Obsessive ~ Noah Foster [1]

Chapter Twelve// No Head-Stomping.

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"Please do not be scared of me."

--Emma Duval

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Someone in front of me turned to light my candle with theirs. "Thank you." I whispered. "Oh, Arielle." I looked up at the person to see Rosie. "Are you okay?" Rosie asked, clearly concerned. "Yes, I'm good. It's--I told them not to let me speak." I laughed. "Maybe they shouldn't have." Rosie chuckled. "You may have just scared the whole town."

"Scared? I--I didn't want anyone to be afraid of me." I whispered, looking down at my candle. "I don't think you should've called the killer out like that." Rosie told me seriously. "I'm... It needed to be said."

"Well, I'm not afraid of you. I totally agree with you." She said, grinning. "Hey, Ari--" Beside me, Noah and Audrey skidded up. They looked at Rosie, almost in fear. It's like they've never seen her before. "Hi." Audrey smiled slightly. "Hi." Rosie waved at her. Rosie could tell the situation was getting awkward. "Uh... well, I'd love to chat, but my friends are probably worrying." Rosie lied. I raised an eyebrow, but smiled. "Okay. See you at school." Rosie grinned, before walking away, disappearing into the crowd. "Anyways," I noticed that Audrey and Noah didn't have candles. "There is something totally wrong with you." Audrey whispered to me. My smile dropped. "W--"

"You're so bad ass!" Noah laughed. I frowned, "what?"

"You just called out a killer, he's probably pissed." Audrey exclaimed, laughing. "I mean, if he was here." I murmured. "Well, don't you think?" Noah nudged me. "Thank you guys for reminding me that I called a vicious killer a coward..."

xxx

"I really don't want to do this class!" I huffed, as Audrey and Noah pushed me into the gym. "I hate gym! I always fall!" I complained. "This isn't regular gym class!" Audrey assured me. "I am wearing an ugly uniform!" I pointed out. I was pushed into the big gymnasium.

"So, it's like this." Noah pretended to attack me from behind. I felt weird... having Noah so close. His breath was in my ear, and I could feel his heartbeat, as it was pressed against my back. I tried to slow my breathing, so it wouldn't put anyone off, but I just couldn't. "Noah, I know how to defend myself." I breathed.

"Do you, now?" Audrey stood in front of me with her arms crossed. "I'm not stupid." I grumbled. "Against a killer? What happened last time, Arielle?" Audrey raised her eyebrows. I glared at her. "Fine." I gave in. "So, the first thing Coach taught us was--uh, Arielle, reach behind you, and grab onto Noah's.... uh," Audrey put a finger to her chin, and watched us. "No, I think it was slouch before... and then--" Emma tried to help. "Okay, lemme save you some time." I reached behind me, and grabbed Noah's upper arm, and I swiftly pulled him over my shoulder and onto the mat."Oh, my fu--God!" Noah groaned. "Oh, shit. Sorry. I didn't think it would hurt... that much." I leaned down to Noah, and touched his face. Noah lay on his back, staring up. "Okay... nice, nice." Audrey clapped slightly. Around us, everyone was practicing their maneuvers with each other. "I hate you." Noah grumbled. I sucked in my teeth, patted his cheek. "Am I all good now?" I looked up at Audrey. "Not everyone attacks from the back." Audrey shook her head at me. I stood up, and moved in front Noah to help him up. He huffed. "Can Emma be the dummy next time." Noah grabbed his lower back. "I'm really sorry. You know, in New York, people just get their heads stomped if they're just being stupid." I shrugged. Audrey stared at me with wide eyes. "Well, we're not in New York. So... no head-stomping."

