𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟔𝟗

"𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚂𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺
𝕨𝕖𝕕𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘

     "CAN WE EAT LUNCH TOGETHER?" Jess asks as she walks alongside Noah with their fingers intertwined.

The blonde has always liked to be early to school in the mornings, so she forced Noah out of bed earlier than usual.  Noah was not too happy, but she came around for Jess.  Now, they are walking in the middle of the city on their way to school.

"We always eat lunch together—"

"I mean, just me and you," Jess says and flashes her pouting eyes at Noah.

"But the boys aren't talking to us and I don't wanna leave Liv by herself," Noah mentions and sees the blonde frown.

"I forgot about that," Jess sighs, "I can't believe they haven't talked to us in so long, it feels weird."

"I'll try to talk to them today," Noah says, determined to fix the friend group she messed up in the first place.

At first, Noah seemed to be the missing puzzle piece they never knew they needed.  Now, it only seems that everything fell apart after she joined them.  No one else sees it that way, only Noah does, but she is too naive and stubborn to think otherwise.

"What about Parker?" Jess asks.

"What about him?"

"Are you gonna talk to him today?"

"I don't even know what to say to him—" Noah sighs as they near the school.

"Just tell him how you feel," Jess shrugs.

"How I feel about you?" Noah asks with a smirk as she peers down at the blonde.

"No, how you feel about him—" Jess replies with a serious expression.

"Well, I hate him—" Noah says with a shrug.

"You do not hate him.  If you hated him, then you wouldn't be putting us on hold to protect his feelings." Jess snaps back as she drops Noah's hand.

"He outed me." Noah says as she turns to face Jess as she walks, "He told everyone how I feel about you.  I hadn't even told Emily about that, let alone you."

"Noah, he's a teenage boy going through heartbreak—"

"No, he's an asshole going through a trap he fell into." Noah sulks as she opens the door of the school for Jess.

"A trap that you set up," Jess adds and sees Noah furrow her brow in an angry expression, "You strung him along and you know that.  What he did was wrong, but you're not in the clear either.  You need to talk to him, hear him out, and make him hear you out too.  Maybe we can all still be friends after."

"I—" Noah goes to ramble, but the blonde walks off.  Noah huffs in annoyance and storms off towards the locker rooms.

The teen walks straight into the boys' locker room.  No one seems to be inside, which she suspected.  She had walked to the boys' locker room with Parker in the mornings a few times.  The first time he took her with him, she thought he was up to something, but he told her he prefers to keep his stuff in his locker in the locker room instead of the one in the hallways.

As Noah walks inside, she sneaks past the coach's office, seeing that it is empty anyway.  She walks with anger in her steps and frustration in her eyes towards the back.

"Noah?" Parker asks as he sees Noah walking up to him, "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"We need to talk," Noah answers and sits on the bench in the middle of the lockers.