Midnight Love || ✔️

11:40 pm

iii | | three

THE MUSIC was blaring from Ella's headphones, but she wasn't paying attention to the words. Her mind was occupied, filled with thoughts of Noah. Why was she even worrying herself with him? She was the one that told him to go away, the one that was rude and closed off. Why did she care if he became cold and left? She wanted that.

Didn't she?

Ella shook her head and found herself at her front door. She unlocked it, letting herself in. "Hi!" She called, letting whoever was inside know that she was home.

"In the kitchen!" Her sister, Rose, called back. Ella took off her shoes and placed them on the tray near the front door. She walked in sock-clad feet to the kitchen.

"Hey, Rose," she said. Her sister smiled, stirring something in a pot. "What's for dinner?"

"Chicken with sweet sauce, rice, and vegetables."

Ella groaned a bit, "That sounds heavenly, I'm starving."

"Wash your hands, food's almost ready," Rose said. "Oh, and Dad called to say he'll be late tonight."

In no time, the two sisters sat eating their dinner, chatting about their day and exchanging school gossip.

"I can't believe I forgot this, but I heard you sat beside the hot new guy in math class?" Rose exclaimed halfway through the meal.

Ella looked at her sister suspiciously. "How did you know?"

Rose waved her hand dismissively, "Unimportant," she leaned closer. "What's important was that you sit beside the hot new guy. Do you know what this means?"

"That I sit beside him?" Ella asked, not catching her sister's meaning.

"No! That you are privy to more opportunities to get with him!"

Ella rolled her eyes, "Please don't start."

But Ella's protests were in vain, for her sister spent the rest of the night outlining to her the advantages (and disadvantages, albeit they were few) of sitting beside Noah. She told her what she could do, how to flirt, to invite him over to study and do homework, and all sorts of ways to "get together." Rose truly thought that he might finally be the guy that cracked through her sister's heart and made her feel a bit.

Ella had never had a boyfriend as far as Rose knew, and Ella preferred to keep it that way. The putting up with her constant nagging about boys was just a small price to pay for keeping her secrets.

◯●◯●◯●◯

NOAH WAS the talk of the school. The high school was big enough that usually people didn't really care about new students. Every year students would discover new people only to realize that they've been in the same school for years. But Noah was different. He came two weeks into the first semester and he was cute, and instantly embraced by the "cool" kids. Girls were interested in him, and boys wanted to be his friend. He was also a basketball player, which was a big deal at the school.

It had been a week since his arrival, and though he spoke nothing to Ella beyond what was necessary in math class, she saw him around. He fitted in perfectly. She was a bit jealous that the new kid was more popular and comfortable at this school that she was, when she had been going here for years.

But Ella was trying not to think about him. It proved harder than she would ever admit.

"I think I'll get black nails. What do you think?" Jessica asked. She and Ella were walking to the café down the street from the school for lunch. It had been awhile since they hanged out, and when Jessica said they were going to get lunch together, Ella didn't complain. "No, it's too emo. I don't want people thinking I'm depressed because Justin is with Delilah now," Jessica said before Ella got a chance to say anything.

"How about red? That's sexy. Could show him what he's missing?" Ella shrugged.

Jessica snapped her fingers. "Perfect! You're a genius," she then proceeded to type something on her phone, her fingers flying over the screen, the soft sound of her thumbs tapping and their footsteps the only sound. "Oh, by the way, we're going out this weekend."

"We are?" Ella asked.

Jessica nodded, a grin surfacing on her face as she continued staring at her phone. "We're having a kind of house warming party for Noah. It's at Jack's house Saturday night. The whole gang will be there."

Ella froze a bit at the sound of Noah's name. But of course Jessica and her friends would do something like this. He was their friend now, a part of their group. She didn't spend much time with them, if only to preserve her brain cells from the meaningless conversation that took place, but she was always welcomed at their outings and get togethers because she was Jessica's friend.

"Oh, I don't think I can this Saturday."

Jessica looked at her for a second. "But you have to come! What will I do without you?" As if her attending ever made a difference, Ella thought. But she didn't say anything.

"You'll be fine. I'm sure plenty of people will be there."

Jessica shook her head. "No, it's pretty low-key. And I really wanted to hang out with you this weekend. We barely saw each other the last time we went out." Because you left me and went to other friends, she wanted to say. It's the first time Jessica even acknowledged what happened at the party.

Ella was ready to come up with an excuse when Jessica said, "Please? Next time we can go somewhere of your own choosing. Pretty please?" and looked at her with pleading eyes.

Ella sighed, and said, "Okay," Jessica squealed. "But," she said louder so she can be heard over Jessica. "I get to choose where we go the next time. No complaints."

"Totally," agreed Jessica.

This should be fun.