Chapter 1
Noah’s POV
I walked quickly through the school halls which were basically empty, my legs feeling heavier with every step. Why? I was late, very late. And I was late to Mr. Peters’ class — Which meant I was fucked, and not in a good way.
I inhaled sharply and opened the door to his hellhole that he called a classroom, causing everyone to look up. Of course, everyone wanted to know who would possibly dare to be late to Mr. Peters’ class. The man looked up at me with his cold steel eyes and smiled.
He smiled. He SMILED Noah! That’s never good!
“Mr. Caddel,” He said, his smile not wavering. “You’re late”
" I-I’m s-sorry sir. I had just missed my alarm earlier this morning, which caused me to oversleep. As a result, I had to rush through my morning routine, which made me even later. And, to make matters worse, the bus that I usually take to school passed me by, leaving me stranded at the bus stop. Then I tried to contact my mother for a ride, but she was not ready to leave the house yet. So I had to wait for her to finish getting ready before I could get a ride. By the time I arrived at school, I was already late. I promise it won’t happen again” I rambled, hoping that it was enough information to keep me out of trouble.
He tilted his head slightly to the side and squinted his eyes, his smile slowly widening. “I’m sure it won’t. After all, you won’t want a repeat of one hour detention after school. Would you?”
My eyes widened. ” W-what, B-but-”
“Miss Hudson will see you after school” He said and turned back to looking at the papers on his desk, his tone leaving no room for discussion.
I groaned and reluctantly walked to my desk amidst the stares of my classmates, all the while mumbling curses under my breath directed to the man. I sat down and plopped my bag beside me.
“What a way to start the week.” Someone snicker-whispered from beside me.
I turned my head to look at my best friend Luke.
“Shut up” I whispered back “I’m not the one who was suspended just last month for fucking Jessica on Mr. Peters’ desk.”
Luke laughed quietly “Maybe so, but it was worth it. You should have seen his face!”
“What did He do to deserve that” I asked shaking my head in fake disappointment. Honestly, Mr. Peters’ deserved everything that came his way.
Luke laughed again ” He existed, and so did Jessica”
“Ahem.”
We both shot up in our seats and I swallowed hard.
“Would you like to share what you’ve been discussing with the class?” Mr. Peters said staring at the both of us. “I’m sure it would be beneficial to us.”
“No we-” I started to say, but my stupid best friend cut me off
“Actually, we were just talking about how the whole education system is a scam that is designed to make us helpless and stuck forever, blindly following orders from some big shot who, might I add, Probably never got a degree, and get old with a measly pension that they are also trying to take from us. And you are one of the scammers that-”
“Detention!”
***
“Why the fuck must you be so stupid, you idiotic dumbass?” I said gritting my teeth and stomping as Luke and I walked to detention class after school. ” We would have been better off if you had let ME do the talking! Now you’ve pushed my progress ONE. YEAR. BACKWARD. And we graduate next year. I’m doomed.”
“Calm your tits,” Luke said walking casually beside me. ” You got detention already anyways, So what’s the difference?”
I groaned. “You don’t get it, do you?
Luke shrugged “Yeah, No. I don’t actually”
“Look here Mr. I-fucked-Jessica-on-Mr-Peters’-desk. ” I said ” I’m a fairly good person in Mr. Peters’ eyes— or rather, I would have been if I was not associated with you. But now since I was engaging in that so-called “School is a scam” discussion, which was a lie by the way, he’s gonna think for sure that I’m no better than you are.”
“Sorry?” Luke said as he opened the door to the class and we walked in. ” It’s not my fault the guy can’t handle a little criticism. Makes you wonder how his wife manages, if he even managed to get one that is. You are such a suck up”
I sighed and took my seat ” why am I friends with you?”
“I wonder the same thing, you’re such a buzzkill”
As He finished his sentence, the detention teacher Miss Hudson, opened the door and entered. Her eyes landed on us and she gave us a smile mixed with a little disappointment and annoyance. ” Hello boys. What did you do to get sent here Noah? I’m not surprised to see Luke, but you? You’re not one to get in trouble.”
“I was late. You know how it is.” I replied “It was pretty much an unavoidable fate.”
Miss Hudson nodded in understanding “Yes, Leon can be a little...Overreactive when it comes to these things.” She redirected her gaze to Luke. “And you, Mr. Miller?”
Luke shrugged ” I don’t know what the man’s problem is. I just gave him my honest, kindest views on the education system. Not to mention, he asked me to tell him.”
Miss Hudson squinted her eyes a little “Are you sure about that? I think you meant to say just honest, not kind. If what you said was even close to kind, you would have been spared.”
“Well, that was me being kind, trust me, I could have been a lot worse.”
Miss Hudson shook her head in disapproval, but behind it we could see a hint of a smile. We knew she loved the drama on all things that happened to Mr. Peters. When she found out about Luke and Jessica, she pretended to act angry and sympathetic to Mr. Peters, but as soon as he left she burst into a fit of laughter. They weren’t enemies or anything, they were actually good friends. But hey, who doesn’t like to get a good laugh at their friends expense. Just make sure they have a good sense of humor, or you’ll have to wait till their far gone—and also have some great self control.
