Chapter Two
Noah
She’s chaos. It’s as simple as that.
Evie Hastings isn’t a thorn in my side, or an annoying zit that needs to be popped. No, she’s a catastrophe. And because of her, I have detention after school.
I’ve never gotten detention in my life.
Shaking my anger and frustration off, I go to my locker to put my things inside before I head to lunch.
I can still feel the filth from Evie’s dumpster of a car. If I had to be in there for another second, I would have lost my mind. How the heck can she tolerate that mess? I’ll need to catch a ride with someone else until my car is repaired because there’s no way in heck I’m going back in there.
“Hey, Noah,” a girl says as she and her friends pass me on their way to the cafeteria.
I answer back with a smile and a wave. A few others in the hallway wave as well.
Being the Edenbury High Lion’s quarterback for the past four years has garnered me attention, attention I appreciate but don’t necessarily need.
I’m cool with being alone in my room with my guitar, strumming as lyrics pop into my brain.
Lately, though, I’ve been having trouble writing and playing anything decent.
I spend a few minutes placing my books neatly in my locker. Order and structure are important to me. Some people like Evie might scoff or call me annoying, but at least I’m organized.
There are only about two months left until I graduate high school. Some kids slack off and don’t bother putting in the work because they already got accepted to college. But I like school and want to end the year with good grades and a feeling of accomplishment.
“I’m telling you, man,” a voice says. “Ever since that dumb app, my love life has been in the toilets.”
Glancing up, I find my buddy Wyatt standing there with a scowl on his face. Our other friend, Mateo, leans against the locker next to mine.
“Your love life has been in the toilets since you were born,” Mateo says with a chuckle.
Wyatt scowls at him.
“What’s up?” I ask him.
Mateo chuckles. “He wanted to pick up Casey this morning. Turns out she went to school with another guy.” He nods in the distance, where a few kids are talking and laughing.
“I know she still loves me,” Wyatt mumbles.
Mateo claps him on the shoulder. “Shouldn’t have let that app tell you that you weren’t compatible with her.”
Willow Park, my sister Chloe’s best friend, created an app that matched people. It ended up hurting some people instead of helping them. I was actually looking forward to finding out who it would match me with, but Willow killed it and changed it to a friend matching app instead.
“Anyway,” Mateo says as he turns to me. “Why were you late this morning?”
“Not worth talking about.”
The thought of that dumpster car still makes me sick.
“Heard Isla’s been asking about you,” Mateo says.
“Isn’t she your ex?”
He shrugs. “She only dates football players and you’re the only one left.”
Both my friends were on the team with me. They’ve both gotten scholarships to play for college teams.
I got accepted to play for Astor University, my dad’s alma mater. Most kids are looking forward to college, but I’m dreading it.
“Dude, it’s been forever since you went out with a girl,” Wyatt interrupts my thoughts. “That’s cool and all. Just wondering if you’re good.”
I force a smile. “I’m fine. Just got a lot on my mind, with graduation and everything.”
Mateo chuckles. “Can’t wait to leave this place and this town. To start really living, you know?”
Really living. Yeah, a life my dad wants for me.
I know he’s only doing what he thinks is best. Honestly, he doesn’t know I’m not into football because I haven’t told him.
I guess I don’t want to disappoint him. He’s the great Brayden Barrington—a legend.
My dad had an amazing football career. Now he’s the football coach at my school and has been encouraging me to be the next Barrington quarterback.
Dad’s older brother, Brock, who died when he was in high school, also played as quarterback. So did my Aunt Bailey when she was in high school. So yeah…major shoes to fill.
Sighing, I shake my thoughts away.
Wyatt blinks at me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. Let’s go to lunch.”
As we make our way to the cafeteria, three girls come out of the girls’ bathroom. Evie and her two best friends Penny and Hannah.
My eyes turn hard as I take in the brown-eyed, messy-haired girl with stains on her fingers. She was most probably sketching during class like she usually does.
“What?” she demands as she takes in my glare.
I inch closer to her. “I have detention after school because of you. Couldn’t you just bring us here on time like I asked? I’ve never gotten detention in my life.”
She opens her mouth to respond, but I cut her off. “Two months. We only have two months left to school and I was this close to having a blemish-free student record.”
Evie rolls her eyes. “Such a drama queen.”
I narrow my eyes. “I guess someone like you wouldn’t understand. I bet you don’t care that you got detention. It’s probably your tenth one.”
“I didn’t get detention.”
“What? Your teacher didn’t care that you were late? I thought Ms. Nichols hates when students are tardy to her class.”
She shrugs. “The guidance counselor kidnapped me and gave me a note.”
That’s just great. She causes us to be late and I’m stuck with detention?
Grinning, Evie pats my chest. “You really need to lighten up, dude. You might explode one day.” She nods to her friends and they follow her toward the cafeteria.
Wyatt claps me on the back. “Detention? That’s rough, man. I’m guessing band practice is canceled.”
“Yeah, guys. Sorry.” I squeeze my eyes shut for a second to calm down. I won’t let her turn me into something I’m not.
I don’t have a bad temper and am usually calm and collected. It’s just that Evie gets under my skin. Good thing we’ll go our separate ways after graduation and I won’t have to interact with her again.
“Let’s get food,” I tell my friends. “I’m starving.”