Heartstrings

Chapter 6

| Chapter Six |

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

- Lao Tzu

Waking up to a screaming Hailey has never been fun. I woke up to her yelling and shaking my shoulders.

"WE. ARE. LATE. FOR GOODNESS SAKE, CHLOE GET UP." I jumped up and gathered my thoughts. We were in the living room and empty bowls laid on the floor. Small kernels of popcorn and crumbs of potato crisps littered the carpet. I really hoped that the brown stain was washable though.

I ran upstairs and searched for some clothes. Since it was October, the weather was chilly and I definitely didn't want to freeze outside while walking to the bus station. I grabbed some warm dark jeans, with a shirt topped with a beige sweater. I tied my brown hair into a ponytail and grabbed my boots before leaving the room. I ran downstairs and picked up my bag from the floor near the front door and did some weird lunge to get the keys off of a small table nearby.

As I opened the door, I was hit by the cool wind and shivered. I quickly reached inside to grab my coat and then closed the door.

Where was Hailey?

I looked around but just saw a car come towards my house.

Wait, that car looks very familiar. I just can't place my finger on it...

Oh hell naw.

Noah got out of the driver's side and opened the front passenger seat while smiling at me. Wait, scratch that, smirked at me.

I gave him the death glare and walked over to Hailey's house, next to mine. Right as I was going to ring the doorbell, the front door burst open and Hailey was there, smiling at me knowingly and strutted towards Noah. She opened the back door and sent me a wink before hopping in.

I couldn't believe it. Did Hailey somehow set this up? That's what she must've talked to Noah about last night. Oh.

I mentally slapped myself on the forehead and grudgingly went towards Noah and his car. His smirk grew and I continued my death glare on him until I sat down and he shut the door behind me. I heard a snicker behind me and snapped behind me. Hailey was grinning with mischief in her eyes.

That... wolf in disguise.

I shot her my best I'm-going-to-kill-you-slowly-and-painfully and she just winked.

Again.

The driver's side door opened and Noah sat down and before my protests were heard, he was driving off towards school.

During the whole ride, I stared out the window as Hailey and Noah made some small talk. I scoffed mentally about them talking their favorite colour and foods.

"What about you, Chloe?"

I didn't move.

I wasn't mad, well yes a little. I didn't want to talk in the morning and I really wanted to leave all of this behind. It'll bring attention and I just wanted to finish the year happily. And peacefully. Without the most talked about guy driving me and my best friend to school. Nope.

"She absolutely loves cookie and cream ice cream."

"Actually, I love oreo ice cream specifically" I corrected her, and right then, I'd broken my silent treatment.

"Seriously? I can't stand it."

"WHAT?!" I whipped my head towards Noah. "How on Earth could you say some like that. Oreo ice cream is literally a savior to mankind. Not to over exaggerate, but I truly believe that oreo ice cream can fix almost every problem." Then, I started to flail my arms. "Got a broken heart? Oreo ice cream. Got a cut? Fill it with oreo ice cream. Got a brain freeze? Get an oreo flavored brain freeze with oreo ice cream. I mean the possibilities are endless."

I was out of breath and probably looked actually insane. Noah looked away from the road for one second and burst out laughing. Hailey was doing her cute hyena laugh and a deep rumble came out of Noah. My face flushed and resulted me to stare in front of me. The laughs continued until we entered the school parking.

The parking was filled to the brim with cars and people walking towards the school building. It reminded me of bees swarming into a hive, awaiting for the stress and annoying teachers.

Just me? Okay.

I realized that Noah hadn't left to join his football buddies or friends or whatever and stayed next to me. I looked up at him confusingly and he just gave a smirk. As we neared the building of terror and death, the chatting seemed to quiet down and turn into hushed and rushed whispers. Everyone seemed to glance or stare our way and I felt very, very, very self conscious.

I looked down at the ground, at my boots and tried to keep my calm. But I kept feeling their stares, kept feeling it and slowly the non-existent walls started to cram me. I felt trapped into my body and just as I was about to hyperventilate, I felt a hand come into mine. It was warm and fit well into my weird ones. They seemed to envelope just right and the walls seemed to back down and air was finally getting to my brain.

His hands stayed there until we reached to English. He opened the door and led me into the room. I was so glad that there wasn't too many people and I finally took a deep breath in and exhaled. I went to sit at my regular seat and Hailey sat next to me and Noah took William's place so he sat right behind me. I put my head down on the desk and took a breather.

Because that had never happened before in my life.

Welcome back! I hope you're having a beautiful day so far! Thank you so much for reading this chapter and see you in the next one (:

- L