Dares with the Boy Who Doesn't Care

Chapter Twenty(Rose POV)

I leave for school feeling a wave of emotions. Speaking of waves Noah's outside of my house and he throws one my way before dropping his hand and his smile.

"Were you crying earlier?" He asks before I can even walk past him.

"No." I say calmly, trying to avoid further conversation.

"But your face is red and-"

"No!" I scream this time. "I w-wasn't crying, so leave me alone!" I turn around so that neither of us will be able to see each others faces.

Guilt creeps upon me. I feel horrible not only because I yelled at him but also because I just lied to him. Yes! Maybe he'll hate me now. I can't apologize that'd be too selfish, I'd only alleviate my own consciousness. I have to let him realize what a mistake it was letting me join the club. What a mistake I was.

I continue walking with my crutches and begin to plan out how I'm going to take the two buses and one mile walking trip to school. Before I can make it past Noah's Ferrari he opens the passenger seat door, for me.

I still can't look at him.

"Even though you hate me, I still care about you."

I spin around on my crutches to look him straight in the eye. His face is calm but his eyes are wild with sadness and longing. The guilt is killing me.

"I don't hate you! How could I when you're acting so nice to me? I just want you to stop..."

"Stop what?"

"Stop caring about me!"

"How?!" He slams the car door making me flinch. "How do you expect me to do that?" His voice is low again as he runs a hand through his hair. "Look at yourself, this happened because I wasn't by your side. I said that I would be, I promised I would be and I wasn't. I lied and you got hurt." He's the one crying now. "It hurts so much." He wipes his eyes and I fight with the urge to run over to him. I can't. "But now I know. I have to care about you, I have to."

I turn around unable to say anything back to him and continue towards the first bus stop.

"You can't ride the bus anymore, you'll get hurt again." He says from behind me.

I push myself forward anyway.

"Stop, please." He chokes from behind me. "You'll get hurt...."

"You stop, you'll get hurt!" I snap at him illogically again. "Just go get in your Ferrari and go to school like you usually do." I keep walking regardless of the water running down my cheeks.

Noah's by my side now, every time I move a crutch forward he moves a leg forward.

"Stop following me!"

"I can't."

"You can't get on the bus with me." Yet the bus is already arriving at the station and he's still walking towards it with me.

This first bus will be fine but the second bus is filled with the students who used to go to Lee Highschool. They already harass me to the point of physical and mental pain. Plus I'm way overdue for the usual bus bullying. I can't even imagine what they'd do to Noah. It's not just that I don't think he could handle them, because I don't. It's just that I don't want him to be put in that type of situation at all.

"Fine." I throw my arms in the air forgetting about my current mobile dilemma.

I stumble on my only leg that can touch the ground before landing safely in Noah's arms. I stare up at him as he uses one arm to hold me and the other to wipe the tears from my face. I lean into his touch unknowingly before freezing.