Carry On (Book 1)

Chapter 10:

Madison's pov

I sigh for the umpteenth time. It wasn't normal for me to zone out during class time. But could you blame me? I haven't seen Jack since the holidays started and he's as dreamy as I remember. Doodling in my book couldn't even distract me from thinking about him.

"Madison, what do you think the underlying message was in Romeo and Juliet?" My english teachers asks, breaking me out of my daydream.

"The-" I start to answer when a boy walks into the classroom and slams the door shut.

I scowl at Noah. Aka, the most annoying and patronizing kid in my school. Don't get me started on how disruptive he is in class. Just like every school, he's the typical 'bad boy' of the grade. I don't see why everyone is afraid of him. He obviously causes fights for attention. That's what those kinds of people are like, attention seekers. Like I said, he's disruptive. Anyways, you get the point. He's a neusance.

"Noah, you're late again" my english teacher frowns, writing something down on her notepad.

She then adds with a sigh, "Madison, please continue".

"The underlying message Shakespeare was trying to send was there are consequences to everyones actions-" I start.

I hear Noah snicker as he sits at the desk behind me. Grounding my teeth together, I resist the urge to smack him. With confidence, I continue my explanation. Once I'm done, the teacher takes over again and I start doodling.

"Hey Mads" Noah whispers loudly, causing the teacher to glare at us.

Once again I'm grounding my teeth together, only Jack says that and he knows it.

"Mads" he repeats louder this time when I evidently ignore him.

"What" I finally hiss when he starts poking my shoulder.

"Can I borrow a pen? I forgot mine" he asks, sending me one of his innocent smiles.

I knew better, Noah was just harassing me because he has nothing better to do. As I begrudgingly hand him a pen, a girl named Masey, who was seated to my left gave me a look. We both had a mutual understanding, Noah is a pest. And there was no way I would ever see that pen again. Unlike most people I'm associated with, Noah wasn't a rider. He was into lacrosse or something, I don't remember. His dark brown hair, grey eyes and 'perfect' face unfortunately girls swooning. It made him so cocky, he thinks he owns the school. That's how-

"Madison"

"Miss Samuels" the teacher repeats again.

"What?!" I didn't mean to snap at the woman, but it was to late.

I blush in embarrassment and the class becomes silent. I've never been the type of person to chat back at a teacher. But I blame in on Noah, he has a way of getting under my skin. This is all his fault. I blink back into reality and see the teachers mouth moving.

"-and you haven't payed any attention... are you ignoring me?" My teachers face had gone a blotchy red.

"Uh-" I start looking looking down, my face burning from the humiliation.

"Office now!" She shouts.

I blink in disbelief. I never get sent to the office, like ever! Olivia does, not me! I'm a good student, I have good grades and pay attention. What's happening?! I can't be getting into trouble, not with tryouts this close!

In a state of shock, I pick up my things and race out of class. I keep walking until I end up out the front of my locker. At Willow Lane, we still had the normal high school amenities. Our lockers were here incase we wanted to leave some books in them, avoiding carrying a heavy bag.

A terrifying thought crosses my mind, what do I do at the office? Do I sit there or what? What if my mom sees me?

Yikes, that wouldn't go down well...

How could I be sitting in class and answering questions but still be loosing focus? I repeat the scene in my head, dumping my equipment into the locker in the process. I was about to come to a conclusion when I see Satan himself, walking down the hall.

"You" I hiss.

Noah acts confused, looking around as if he didn't believe I was speaking to him.

He pauses dramatically, making my blood boil. I don't usually yell at anyone, but Noah is an exception. I was so close to kicking him in the shin or something. Anything remotely harmful sounded fine with me.

"Me?"

"Yes, you! This is all your fault" I snap, on the verge of pulling my hair out.

"How so Mads? I just asked you for a pen, what's got you so worked up?" he asks with a smirk.

"You're insufferable! I can't even begin to explain how infuriating you are. You're such a bad influence! I think you're terrible personality is contagious too! And-" by this time I was fuming.

"You're face Madison, it's a little red... are you angry?" He teases.

"Jerk" I snarl before turning on my heels and stomping off.

"Oh come on, take a joke Maddy" he laughs, catching up to me much to my dismay.

As we got closer to the office, students who were running errands or taking toilet breaks had starred at us. They're probably wondering why the moodiest guy at Willow Lane was laughing at me. I mutter a curse under my breath when I see my mom in the office administration. In panic, I dodge the building I was about to enter and make a bee line for the stables.

"You know Maddy, I think you've broken more rules then I have today, it's almost insulting" Noah muses, following me.

"Why are you still following me, you're not even a horse person" I huff as we enter the barn.

"Beats me, in my head it seemed more fun to follow you then go to the office" Noah's honesty made me angrier.

This boy better thank his lucky stars that I'm not a 'stab you with a pitch fork' kind of girl.

"And how's that theory going for you?" I ask with annoyance.

"Better then expected" he says smugly.

As I reach Koda's stall, I breath a sigh of relief and enter his stall. No matter how angry or sad I get, Koda was my rock. I instantly felt my agitation evaporate as Koda walks over to nudge me. He was probably looking for treats and wondering why I was here so early.

"Amazing, that's got to be a new record" Noah observes from the stall door.

"What is?" I huff, tired from my outburst.

"Your anger levels went from here-" Noah puts his hand up high.

"-to here" his hand the goes down in an exaggerated movement.

When he says that I hide a smile. The situation was kind of funny now that I think about it. But instead I ignore him, not knowing what to say. After a minute, he opens the stall door and sits next to me. I would've scowled if I wasn't so content from being in Koda's presense.

As for those who think Noah and I's exchange is out of the ordinary, you're strongly mistaken. Sadly, this was a common occurrence. Usually it would happened outside of school hours. That was until now, when I just had a complete meltdown.

"You're such high maintenance" I half sigh but half joke, wanting to break the silence.

"Thanks" Noah laughs while I slightly smile.

My life is so dysfunctional.