Sometimes I would chat with my cousins about this, and they would ask me how anyone could find these situations funny. But what they don’t know is that the situations aren’t necessarily funny, but the picture of Mr. Peters’ face looking like he’s about to burst always is—unless you’re on the receiving end of his anger of course. What makes it scary, is that no matter how angry he is, his voice is alwaysverycalm. It’s alarmingly calm if you ask me.
Miss Hudson told us she was leaving for a while and would be back fifteen minutes before detention was over. Luke of course happily waved her off and then turned to me with a smug smile.
“How about we get out of here, I mean what’s the worst that could happen?”
“How about the whole week of detention we will definitely end up with when Miss Hudson comes back to literal silence, smartass?”
Luke looked around classroom. “Well you know, I wouldn’t mind being in here for one hour every day. It’s peaceful and the room doesn’t look too bad.”
I rolled my eyes hard. “Whatever, I’m thinking of breaking up with Sarah.”
“Hm.” He really could not be more indifferent about this.
“Seriously, that’s it? You don’t care?” I said surprised
“Why should I? I’m not the one in a relationship.” He responded taking out a granola bar out of his unorganized backpack.
“But I really think that maybe you aren’t cut out for all this relationship shit, or that shit isn’t for you. I mean look at all these girlfriends you keep switching out.” He said his mouth full between bites. “Maybe you should just be like me”
I scoffed “What? A fuckboy? In your dreams.”
“Woah, I’m not a fuckboy.” He said looking surprised. “I just don’t do relationships, but still get the benefits. And by that, I mean a lot of different benefits. Besides you can’t judge me, you switch girls like you switch underwear.”
Fucking several girls...
I mentally puked at the thought. “That is exactly what a fuck boy is Lukas.” I said in a deadpan manner ” I’d rather be girlfriendless than fuck multiple girls, probably get STDs and end up with unplanned children. I’m not about that life.”
Luke sighed and visibly face-palmed “Noah, there’s something called protection you know. Condoms, ever heard of them?”
I rolled my eyes again—At this rate Luke was going to cost me my sight. “Yes I have, I’m not an idiot. That’s why I also know that accidents can and do happen, better safe than sorry.”
“But using protection is called being safe!” Luke explained trying to prove a non-existing point.
“Nope, end of discussion.” I replied, then added with a frown “How did we even go from me breaking up with Sarah tothis?”
Luke sighed and sulked in his seat “Why can I never be right. I should just stay in my daydreams where everything goes according to planned ” He grumbled
I burst out laughing but stopped when I saw that he kept a completely serious face. “Wait, you actually imagine that? I was joking!”
“Yeah” He said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
I looked at him in disbelief and grimaced “Ugh, that’s disgusting. I mean I have a girlfriend for crying out loud!”
Which you also need to break up with and stop leading her on.Said the voice in the back of my head.
“Calm down, I’m just kidding.” Luke said, yawning “But it would be nice to see if you would look any different if you actually took the next step with any of your girlfriends, many girls would kill to get you. I’m almost jealous.”
“Why must life be so stressful” I moaned to my self and plopped my head down on the desk.
Ouch.
***
45 mins later
Miss Hudson came back into the room 15 minutes before we were to leave and sat down and her desk with a stack of papers from another room. She adjusted her glasses and started to read them. Without looking up at us she cleared her throat “You boys can get out of here, I need to focus. Just don’t tell on me and we’re good.”
Luke grinned and grabbed up his bag as I grabbed mine as well “When have I ever? See you next week.”
“Of course” She muttered under her breath barely audible and Luke and I walked out of the classroom and down the hallway towards the school’s entrance. We walked out the huge double doors and walked as fast as we could to Luke’s car, not running because Luke thought running like that would make him “uncool”. when we reached his Audi, he pressed the button on the driver’s door and unlocked the car. I got in the front seat as Luke started the car and threw my bag in the backseat.
Luke shifted the car into gear and eased out of the parking lot, before taking off with an alarming speed. I was used to it by now.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Luke said breaking the silence with his eyes fixed on the road ahead “It’s back”
I looked at him questioningly “What? Your chlamydia?”
Luke grimaced and gave me a look. “No, I don’t have that, never did. I’m talking about the thing that lived in Miami.”
My mood instantly darkened and I clenched my fists together “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Luke shook his head grimly “Unfortunately not. My problem isn’t him though—I love my brother, my problem is the satanic cat he brought with him”
I raised my eyebrows skeptically “Black fur?”
“No actually, He’s white as snow, looks like an angel” Luke responded
I gave a half-suppressed laugh. “What makes you think he’s satanic then?”
Luke pulled into his family’s driveway and parked alongside the Jeep. “Every time I wake up at night I find him staring down at me, Like he’s trying to kill me with his mind. Who knows? It might get physical, maybe I should start leaving the window open.”
“Why?” I asked him, wondering what idiotic idea he had come up with this time.
