half a heart » noah foster

ten

THREE WEEKS LATER

"come on, rory, take it easy." jake said. he kept his arm around me, helping me walk.
"i can't be late for class." i frowned.
"do you want me to pick you up and cause attention?" jake asked.

"no." i responded.
"then we'll get there when we get there." jake said and i limped, trying to not put too much pressure on my leg.

we arrived to the doorway of my ap chemistry class.
"you can always text me if you need anything. i promise i'll answer." jake said, helping me setting into my seat in the class.

"jake, i'll be fine." i laughed, and a girl sat next to me, setting her stuff down.
"okay, fine. i'll see you later." jake said, smiling at me before leaving my class to make it to his on time.

"is he your boyfriend?" the girl asked, looking at me.
"oh god no. he's more of a brother to me." i said, smiling at the girl.

"oh, i'm zoe, by the way." she held out her hand.
"aurora belmont." i said, shaking her hand.
"belmont? i'm so sorry for your loss." she quickly frowned.

"its okay. i've accepted the fact that he's in a better place now." i smiled softly.

i heard the classroom door closing and our teacher started talking, signalling the start of class.

|||

i set the case of beer on the counter.
"you didn't seem all that thrilled to see me at school." i said, looking up at noah.

his eyes widened as he looked at me, and he began to stumble on his words.
"i was, well you know, why would you think that i wouldn't be happy to see you?" noah asked, grabbing two bottles out of the case. he held one out to me.

"because you've been avoiding me. everytime i turned to ask you something in math class, you acted like you didn't know the answer. noah, if you don't like me, then just tell me." i said, accepting the bottle that he offered.

"aurora, you know that i—" noah's sentence was interrupted by brooke and jake entering the kitchen.
"jake, how can you not like the cake when you haven't even seen it?" brooke scoffed.

i rolled my eyes and left out of the room. i walked into the living room, seeing kieran and audrey talking.
"what's up, rory? you look annoyed." audrey furrowed her eyebrows, looking at me.

"nothing. just tired." i brushed off her comment. noah walked into the room, and i looked at him with upset eyes. i turned back to kieran and audrey.
"i think i'm going to go." i said, frowning slightly.

"what? why? you're not going to wait and see em?" audrey asked.
"i still have lots to catch up on for class. i haven't even started to read our book for english. i'll see emma at school." i said, grabbing my jacket and began to leave kieran's house.

|||

i took out my keys to the house and opened the door.
"mom, dad, i'm home!" i called out, closing the door behind me.

"great, we have some news to share with you!" my mom said excitedly and i began to walk into the living room.

i stopped in my tracks and my eyes widened as i looked at my mom and who was sitting next to her on the sofa.

"penelope?" i gasped.