Tangled in Love

Chapter 6

Nolan shuffled his feat forcefully into the social studies classroom he had avoided for so long. He plopped down on the chilled metal chair placed in the back of the classroom, immediately feeling the coldness making contact with his clothes.

Once he had become comfortable, he laced his fingers smoothly through his short blonde hair, covering his face from the other students currently entering the classroom. He had his hand blocking his eyes, as if trying to have no chance of being recognized. However, as he sat there twiddling with his hands, Samad took the seat to the right of him.

"Hey!" he blurted out into his ear.

Nolan closed his eyes, trying to pretend he didn't hear the obvious greeting Samad, his best friend, had given him. He wasn't in the mood to talk, simply wanting a day of silence.

"Hello?" Samad asked, tilting his head, trying to see Nolan's face.

"Hey," Nolan said, giving up and releasing his hands that were blocking his vision before.

"So what's up?" Samad started, looking at the homework board in the front of the classroom. "Wanna go somewhere during lunch?"

He sighed. Understanding the amount of desperateness held in Samad's offer, he would be unable to turn him down. "Sure," he replied in a monotone voice.

"Hmmm," Samad replied, looking up from his planner and meeting Nolan's pale eyes which were staring intently at him, wishing something would come up and he didn't have to go.

"Chipotle?" Samad suggested, glancing back at the board as he lifted his pencil to write.

Nolan shuttered. His stomach cramped, biting onto his chest in a sharp, miserable surprise. Immediately, his brain overflowed with the memories he had made with Maya when they had went to Chipotle together every other lunch period.

"No," he said, trying to keep the pain from cracking his voice.

Samad's eyes glanced up from his black and white marble composition notebook he'd been writing in, and rotated his head towards him as he painted a funny look onto his face. Samad stretched his eyebrows upward, creating patterns of lines on his forehead and forcing his eyes to open widely. His lips puckered harshly as if he had consumed a shot of pure lemon juice.

"What?" Nolan said sharply, feeling self-conscious. He subconsciously brushed back his hair and fixed his collar, scratching an itchy spot on his cheek.

"Nothing," Samad replied, beginning to worry for his friend. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he stated back automatically. "Why?"

Samad looked back to his paper, making no notice of Nolan's question. "So Five Guys?" he inquired with a thick, black-colored eyebrow raised.

"Sure," Nolan answered.

Ms. Oakes's voice suddenly sounded from the middle of the classroom. "You should be finished copying your homework and the vocab by now."

When Nolan glanced at her, he noticed that she was staring directly at him, as if singling him out from everyone else. He looked around and just as he suspected, everyone else had their notebook out, except him.

"Thanks," Nolan said to the cashier dressed in a red t-shirt standing behind the register at Five Guys who had handed him 2 empty cups, each the height of a roll of toilet paper.

"No problem," the man called after him as Nolan began to walk to the soda machine and poured himself lemonade, filling to the brim of the cup.

As he balanced his cup of neon lemonade, Nolan began to walk back to the table Samad was seated at, watching over all their belongings in order to keep them safe.