The Wallflower of Parkview High

Chapter Eighteen

"Noah?!"

"Noah!"

"Noah!!"

I groaned softly and buried my face deeper in my hands, trying to ignore the distant noise above me. There was no way that Zander had come back again. Even if he was, I didn't want to hear him continue on ranting about how evil Damien was and how he was the one that was right and that Damien was using me even though he wasn't.

"Noah, can you hear me?!"

"Go away, Zander." I murmured. I could hear the distant sound of people laughing.

Huh, I didn't know there were other people in the room. Had Charlotte or Dad snuck in while I was having my conversation with Zander?

"Noah, there is no Zander in the class at this moment so stop being silly and wake up."

"Whaddyamean...?" I asked, resting my cheek on my pillow. Except that the surface I rested my cheek on was cold and hard, definitely not the feeling of a pillow.

I groaned again and lifted my head to see what had happened to my "pillow". That was when I was met with Ms. Anderson's piercing look.

"I see you have finally decided to stop talking all funny and join us, Mr. Barlowe." she snapped. When I gave her a questioning look, she added "You were sleeping in my class."

As I processed what had just happened, I could hear everyone around me laugh or at least trying to stifle their laughter. I bit my lip and looked up at Ms. Anderson.

"Sorry..." I murmured.

"It's fine, though if I catch you sleeping in my class again, I will send you right down to the principal's office." Ms. Anderson told me. I watched as she walked away muttering something under her breath about "teenagers these days" and "how they didn't care as much about their education as she thought they did".

~~~~~~

"So you basically dreamed about Zander saying that Damien is using you to his advantage?" Alicia asked, peeling apart her turkey and balogna sandwich.

I nodded. Throughout the rest of 4th period and all of 5th period, what Zander had said in my "dream" was all I could think about. Why had he said that Damien was using me? All the times I've been around him, Damien has been pretty nice, at least for the most part, so I couldn't see how he would possibly be using me for his own amusement. If anyone was using me at all, it would be Zander. There had to be a reason other than natural instinct that he was laughing at me whenever I argued with him or made a fool of myself in front of him.

"Maybe Zander is jealous that you're talking to Damien in a much more...civil way...than you talk to him so he's saying all these things to make you believe that Damien isn't as he seems which will make you prefer him over Damien." Alicia suggested. I shook my head.

"Why would he be jealous that I'm talking to Damien?!" I asked. Besides the times we were in PE and those arguments during lunch and later after school (my dream doesn't count), he had never talked to or showed any interest in being around me. Why would he want to hang around me now?

"Who knows." Alicia said quickly, throwing the piece of bread that she had just peeled off her sandwich towards the trash can. I watched as it landed perfectly on top of a discarded lunch tray that had a carton of spilled milk in it.

"Hey, you almost threw that at my face!"

I looked to see Damien standing there, glaring at Alicia, who was ignoring him and instead rolling a slice of bologna up and stuffing it in her mouth. When he was done glaring at her, his eyes eventually found me and his face considerably brightened.