Are you mine?

Chapter 7

"WHY? Just why? Why on earth would you do that?" I ask Sydney, running my hands through my hair in frustration. Realising how angry I am, Tyler silently backs away from us so as not to get caught in the line of fire.

"What do you mean?" She replies innocently, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.

"Don't play dumb with me. You know exactly what I mean! Why would you set me up like that?! We just had a conversation about how I'm too shy to do this! Do you want me to die from spontaneous combustion?!"

"Deep breaths honey, deep breaths," she says trying to calm me down. "Look I know what you said, but I didn't think you would freak out like this. I was doing it for you! You're trying to get over Mason, and Noah is the perfect candidate to be your rebound! I was just impressed with how he managed to get you out of your shell the other day and I thought a guy like that would be good for you, that's all. I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry."

"I'm not meeting with him tomorrow." I cross my arms and start stomping away from her.

"Yes, you are. He needs it and you just promised him you would!" She trails after me.

"Because you told him I was free and gave me no choice!" I yell turning around to face her. "I'll just message him tomorrow telling him that I'm sick or something."

"I'm not gonna let you chicken out of this Maddie. This is exactly the kind of situation you need to get you out of your comfort zone. You said it yourself, to his face might I add, that you want to be noticed and stop being shy, so this is your chance to do that. Think about it, if anything goes wrong, which it won't, it'll just be the two of you there and you can pretend it never happened. But if it goes the way I think it will, you can thank me in a couple of months." she smiles confidently.

I take a second to consider it. I did promise Noah I'd help him and it would be mean to leave him to fend for himself in a time of need. "Fine, I'll do it," I say, giving up. "But only because he needs it."

"Yay!" she claps. "You'll thank me for this, mark my words. Now let's go find Tyler, I'm starving."

***

The next day after school I sit in the dimly lit library, the tapping sound of my pencil hitting the table echoes around the empty room as I stare at the ticking clock strike 4:15.

I feel stupid sitting here waiting for him. Should I leave?

Right as I start seriously considering that option I see Noah hurriedly turning the corner and entering the library, backpack hanging off his shoulder and a stack of books in hand. "Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry I'm late." he apologizes as he frantically sets his books down and they sprawl out on the table.

"It's fine," I assure him, smoothing out my hair, a little annoyed but not so much that it's obvious to him.

"I just got held back after class to talk to Mr. Sainsbury about my grade in History, and then I had to run all the way across the school to get my books from my locker and then back here and-" he blabbers shuffling through his things.

"Noah,"

"What?"

"Relax."

I never thought I would be the one saying that to him, but he's obviously very rattled right now. He lets out a breath, his shoulders slouching forward as he deflates. "I'm sorry I'm all riled up, it's just been an intense past couple of weeks. I'm trying to secure an athletic scholarship for college, you know? It's been in the works for a while but now as we start getting closer to the end of the year the pressure is really on. So between dealing with training and trying to keep up my GPA I'm overall...really stressed." he explains. "Anyway, I don't know why I'm telling you all this, the point is I'm here now and I came prepared." he gestures at the spread in front of us.