It's Monday morning and I've been sitting at my kitchen table staring into my untouched bowl of oatmeal for a solid ten minutes. I'm far too nervous to eat right now.
"What are you doing?" I looked up from the bowl to see my thirteen year old brother looking at me like I'm crazy.
"Ben, mind your business."
"Ben, mind your business," he said in a mocking, high pitched tone. I abruptly stood up and raised my hand, acting like I was going to smack him. "Relax. Jeez. What's your problem?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it. You better get going or you'll be late."
"Late? Isn't Noah coming to get us?"
"No," I say shortly. "I'm driving myself today. And you're taking your bike." Ben groans at this and gets up to put his plate in the sink.
"I hate taking my bike, it takes likes 20 minutes that way." I grab my bowl of oatmeal and dump it into the trash and then join Ben by the sink. After I put my bowl down, I turn to him and ruffle his hair, even though he's a few inches taller than me.
"You'll be fine. Besides, exercise is good for you. Mom always says you need to use your bike more anyway."
"Can't I just ride with you?" He tries his best to give me the puppy dog eyes that always seem to work on our mom.
"No, but nice try. I'm not letting you in my car after that time you spilled soda all over my seats." He rolls his eyes and mutters "fine" before he grabs his bag and heads for the door. "Love you, Benny," I call as he's going out.
"Yeah, yeah," he calls back before the door shuts behind him.
I go back up to my room and sit down on the edge of my bed and grab my phone which is plugged into my charger. It's still at 95% so I decide to wait a few minutes for it to reach 100. I still haven't received any messages from Noah, much to my disappointment. I feel so nervous to confront him. Even though we have been together for four years, we've never broken up before and I'm not sure how to go about getting him back. He's always been so understanding and easygoing with me. For instance, he's so cool about my friendship with Riley and he's so friendly to him. Most guys would probably be jealous and rude about it, but not Noah. He understands that Riley is an important person to me and has been since we became friends when I first moved here. It's one of the things I love most about Noah. But things have been different now that we're seniors and have to start worrying about our futures. I shouldn't have blown off his last football game just because of something so stupid and selfish. Hopefully Noah exercises this quality about him when I go to apologize. I really don't want to lose him.
My phone vibrates and I see that it's finished charging. I get up and grab my backpack and start to leave my room when I remember Riley's hoodie hanging in my closet. I don't want to forget that since I know that's what was bothering him the other day. It may just seem like a hoodie, but it's his favorite one. His older brother gave it to him before he left for the military. I'm honestly surprised that he even let me borrow it since it means so much to him.
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As I'm pulling into the parking lot, I see that there's a parking spot between Noah's rusty red and beige pickup truck and Riley's classic red convertible. A spot right between my two favorite people. That's really convenient and it must be a good sign.
As I'm walking into the school, I think about my plan of action including how and when I'm going to talk to Noah. Our classes never line up and we rarely get to see each other except during lunch and our last class of the day. I'm an office assistant and Noah has study hall so I always just sit with him because the office ladies never have work for me to do. Maybe I'll try to find papers to bring to his study hall teacher and talk to him then. Or maybe-
"Whoa there, you look like you're in some deep thought." Standing by the door that I almost just ran into is Maria, the captain of the cheer leading team. It's not that we hate each other, but we aren't friends. Not anymore, at least. I used to be on the team until I quit last year because I felt like it just wasn't for me. Maria was really mad about me leaving because she believed that Riley, Jenna, and Katie were turning me against cheer leading. In reality, they couldn't care less about it. Maria just thinks that cheer leading is her everything and I don't think that way. I think she may still be holding a grudge.
"Oh. Hi, Maria," I say while trying to give her the most genuine smile I can muster.
"So you and Noah broke up, huh?" At this, my smile instantly drops. Even though we were friends, I was always very aware that she had a thing for him. She never dared try anything, but that didn't stop her from being obvious about her attraction to him.
"It's complicated. I have to get to class, excuse me." She steps out of the way and I swing the door open and enter the school which is full of students rushing to get to class. I think about finding Riley and returning his hoodie but I see that there's five minutes before the bell rings, so I don't have time to find him. Instead I decide to just put it on for now and give it to him later when I see him. Unfortunately, I won't see him until the last class of the day, which is the same study hall with Noah. During lunch, he and his band practice in the music room and they hate when I bother them.
The rest of the day drags on and just consists of me watching the clock, waiting for last period to arrive. I tried to eat lunch with Katie and Jenna, since I wasn't preoccupied with eating with Noah, but I was still too nervous. I looked around to see if I could spot him, but he must be out with his friends. Jenna and Katie tried to give me suggestions and advice, but I ultimately decided that I would just wing it. After lunch, I was on my way to English class when I passed by Riley.
"Adeline, hey we need-"
"Sorry Riley, I'll give you your hoodie in study hall! I'm going to be late to class."
"My hoodie? No-" I was already halfway down the hallway before he could finish his sentence.
"Sorry! I'll see you later," I called back over my shoulder. My English class is my last class before the last period. As the teacher droned on about the importance of proper citations, I stared at the clock counting down the minutes until the bell finally rang. I immediately gather up my things and head for the office.
I burst in through the door and nearly yell, "please tell me you have papers for Mr. Johnson."
Mrs. Walker looked up from her computer and gave me an astonished look. "Adeline, what has gotten into you?"
Ms. Beck, the younger secretary, giggled and said, "I bet she wants to see her boyfriend."
I laughed nervously and said, "yeah, something like that. You don't have any work for me, do you?"
"Luckily for you, we don't. And we actually do have some mail that I suppose you could take to Mr. Johnson," Mrs. Walker said.
"Thank you!" I walked around the counter and wrapped my arms around her. "You're the best!"
She patted my arm and said, "yes, well, please don't cause any trouble on your way there. And be quieter, Adeline." I let go of her and grabbed the mail from Mr. Johnson's office mailbox. As I left, I turned back and waved to them both before going out into the hall.
The empty halls were unusually quiet and it didn't help me calm my nerves at all. I was fidgeting with the envelopes in my hand as a distraction when I heard someone open their locker in the hallway where Mr. Johnson's room was. I turned the corner and standing at the end of the hall, in front of his locker is Noah. Before I can even react, he turns and sees me. He stares at me for a moment and opens his mouth as though he wants to say something, but then he snaps it shut and turns his attention back to his locker and begins rummaging through it.
Okay, Adeline, now is the time. Don't be nervous, things will be fine.
