english - c.hood 01 | au

ten

n o e l l e

i should have gone home sooner. i wouldn't have lost as much time with him as i already have, because every second counts. every wasted moment in time is just one more lost with the ones you love, and right now, nothing mattered more than getting home, getting back to james.

he was my number one priority.

before school, before anything else in my life, he was my number one priority. so i grabbed my things and packed up my car, and just as i was about to get inside of it and drive away, i heard something that i surely wasn't expecting to hear.

"noelle! noelle, wait!"

"is there something you need, mr hood?"

"you weren't in class this morning, miss carter, care to explain why?" he questions me.

i didn't have time for his games.

"how many times do i have to explain myself to you?" i deadpan. "do you see what i look like right now? i was calmer this morning until i got that fucking phone call! god! why can't everyone just leave me alone? everyone just had to watch my every move, make sure that i'm okay, make sure that i don't break! why can't everyone just mind their own fucking business and stay out of it?"

"noelle—"

"i'm not going to be in town until further notice." i sighed. "email me anything of importance regarding the course. have a good day, sir."

i got into my car and started the engine. calum knocked on my window and had me roll it down before i pulled out.

"noelle." he sighed. "promise me one thing? that as soon as you get back, i'm the first person you come and see, please."

"yes sir."

i pulled out of the parking lot, and made my way back home.

l u k e

she packed up and left.

it wasn't permanent, sure, but still, she was gone. what made me nervous was that she was on the brink of breaking yet again. noelle tends to run away from her problems. do anything and everything to try and make them just disappear. that's not how life works.

what's ironic is that my mom called and wants me to come home too. for the same reason that noelle was wanted home. so i took a cab home that night, knowing i'd head back out here with noelle at some point. there i stood on noelle's doorsteps, ringing the doorbell so she would let me inside. but her mother answered the door instead.

"luke?" she sniffled as she let me in. "you're here?"

"you didn't think i would be?" i shook my head. "mum called and told me to come home too. what's going on?"

i could hear noelle crying in the living room.

"luke." noelle's mother whispered. "please take care of her."

"always." i nodded.

i slowly entered the living room to see noelle curled up on the couch crying her eyes out. i'm not sure how much more of her crying my heart could take.

"ellie." i whispered as i propped her up onto my chest. "shh. it's okay elle, i'm here."

"h-he's gone, luke." she sobbed. "h-he's gone a-and i didn't even g-get to s-say goodb-bye."

we both cried, together, mourning the loss of a boy who didn't deserve to be gone so soon.

"i'm so sorry, elle." i cried. "i'm so sorry."

"he had so much left in life." she sobbed. "h-he wanted to be a police officer. he wanted to work with the dogs in the k-9 unit just like dad. why, luke, why him? why them? why me?"

"i don't know, baby, i don't know." i whispered to the fragile girl. "i promise everything is going to be okay, i promise."