𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟔𝟏

"𝙴𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥
𝕥𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕠𝕠𝕟

     "OKAY, WAIT, that was you?!" Liv asks as she stares at Noah.

"Yes, but I feel like it was someone else." Noah groans as she falls back onto Liv's bed. The teen puts her hands on her face and feels the bed shift.

"I think that's pretty badass, dude," Liv says.

Noah takes her hands off her face and looks over at Liv laying next to her.

"Me punching one of the footballers in the face is badass?" Noah asks the redhead with a giggle.

"Very badass,"

"Just wait 'til my Mom hears about this." Noah groans.

"You have to stop worrying about your Mom," Liv says as she sits up, "She'll be mad, you'll get in trouble, and by the end of the month, it'll be like it never happened."

"And you know that how?" Noah asks as she watches Liv stand from the bed.

"Because that's how parents work," Liv sighs as she picks up her guitar, "They get mad and then they get over it. If they didn't, my Mom and Dad would've kicked me to the street a long time ago."

"Nice to know," Noah laughs as she sits up at the sound of Liv playing a few chords.

"Wanna hear American Idiot?" Liv asks with a smirk, "I know it's your favorite!" She sings as she turns up the volume on the guitar amp.

Noah smiles as she hears Liv play the hardcore strums of the Green Day song. The teen finds herself standing and singing along to the words with Liv. Before they know it, they are jumping up and down, shouting the words together. Noah imagines the adrenaline they have feels just like the adrenaline of being on stage.

"Yeah!" Liv exclaims as she finishes the song.

"Another!" Noah shouts as she stands on Liv's bed. The redhead strums the chords of Basket Case, making Noah immediately sing along.

The two jump around and dance the afternoon away. Liv witnesses Noah completely forget about the fight and let loose. She smiles to herself every now and then, knowing that she helped Noah as best she could.

—

"Thank you for letting her stay for dinner, Donna." Emily thanks Liv's mother as she stands at the Hale's front door.

"Of course, we love having her over," Mrs. Hale beams and turns to see Liv and Noah walking downstairs.

"Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Hale!" Noah beams and throws her shoes on.

"You're welcome any time, Noah." Donna chimes and watches the teen join Emily outside, "Drive safe!"

"Have a good night!" Emily waves the mother off.

"Bye, Liv!" Noah exclaims and waves to her friend.

"Bye, Seattle!" Liv beams and shuts the front door closed for her mother.

"How was school?" Emily asks the teen as they walk to her car on the street.

"It was good," Noah replies as she stares at her untied sneakers.  By the sound of Emily's question, the school has not told her about the fight.

"Do all your friends call you Seattle?" Emily questions the teen as they get into the car.

"Not all, but most of them do." Noah answers as she buckles her seatbelt.

"Does that bother you?"

"Why would it?" Noah lightly laughs, "It's the house that has bad memories, not the city."

"You're being weird," Emily giggles as she watches Noah fiddle with the radio.

"I thought you always thought I was weird," Noah giggles as she finds a radio channel that satisfies her.

"Yeah, but you seem especially happy."

"Is that a bad thing?" Noah asks.

"Of course not," Emily chimes and ruffles the teen's hair, "So, do you wanna talk about you skipping school?"

"What?" Noah asks with fear.

"When you heard me and Rossi?" Emily asks.

"Oh, uhm..." Noah swallows the fearful lump in her throat, "It was after Matthew and...I was tryna make you feel better but I wasn't feeling good myself.  And I was going through some stuff with my friends and I...was skipping out on lunch."

"You ate lunch by yourself?" Emily asks, frowning at the thought of her baby eating all alone.

"No, I sat in my chemistry teacher's class," Noah says and a smile crawls to her face, "He's pretty cool.  He let me stay in there and work on some extra credit stuff."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you were dealing with all the Matthew stuff," Noah sighs as she leans her head back and peers out the window, "I didn't want you to have to deal with me too."

"Noah, you are always first," Emily says and turns to look at Noah for a second, "Are you listening to me?"

"Mhm," Noah hums as she nods her head.  Emily peers over at the teen and sees her leg shaking and her eyes glued to the window.

"When you need me, I will be there," Emily says, "Okay?"

"Mhm,"

"You can't skip school, okay?" Emily continues to question the teen.

"Okay," Noah says and pulls her emotions together.

"Why're you upset?" Emily asks her.

"Because," Noah shrugs, "No one's ever said that to me before."

"Hey," Emily says as they pull up to a stop light, "You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah," Noah says and feels Emily's gaze on her.  She turns to lock eyes with her mother, not being able to hold back her smile.

"Stop," Noah groans as Emily pokes her side.

"What?" Emily asks as she pokes Noah again, "Say it," She sings, "Say it back."

"I love you too," Noah mutters and slumps in her seat with a sweet smile.

—
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺
𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘

Noah makes her way down the school hallway. She has yet to see Jess and has not walked the blonde to any of her classes. Noah can only imagine Jess' confusion, but she is trying to keep her distance to keep people from talking about them.

"Noah, have you seen Jacob Howard?!" Liv exclaims as she rushes to catch up with the brunette.

"What?" Noah asks as she pulls her headphones out.

"Have you seen Jacob Howard?" Liv repeats herself.

"No, why?" Noah questions.

"You didn't tell me you kicked his ass — he definitely won't be messing with you anymore." Liv chuckles.

"It was just a punch—" Noah shrugs with a sigh.

"Just a punch?  He limped into class today with a black eye and a broken nose!" The redhead laughs, but her smile drops as Noah stops dead in her tracks.

"What?"