IVY HIGH

CHAPTER SIX

Natalie closed her eyes when she felt the cold drops of water on her skin. She loved taking cold showers, especially with jazz music playing in the background from her phone. She had a special sentiment for jazz and blues music. She missed her old life, her concerts, and her music school but what she missed the most were simple evenings during which her mom and her dad would listen to her playing on saxophone. She loved giving them happiness, she loved playing their favorite songs from their teenage years just to see their happy faces. It was like that until this one time, this one stupid evening that changed her life forever. When she's taking showers and she listens to jazz, she closes her eyes and imagines that she's the one playing the song, that she still can, that she can still play and that she still can hear. The only thing that snaps her back to reality is the cold drops. They remind her that she has to move on, that this is her reality and nothing will ever be as it used to.
Just like that, every time she leaves the shower full of memories and not fulfilled dreams. She leaves it to move on. This time was no different.
She drained her hair and put on sports clothes. When she opened the bathroom doors she saw Eve was already waiting for her.
"Let's go loser, we're going to the gym," Natalie said, looking at Eve's tired face.
"Remind me... since when we are going to the gym?" Eve looked at her like she was an alien.
"Since Noah aka Mr. Darcy said he's better than me at push-ups."
"Well, of course, he is... you don't even know what a push-up looks like." Eve laughed, making Nat frustrated.
"Of course I know, I practiced," Natalie said, proud of herself.
"You practiced where?" Eve scoffed.
"Well... on Xbox... but it was pretty good! I mean I  got three stars for it!"
"Okay... then you will have to show me what you got. Gimme five minutes" Eve said, getting up from her bed. There was no way she was going to miss her friend embarrassing herself in front of everyone at the gym.

                 ***

"Holy moly," Both girls said, amazed by how well equipped the gym was. Well, they couldn't expect anything less since everything at Ivy High was at the highest possible level. When they stood there admiring everything, they heard a voice behind them.
"Elizabeth, I didn't think you would actually honor me with your presence. Eve, dear, it's great that you came to support me and to watch your friend lose miserably."                                           
"Not so fast Mr. Darcy, we haven't even started and will see how's better," Natalie responded crossing her arms over her chest.
"Leave me out of this, I'm not taking sides in this conflict" declared Eve, taking a step back. She wished she could just return to her dorm room; at least that's what she thought until Noah's intense gaze caught her attention. She followed his stare, and there he was. The one and only Nikolai were working out on the opposite side of the gym. He looked so good, she couldn't take her eyes off of him. It felt like she was in some sort of trance. Nikolai's dark hair was messy and all over the place but he still looked unfairly hot. His abs were toned and defined and the veins popping out of his arms as he was working his biceps made Eve's knees feel weak. His skin was olive and looked especially good with his jet black hair.
While Eve and Noah were both admiring Nikolai's hotness, Natalie kept looking at them, wondering if her friends had lost their remaining brain cells. She started to doubt whether they were still breathing or if she should perform CPR already.
"Hello?! Earth to Eve and Mr. Darcy!" Natalie said thinking this is taking way too much time.
"Sorry girl, I zoomed out for a second" mumbled Eve, blushing bright red and shaking her head.
"I would zoom out once again, for that cake of his" added Noah. Natalie almost dropped her jaw onto the floor at his words.
"Dang it! My Mr. Darcy plays for the other team? said Natalie, putting a hand on her heart.
"Oh, don't worry honey bunny, I play for your team as well." Noah winked at Nat. " Especially If 'Mr-Nice-Abs' already likes someone" he added, quickly glancing at Eve.
"It's not like that. He's just a friend", she quickly protested but Noah didn't look convinced.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. It's obvious you two like each other." He smirked, showing the world his cute dimples.
"Wow, we finally agree on something!" Natalie high-fived him and Eve groaned.
"Shouldn't you be on my side?", she pouted.
"I am on your side! You just need someone to motivate you to finally make a move on Nikolai!"
"How can I make a move on him when he clearly doesn't like me?", Eve sighed and at that very moment, her eyes met Nikolai's. She quickly moved her gaze to something else.
"He's staring at you though." Noah teased Eve, shoving her with his elbow.
"That's just because I stared at him first!"
"Yeah, sure", said both Natalie and Noah at the same time. They looked at each other, shocked by their sudden unison. Eve rolled her eyes. 
"Anyway, shouldn't we start our challenge already?" Noah smirked and Natalie gave him a confident look.
"Bring it on!", she exclaimed and both of them ran to the exercise area.
Natalie did around five push-ups before her arms started shaking and giving up on her. Seeing that, Noah burst out laughing.
"That's all? Come on, girl, I expected more from you", he teased and Natalie pouted. She stood up and pointed at him, suddenly getting a new idea.
"Now it's your turn." She said with a smug smile. As soon as he started doing push-ups, he felt an extra weight on his shoulders: Natalie laid down on him. From the tone of her voice, he could tell she was really proud of her idea and seemed pretty sure she was gonna win.
Well, he thought to himself as he started going down, his arms not shaking even the slightest bit, she's gonna be surprised.
Noah did around sixty push-ups with Natalie on his shoulders and by the end of it, a small crowd started forming around them. Natalie's face was a mix of shock, disbelief, and admiration and Noah found himself wanting to impress her even more so he dropped down to the floor once more and did forty more pushups, making it a hundred in total.
People at the gym started clapping for him and Natalie rolled her eyes.
"Show-off", she muttered, not without a smile. He was gonna be so sore tomorrow but it was totally worth it.
Afterward, Noah offered to walk Natalie and Eve back to their dorm. It was already dark and he said he wanted to make sure a certain someone didn't get lost.
"Why is everyone making fun of me and my sense of direction?!" Natalie burst out but Noah just laughed.
"Don't be so sensitive, my dear Elizabeth. I never said I was talking about you." He grinned.
"Oh, so you were insulting me instead?" Eve playfully shoved him with his elbow and he put his arms up in the air, defeated.
"Let's just forget I said anything."
When they finally got to the girls' dorm building, they said their goodbyes and Natalie reached for the door's handle but before she could open it, Noah suddenly asked in a teasing tone:
"Come on, Elizabeth, I won the challenge and I won't get even a hug?" He grinned.
"Hell no, we're both too sweaty for that," said answered with a grimace of disgust on her face.
"We will see about that," he mumbled suspiciously before suddenly reaching for Natalie and pulling her in for a hug. She screamed, pushing Noah away and running off.
"You can't run away from me, Elizabeth Bennet!" he yelled, following her as she ran off, cursing him under her breath.
I'm too tired for this shit, thought Eve. She headed to the room she shared with Natalie and Emma, leaving her friend behind. Five minutes later, Natalie walked in, saying something about "desperately needing a shower". Eve assumed Noah had won.