Noted

Chapter 3

The next morning seemed to have arrived faster than normal as I up woke and realized I was late for class. I must have pressed the snooze button one too many times; to the point that I had become unaffected by the sound of my ringtone. When I finally heard the alarm, it was a quarter past twelve. I was supposed to have been in class by noon.

"Shit!" I grumbled, jumping out of bed and almost tripping over the stack of books piled next to my night-stand.  I darted frantically around my room trying to find a decent shirt to wear. I ended up putting on a loose fitting, white t-shirt paired with the same jeans I'd worn the previous day that were lying on the floor. I covered my unwashed hair with a baseball cap, slid on some running shoes, grabbed my backpack and ran out the door.

As I ran, I realized how out of shape I was in from wanting to cough up a lung only six blocks into my run. I had two more blocks to go, and I felt like passing out. I ran by Danny's truck and he barely recognized me without being dressed in one of my usual preppy outfits.

"No coffee today?" he yelled as I ran by.

"Not today, Danny!" I yelled back. "LATE!"

With untied shoelaces, rosy cheeks, and after almost fall-ing over twice, I arrived at my lesson. I had to take a few moments to calm my heavy breathing before entering the class. I didn't want everyone to think I was dying, even though it felt like I was. I walked in, trying my hardest not to draw any attention to myself.

"Get in. Sit Down. Don't make any noise," I repeated in my head. Just then the door slammed behind me, and every student turned in their seats. "Crap." I mumbled under my breath.

"Miss Moore...so glad you could join us," Ms. Foster said, giving the fakest of smiles as all the students hurried back to taking down their notes. "You won't want to miss the last ten minutes of my lesson; it's going to be on the exam."

I turned to sit down in my favourite spot, but someone had already taken it.

"That's what you get for coming late," Troy smiled.

"What are you doing up here?" I whispered. "You usually sit up front." I took a seat in the empty chair beside him.

"You know where I usually sit?" he asked, smiling more. I had to look away from embarrassment.

"Anyway...why are you late?" he whispered, leaning in to me. He was trying to keep his voice down after several angry looks from Ms. Foster.

"None of your business, Troy," I replied as I took out my notebooks from my backpack, all the while not looking at him.

"Sorry I asked." He raised his hands in defeat and leaned back into his seat.

I felt bad. I mean, it really wasn't any of his business, especially since we only had a five minute conversation a few weeks ago which means we're practically strangers. I think he was just trying to be friendly though, and I was being a bit harsh. I leaned in over to him and whispered, "I'll tell you later." I had no big story to tell him about why I was late but I thought it would be nice to just talk.

Troy flashed me a big smile of accomplishment. We both went back to listening, some-what, to the rest of the lecture. I could feel his concerned gaze upon me but I tried to ignore it for the rest of the time we sat together.

After my classes, I had almost forgotten about my meet up with Troy. I walked to the cafeteria and got a coffee since I didn't get the chance to have one that morning. I still felt sick from the unexpected marathon I had run earlier. I was walking towards the  outdoor campus when I heard a familiar voice call out to me from somewhere in the masses.

"Hey, Moore! Did you forget about me?" he shouted playfully, with his arms open as if he were to receive a hug.

Somehow, he had managed to flag me down through the remarkably large mass of people that surrounded us. He approached me with his bright smile that I definitely thought could most definitely light up all of Manhattan on its darkest night. "I didn't forget you at all," I replied. "I was actually just looking for you." Lie. I forgot.

Troy knew, but he didn't care. "Let's eat outside by the fountain," he suggested.

I followed him without another word.

We found an open spot on the ledge of the large fountain, which was nice since it was usually always full of students. We sat down, a little closer than I had anticipated but I didn't mind it either.

"So, why were you late this morning?" he asked, breaking the silence as he took a bite out of a sandwich.

I wasn't in the mood at the moment to invent some extravagant story time, I also didn't want to lie. I truly believed he actually wanted to hear what I had to say, which was something I wasn't used to doing with the boys I usually hung out with. Communication was usually short and only after they got what they wanted. Even then, they didn't really want to hear what you had to say, they just wanted you to leave.

"I slept in," I said. "That's all." Truth.

"That's it?" he asked. "You had to wait till now to tell me that? There has to be more." he added.

"Want to know the full truth?"

"Yes. Lay it on me." he said, and it took me a moment to snap out of thoughts of laying on him.

"I just wanted to hang out... with you." I said, instantly regretting it. It sounded childish.

"I see. Why didn't you just ask me to hang out?"

" 'Cause I don't date jocks, and you might be an exception but I wanted to see for myself first. So, I wanted to hang out without actually making it seem like we're hanging out "hanging out", you know?" I rambled, I took a deep breath.

Troy laughed. "I'm not a jock, you have to be an asshole and only date cheerleaders to be a jock. I am none of those things. I'd rather be known as regular athletic type." he put away his lunch, and turned to look at me. "So, if you're not going to ask me, formally..." he said raising his eyebrows at me, I smiled. "Want to hang out with me?"

"What if I told you I was a cheerleader in high school?" I asked.

"I'll allow it." he said with a smirk, he was gorgeous. I couldn't help but smile at him. "Ok, let's go."

"Where are we going?" I asked, he took me by the hand and helped me up off from the edge of the fountain.

"Taking a walk though central park, obviously. I want to see the Christmas lights they just put in." he said, I had no problem following him. Wherever he'd take me.