Chapter 2 #2
I was still worrying about Wes as I went to my next class. I entered the math classroom and made my way to the back of the room to find my usual seat next to Luther and Kaden. I’d given up trying to sit somewhere else in the room because the two of them always found a way to drag me back there.
When I reached my seat, I went to pull it out, but Luther’s hand clamped down on my arm, stopping me.
“This seat is taken,” he said.
I stilled as I glanced at him. Luther was looking up at me, his face stone-cold as he returned my gaze. He had to be joking, right?
“Very funny, Luther.” I went to grab the seat again, but his hand on my arm didn’t move.
“Like I said, this seat is taken. Find somewhere else to sit, Isobel.”
Hearing him say my name made me realize he wasn’t kidding around. Luther always called me newbie. I didn’t think he’d ever used my actual name.
“What’s wrong, Luther?” I lowered my voice as I spoke.
“Nothing’s wrong. You just can’t sit with us anymore. Isn’t that right, Kaden?”
Kaden nodded but his gaze remained fixed on the front of the classroom. He refused to look my way.
“I thought we were friends,” I replied. Luther had definitely talked and joked with me like we were friends ever since I’d started at this school. Even when Noah and I broke up, Luther had still been his usual cheeky self to me.
I wasn’t sure why I was surprised though. Luther’s friendship had always felt unusual. He was one of the most popular guys at school and the best friend of my ex-boyfriend. He had no reason to want to hang out with me. Still, I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around his sudden change of heart.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
Luther grew tense, his lips forming a hard line as he stared back at me. “We had to pick a side. And, well…”
“You didn’t choose me,” I finished for him.
Now it all made sense. This was coming from Noah.
His vindictive streak against me was continuing.
This time, he was isolating me from his friends.
My friends. A part of me had worried this might happen eventually now we weren’t together.
Luther and Kaden were Noah’s closest friends, so of course, they would choose him. But this way just felt spiteful.
I could sense hurt flashing across my eyes. I didn’t want Luther to know how much this was affecting me, so I quickly turned and made my way to a seat at the front of the room.
I should have been happy. Finally, I’d be able to get some actual work done in my math class.
It was hard not to feel upset though. My friendship with Luther might not have made much sense to me, but I liked it.
And Kaden had always been so kind to me.
It almost hurt more to know that even he was following Noah’s orders.
If there was a silver lining to this situation, it was that Veronica had not arrived in time to see my confrontation with Luther. It would have been so much worse if she’d been here to witness the embarrassment of my rejection.
Still, when she entered the room and found me sitting in a different seat than usual, there was a satisfied glint in her eyes. She was obviously well aware I’d fallen out of favor with Kaden and Luther.
My day only grew worse from there. When I entered my business management class, I found Noah seated at the far back corner of the room.
He usually sat right behind me, but today he’d moved himself as far away as possible.
His nearness in this class had been driving me crazy for weeks, but it was like a slap across the face to see he’d moved.
It was further confirmation he’d finally put our relationship firmly behind us.
But it felt like even more than that. He seemed to be doing everything he could to entirely erase what we had.
He’d attacked my father because of his insulting comments, but I wasn’t sure what I’d done to turn him against me quite so completely.
He was the one who deserved to be punished.
Maybe seeing me go to my father’s aid on the weekend had settled it for him.
Maybe that night had settled things for me too.
Noah didn’t acknowledge me as I sat down.
Some guy who was wearing an overwhelming amount of aftershave had taken his regular spot.
I spent most of class trying to breathe through my mouth to avoid the smell.
Still, I preferred it to the constant tingles I used to get across the back of my neck whenever I felt Noah watching me in class.
I didn’t feel them now. Not once. There were no longing gazes. No lasting looks. It was like I didn’t exist to him anymore.
After class was over, Lily pulled me aside.
“So, Noah’s not sitting behind you anymore…”
“Seems so,” I agreed. “But, it’s for the best. We’re both moving on. It’s easier if we keep our distance.”
She frowned slightly. “Yeah, I guess.”
“What?” She seemed like she was holding something back.
“It’s nothing; this just feels so final, you know.”
“Him moving seats?”
She shook her head. “Well, no, not just that. He’s with Veronica now, and you’re with Wes.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“I know,” she quickly rushed to say. “But the way Noah used to look at you… It was the kind of thing you’d only read about in fairy tales.”
“He didn’t look at me like that,” I muttered.
“He did. He looked at you like you where the very thing his universe revolved around. It was kind of epic.”
“Well, we must have been an epic tragedy rather than an epic fairy tale because we were never going to work.”
“I guess so,” Lily said, somewhat reluctantly. “It just seems weird that he could turn that off so quickly.” She paused and shook her head. “But it’s great you have Wes now. He’s such a nice guy. I don’t think he’ll mess you around like Noah did.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he will either.” I agreed. How could he? Unless he too went to war with my family. I’d seen his father talking happily with mine at the carnival though, so I liked to believe we were good on that front.
“Are you studying in the library tonight?” Lily asked.
I was there almost every Monday night with Wes but not tonight. “Actually, Wes invited me to study in his room so we could get takeout.”
“Sounds romantic,” Lily said with a suggestive smile.
“It’s just studying.”
She tilted her head at me, looking thoroughly unconvinced. “Uh-huh.”
My cheeks flushed. “It is.”
“Okay, well, I’m off to meet Amber. Have fun studying with Wes.” She winked at me before taking off in the other direction.
“I will,” I called after her, a flurry of anticipation prickling my skin.
Maybe she had a point, and tonight would be a little romantic.
Wes and I hadn’t had a chance to go on a proper date yet, so maybe this would be our first. There’d been so much to distract us since we’d first got together.
Not to mention Sawyer’s constant interruptions.
We might not have been calling tonight a date, but there would be food and we would finally be alone—it certainly sounded like a date.
Besides, if it was just studying, why was I so excited about it?