The Romance In Our Rivalry

5 | New Love & Newsletters

Nick

"Nick!" I had thought I heard a voice say, but I couldn't tell if I was hallucinating or something. It was nighttime, so if someone was whispering my name, it had to be one of my parents. "Nick!" the now abundantly clear voice exclaimed again, but this time it was even louder—and clearly female.

"Huh?" I asked, slowly sitting up and opening my eyes. I looked over at my alarm and saw that it was nowhere near morning, making me groan. I hated when my mom randomly woke me up in the middle of the night, I had asked her a million times to not come in my room until it was at least half an hour past seven.

"It's Maddie, over here!" Maddie loudly whispered, peeking her head through a crack in my window. I was suddenly wide awake. I quickly sat up, rubbed my eyes, and contemplated how the hell she got to my window, given it was on the second floor.

"We have a plan for you and Nova" Maddie continued speaking, with Matt peeking his head into my room as well. They must've been on an extremely sturdy ladder, because I can't seem to come up with any other explanation as to how they haven't fallen yet.

"Is the time on my alarm clock wrong?" I asked, trying to check my phone. The bright lights emerging from my screen made me wince.

"It's like four in the morning" Maddie confirmed, "but we need to be at Norwood by the time it opens so that we can set up everything."

I got off my bed and went to pull both Maddie and Matt in before I continued my conversation. Them hanging at my window sill gave me anxiety. "Tell me what's happening," I demanding groggily, "what are we gonna do? What's the plan?"

"At lunch, we're gonna tell everybody that there's a fight near the east wing because that's where your locker is, so Nova would most likely be around the area" Maddie began, with Matt nodding.

"Okay," I squinted, a little unsure. "Go on."

"Then, when everybody comes, we'll have you and Blake talking trash to one another and pushing each other. Blake is gonna pretend to be mad that you and Nova are an item." I raised an eyebrow, this already sounded far too complicated.

"Then Nova is going to look worried, probably, and will hopefully attempt to stop you two. When she gets involved, Blake is gonna look at her and be like 'Oh I have something for you' then walk towards her, frightening her."

"What the hell?" I objected, "Madison, what type of fucking plan is that?"

"We're not done," Matt insisted, Maddie nodded.

"It gets better," she promised, "don't worry."

"So once Blake does walk over to Nova, he's gonna pull out a rose from the side of his shirt. 'For you' he'll say, and then the rest of the football team will come out of nowhere and do the same. Then you'll finish off with a golden rose and some chocolate."

"I think that's enough Maddie" I interrupted, "thanks, but I'm not doing that. I truly appreciate the gesture but I'll just ask her in private like everybody else does. It doesn't have to be romantic, we can get all romantic later."

"Oh shit," Matt said in a mocking tone. "You'll get romantic later? Okay, I see you, man! Just make sure y'all use protection."

I rolled my eyes, "Damn Matt" I replied, "Has anybody ever told you that you should be a comedian?"

***

Aubrey

"Sign-ups for the Norwood newsletter are today," Sophie informed Leigh, May, Brynn, and me.

I rolled my eyes, "that's for lame people" I retorted, "I mean, who would want to be invested in the lives of the weirdos that attend this school?" Nobody looked as if they agreed with my words.