Chaos in High School

~*Chapter 17*~

POV: Nova

Date: October 31st, 2026

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When Lotus dared to play Seven Minutes in Heaven with Johnny, Nova stood up, stiff with shock. She felt so many different emotions coursing through her body. Dread? Annoyance? Nervousness? ......Excitement? What? Why was she feeling these emotions? Her mind was rushing through so many things. Do I have to kiss him? Does he want to kiss me? It felt as if reality just wasn't real. She walked in a blur, confused, and moved toward Johnny. He stood in a relaxed stance, and smiled with a slight cock of his head. She noticed that the small gesture brought out the structures of his face- his jawline, a row of teeth as he smiled brightly. As Johnny opened the door for Nova muttering under his breath something like "chivalry isn't dead, and something else, she almost stopped.

That voice.

That calming, beautiful voice, singing to her in such melodic tune, mesmerizing her in a dream.

She sucked in a breath. Why was his voice so hot? She wanted to explore more, see what else there was to this boy, but she continued to walk out of the room, following him.

As she lifted her head up to meet his gaze, she discovered many subtle features that shaped his appearance. The way his face leaked a atmosphere of innocence, yet the way he tilted his head whenever he looked at you made you feel that he knew something. Behind his expression, however, was a riddle of emotions, making it difficult to see what his mind was going through. His bright smile was quite obvious and blinding, and Nova could see a feeling of affection and something....deeper. Like he was studying you with an intense curiosity. His eyes had a blinding brightness flashing behind dark brown pupils, allowing a glimpse of his emotions. Nova saw a flicker of excitement, obviously, and she also saw a quick view of...something. She had difficulty understanding what he was feeling, confused by her own emotions as well. Why did she feel so excited? But why did she suddenly feel so self-conscious? She usually was able to easily read someone's body language in a quick flash, yet she was so distracted by the charm of his face that she couldn't focus on anything; how could he look like that? Why was he so........

"You good?" he asked, bringing Nova back to the present. Woah. She realized that this wasn't a dream. A boy so charming that this couldn't be this true.....right?

"Y-yeah, I think. Um, why are you asking?" she replied, still cloudy. She had trouble processing the question, her mind fogging up with so many thoughts and OH MY GOD THAT VOICE. It was so soothing- deep and nonchalant, with a sprinkle of mischief, in a good way. It was soft yet loud at the same time, and it was the last straw that made Nova realize that she was FALLING FOR HIM? OH MY GOD I HATE MYSELF. But his voice.....and his smile....

"Uh, 'cause you've been staring at me for the past, like, 20 seconds."

"W-wh-what?" Nova answered, head still drowning in thoughts of Johnny. "Oh yeah. Um I'm fine....thanks for asking," she muttered. WHAT THE PHONK. HIS VOICE. AHHHHHHHHHH, she thought. Was she falling for him? Well, she did have some feelings about him ever since she met him, but she couldn't figure out what those feelings were because she knew Andrea would never let her and everyone would just be so surprised.

But did she return the same feelings back to him? Why was this boy different? Sure, there had been many, many, other boys whom had a desperate crush on her, all trying to gain her attention. But she was used to it, and just labeled all of them hopeless and threw them out of her brain. When a boy liked her, she thought of it as entertainment, wanting to see just how desperate they were and just how hopeless. (its actually REALLY funny to see how desperate they get) She was very observant, and she knew just by scanning their body language to tell if they had a crush on her or not. But it was him. Johnthan, one of many who had fallen for her, had caught her attention. After spending two months with him, she knew that he liked her. But when she looked into his, eyes, it was different. His eyes were longing for something, and she always saw the same flicker of emotion flash across his face wherever he locked sight onto her. But when she looked back to see his emotion on his face, she could feel an emotion of her own spark behind her eyes, and she knew Johnthan saw it, as he always held her gaze a little longer, looking deep into her eyes. Nova had noticed it, yes, but she only thought he was just another boy who had hopelessly fallen for her. In the very back of her mind, shoved underneath everything else, hidden, was the realization that he loved her. It was weird to think about, but she realized that she liked him back. She took many quiet notices about the boy, that whenever he walked into a classroom, his very aura just suddenly lifted everything, how everything was directed toward him- how everyone else's voices elevated into something happier, more joyful at the very presence of Johnthan. It was as if someone played "Bejeweled" by Taylor Swift all of the sudden. wHeN i WaLk iN tHe rOoM i CaN mAkE tHe wHoLe pLaCe ✨sHiMmErRrRrR✨(ik its cringe but it fits the plot ok) How she noticed that he could be extroverted yet lost in his own thoughts at the same time- just like Nova. She remembered that he sat in front of the bonfire on the friend group's camping trip, elbows resting on his knees, eyes looking at the fire, lost in his own world. She was, actually, quite similar to him. She was an extroverted friend, always jumping around her friends, teasing Emma (cuz she's just so teasable yk? No hard feelings emma plz dont kill me), but she also found herself stepping into her own world, swimming in her own thoughts, and there were even whole days where she was in constant deep concentration, listening to the beautiful hum of her mind. Whenever she was writing, whether it was an English essay or just journaling, she always wrote a lot, just getting drowned in her words. (That was probably why she always lost points for not being concise. But whatever. Too lazy to revise it.) After living 15 years, she never really met anyone who matched her personality (this is not true, i'm just making it up for the sake of the story), and she had many friends along the way, but they weren't the same as her. Quiet, thoughtful, and understanding, but also crazy and loud in a good way. This boy was right in her hands, within her grasp, something she had always longed for, all just a foot away from her. He was so far yet so close, and her body filled with strong feelings of desire and want, and all she longed for was to just close the gap. She wanted to keep him close to her and not let him fall away. She wanted to stay in his stay in his warmth. She wanted to tell him that she liked him, that she always has, and she wanted to embrace this feeling by......and when she gazed into his eyes, she saw feelings of fondness and a deep yearning, and she felt the same. It was all want. Want. Want.

She slowly leaned toward him, still looking into his eyes. Her lips brushed against his cheek and her hands pressed against his solid chest, and she could feel him suddenly suck in a breath at just the mere feeling of her touch. She whispered three simple words that she held in the back of her mind for the past few months that she'd been wanting to tell him. "I like you," she breathed. He shook slightly, and his nonchalant composure from before suddenly melted into something more, into an atmosphere of warmth that she just wanted to fall into and never come back. She wanted to stay in his presence forever, burn in his heat. He softly whispered back into her ear, this time his lips touching her cheek. "We didn't even make it into a closet to kiss," he whispered. And with that, he grabbed her arms and pulled her close to him, closing his eyes as his lips met hers.