The Rivalry We Didn't Expect

The Mess That Was Once Emma

Noah dug his head right up to his phone screen as he paced quickly through the school hallway. The people around still had gone silent as he passed, the only noises being the slight whisper of pupils to their friends. The bookworm didn't care to much about that right now though.

After he made up with Alejandro, they had a discussion following the rumours. Due to Al being much more popular and genuinely well known, he would start to deny them. Meanwhile, Noah had some other shit to sort out.

Emma, 8:20AM:
Hey Noah, I'm glad your okay. Meet me at the entrance please I just arrived

Noah read Emma's text with concern. He needed to find out what happened. As the bookworms mind faded back to the conversation with Izzy and Eva, it came to his attention the lack of information they gave him about his ex-girlfriend. She hasn't been hanging out recently. That wasn't very descriptive at all.

After a few minutes of walking, Noah found himself at the entrance. It was a large school. Sitting there on a bench near the door was Emma, her head in her phone with a worried expression on her face. It was obvious she was nervous. But as she looked up and saw Noah, her face lit up.

"Noah!" She yelped, standing up. The way she suddenly pulled the bookworm into a hug surprised him. Normally, Noah didn't like physical touch from most people. However, he gladly wrapped his arms around Emma and held her close.

"Emma, what's happened?" Noah held the girl by her shoulders, scanning over her face. She looked tired and scared, eyebags under her dark eyes that seemed to almost drag down her face. Emma's smile faded into a shaking jaw as her eyes welled up. This just made Noah feel horrible.

"Noah... It's so hard to explain." Emma began to mumble. Noah sensed her embarrassment, and quickly led her to a more secluded area as she talked. "Look, while your away, I'm not sure what happened.. but Izzy and Eva were really mad. You need to explain yourself, because what the fuck was that?! Please tell me you know what's happening."

"It was a photoshopped image." Noah began, looking at Emma with a frustrated glance. "Courtney did it. She tried to sabotage me, and it worked. Me and Alejandro have made up now, so don't worry. I just want to know if your okay."

Noah usually wasn't this good at comforting people. But he had a soft spot for Emma, and having been close to her like this before, he knew what to do. Emma just burst into tears in that moment. Noah gasped and pulled her in for a tight hug as she tried to explain through her messy state.

"I'm not okay! Izzy and Eva kicked me out of the friend group! They called me so many bad names..." She began. "You know that boy from the party? Well.. we got together before this but he dumped me! Everything is ruined!" Emma wailed out. She was obviously a mess.

"They what?!" Noah glared in sudden anger for his other two friends. He couldn't believe them. Kicking Emma out of the friend group without even asking him, and being so cruel about it too. That's when it started to fade into his mind that if he hadn't proved himself, he would damn well be out too. The two were definitely planning it.

"Hey hey, it's gonna be okay." Noah mumbled into Emma's ears, holding her close still. "Look, I'm going to go talk to them. Where have you been hanging out though?!"

"I've been... sitting in the library." Emma sniffled, wiping her tears. "James, that boy I was talking to, his friends are being really shitty to me. And I don't want to even try go back to Izzy and Eva."

"I don't think I want to go back to them either." Noah scoffed angrily, a glare on his face. "I'm going to talk to them if I have time this morning. As for break.. I'll talk to Alejandro. Maybe we can stick with him this lunch?"