Coach clapped his hands together, wanting our attention. "All right, now let's put what we've learned to the test." I frowned. I wasn't here for the first three months of school... "--but remember, self-defense is not about how strong we are. It's about how well we use the strength we have inside. Will, come on up." Coach gestured for Will to come to the front of the gym, where there were mats. I looked over at the boy, who had a fat lip. Tsk-tsk... "And.... Audrey." Coach pointed at her. A small smile was at Audrey's lips, as she complied, walking into the middle, where Will was. "Same scenario. Dark lot, guy's larger and stronger." Coach said. He then gestured for Will to start. Will put his arm around Audrey's throat, and sighed, waiting for Coach's instructions. "Now, what you wanna do is--" Coach was cut off, when Audrey gripped Will's arm, and threw him over her shoulder onto the mat, taking his arm, and pinning it into his back. "Ah!" Will gasped. Audrey forced her knee into Will's arm, that was on his back, and whispered something she thought no one would hear; "How's it feel to take it... in front of everyone."With that, she stood up, releasing him. Audrey walked right back over to us. Audrey acted as if nothing had happened. Noah nudged me, with a huge grin on his face, and began a slow clap, laughing. I looked up at him, and I couldn't help but smile.

After class, I spotted Audrey and Noah sneaking off. I frowned, and followed after them. They were walking down the hallway, when they suddenly stopped... Right at Mr. Branson's classroom. "Hello? Hello? Mr. Branson?" Noah called, poking his head into the classroom. Audrey pushed him in, and went in after him. I shook my head, and followed, rushing into the classroom. "What are you guys doing?!" I exclaimed. "Ah!" Noah jumped back, from where he was at the door, no doubt keeping gaurd. Noah looked behind himself at Audrey. "Oh, go on." Audrey sighed. "We think that Branson hacked people's webcams and Nina kept the files... remember those files from the hospital?" Noah explained, ushering me into the classroom. "I'm hoping he's just an innocent pawn." Noah said. "What? It can't be Mr. Branson. He's literally the nicest teacher I know. And he still lets Noah talk in class, even though..." I trailed off. Noah glared at me. Behind us, I heard clacking coming from Mr. Branson's computer. "Audrey, you can't invade a man's laptop!" Noah whispered, turning back to look. "Oh, please. He's invading everybody's everything." Audrey hissed. I walked over to Audrey to see what she was doing. "Ok... fine. Let me do it." Noah grabbed my waist, and pulled me out of the way, as Audrey rushed to gaurd the door. I leaned over Noah, to watch. But everything was a blur, as he typed really fast. "Okay, yeah, here's the malware." Noah stopped for a second. "What?" I asked nervously. "There's two other user IDs. Looks like his student aides had access to the site, too." I understood about half of what he said. "Let me guess. Tyler?" Audrey turned her head a little bit to look at us. "Yup. And this semester..." Noah frowned at the computer. "Riley." I read from the computer. Audrey rushed back over to us. "Nina, Tyler, and Riley. Maybe they all knew his dirty secret." Audrey predicted. "What if... he killed them all to keep it?" I theorized. I wasn't able to keep the thought down. My English teacher... murdering my cousin. A door opened and closed from in the hallway, and Noah quickly shut the laptop. "No, no, no!" I hissed at him. "The laptop was open!" Audrey told him. Audrey and I stood at the side of Branson's desk, and watched the door, waiting. That's when Noah leaned up too. And just in time, too. "Hey, guys... What's up?" Branson stood in the doorway, holding a cup of coffee. "Uh.. I--Uh..." Audrey stuttered. "Noah and I were going to ask you if maybe someone in the class didn't have a scene partner... we could really use a third. We already had a scene put together." I lied perfectly. No stutters. "Came to see if anybody's available." Audrey croaked. Mr. Branson walked closer to us, and I couldn't help but grab onto Noah's arm, behind our backs. "Well, everybody's paired up." Branson said. "But, I'm sure someone would be open to your guys' dramatic..." He paused, before continuing. "Threesome." He went on to walk in front of Noah and I. "Noah?"

"Yeah... I'll let you know, Mr. B." Noah gulped. " Okay." Branson smiled creepily. Audrey quickly grabbed my wrist, and pulled me. And as I already had my hand gripped onto Noah's arm, it was follow-the-leader.