A Harsh Reality | ✓

Chapter 19

Noah

I walked into school with just a white shirt on and a pair of black jeans. Amanda had forgotten to give me back my leather jacket after I had lent it to her (I had forgotten to ask if I could have it back), and I was praying to God for her to have remembered to bring it to school for me. I went directly to History, hoping to find her there, and thank God she was.

"Forgot something, Brown?" she asked and stood up from her place, for some reason she looked taller. She had my jacket in hand, she threw it towards me. "You're welcome." It hit my chest just as I placed my hands out to grab it and then shrugged it on.

"Thanks for not stealing it."

"Why would I want to steal your jacket?" she asked placing her hands on her thin hips, "It's just a jacket."

"Well, it's my jacket," I stated and then smirked, "Wanna guess how many girls are dying to put it on? You are very lucky."

"Sure, I'm lucky to be able to put on a jacket," she scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Don't give yourself too much credit, Brown."

"Can't change that, Mandy," I said as I walked towards my seat. Suddenly, Amanda turned around and smacked me on the shoulder.

"Hey!" I protested, "What was that for?"

"For throwing me into the pool," she replied, "You ruined Hailey's clothes, but she let me borrow her boots again, so we are good." She pointed at her feet, and sure enough, she was wearing black boots. She was also wearing jean shorts with a black top and a jean jacket.

"So that's why you look taller," I stated.

"Why did you even throw me into the pool?" she asked sitting down in her seat.

"Just felt like it," I said and sat down next to her, "I saw those guys throw Jack in, and since you were laughing at my friend, I threw you in."

"Whatever."

"And because you literally made everyone look at both of you while you kissed," I said, "It was awkward as hell."

"As if you've never kissed anyone," she said and I smirked. The bell suddenly rang, and we both waited in silence as our classmates filled the room and sat down in their seats. We were all waiting for Mr. Smith to come in, but someone else walked in.

"Good morning, class," he greeted us, "Mr. Smith is not feeling well and he asked me to cover his lesson, open your books on pages 194 and 195, read, and make a summary with your partner." He then proceeded to sit down in the teacher's desk and logged into the computer. A white paper was going around so we could put our names in it and let Mr. Smith know who came and who was absent.

"Let's do this thing," I said and Amanda nodded. We opened her book, because I had forgotten mine in the desperation in getting my jacket back, and read. Amanda had placed her book in the middle of our tables, so we had to move closer to each other to be able to read the pages the teacher had assigned to the class. I could smell her rose scented hair as we read, the way she leaned closer to the book and placed her elbows on the table as if she needed reading glasses. Her pink stripes were fading, turning her hair completely brown. I could hear her mutter the words she was reading under her breath.

"Noah?" she asked. I suddenly got out of the trance I had been in and looked at her. She had turned around and was looking at me with her white eyes.

"Yeah?"

"You done reading?" she asked back.

"Um... yeah."

"I don't believe you," she stated, "But we're gonna start with this summary anyway, so good luck." She pushed her chair towards the center of her desk and took out a pencil.