Cupid's Daughter

Chapter 4~ The 'Biology' Project

"Why Isabelle, I would love to."

I didn't even need to turn around to see who was stood behind me; I knew the second I heard that smug voice.

"Noah, I was talking to Avery."

"Ouch. And here I thought you were making an effort to become friends."

"You wish."

"You know, you don't have to be rude." Noah shot, and I could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"Can I help you with something?" I swivelled myself around on my chair, looking at him expectantly. Noah raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Yes, you can actually. I want to do the project with you."

I rolled my eyes and turned away from him. "I already have a partner, right Avery?" I looked at the blonde girl pointedly, and she blushed the most violent shade of pink I'd even seen.

"Actually, err, it's fine Isabelle. I can go with Emma. It's no biggie." Avery shrugged, and I could almost feel the smugness radiating from Noah. Before I could protest, Avery grabbed her books and hopped out of her chair to go and join Emma on the other side of the room, shooting me a strange look on her way out. Noah slid into Avery's place and clasped his fingers together on the table in front of him. I glared at him.

"Was that necessary?" I asked coldly, picking up my task paper and scanning it with my eyes even though I wasn't able to focus enough to take any of the information in.

Noah shrugged and leaned lazily against his chair. "I just figured since we're going to be spending a heap of time together anyway, we may as well have a cover up."

"A cover up?"

"Yeah, you know, like this way we can talk in public and tell people we're talking about our assignment." Noah smiled, and suddenly leaned over so that his face was only an arm's length away from mine.

Part of me wondered why we couldn't just talk in public anyway and tell people we were friends. Was I that embarrassing to be seen with?

But alas, Noah was the most infamous guy around here, and he had a reputation to uphold. Of course he couldn't be seen spending time with someone like me. Not to mention our deal had clearly stated that Sabrina couldn't know about our arrangement. I nodded begrudgingly, glancing down at my hands.

Mr Capely has started outlining our assignment at the front of the class, making notes on the board for us to copy.

"I think I know where to go from here with Sabrina." I whispered, keeping my eyes cast downwards on the task sheet as to not draw the teacher's attention.

Noah perked up and leaned closer with intrigue.

"Sabrina is constantly involved with everything, right? She hates to miss out?" I asked. Noah nodded once in confirmation.

"Maybe you need to show her what she's missing out on. Throw parties, see friends; all of that stuff. Post pictures and statuses on Facebook and whatever other social media you have, making it seem like you're having the time of your life. You need to have so much fun without her that when she sees you she feels like she's missing out." I watched anxiously for Noah's reaction, and he seemed to take a moment to process my words before grinning and leaning over to ruffle my hair.

"Stop!" I shrieked in a whisper, pushing him off me and turning my face away. As I turned, I caught of a glimpse of the group of girls standing outside, clearly cutting class and not even trying to be subtle about it. Most of them were chatting, but one pair of menacing green eyes pierced into me, and I looked away almost immediately.

"Noah, stop!" I muttered, and this time Noah dropped his hands and squinted to see what had me so worried. I sneaked another peek out of the window, and Sabrina had now locked eyes with Noah, who after a second, turned calmly to face the board, all traces of excitement gone from his eyes. I took a deep, steadying breath and picked up my pen. "Okay, the human genome project..."

***

"There's like thirty hairs in this." Sam winced as she pulled her fork through the 'meatloaf' the school cafeteria had supplied us with today. I didn't even try to hide my disgust as I pushed my own plate away from me, choosing to bite into an apple instead.

"Well, that's what you get for being too lazy to pack your own lunch." Tommy, a friend from Sam's drama class pointed out, holding up his own brown bag of food.

Sam rolled her eyes and nudged him playfully. "I don't suppose you want to give me some of that strudel do-"

"-sorry babe, no chance in hell." Tommy cut her off, making me laugh. Sam poked her tongue out and continued to manoeuvre through the meatloaf, staring longingly at Tommy's apple strudel.

"So, I heard you and Nod Boy over there got partnered in Bio." Sam said to me not-so-tactfully, wiggling her eyebrows like a villain from vaudeville and craning her neck towards Noah.

"Nod Boy?" I asked dubiously. As in, because he'd nodded at me in the hall this morning? Sam shot me a scathing look.

Tommy put down his spoon and grinned, rubbing his hands together manically. "Ooh, gossip. Nod Boy, who's Nod Boy?" He questioned eagerly, and Sam giggled in that fake, prissy way she always did when she was with Tommy. Those two really set each others' goofy sides off.

"Noah Jones and Issy here had a little rendezvous in the hall today." Sam informed him mischievously, and Tommy turned to me, looking impressed and a little skeptical. I tried not to be insulted by the disbelief in his eyes.

"Noah Jones? Really?" He asked excitedly. "Damn that boy is hot as Australia in the midst of climate change."

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that Tommy is gay?

I didn't respond as I took another bite of my apple, sneaking a peek over at Noah's table. There were about eight of them all crowded around the circular table, and I noticed that Noah and Sabrina were sat on opposite sides, as far away from each other as possible. They were all talking, but none of them seemed to be enjoying themselves except for Noah and JC, who were laughing hysterically.

Without even realizing it, my lips curved into a smile that mimicked Noah's. He caught my eye all of a sudden and remained smiling, shooting me a wink. I turned back to Tommy and Sam, who were now in a heated debate about who was hotter, Channing Tatum or Noah Jones. Sam thought Channing and Tommy thought Noah. I thought that Ian Somerhalder or Leonardo DiCaprio would work fine for me. Taking some unknown cue from one another, we stood up to leave, shoving our 'meatloaf' into the trash on the way out.

"I don't know about you guys, but I need to hit up a vending machine. I'm still starving." Sam complained, and I had to admit that after only an apple, I was pretty hungry too. We walked towards the library, where we went pretty much every week after Meatloaf Monday and each bought something to share. We sat under the staircase and Sam lay down so that her head was resting on my lap.

"What am I going to do without you guys next year?" She sighed sadly, and I stiffened. Sam rarely ever acknowledged the fact that we were going to be separated next year, so when she did bring it up I knew that she was either worrying about the future or PMSing and being overly emotional. Today I knew it was the first option.

If I got accepted into Princeton, it was over a two hour drive from Stratford, which was definitely do-able, but was irrelevant if Sam didn't end up staying in Connecticut for school. She still had no idea what she wanted to do with her life, which was frustrating for both her parents and for her. She had two older brothers, both of whom were studying Medicine at Harvard, and I knew that at times Sam felt like the odd one out who couldn't live up to her brothers' achievements.

"It'll work out, I promise." I told her, stroking her hair soothingly. Tommy hummed thoughtfully in agreement. The thing was, with my deal with Noah, I actually had hope of getting into Princeton. Sam, on the other hand, felt like she had no clue and no hope.

Hey guys!! Thanks so much for choosing to read my story, I love each and every one of you so so much! I'll be putting in some photos of the cast soon so keep an eye out.

Speak to you soon!
Meg xx