper even reaches Teresina's desk I've picked mine up, placed it on her desk, and began to move my chair closer to her. If I'm going to survive the rest of the semester in this history class, I'm going to have to make it very clear to Charlie what my intentions with Teresina are. Even if they aren't so clear to her.