Let Me Go ✔️

Chapter 3

That night I was sitting at my desk working on my assignments. All of it felt like a review of what I had learned in high school, but I was guessing that was kind of the point of the class. Lucky for me that it was easy because my thoughts were all over the events of the day. May was looking out for me after all and now I felt bad. I felt like I owed her an apology. I felt so crappy that I almost let myself even consider dating Jude. I was warned by another girl that he's wasn't a good guy and I convinced myself that it was just her being jealous. And I didn't realize until today how grateful I was for Silas and how attending the same college wasn't much of a pain anymore. Even though he could be the biggest jerk on the planet sometimes.

I rested my head on top of my text book and I sat like that for a few minutes, until Angelina walked into our room. "Hey, Nova!" She greeted happily. "How's homework going?" I just shrugged and picked up my pencil. She sat down on her bed which was next to my desk and gave me a concerned look. "Everything okay?"

I looked over at her and shook my head. "It turns out that Jude is a bad guy after all. Silas just about beat him up when he saw him talking to me in the cafeteria. I just can't believe how stupid I was."

Angelina looked at me confused. "Jude isn't a bad guy, Nova." She said in a factual voice. I returned her confused look. "I asked some people about him when you told me you were interested in him and they say that he has a bad rep but it's all bull crap."

I shook my head in confusion. "But Silas told me that he rapes and beats girls; and apparently, he's not the only who knows that."

She shook her head. "No, those are all lies." She assured me. "I mean, he's had a couple of one night stands, but he's never raped anyone."

"No, Silas was so sure." I told her.

He nodded. "He believes the lies. Those are all rumors." She stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Jude is a really nice guy, Nova. Don't let what they say get to you." I gave her a weary smile as she walked to the other side of the room.

I didn't know what to believe now. I decided that I was going to stay away from Jude until I knew the truth. Not like I wasn't going to be involved with him or any guy anyway. School; that's why I'm here. I picked up my pencil and finished the rest of the homework I had.

I walked into first period the next morning to see Max sitting there with a haughty grin on his face. "Late guy's early." I commented as I took my seat beside him. I saw that he had his text book, a notebook, and the pencil I gave him. I looked up at him. "And you're prepared; impressive."

He grinned widely back at me. "I wanted you to be proud of me."

I chuckled. "Did you do your homework?" I asked, and gestured toward his books with my pencil. A guilty look crossed his face. "Late guy, you've got to do your homework!" I leaned toward him and smiled. "I mean, if you really want to impress me." I teased.

He looked down with a shy smile. "Well, then I'm going to do my homework right now and then I'm going to go back in time and do all the homework I didn't do since kindergarten."

I eyed him curiously. "Are you flirting with me, late guy?" I asked with a grin.

He shrugged. "Probably." He said in a nonchalant voice. "Not like it matters anyway. A smart, beautiful girl like you would never go for some dumb, lazy, loser like me."

I sat up straight and faced him completely. "Don't say that about yourself."

"It's true." He looked down for a moment before looking back up at me. "This is my second time taking this class. I'm literally the only sophomore in here."