“To jump if anything comes to the worst. Obviously, why else?”
I stared at him, absolutely horrified “What the fuck? That’s suicide, you dimwit.”
Luke laughed, but it held no real feeling—as if he’d forced it out. “It’s suicide anyway you take it, the only difference is that it would be said that I did it myself, not that I died at the hands of a cat. Get your bag and come on.”
I got out of the front and yanked open the car door, grabbing my bag, before giving the door a slam.
“Kalmeer jezelf” (calm yourself) Luke said in Dutch ” I don’t need you taking your issues out on my car.”
“Shut up” I grumbled as Luke fumbled for his keys. He selected one, slid it into the keyhole and gave it a smooth turn, unlocking the door. We both kicked off our shoes and hung our bags up on the hooks in the hallway. Luke grabbed the granola bar from his backpack, then we both headed up the stairs to his room.
“Kaiden seriously shot up during those years like I seriously don’t understand how he’s so tall now.” Luke said as we walked “And Kaiden’s hair is so fluffy now and I take care of my skin but I have nothing compared to Kaiden’s.”
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” A voice said from another room.
I shot a glare at Luke “He’s home? You didn’t tell me he was home.” I said accusingly
“I thought I was very clear,” Luke said with a shrug.
“I can hear you, you know.” The-voice-now-kaiden said.
“For god’s sake Kaiden, we’re whispering!” Luke yelled in Kaiden’s direction.
A little laugh came from the room. “Not anymore”
Luke huffed in annoyance and turned back to me “Ignore him.”
“Rude.” Kaiden said back. Of course, he wasn’t yelling, he was apparently too good for that.
“Stop fucking eavesdropping,” Luke yelled in exasperation “You are not a part of this conversation!”
“I can’t exactly help what I hear when you’re yelling so loud.” Kaiden responded “Also, you are very much choosing to include me in this conversation.”
“I am not including you!” Luke yelled back at him.
“Alright Luke” I said grasping one of his shoulders “Calm down he’s not worth it”
“I’d like to think I am worth every bit of his attention.” Kaiden said back casually, as if he weren’t just starting a war.
“Oh in godsnaam, houd je mond en ga weg!” (Oh for god’s sake, shut up and go away!) Luke screamed in Dutch.
“Ik ben letterlijk in mijn eigen kamer, Luke, je kunt me niet vertellen dat ik weg moet gaan” (I’m literally in my own room, Luke, you can’t tell me to go away) Kaiden said back, with not a hint of anger or frustration in his voice.
“Arggghhhh”
***
The TV in Luke’s room cast a glow over the mostly dark room, as it turned on. I dumped myself on the bed beside Luke and made myself comfortable by propping up on a pillow. Luke clicked on Netflix and turned to me
“What do you want to watch?”
“Fate: The Winx Saga. We were on episode 2, season 2” I answered
“Mmkay.” He said and navigated the TV screen to the search bar. “Oh, I forgot the food in the kitchen. Think you could grab it real quick?”
“Fine” I grumbled. Luke was always forgetting things, he was flaky in that way.
I left the room and ran down the stairs before taking a left turn to enter the kitchen. I walked through the kitchen entrance and stopped dead in my tracks, the smell of salt, the seaside and sweat hit my nose.
The universe fucking hates me, doesn’t it?
Leaning against the counter was none other than my most favourite person in the world (not). He looked up at me from his cup, in which was a clearish beverage. I was itching to do something. something that I didn’t know, but it had me curling my fingers in—I didn’t trust them. Hell, I didn’t even trust myself.
Be the bigger person, Noah. Show him that you’re better than all this.
“Hey” I said tentatively “It’s me, Noah.....You’ve changed quite a lot, I guess everything has changed, it’s been a while”
I mentally face-palmed. Kill me now.
Kaiden made a small noise and took a drink from his cup before responding. “Not long enough. That face is hard to forget.”
My teeth involuntarily gritted together, but I reminded myself to stick to the plan.
I laughed an obviously fake laugh. “Yeah, I guess, I tend to have that effect. How have you been though?”
I was just spewing bullshit right now, I swear.
Kaiden gave me an incredulous look and finished his drink. He put the cup down on the counter and walked over to where I was standing “I’ve been good until up to about a minute ago.” He said looking me in the eyes, then brushed past me into the hall. I watched his retreating figure with a very strong feeling of anger building up inside me. I grabbed the food and drinks from the counter and followed after him to the stairs.
Fuck being the bigger person. If he wanted to be so low, I’d gladly join him.
JUST IGNORE THIS PART I, WON’T FEEL GOOD UNTIL THIS CHAPTER REACHES 3000 WORDS. ALL RIGHT DONE.
A/N: Okay! Chapter One is out! I hope you guys enjoy this story, cause honestly, I spent days making and remaking the plot, so I hope it was worth it. Also I don’t speak dutch, I used google translate and added it because I wanted some language diversity in my book. Chapter Two will be out as fast as I can get it out, but until then enjoy this chapter! Bye lovlies!
~Bea Lynn
