16. On the Line
Chapter sixteen
On the Line
NOAH
Iexpected a war zone.
However, the halls were eerily still when I turned down the hallway leading to Algebra, which was my first course of the day. There wasn’t even a sound to indicate that there were thousands of students present in the building.
I checked my schedule twice, found the door labeled 45B, and waited.
It’s not like I wanted to go inside. Truthfully, I didn’t even want to be here at all, but I didn’t have the energy to argue with Damian’s threats.
I sucked in a deep breath and readied myself to open the door.
Any longer, and I’d look like an idiot out there, waiting.
I opened the door before I had a chance to change my mind.
And once I did, I instantly regretted my decision.
As soon as the door opened, I was thrown into that same dead quiet, except along with it I received about thirty pairs of eyes that turned in my direction, staring at me.
I was frozen in the open doorway, my hand clutched tightly onto the handle.
Suddenly, standing outside seemed like the more appealing option.
“Good morning, son. You’re late.”
I turned my eyes away from all of the unknown faces to the voice that came from a man seated in the front of the room.
He rose, crossing the tiled floor to shake my hand. “My name is Professor Rad. Who might you be?”
I swallowed, walking forward and taking the man’s hand for a firm shake before folding up my schedule and placing it in my back pocket, embarrassed that my mom print it out and made me carry it. “Uh, my name is Noah. I’m new here.”
The professor nodded. “Noah, huh? And your last name...?”
I nervously rubbed the back of my neck.
“Hansen. Noah Hansen.”
The once quiet room filled with an uproar of mumbles and whispering. I couldn’t blame them. The Hansen’s, a wealthy family as they are, always sent their children to expensive private schools to get the best training possible.
But this was a normal college. A basic bitch college. Nothing special about it.
Again, another Damian idea, as he sought to punish me.
“Quiet it down!” Rad boomed. The class went dead the moment his mouth opened.
“It is quite the pleasure to have a Hansen in my classroom,” Rad announced to the rest of the students as well as to me.
“Although it has never happened before. I presume that it will be quite the experience for me as well as all of you,” He looked at me from the corner of his eye.
“But, we shall not treat him any differently, right class?”
A chorus of, “Right, Professor Rad,” filled the room.
Oh my god, I thought. He’s trained them like dogs.
“Tell us a little about yourself, Noah.” Rad invited me to introduce myself, taking up his seat back in the front of the room.
I was left standing alone in the middle of the class, all eyes on me. I nervously glanced to the ground. I was never one for crowds.
“Uh, well, you already know my name...” I murmured, fiddling with the inside of my jacket pocket. “There’s nothing really...interesting about me...”
The professor shrugged. “Well, how old are you?”
“Nineteen.”
“So, you’re young, and new to the college experience. Am I right?” he asked, crossing his arms.
I nodded.
“Okay, well I suppose I should let you sit down. Don’t want to scare you away on your first day ever. What seat would you prefer?” He gestured to the classroom of students.
I tried to avoid looking into some of the other students’ envious eyes as I skimmed the room’s layout. A hand sprang into the air before I could move, and my eyes followed its direction instinctively.
“Good morning, Mr. Hansen.” The young blonde woman with her hand in the air perked up. All eyes went to her. She seemed to revel in the attention, smiling to all of the onlookers graciously. I was just glad that for the moment, the spotlight was no longer on me.
“My name is Chelsea Simmons.” She batted her eyelashes, which were smothered with mascara, giving the illusion that they were almost two inches long. She patted the empty seat beside her. “You can sit by me, if you’d like.”
And in just an instant all of those faces and eyes had turned back to me.
I heard Professor Rad clap his hands. “That is very nice of you Ms. Simmons. Noah, since there are no other offers–”
“SIT BY ME!”
“N-No, t-t-this seat isn’t taken!”
“Hey man, you’re cool over here too.”
“Ooh, please sit over here, sexy.”
Half of the class was standing up, shouting at me. I heard the professor sigh and mutter something along the lines of, “So much for equals.”
The loud smack of a ruler meeting wood caused the class to again regain silence. Professor Rad cleared his throat and pointed to the young blonde by the name of Chelsea. “You will sit there, Mr. Hansen. End of discussion.”
I took my seat hastily, despite the loud groans of disapproval throughout the room. The Chelsea girl seemed pleased.
“Hello,” she purred, sticking out her hand when I arrived.
