XOXO, Rachel Finch

nine

Noah was parked in front of my house when I went to start my mom's car in the morning. God, of course he drives a Jeep. Who's shocked? Not me.

"Get off my driveway," I demand, walking past his car to get to my mother's.

"You need to not be my partner," Noah ignores me, and my head feels better knowing I'm not in yelling territory yet.

"I agree. So go fix it," I tell him. "I don't know why you thought it would be funny to make me your partner. The joke is old. I'll sign whatever I have to but can we make it quick? I don't want you here when my mom walks out," I tell him, but it's too late. My mom, in all her heeled glory, walks out the door to see me standing next to Noah's car.

Noah steps out and smiles at my mom, but I'm blessed to know that after the "little stunt" Mrs.Wester pulled, he wouldn't be making his way to her heart any time soon.

"Noah, what a surprise! How can I help you?" She says, taking a look at me in confusion.

"I wanted to know if Rachel needed a ride to school. I noticed she doesn't have a car," he proposes.

"I was actually planning on taking Rachel to school on my way to work. Her car gets back tomorrow," she shares, and I give a smug smile to Noah. I didn't want to share a ten minute drive with him, especially with fully functional ears.

"Oh, that's fine. I just thought I would save you some trouble of going all across town by taking Rachel myself." He points back at his Jeep, which only makes me laugh internally. No.

"Right. Rachel? Up to you," my mom says, and I give Noah a sad look.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but I made my mom wake up early to drop me off at school. I don't want to be a prick about it, y'know? Thanks, though!" I walk to the passenger side of my mom's car and wait for the conversation to finish.

"Thank you, honey. Tell your mom it was nice of her to have you offer a ride." My mom gives him a smile and walks over to get into the car while Noah walks towards me.

"Fix it by today," he tells me, getting into his car and leaving as I get into my mom's.

"Does Jolene think I can't take care of my daughter? Is that what it is? She needs to send her son over like a saint?" My mom rants as we drive to school.

After stopping for my mother's coffee addiction, I'm almost late to my first period, making it by a second. Thankfully I had a table to sit with, taking a seat the moment the bell rings.

The day moves like clockwork until lunch, when Kareena tells me there was nothing she could do about me and Noah.

"Listen, the person that made you two partners is the one who has to cancel it. So in your case, Noah has to say he doesn't want to be partners with you," she explains, and I groan.

"What about you and Kay?" I ask, referring to her partner.

"Well, we both got placed together because her partner got snatched first and so did mine. But she's more than fine with partnering with Noah when you guys divorce."

"Speak of the devil," Hidaya cuts in, biting a carrot as a hand is placed on my shoulder.

"Hey guys," I hear from behind me, and my traitorous friends greet him back. "I've got some Hunt stuff to figure out with Rachel. I'm sure you guys know what she did," Noah explains, and I turn around to face him.

"What I did? No. I didn't do anything, Noah. Anything! You're the one who has to say you revoke your request or whatever," I point out, getting up and following him out of the cafeteria, stopping near the office.

"Okay, can you quit? I don't know who's in on this, but today's the last day to make any changes on partners. It's not funny."

I stared at him in shock before seeing just as much anger in his eyes as there were in mine. He didn't make me his partner. And I didn't make him mine.

"Fuck," I say in realization, and go back to my table to find out who was up to this. After a minute of interrogation I was empty handed.

"I'm dropping out of the game," I announce to my friends, and there's an immediate argument.

"Are you serious? It's just Noah," Layla points out, and Hidaya and Kareena both look at each other.

"Exactly. It's not happening. Who do I have to speak to?" I ask, and Gabby points to a table of people I had never seen before, all speaking to Noah.

"Well, at least he'll get what he wants," I huff, and get up to talk to them. My $10 better be refunded.

Noah looks at me and instantly speaks. "Rachel is here to drop out of the game."

I'm here to what?! Okay, yes, that is exactly what I came to do, but suddenly it dawned on me. Why am I the one ruining my junior year experience when he should be the one dropping out? Especially since he's going to make the decision for me.

"I'm here to punch you in the fact if you tell me what I'm about to do one more time. Listen, neither of us want to be partners. We have a pair already that would want to switch partners, so can we just make that switch?" I focus my attention on the girl blowing a bubble in my face, who at least looks like she's listening to me instead of watching a tv show like the rest of the table.

"Sorry, but only the person who put you guys together can cancel it," she says unenthusiastically.

"Okay, so then who was it? Because I think you guys are bullshitting," I tell them all. I knew they were telling the truth, but I needed a threat to push them a little.

They did not budge. "Confidential info," the gi replies, giving a smile to Noah who looks just as pissed as me.

He turns to look at me. "Drop out of the game."

"You drop out of the game! I don't have to do anything!"

"And neither do I! Listen, I've been waiting for this game all of high school," he leverages, but I stand still.

"I don't care. Kareena and I have been planning this win and I'm not going to let you ruin it."

"You could just be partners," a guy at the table says, and I shoot him daggers through my eyes.

"Right, because that's definitely not what we've been fighting about over here," I say blandly, and walk away in rage before a hand grasps my shoulder.

He needs to stop touching me.

"What if we split up the work? Like we both looked for an object but not with each other?" Noah offered, and I turn around to see my table of friends all pretending to not be reading lips through the conversation.

"No offense, but how am I supposed to carry this team and then we split the cash prize?" I ask, and he takes a deep breath before answering.

"Whatever. If you have a better idea, speak now," he says, but all I could think about was the sandwich waiting for me ten feet away.

"Okay, deal," I say. What better choice did I have?

"Deal?" He repeats, in shock. I was going to regret this.

"Deal."