Falling Too Far

Chapter 34- Social interaction and I mix as much as Kronos and Percy.

Dedicated to: SoccerGirl0307 (for the amazing (and first!) banner!) :)

I plopped down in my Art class seat in exhaustion, taking the time to take out my books before laying my head on the table.

"Long night?" Joshua chuckled, taking his allocated seat next to me.

I sighed, playing with the chipped wood at the end of the table. "You could say that."

After Harper asked me to the Valentine's Day Dance yesterday, that night I couldn't sleep at all, just fantasising the night to come over and over in my head, replaying how he asked me like a lovestruck teenage girl.

Well you are one, aren't you?

However, my lack of sleep had affected me that morning, and I was so tired I could have made a bed in amongst the paintbrushes.

"I guess Art is a good first period then," Joshua replied, getting out his books. "Very relaxed."

I smiled and turned to face him. "Yeah. At least it's not PE." I shuddered. "That would be terrible."

"Not the sporty type?" He asked, chuckling a little. I shook my head quickly.

"Definitely not the sporty type. I can't play sports to save my life."

"Really?" Joshua asked, twirling his pencil quickly in-between his fingers and raising an eyebrow. "Because I would think otherwise after that time you elbowed me in the field."

I winced and blushed, finally sitting up in the seat. "I'm really sorry about that."

"It's okay." He answered. "I was just joking."

Suddenly, we were plummeted into an awkward silence. I watched all the other teenagers in my class interact and stuff- talking, poking, kissing, I don't know, and couldn't help but hope the teacher would come as quick as she could right now.

It was true, I did feel really bad about elbowing Joshua right in the stomach and sending him tumbling into the grass when Harper and him had that fight, but he was trying to hurt Harper. So, of course, I was kind of obliged to.

"Why were you two fighting that day?" I couldn't help but blurt out. Joshua looked at me, surprised.

"What?" He asked quickly. I shook my head.

"What were you two fighting about?" I repeated. Joshua was silent for a few, torturous seconds, before he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"You."

My eyes widened in surprised. "What?" I asked, disbelief clear in my voice. Joshua blushed a little bit.

"You. We were fighting about you." He concluded.

"Wh- why?"

He sighed. "Because I was talking about how good you looked that day, how much I wanted to speak to you when your hair fell over your shoulder, but that we weren't on good terms, so I couldn't."

My stomach clenched at his sudden confession, but I tried to ignore it. "Th- then what?"

"Then he threw the first punch."

I held my breath. "Oh my gods."

Joshua let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah. But it's okay. It was two months ago."

I shook my head. "It's not. He shouldn't have hit you."

"It's fine, Noelle. Really. I shouldn't have said that, knowing that he liked you."

My heart swelled in my chest as I began coughing- if it was possible- choking on my own spit.

What?