The Elusive Heart of Nova Hart ✔

08// poisoning by gummy bears

POISONING BY GUMMY BEARS

THERE WAS ONLY TEN MINUTES left for the bell to ring when Piper suddenly whistled in appreciation.

Addy turned to shoot her an obnoxious look but one of the other girls on the cheer team pointed to somewhere behind Nova.

"Look!" She squealed in obvious excitement.

Nova and Addy turned behind their shoulders just as one of the lunch ladies came to a stop behind them and placed a tray directly in front of Nova.

"Ummm..." Nova began but was immediately cut off as Addy began slapping her shoulder repeatedly with barely suppressed squeals. "Jesus, Addy, what the—"

"Shut up and look!" Addy grabbed Nova's chin and forced her to look down at the tray in front of her rather than interrogate the lunch lady on what the heck she was doing.

Nova's normally wide eyes widened even more and just like the previous two times, the anonymous writer made her mouth drop open this time too.

No way.

A huge part of Nova wanted to climb on their lunch table and dance her heart out. This was insane!

For, laid out on the tray in front of her, was at least six packets of the large-sized Haribo's gummy bears.

Her breathing seemed to falter, her chest constricted in a pleasurable way and her heart raced with a giddiness she only thought she could experience while watching She's All That on repeat.

"What... How... But this..." And again, just like the other times, the anonymous writer seemed to render her speechless too. Oh god, oh god, I can't be giving in so easily. Come on, Nova, you're better than this.

But these were gummy bears. Packets of them. Scratch that, the large sized packets of them.

"Don't know, kid," the lunch lady told her, obviously thinking Nova's incoherent string of words were directed at her. "Got a solid seventy bucks to deliver this to you and seal my lips in the process."

Addy snorted, "what if these were tampered with? What if my friend here got seriously ill? You'd just deliver poison for seventy bucks too?"

The lunch lady lifted a thick eyebrow. "Well, you know where to find me if she has a case of poisoning by gummy bears. Until then, I'm keeping the cash."

And with that, she turned around and walked away leaving Addy gaping at her but Nova was too busy floating in the clouds to notice.

"Didn't he send a note this time too?" Audrey, a senior cheerleader, asked. She seemed to be bouncing in her seat.

"For heaven's sake," Addy muttered under her breath but smiled nevertheless.

Nova's hands worked fast as they grabbed the packets of heavenly goodies to reveal another folded note underneath.

"What does it say?!"

"Oh my god, read it out loud!"

"I think I'm going to pass out!"

"Are you going to share the gummies?"

All the excited giggles and questions ricocheted off Nova's ears.

The words in the same elegant cursive style was all she saw, the rest of the world disappearing in a blink.

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Thank you for reading ❤ :)