Cupid's Daughter

Chapter 9~ Mama's Famous Leghetti

As I stumbled back into the hall slowly, my mind felt completely blank. If I kept up my deal with Noah, Sabrina was going to ruin me, but if I didn't keep up our deal, Noah's dad wouldn't give me my scholarship recommendation.

But, then again, the sooner I helped Noah and Sabrina get back together, the sooner she would see that we weren't actually dating.

I was confused, to say the least.

I shook out my limbs as I opened my locker to pull my books out for the afternoon, and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw that someone was stood behind me, extremely close to me.

"Gah!" I yelled as I cowered against the locker, thinking that Sabrina had sent someone to come back and finish me off. Strangely, the person was wearing a suit, and looked a lot like a boy I had come to know.

"Mr Jones?" I questioned breathlessly, trying to straighten myself out of my uncomfortable position.

Charles Jones chuckled and ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. "You must be Miss Conway, correct? My son Noah has mentioned you." Mr Jones smiled warmly, holding his hand out for me to shake. How the hell did he know who I was?

I leaned forward tentatively and raised my eyebrows. "He has?"

Mr Jones nodded matter-of-factly. "Yes. He tells me of your dreams of attending Princeton."

I exhaled quickly and tried to hide my slight disappointment at the phrase. Some part of me had been hoping that Noah had mentioned me to his dad as a friend or even just a peer, but of course he'd said that I was interested in Princeton-- how else was he going to ask his dad to write me a reference?

"Since I was a kid. It's my dream." I smiled. Mr Jones beamed back at me before checking his watch with a frown.

"I'm here for a meeting at the Principal's office so I must be on my way, but it was nice to meet you, Miss Isabelle." Mr Jones informed me, and he gave me a friendly wink before darting off down the hall. I watched as he disappeared from view, suddenly realising that the Principal's office was the other way. I considered running after him but I figured that he'd find his way eventually. It was strange though, I was certain that he'd been to the Principal's office before on numerous occassions-- probably for Noah misbehaving-- but maybe he just was having a brain-fuzz day. Goodness knows I've had my fair share of those.

With a tired sigh I made my way to the Calculus class, not ready to face Sam and everyone else after my run-in with both Sabrina and Mr Jones. I just wanted to sit for a while and not think about anything.

I slumped to the back of the room and threw my stuff down on the floor, leaning my head against my arms on the table. My eyes slid closed as I tried to relax.

I had to speed things up with Noah. Any longer and Sabrina would find a way to ruin me and maybe even Sam too. The sooner they were all lovey-dovey again the better. But how? Noah had tried to visit her in her room but that had failed majorly, and I'm pretty sure he's been posting 'I'm Having the Time of My Life!' photos on just about every social media platform there is to seemingly no avail. Sabrina thought that Noah and I were a couple and was clearly jealous, but not concerned enough to want him back yet.

What the hell could I do to make her want him back, like, now?

I groaned and peeked up from my sleeves to find that my whole class had filed in and was seated.

Everyone but Sabrina.

***

When the final bell rang that afternoon, I couldn't have been happier to go home. I'd had the shittiest day ever, and all I wanted to do was go to bed. I changed into my Cookie Monster pyjamas and an oversized Adidas t-shirt before flopping down onto the sofa. My hair was an explosion of curls and knots cascading down my face like dreadlocks. Vaguely, I heard the sound of the front door open and close, but I figured that it was just my dad coming home from work.