Falling Into Winter

Chapter II First Encounters

Before I knew I was racing out my house screaming bye to my mother who had already set out my lunch by the door.

"Love you mom!" I shout and I hear a faint call back but nothing I can understand. I rev the engine of my car and head towards the high school. The ice is still thick from the days before meaning I have to take it slow. Still, it only takes a few minutes and I'm already parked and heading towards the school. I spot Aidyn's motorcycle near the front of the parking and hurry inside, the bitter cold biting at my fingers. I had gone with simple jeans to cover my still frigid legs and a nice gray sweater to help warm my body. Cold just seemed to be my fatal weakness. I really didn't like the cold.

My tense body relaxed as I entered the building, spotting familiar faces, waving as I passed. The theatre building was near the front and sign up sheets for the musical were up already hanging all over the walls. No way no how.

The halls continue until it forks off into more halls. I head down the sophomore wing and see Aidyn sitting against the wall of lockers a book in her hand. Next to her is Talby who is obviously trying to tell her something but Aidyn doesn't seem to be listening. She glances up and spots me, her dimples popping onto her face.

"Noelle!" She laughs and we do one of those cool hand shakes except at the slowest speed possible.

"I was trying to tell Aidyn over her." Talby gives her a backwards glare, Aidyn barely even acknowledging that her name had been said.

"But she wouldn't listen, so I'll tell you instead." She looks a little jumpy and I give her a laugh. "Just tell me already."

She stops swaying and grabs my shoulders. "We have two new students." Her hair whips over her shoulder, falling down to her waist. Her and Aidyn both were almost never seen with their hair down, though they both looked really cute with it down. However, while they both a long hair, Talby had LONG hair.

"Wait new students?" Aidyn nearly drops her book and jumps up. "For real? Girl, boy, names?"

Talby crosses her arms, and leans to the side. "Maybe if you had been listening you would have known."

I give her a playful shove, drawing her attention back towards me. "Spill."

"Alright, alright." She raises her hands in defeat, and I watch Aidyn draw closer like a moth to flame.

"One girl, our grade, her name's Charlotte." I just nod. "And a new guy, his name's Charlie, he's a year older."

"How do you know, are they here yet?" I ask, my head spinning in all direction trying to see if anyone I don't recognize is nearby.

Talby rolls her eyes, but her a smile is still stuck on her face. "They are getting a tour from Phoebe right now."

She leans in close to me and her smiles turns devilish. "My guess is she probably volunteered right away because well, when she first saw the new kid." Talby fans herself and pretends to swoon.

"She was head over heels."

Aidyn gives a nod as if to agree. "Basically normal Phoebe." Her grin was wide even as Talby gave her a push slamming her into the locker.

"This one was different." Her voice is a little lower when she says this like she is trying to only tell me and not Aidyn. Even so Aidyn still heard and laughed.

"Oooh so cliche."

"I'm going to pound your face in if you don't shut up Heather."

"Sorry Heather."

This time it was my turn to roll my eyes.

"And that concludes our tour of A.S. High." I flip my head to around to see Phoebe giving eyes at who seemed to be our new student. Two actually, though she was only looking at one. Silence filled my mind for a brief second and then I was back, and I realized that not a second but a minute had passed and I was still staring at him. No, Charlie.

"Um earth to Noeh." I snapped out of my daze and turned my attention towards Phoebe.

"Oh, sorry, I'm back now." For some reason saying these words made him smile, his lips turning slightly upwards. A quiet breath of a laugh escaped his mouth.

Phoebe gave a laugh as well, seeming a bit too stiff to be genuine. "Don't worry about her, she's probably just thinking about her boyfriend."

I watched with a tinge of fear that made my stomach churn, as his face slowly filled with realization.

"Oh I've seen you before." His face was unreadable making my head start to hurt from trying to understand it.

I managed to stutter out a few words, my voice oddly high pitched. "Y-you have?"

He nodded as if to confirm it. "Yup, I was driving through town." He made small motions with his hands to put emphasis on his story. That was when I knew exactly what he was talking about. The room grew cold, making me shiver.

"And you and I presume your boyfriend," he looked at me for confirmation. I nodded, my eyes wide, "rolled out into the middle of the street, making out." Oh gosh, why had I let him kiss me? I barely ever made the first moves when it came to our romantic relationship, but I guess it had been so cold my head had been a bit screwed up.

"Uh, yeah, haha," I scratched the back of my neck, "you're right, uh, that was, ehem, me. Yup, me." I made fake guns with my hands.

Oh my gosh this was so awkward.

Aidyn seemed to get it almost immediately and gave me a look that screamed, oh my gosh how could you be so stupid, and grabbed me by the wrist.

"I forgot I need to take Noelle to talk to Mr. Peters about our upcoming assignment, sorry we have to go." I exhaled deeply.

I watched Aidyn give a friendly wave and a smile before nearly shoving me down the hall.

We don't even get out of earshot before she turns to me and nearly screams, "HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?" She starts listing off all of the things that could have gone wrong and before she can go on I cut her off.

"Sorry, okay? It just seemed right at the time."

"That's what they all say until..."

My cheeks burn bright red and I give her a shrug. "Oh my gosh Aidyn."

She laughs as the bell rings and turns left while I head straight. "See yah later Noeh."

I roll my eyes but smile. "Yah whatever."