𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟏𝟐

𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳
𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆

     𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, lips whispering, hallways parting. Noah can't escape the talk that follows her around. Her first day back and everyone is acting like she has two heads. She tries to look for a familiar face, but a new class of freshmen has come in and it seems like they're also getting the gossip about her.

"I see everyone's acting normal," a voice jokes beside her.

Noah turns and sees Parker walking alongside her. She smiles for a moment and looks around at everyone.

"I've noticed," she replies as she looks down at the paper in her hand that has her new locker number on it.

"What did Principal Gallway say about your classes?" he asks.

"I missed a lot of days, but my teachers let me take the finals to test out of the classes. Thankfully, when my intelligence didn't disappear, so I'm all caught up."

"That's good," Parker says as they walk up to Noah's locker, which is at the end of a hallway. "You think you're ready to be back full-time?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have much of a choice," she replies as she puts in her new combination. "I can't fall behind again."

"You won't. And we're all here to make sure of it."

"You guys don't have to baby me," Noah reminds him.

"I know, but you've been there for all of us so many times, it's time for us to be here for you."

She smiles and starts to put her books away. "What are you doing?" she asks as she sees him unlocking the locker next to hers.

"I told Principal Gallway to put our lockers next to each other."

Noah watches as he pulls his books out and exchanges them for the ones in his bag. She smiles to herself and closes her locker, making sure to spin the lock. Parker walks her to her first class and wishes her luck before rushing across campus so he's not late.

𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘯

"It's nice to see your face around here again," Jess says as she intertwines her fingers with Noah's as they walk to lunch together.

"Really?"

"Of course. I've missed you, but I also just wanted to know if you were okay. I'm glad that I get to see you more."

"Me too," Noah smiles and bumps Jess' shoulder with her own.

Jess smiles but gets distracted as they pass someone in the hallway. "Hey!" she greets a girl. "Noah, this is Casey. Casey, this is Noah."

"Hi," Casey chimes.

"I actually was talking to Casey because I wanted you to meet her when you came back to school."

"Yeah?" Noah asks, confused by the need for their introduction.

"I hear you're possibly interested in the track team," Casey mentions.

"Uh..." Noah trails off and looks at Jess for a moment. "I was, but I kinda had a hard semester, so—"

"Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that," Casey says genuinely. "But, really, the track team could be a good thing. We get to let off a lot of steam and everyone on the team is super cool."