The Kissing Booth - Chasing Noah

Chapter 8

A/N: This is the edited version of Chapter 20 and 21.

...

Every muscle in my body stopped working, I couldn't take a breath or form a word. I was frozen. He had finally realized that I wasn't good enough. That there were prettier, better girls that would do anything just for his attention. I tried to hide my cry, but I knew he heard it. "Elle, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"You're breaking up with me," I choked. It was a miracle that I had enough air in my lungs to say anything. Was this what hyperventilating felt like?

"What? No, Elle, I'm not! Why would you think that?"

"I saw a picture of you with some girl this morning...I just assumed with how you've been acting that you want...that you want," I stammered. Lee told me that this was going to happen. That he thought this relationship was a bad idea. But I didn't believe him. I was in love with Noah and nothing was going to change that. It sucked to know Lee had been right.

"Shelly, the girl in the picture is my cousin from Boston. She came to see one of my games. My dad grew up out here, remember?" he reminded me. I started to apologize, but then I stopped myself. Why should I be the one to apologize when he was the one who had been acting so weird lately? It was his fault that I was doubting him.

"Then what's going on," I sniffled.

"I wanted to talk about Trinity."

"What about Trinity?"

"Well, are you sure that's really where you want to go. I've been looking and-"

"Why have you been looking. I told you that's where I want to go. It has everything-"

"Everything on your list. I know. But maybe you don't have your priorities straight. I don't think you're doing what's best for you."

"But I told you the other day. This is what I want to do. Maybe I'm looking for other things in a school than you did, but this is my decision. This is what's best for me."

"You didn't even know what you wanted to do a week ago. How do you know what's best for you?"

"Oh, and you know what's best for me I'm guessing," I snapped. He was acting like I couldn't make this decision for myself. I appreciated all of his help, all that he had done for me, but in the end I was the one who was determining my entire future.

"I don't know Elle. I just think this isn't something you should rush into. There's a lot more things to think about than just where it is."

"I know I made some pretty quick decisions, but I had to. I waited until the last minute to pick a major."

"Did you even look into the program before applying?" he pointed out. I guess he was right. The only thing that I relied on was student reviews on the school's website and what dad's friend's wife had said about it. It's not like I had time to fly out there and talk to teachers. I trusted my dad though. He wouldn't have suggested Trinity if he didn't believe it was right for me. My future was just as important to him as it was to me. I wanted to argue that to Noah. That this was always what I saw for myself, but it seemed pointless. No matter what I said, I wasn't going to change his mind.

"So what do you want me to do? I've looked into this school, and other ones so that I could weigh my options. My teacher researched it too and she said that it looked like a good fit for me. If I don't apply now, I'm going to have to wait until next semester."

"I don't know Elle. It just sounds like you have a lot more to figure out. This is hard for me too. To see you struggle with this." I swear I was so frustrated smoke was coming out of my ears. I wasn't struggling. He was struggling to accept my decision, or the fact that I had made one so fast.