“Hi.” I shook her hand, but was fast to notice that she held on longer than I did.
“So,” she began quietly, as the professor started to address the prompt now that everyone had simmered down. “What do you do for fun?”
“Umm,” I leaned against the back of my chair considering my response.
Have tons of sex with males and females, smoke until the air around me seems to have me suspended fifty feet above the ground, drink as much as I want and then vomit my guts out, hate myself and my father, sleep.
“Hang out with friends?” I shrugged as if the question wasn’t such a big deal.
She nodded, hopefully satisfied with the answer. “You must have a lot of them.”
Not really.
“Uh, yeah. I do.”
“Cool,” She inched closer. “Have a girlfriend?”
“No.”
“Want one? I’m free this whole week.” She winked.
“Thanks, but I don’t have the time.”
She scoffed. “For what? A relationship?” She shook her head. “I’m talking about sex, honey.”
“Ah,” I smirked. It wasn’t as though I didn’t see that one coming, I just hadn’t thought it would happen this quickly, or brazenly. “No, I’ve had enough sex this month, I’m good.” It wasn’t meant to be a joke, but I was sure she’d take it as one. That, or a challenge.
Her blue eyes shimmered, but she pulled back, straightening her posture in her desk. “I see. Maybe next week, then.”
I cracked a grin and she licked her lips, leaning towards me once again. “Because, might I say, you, Noah Hansen are–”
“Class,” Professor Rad called sternly. “The lesson is on the board, not Mr. Hansen’s face.“ His eyes snapped to Chelsea. “That goes for you especially, Ms. Simmons.”
Chelsea pushed her lips out in a pout gesture. “Well, I’m sorry,” she whimpered. “I was just being friendly.”
With a sigh, I surveyed the room, taking in the mixture of hateful and beloved faces.
The blend was really intriguing. All of the women in the class were physically inching out of their chairs to feel as though they were getting closer to me, while the majority of the guys in the class gave off the impression that they wanted nothing to do with me.
I relaxed, wondering if I would ever get used to this.
My hopes weren’t set that high, but the fact that I appeared to now be the most popular guy in my class could be used as an edge.
Maybe, Damian had chosen wrong.
If that was the case, then my luck was turning in for the better.
And perhaps, college wouldn’t be as bad as I thought.
DELANE
I had been afraid to leave the house, even with my car keys in hand.
Once I had opened the door and stepped outside, I realized how paranoid I was being. Really, how ignorant of me to fear for my safety in my own house. So what if my potential rapist had my house number, it’s not like he was going to be waiting on my porch step.
Fuck Silas Thorne anyhow.
He said so himself, all I had to do was stay away from Noah and I would never see his face again. Easy enough. I did consider contacting the police for a moment, but since Noah’s family was the police...
Well, that just wouldn’t work either.
I had no desire to seek out Noah anyway, so I figured that everything would be just fine, and I could go on living my life like none of this shit ever happened.
Habitual and simple. Back to my normal existence.
Besides, Mom and Dad are going to be home in just a few weeks, I told myself.
All I had to do was go to college, make sure my grades were steady and didn’t crash...
...and go on as though I had never laid eyes on the Hansens.
It should be simple enough.
NOAH
I set my books on the dining room table, exhausted from a long day’s work. The worst part was that the food options on campus were revolting. The people I met weren’t great either.
That Chelsea woman seemed familiar, but I knew that I never met her before. She was annoying, the way she followed me around the whole day, presuming that I had no idea where my classes were. I knew she was just trying to get my attention, but still.
Whatever. If that’s the worst college could throw at me, then I was more prepared than I thought.
“And how was your first day?” Damian inquired, situated at the coffee table reading a book.
“Fine, I suppose.” I didn’t feel like lying to hurt his feelings. I doubted that it would work and besides, I had cycled through enough lies these past few days.
“So… what’s up?” Damian, who was clearly unaccustomed to my being home at this time, asked me awkwardly.
From what it looked to me, he was bored out of his mind leaving work early to be home by my return time.
Give it a few more weeks, I considered. I seriously doubted Damian would want to continue working in the afternoons.
Damian usually got home at seven or later, but when I looked at my watch, I noticed that it was only three in the afternoon.
Huh. This was the time when I would normally get out of bed.
“For starters, I’m starving.” I called out from the kitchen, yanking open the fridge.
The bare shelves stared back at me, and I groaned in irritation. Practically empty.