2 days later, Wednesday
Novalee
I take my hoodie off from my head as I exit class. Regardless the fact that it's 90 degrees out, I decided to wear my oversized Oak Hill university sweater that I bought yesterday at the giftshop, and some black bike shorts that were barely noticeable due to the length of my sweater.
I push some of my hair off my face and take the sunglasses I have in one of backpack pockets out and put them on.
"Nova, Nova, Nova." I hear an oh-so familiar voice approach me. I sigh quietly as his tall figure is now stood next to me. "Valdez, what?" I say, continuing to walk. Just like yesterday, my two classes on Monday's and Wednesdays are pretty spaced out, meaning I can go back to my dorm after each one.
Christian clasps his hands together as he holds a big grin on his face. "I wanted to formally invite you to my party tonight. Wear something sexy." I turn to look at him and his grin has turned into more of a smirk. I roll my eyes in disgust even if he can't see them since my huge sunglasses are covering them. I'm sure the frown on my face is distinguishable.
"No, thanks." I retort, but he's stubborn. "You have any girls yet? If they're hot, bring them. That way you won't be alone. Either way, you won't be. I'm down to hang with you the whole time." I let out a chuckle and shake my head. Was he actually serious? I have no friends yet, besides Maddy and this girl named Rebecca I met yesterday in my drama class.
"One, even if I did go, I'd rather be alone than hang out with you the whole time and two, are girls all you think about? Man whore, am I right?" I shake my head and reach to open the door to get inside the school, but Christian jogs toward it and opens it for me.
I stop and look at him. "Go ahead." I roll my eyes again and push my pride aside, stepping inside. He doesn't fail to keep up with me. "To answer your question, all I think about is football and girls." He grins. Idiot.
"Okay."
"Okay, you'll come?"
"No, just okay. I'm not going to your party, Valdez." I notice a frown on his lips. I'm not necessarily looking at him, but my peripheral vision is amazing. Then I realize, I'm walking towards my dorm. I do not want him to know what hall I stay in, so I stop.
He stops abruptly as well and stands in front of me. "What's with 'Valdez'?" He says, crossing his muscular arms across his chest. I furrow my brows a bit in confusion. "What? That's what everyone used to call you." I say. In high school, nobody called him Christian, not even teachers.
I'm pretty sure its stuck since I've heard the name 'Valdez' around campus. I've only been here three fucking days and I've heard about ten people say his name when I've been walking these halls. Most of them being girls. Shocking.
He rolls his eyes this time. "Yeah, but you never called me Valdez. You always called me Christian." This was true. Damn it, why does he remember that? It was kind of a thing we had. He introduced himself to me as Valdez and when I asked for his first name, he told me it was Christian. I decided I would call him that. It made him a little bit mad at first, but he grew to like it. Yet, I was the only person who called him by his first name.
"Okay? That was years ago." He sighs in frustration. From what I remember, he was a very impatient person. He had quite the temper which was one of the reasons he enjoyed playing football; It was an aggressive sport. I don't know much about him now obviously, but I'm picking up on a couple of traits that I'm familiar with.
"For someone who claims they're over what happened years ago, you seem like you still hate me." He swipes his tongue across his bottom lip. Why is he so hot? He wasn't this attractive when I was dating him. Well obviously, he was like 15 but still. I wish he glew down instead of up.
"I am over it, but I don't want to be friends."
"Why? You could use a couple." He shrugs. Yeah, not you though. "Why are you so stubborn?" I groan. Right when he's about to open his mouth to talk, an unfamiliar voice from behind me cuts him off. "Hey, captain." He looks away from me and a smile curves onto his lips. "Hey gorgeous, you coming tonight?" I don't turn to look at the girl, only look at him with a disgusted face instead.
"Wouldn't miss it!" Her voice is slowly fading. Christian winks at her, "see you there!" He shouts and doesn't turn back to look at me until five seconds later. He notices my face and frowns. "What?" He questions.
"Was she your girlfriend?" He laughs, "no, a friend." I don't miss the slight crack in his voice. Liar. "You call all your friends gorgeous?" I laugh. He rolls his eyes, "only the ones who are gorgeous, gorgeous."
I scoff, moving my long hair behind my shoulder. "Wrong. We're not friends." He smiles, "but you are still gorgeous." I feel my cheeks heat up slightly. Pleasee do not notice. My cheeks must already be red from being outside a while ago. Although it is cold as fuck in the building, so I think I'm screwed.
"I know." He jerks his head back just a bit at my response before letting out a husky chuckle. He pulls out his phone and checks the time. I get a peek of his lock screen which is four football players. They're wearing their complete uniforms including their helmets.
"I have practice in twenty, so I gotta go, but I'll see you tonight, Johänson?" He starts backing up towards the large, double doors we had entered not that long ago. Finally, he's leaving. "Of course," he smiles "of course, you won't!" I finish. He tilts his head slightly, still walking backwards.
