You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

72

Lunch had been a quiet affair so far.

None of my friends had spoken much, whether it was to me or to each other.

It wouldn't even have bothered me that much if I hadn't noticed how their animated conversations had died down pretty much the second Nolan and I settled down at the table.

The only thing that could possibly have been bothering them was what they'd been pestering me about this entire week.

Melissa and Derek had a brief exchange wherein they complained about their homework overload, and that was it. Ashley had just been eating her lunch without making any comments.

In fact, the thick silence hanging over our table was so suffocating, it was choking the appetite out of me. Unable to swallow another bite, I picked at my half-eaten meatloaf. It wasn't that good, anyway.

Nolan, who had been flipping through his history notes, paused to eye my lunch tray.

"Not hungry?" he asked.

"Nope," I said glumly. "Don't feel like eating."

A look of concern flashed across Ashley's face as she glanced up at me, but I avoided making eye contact with her.

"And whose fault do you think it is?" I heard Melissa mumble into her soup.

Stunned, I lifted my head up to goggle at her.

"Excuse me? Whose fault is it?" I snapped. "What are you trying to imply?"

"What?" she said, meeting my glare head-on. "Am I wrong? Nobody's in the mood to talk, and you know it's because of—" The second her eyes darted to Nolan, I jumped to my feet and cut her off.

"It's not Nolan's fault!" I was really riled up now. "In fact, it's your fault that I have no appetite!"

I couldn't believe what I'd just done.

It was the first time I'd ever raised my voice around my friends, and everyone at the table was openly staring at me now.

Melissa looked floored, but I couldn't take it back.

It was one thing to complain about Nolan's behavior to me, but it was another matter altogether to blame him for their own actions. They were the ones who had made the decision to be all gloomy because they suddenly decided they didn't want him here.

They hadn't even communicated with me on this before lunch period.

If I'd known it would turn out like this, I would've gone to the library with Nolan instead.

"Wait," Nolan said, his eyebrows furrowed. "What's my fault?"

Before Melissa could jump in and answer him, I said, "Nothing. I already said it's not your fault. Come on, Nolan, let's go. I don't feel like eating anymore."

Of course, Melissa spoke up anyway. "How is it our fault that you've lost your appetite? He's the one who won't spend more than a few hours with you in any given week. Your schedule basically revolves around his now, and you expect us to just stand back and say nothing?"

Nolan turned to her. "Wait. What?"

I scoffed. "Say nothing? You haven't just been saying things, you've been grilling me nonstop about the supposed warning signs in our relationship!"

"Okay," Ashley said, "can we please talk this out nicely?"

I turned my furious stare on her. "Did you even hear how passive-aggressive she sounded just now? That was so obviously targeted at Nolan."