Noelle
"Hey! Noelle!" Noah called from across the hall.
"Yeah?"
"I was, um, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the beach...with me...and Ash, Parker, Nate, and Maddy....To study, of course."
"No...I'm busy." I say and start to walk away.
"When have you ever been 'busy'?"
"..."
"C'mon, you can't seriously still be mad at them. Its been a whole year."
"No, it hasn't. Its been less than four months. The dance was at the end of the sixth grade and we're at the beginning of seventh. I've only had summer vacation to take my feelings out on author after author of famous literature. At one point I ventured into the dangerous realm of War and Peace. War and freaking Peace. Almost every sing female character is named Anna. Do you know how annoying that can get? Damn Tolstoy. That book is very Anti-21st-century-teenager-" I could have gone on for much longer, but I was interrupted.
"You're rambling." Noah said simply.
"Well, ask me if I'm over the dance thing next year, because right now the answer is no. Also, did you say Ashley and Parker were going to be there? Isn't it obvious that she's planning on doing the exact same thing again? When will she realize that I'm not into Parker and she's not Emma?"
"Who's Emma?"
"As in the book...by Jane Austen."
"..."
"Never mind. A dim-wit such as yourself wouldn't even truly appreciate its literary value."
"Wow. When did you become so..."
"Smart?"
"Yeah. No, more like snobbish."
"..." I frown.
"Relax. I was just joking."
"I better go. My dad's going to be here any minute and if he sees me with a boy...Well, I want to avoid an interrogation." I hold my pre-algebra textbook tightly to my chest as I turn away.
"I just thought you should know, Ashley and I, we broke up over the summer...I guess two years was long enough... but we're still friends. So...yeah."
"Why should I know this?" I say as I bite my lip.
"Oh, because she won't be trying to set you up anymore....With Parker, anyways. Because she likes him."
"Huh...So there actually is some useful information stored inside that hollow head of yours. I would have never known."
"Hey..." He warns me as he smiles.
"Relax. I was just joking." I mock him. I spot my dad enter the parking lot, "Gotta go."
"Bye."
