➸featured on the What's Hot list
➸winner of The Most Addictive Story in The Writers Awards 2017
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❝ i'm going to woo you;
piece by piece,
word by word,
letter by letter. ❞
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In which Nova Hart, a star badminton player and hopeless roma...
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RISELIKEAPHOENIX
Nova slammed the partly crushed flyer in her hand down on the table, the suddenness of it making Mallory squeal and the other two students do a double take.
"Hey, Mal," Nova greeted with a sugary smile, "how's it going? You enjoy your dance last Friday? Heard it was a blast. You know, artful flyers and all."
Mallory was staring at Nova with wide brown eyes, mouth agape. Obviously, she wasn't expecting such a turn of events.
Nova felt a tug at the flyer underneath her palm and glanced at the other girl who was trying to pry it away with a frown on her face.
Nova lifted her palm, letting the girl take it and watched curiously as her eyes grew wide with horror.
"What is this?" She whispered, sounding flabbergasted. And then her eyes turned into slits, and she whipped her head towards the boy. "What the fudge is this, Keith?"
The boy squirmed, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here right now.
"Look, Riley —" he started but she cut him off.
"You bastard," she spat, looking disgusted at both of her friends. "You told me you were dropping the notes and sending the emails because you liked her!"
Nova's breath caught and she swiveled her head towards the boy, seeing him in an all new light.
"You're John?" She gasped, realising how wrong she was in thinking Mallory was the one planting the notes and pretending to be a guy. "You? But why... What the hell did I ever do to you?"
He raised a brow, "nothing?" Letting out a sigh, he sat up straighter. "Look, you were sat next to me in English class all through junior year. I saw the kind of books you read and heard about the movies you talked about with your cheerleader friend." He shrugged, as if this was just a part of his everyday routine. "It was pretty easy to know that you were some hopeless romance-obsessed girl. I mean, really? Its kind of stupid if you think about it."
Nova just stared at him; stared at the bored look on his face. Like this was nothing. To him, she realised, it probably was nothing.
She took in his relaxed posture, the way his arm was draped casually across the back of his chair, the arrogant tilt to his chin as he looked up at her. She took in his plaid shirt, dirty blonde hair, simple blue eyes — at first glance, he looked like the epitome of guy-next-door.
