The Shy Girl and the Class Clown

Chapter 5

Noelle's P.O.V

"Uh Chip, thank you for the ride, but can you drop me off at the back entrance?" I whisper as we drive off to school.

"Love, why would you want that?" Chip says, not taking his eyes off the road.

"I-i..." I can't believe it. Where the heck did my confidence go? Heck, I was flirting with Chip Hansen, the class clown. 

"You what Noelle?" Chip stops the truck in the middle of the road and turns his glare on me. "Do you regret saving your life?" He starts to lean his head towards me, "Do you regret me picking you up this morning?" His face is inches in front of mine. I do the only thing I can think of.

Slap!

I open the truck door, hop out, shut the door, and start walking. He has already seen too much into my life. He even saw the picture, the reason I am what I am. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four years ago

One of my classmates, Scott, asked me out during  8th grade at the beginning  of the school year. He was one of the kids who was trouble, but was suddenly a gentleman around me. I came to realize that he wasn't one of the bad kids, but the way he dressed suggested it. With his leather jacket, gelled back hair, and the personality of a bad boy, all the girls fell in love with him. I was immune to him. I was sitting at lunch with my friends, Caden, Noah and Brooklyn. 

"Hey gorgeous." I look to the left of me and see Scott sitting next to me. I look at Brooklyn who mouths 'go for it.' 

"We'll give you guys some space." Caden says, picking up his tray and glancing at Noah and Brooklyn, who then understand what is happening. They follow Cadens lead and move to another table.

"Hi Scott." I say. I never been a self-conscious person. That being said, I also don't flaunt myself for attention like how Emily, Emma and Sophia do. 

"I want to know if you want to go out with me, like be my girlfriend?" He asks me all confident. 

"I would love to be your girlfriend." I say and he leans in and kisses me on the lips, which I do.

~~~~

Flash forward six months and Scott and I are still going strong. Then it all changes. 

"Noelle." Brooklyn asks me while Scott went to get his lunch.

"Yes?" I reply.

"There's something that you should know about Scott."  This peaked my interest for some reason.

"What is it?" I say, surprisingly not angered. I know that my friends will always tell me the truth no matter what. 

"He's cheating on you with Emily." I gasp and my fork slides out of my hand, onto my tray. Caden wraps his arm around me and I lean into him. 

"I'm sorry Noelle." I see Scott in the distance and I go back to what I was doing before I was told. He sits down next to me and kisses me on the cheek.

"I need to talk to you." Great, isn't today my lucky day.

"And I do too. You first." 

"I'm breaking up with you. You don't flaunt yourself, you're not skinny and also your too short for my tastes. Goodbye Noelle." He gets up and my eyes follows him over to where Emily, Emma, and Sophia are sitting. I pick up my tray to throw it away and walk outside away from people. My three friends find me and Caden wraps me up in his arms, Noah and Brooklyn following suit.

"We'll never let someone hurt you again." Caden says, then leaning down to my ear, "i'll protect you." 

"Thanks guys."

~~~~~

I find out an hour before 8th grade promotion that my three best friends are leaving. They were told that they couldn't tell me, but they had to.

"What why?"

"I have no idea." Noah says, wrapping me up in his arms.

"Please don't leave." I say and the ceremony starts. We go through what we rehearsed and after the ceremony, I look for them but couldn't find them at all. My brother walks over to me and sits down next to me.

"It'll be okay. I'll protect you shortcake." I smile through the tears as I lean my head on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around me in a hug.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I get to school and see that not many people are outside, I check my phone clock again.

7:55pm

Perfect timing. I get to my locker to get my books out, but feel someones gaze on me. I hold my books to my chest and turn around to see a brown haired guy, roughly about 6 ft, wearing a two color t shirt, blue jeans, and converse leaning up against the wall. But it wasn't the outfit, it was his eyes, hidden behind black rimmed glasses that had something familiar about them.

"C-caden?" I whisper and he breaks into a smile before getting off the wall and walk towards me. Me, however, drop everything and run into his arms, holding my face into his shoulder as tears came flowing. He wraps his arms around me tightly.

"Hi there beautiful." His voice has definitely gone deeper. 

"Noelle, darling." Caden puts me down and I look to see a girl about my height, medium length blonde hair, wearing a cute sundress and cowboy boots, with a guy on her arm with black hair, wearing a white shirt with a striped tie and a blue sweater over it, blue jeans, and street shoes. 

"Brooklyn? Noah?" I sniffle and see them with a big smile on their face.

"In the flesh." I run towards them and they give me a group hug. The bell rings and I pull away, wiping away tears from my eyes. "What are your schedules?" I tell them mine while they look at their schedules.

"History." I say. Caden has that class. "P.E." All three of them do. "Math." Noah does. "Interior design." Brooklyn. "Chemistry." Caden again. "Study hall." Noah and Brooklyn. "English." Caden and Noah.

"Awesome! Come on, let's get to class. We'll meet up at lunch and we can catch up." Brooklyn says after I give her a hug. Her and Noah walk one way and I go over to my locker to grab my stuff from off the floor and to check my eyes. I close my locker and together Caden and I walk towards History.

"Oh before you ask, we have to have partners for a project." I say, breaking the silence.

"Oh boy, and I have a feeling that was you asking to be your partner?" He replies with a smile on his face.

"You know me too well." I smile and arrive at the door to the class. Caden opens the door and lets me go through first. I thank him with a smile and a nod of my head and go find my seat, which happens to have another empty seat next to it. Caden follows my lead and sits in the seat next to me, and suddenly the whispers start.

"No way, is that...?" One girl starts.

"It can't be." 

I lean over to Caden. "Ignore them, you'll be fine." He nods then glances to his left.

"Then why is that guy over there glaring at us?" I sit down in my seat and I look over to see Chip glaring at Caden with Nick and Trent giving similar expressions.

"It's fine." I whisper just as class starts.