Obsessive ~ Noah Foster [1]

Chapter Eleven// Coward

+++

"No one wants to stay, but we're all just a little curious."

--Rachel Murray

+++

A red-headed girl took a seat behind Emma, and I just knew it was going to cause problems. And I was right. "Are you kidding me?" Brooke sneered at her. "You got a problem?" The girl snapped. "Yeah, I do. That's Riley's seat...Forever." Brooke enunciated the word "Forever." The girl got up, and rolled her eyes, moving seats. "Hey, Emma, again. I am just so exponentially sorry about that video." Noah had turned in his seat to look at Emma. I bit my lip, and leaned into the aisle. "Emma. It was totally my fault. They were fighting, and the--"

"We had no idea that it was gonna just... mutate and spread like this crazy zombie sex virus, and that came out so--"

"Guys, it's okay. I mean, it's not okay, but... you couldn't have known what was going to happen." Emma smiled at us both. But I still felt terrible. "Okay, everybody!" Mr Branson cleared his throat, and began the class. Mr. Branson took a deep breath. "We are still reeling from... Riley's death, but we do have learning to do. Noah, Arielle, I know you two were scene partners with... Riley." Mr. Branson said awkwardly. "Yeah, uh, do you mind if we sit this out?" I looked over at Noah. "Uhm, we already had a scene going... with Riley."

"I understand. That's fine." Mr. Branson nodded. "But we will resume our scene work next week. "Let's get back to Hawthorne." Mr. Branson turned back to the board, and began writing. "The Scarlet Letter. It's a classic tale of hypocrisy, misogyny, and female oppression--"

"Mr. Branson, seriously, with all the cyber-bullying and GIFs and mayhem going down...who cares?" Jake said. A cell phone rang out. "Actually, Jake, it's very relevant. See, the birth of Hester Prynne's illegitimate child led her to being essentially outed and cyber-bullied, Puritan style." Cell phones continued to chime. I looked down at my phone, and saw that it was Emma and Will. The video. Emma & Will. Fastest Guy In Lakewood. I made an "o" with my mouth. I turned my head to look at Audrey, who was already looking at her phone with wide eyes. She looked up just in time to see me, shaking her head. "It just takes nine months instead of nine seconds." Kieran said. "Exactly." Mr. Branson replied. "Or, uh, three minutes, right?" A boy, who sat behind Will stood up in his seat, and showed him his phone. Will banged his fist down on the desk, and bolted up. "Shut the hell up!"

"Will, stop!" Emma stood up. "It's enough."

"Okay, guys. Sit down!" Mr. Branson. Will huffed, and sat down in his seat. But Emma stayed standing. "Emma, are you okay?"

"No." Emma had tears in her eyes. "I'm--I'm not okay. Uh, I know that our thoughts are all with the friends that we've lost." Emma announced to the class. "And so I just wanted to remind everyone that there's a candlelight vigil downtown tonight at 7:00. And I hope that all of you will make it."

xxx

"You got a sonogram in the mail?" Audrey asked me in disbelief. I nodded, walking towards the section for Nina. There were pictures of her everywhere. From when she was a baby all the way to just last month. I got on my knees, and touched a picture of Nina and I when we were five. That was the night that our family all came together to have Thanksgiving. Nina and I made little Turkey hands. In the picture, Nina and I held up the turkey's to the camera. "A full on sonogram. It was my aunt's." I whispered to Audrey and Noah, who were behind me. "Nina's..." Audrey trailed off. "Yeah, that's what I thought, before I actually saw the sonogram." I dug into my purse, and pulled out the envelope, I passed it to Noah behind me. Noah took it from me. I turned to him, and watched him take the sonogram out of the envelope.