November // n.h

xii

               T W E L V E

“Eve?”

“Hmm?”

“Is it because of Jennifer?” Nina asks me in a hushed tone, just so the teacher won’t hear her talking. I look away from the paper with the pen frozen in my hand. “You know, you haven’t spoken to him at all, over the weekend.”

“Nina, it’s not because of her. I really didn’t have the need to talk to him over the weekend. It’s not like I am getting attached.” I answer looking back down at the paper. But the ginger haired girl knows better. She knows that I got attached to Niall already and all that she is trying to do is help me talk it out.

On the other hand, I have been avoiding him because of Jennifer. Not like I am scared of her or something similar, no, I am not scared of Jennifer. She doesn’t have the right to stop me from talking to someone, anyone.

I just don’t want her to give me the stares and make up rumours. Honestly, if she does, I don’t know if I will be able to hold it inside myself. I might as well shout it out to everyone around that they’re blind and Niall Horan has been walking around, passing each of them by.

“Then why won’t you talk to him? He came into the music store last night.” She tells me and my eyes look right back up at her. Oh god, this made me look interested. “He asked me what happened and why you’re  not answering his calls.”

The guilt kicks in and something in my chest aches. Not letting me focus on the rest of the lesson. Nina knows what she has done because from time to time, she looks my way and tries to figure something out. She tries to figure out what I am thinking but honestly, there is nothing going through my head.

Why was I acting like this? A little too cold hearted and just like I could be scared of Jennifer. After all, she told me to stop talking to him, she told me to keep away from Niall and I did so. I listened to the person I had despised since day one.

Stupid!

“Eve?” Nina asks quietly, when we’re packing our bags to leave for lunch. “What are you going to do?” She urges  and only then I look at her. My forehead creased, eyebrows furrowed and I just don’t know if I should do what has been going through my mind or if I shouldn’t risk.

“I just- I don’t know.” I tell her honestly as the features on her face soften, noticing how terribly hard it is for me. Being such close friends, Nina can read my mind as long as she is looking into my eyes and this time, she notices the confusion that has been running through my mind for the past hour.

“Let’s go and eat something, then we will figure it out, alright?” She asks hugging me lightly. I place my pencil case in the bag and just then we leave the class room. She smiles at me widely and adds, “You are not supposed to think with an empty stomach!”

We walk into the cafeteria, just to notice that people still give me weird looks and it really bothers me. It seems as if I committed a crime, by talking to Niall; just as if he wasn’t a normal human being and under the influence of it all, I take out my phone.

Nina, noticing my actions, snaps it away from me and shakes her head mouthing a ‘no’. She knew what I wanted to do. She knew, that under the influence of the stares and just to do the opposite to what Jennifer told me to do, I was going to text him. Just like she knew that I would regret it later on.  

“C’mon, cheer up. Don’t let Jennifer see you like this - affected.” She says and that is enough to make me change my face expression. By those two sentences, Nina told me one thing: that I can show them ignorance. I don’t need to take action and give someone else satisfaction. People might expect me to do the opposite of what Jennifer wants.