Becoming Beautiful (Wattys2014)

| Chapter 23 |

This chapter is dedicated to FrostyBananacx because she made an amazing cover.

Chapter 23

Somehow, some way, I managed to sleep until 3 in the morning on Monday. I woke up thinking that it was around six but when I checked my phone, I noticed that it was actually three. After trying to fall back asleep and failing, I just sat up and opened my text messages. I stared in horror when I saw that I had more than 10 messages, most of which were along the lines of: “Answer me or I will kill you.” I had a few missed calls and they didn’t stop until midnight. Guess who they were all from?

Not Noah. They were from Marissa.

I apologized for not responding, making sure to inform her that I was asleep. I ended up taking a shower at 3:30. It lasted until about 4:15 and I took my time getting dressed, dancing around as I did so. I was fully energized, which was weird, seeing as the sun wasn’t even up, yet I was bouncing around my room like a bouncy ball.

I even went as far as to dress for the weather, which was rainy. I pulled on a pair of black jeans; my last pair in fact, remind me to wash my jeans when I get home. Originally, I was going to wear a blue shirt but decided against it because I don’t want to seem overly happy with bright colors, well, blue, to be specific. It is Noah’s favorite color. So I pulled on a simple gray t-shirt with a purple sweater. I grabbed my purple, black, and gray Supras (which cost more than I wanted to spend on a pair of shoes) and sat on my bed. I don’t have to leave until 6:40 and it’s only 5.

After checking my phone again and seeing no new messages, I turned on my laptop and went to Netflix.

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When I arrived at school, after I went to Dunkin Donuts and bought a bagel to go, I walked into the building gripping my bag. What am I supposed to do? Do I walk into the gym and act like everything is okay? Do I casually go into the girl’s locker room and hide out in there until gym actually starts? Do I skip? As I was approaching the gym, Marissa shouted my name I turned towards her, where she was shoving a damp coat into her locker.

“Kenna!” I began approaching her and she smiled at me.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I just don’t know what to do.”

Furrowing her eyebrows, she asked me to explain. “Well, do I just walk into the gym like nothing happened? Do I acknowledge it if he brings it up? What do I do?”

“Go in there with an open mind. He might bring it up, he might not. Don’t freak out if he does, okay?” she told me and I nodded. She turned my shoulders and lightly pushed me towards the gymnasium. Taking a deep breath, I entered and began walking towards the bleachers. Noah was sitting there examining a camera. Like every gym class we have together, I stepped up the bleacher steps, walking towards Noah. I plopped down in the spot beside him. “Hello,” I greeted him as I crossed my legs on the seat.

“What?” he responded as he squinted at the screen of the camera.

Be casual. “What’s up?” I asked as I opened my Dunkin Donuts bag, taking out the bagel with the provided napkin.

“Uh, nothing,” he responded as he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

I took the bagel halves apart, placing one on the napkin resting on my knee while I began eating the other. Quick, think. “Do you want a half of my bagel?”

He looked at me with furrowed eyes as I motioned to my knee. “It’s buttered,” I told him.

“Sure,” he said warily. Where’s the confident Noah from yesterday? He took the bagel and the napkin from my knee and bit into it, holding his camera in one hand while he ate with the other. I watched him until he looked at me. “Yes?”