"We'll see." He winks at me before exiting the doors and jogging out of my sight. There is no way I'm going to his party.
Maddy jumps onto my bed and lays down on her back, looking up at the ceiling. It's only four in the afternoon. My second class ended about thirty minutes after it started luckily. Then, I had to meet up with my advisor about my 'learning problems'.
I have ADHD which is not the best thing about me.
It's something I tend not to share with anyone just because I feel like a complete idiot. I'm a much slower learner than my classmates and I need to be given 'special treatment' because of it. My professors are aware of my learning disability, so I have certain extensions on assignments. I've tried to change the way they treat me differently from other students, but turns out, I can't.
This is the measures they take when it comes to students like me and I must follow their rules. At the same time, it's better for me. I'm just stubborn as fuck when it comes to this stuff. I hate feeling like an idiot and I hate people seeing and treating me different because of it.
If it were my choice, no one would ever know about it. I've made the mistake of telling a lot of people back then because I was barely starting to learn about my own condition. Now, I tell no one about it. Except for my teachers and advisors.
I had been reading a chapter that I needed to read for my class on Friday before Maddy knocked on my door and distracted me. I decided to just read it later when she left. There was no way I was going to be able to focus now.
I'm sitting at my desk, and she props herself up on an elbow. "Hey," I look up from my phone to look at her. "Hmm?" She looks from her phone as well. "There's a party tonight at one of the football players places, wanna go?" She smiles. I freeze almost instantly. There's no coincidence in that.
I'm 99.9% certain it's Christians party. "What football player? Max?" I act stupid and say his name since he's the only football player I know. She shakes her head and tucks a strand of her raven hair behind one of her ears. "His name is Valdez. He lives off campus." I raise my eyebrows a bit. I did not know that. "Oh, uh nahh. You can go though." She groans and throws her head back in exaggeration.
"Nova!" I point my chin out at her. "Maddy! Who even throws a party during the week? No one's gonna go." I scoff, shaking my head. "No one cares what day of the week it is. We party all the time. Did you not know that this was a party school before applying?" I look up at her from my phone. That I did not know.
"Please." She sticks out her bottom lip and gives me 'Maddy eyes', as she calls them. I can't say no to her, seriously. Maddy and I just met a couple of days ago, but I feel like I've known her for months. We understand each other on crazy, weird levels. She's my girl and I'm so glad she decided to talk to me. I'm too much of an introvert to approach people first.
"Fine.." I groan and she raises both hands in excitement, falling back onto her back again. I can't help but let out a chuckle. "What time does it start?" I ask. She picks up her phone and looks at it, then back at me. "Eight."
I wore a white, cotton dress that covered up all my chest but ended only a couple of inches under my butt with some high heeled booties. Maddy wore a white, two piece set that consisted of a silk, skirt that hand a slit going up the right side and a tiny tube top that ended just under her boobs. She topped it off with a small white cardigan that wasn't much longer than her tube top.
We were two completely different people when it came to clothing. Nevertheless, we both looked good.
When we got to Christian's house, I gave Maddy one more look of 'I-really-don't-want-to-be-here'. She ignored it obviously. I didn't tell her about Christian yet. I decided to withhold that piece of information from her. I haven't decided if I'm going to tell her, but she'd be mad if I didn't. I couldn't tell her the exact reason I didn't want to be here because I wasn't ready.
So, I kept my mouth shut.
We entered the two-story, white house that looked like almost all the other houses on the street. There wasn't anything special about it really. We could already hear the music even before entering the house, but it wasn't loud enough for people to call in complaints.
Maddy walked in front of me, holding my hand to pull me deeper into the party. I didn't fail to notice all the men in the room turn to look at her. Some a little longer than others. I get it, she's a fucking smoke show. Especially in that outfit. I ignored the eyes on me because I'm just too awkward for that, but I definitely felt them.
I'm looking around, in hopes that Valdez hasn't noticed me until I don't feel Maddy's hand any longer. I turn to look at her and Max has pulled her into a hug. He is so attractive. He's super tall, muscular. I'd eat him up if I could. It's obvious Maddy has something with this guy, even though she's denied it when I asked her.
When he pulls away from my raven-haired friend, he grabs my hand and pulls me into the same exact hug. I don't know this guy at all, but I can't help but laugh. "Hi, Max." He rubs my arm a bit before pulling away. "Drinks are over there," he points to the small kitchen "help yourself."
Maddy starts up a conversation with Max and I can't help but feel a burning sensation at the back of my head. I turn slowly toward the staircase and there he is. In all his sexy glory, Christian Valdez, with a girl in front of him, talking to him, but his eyes are glued on me.
He smirks ever so slightly and takes a drink from his red solo cup. Then,
He winks.