Living With The Bad Boy [COMPLETE][VERSION ONE]

Chapter 37

Jase quickly moves his hand off of my waist, but by now it's too late- everyone just saw it, and besides, I'm wearing his sweatshirt like a dress, we're showing up together over an hour late, and we're both obviously hungover. Well, me more than him. You have to really study to find the dark circles under Jase's eyes, but I'm practically a walking hangover. From all of their perspectives, it must look like the two of us went partying, got drunk, and slept together.

Okay, so that's not exactly that much of a lie. But still. It's- what happened between Jase and I- it's summed up by a lot more than just a casual hookup. The memories fill me a warmth I didn't expect to feel even now, and besides, we didn't even-

The bell rings and I think I jump about three feet into the air- and I'm not alone. The entire student body seems to be jarred out of whatever weird spell they've been under, their shocked expressions turning to glares, whispers, shrugs... and then people start shuffling through the hallways like everything is normal.

Because for them... it is.

"I'll see you later," I mutter to Jase, darting away from him before he can say another word, thankful for once for my (lack of) height- it helps me slip through the crowd unseen. I really don't want to talk to Jase right now.

If he even wants to talk to me in the first place.

I barely make it twenty feet down the hallway when I'm stopped by a tall boy standing in front of me with a cold expression on his face. Noah. I can tell by the crease in his brow, the way he stands with his arms crossed, stiff as a board, that he's mad. But his brown eyes still light up like honey when the sun beams through one of the windows, and he still has the warm, normal feeling about him... and I want to hate myself for not wanting it, wanting him. I hate the fact that I can't just want to date a perfectly normal, attractive, nice boy who likes me back.

But his eyes don't gaze into me like Jase's. He doesn't make me feel things, make me feel like I'm the only one in the universe when I'm around him. And Noah's nice, but he isn't... he doesn't catch me off-guard with the smallest acts of kindness, ones I shouldn't even notice or care about.

Noah's stable. But after last night, I don't think I can ever just be content with stability.

"So," he says coldly, and the strange iciness in his tone are jarring enough to shake me from my thoughts. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

I look down at the ground. "This isn't kindergarten, Noah. I'm perfectly capable of saying whatever I want unprompted."

Noah just shakes his head, a humorless laugh escaping his lips. "Are you- are you fucking kidding me right now? You really- you just broke up with me, but you know," he scoffs, holding up his hands in air quotes, "'it has nothing to do with Jase, of course!' You know, if you didn't have feelings for Turner, you wouldn't have slept with him. And now you have the audacity to come lecture me about treating you wrong? That's bullshit, Sienna, and you know it. I mean, thank god we're done."
No. I was wrong- Noah isn't as nice as I've always assumed.

Though, I guess that's a bit justified. I was dating him as of yesterday... and I've been pretending Jase wasn't a problem in our relationship this entire time. When, judging by last night... 'a problem' doesn't even begin to cover it. "Noah," I say, meaning to add onto that statement, to find more words, to apologize and be angry all at the same time.

I can't have both, so I decide to go with angry. I never told anyone that Jase and I slept together, it was just assumed. And I don't exactly see Jase being accosted like this, I note, catching a glimpse out of the corner of my eye- all his friends trying to give him high-fives and whistles as he just rolls his eyes, pretending to revel in the attention... though I can feel his discomfort.