ALL I DO.
{ irl }
the final bell rings, declaring that niola's horrid trigonometry is finally over. within just a few seconds, everyone is already piling out of the door to get away from the classroom as fast as possible. not to mention, this is also their last period of the day so school is over as well.
niola stands from her desk and begins packing everything into her bag. as she's knelt down to the ground, a few pencils roll out of her hand and across the floor. she groans in annoyance before she reaches to pick them up. but someone else grabs them before her. niola looks up at the person crouched on the ground beside her.
"niola, right?" he asks with a sheepish grin.
she immediately notices the boy as the student who sits in the desk in front of her. they've never spoken, but she's acknowledged him due to his extremely tall height – which is a curse for whoever sits behind him. nearly everyday, she breaks her neck to be able to read the board because his head blocks the entire thing.
"mhm," she hums, quickly taking her pencils from him and stuffing them into her bag. she slings the bag over her shoulder and looks back up at the boy – who is just staring at her. niola raises a brow at his behavior, "did you help me only to ask what my name is...?"
"uh, n-no." he stammers. "i heard that you're dating matt- i mean, uh, matthew sturniolo. and i just wanted to, uhm, let you know that he's likely not the ch-charming boy that he's acting like he is."
"excuse me?" niola scoffs. she stands up from the floor and glares down at him. "we've never talked to each other before and the first conversation we have is all about you shitting on my love life? let's just say that's a horrible first impression."
"i'm just trying to help!" the boy defends himself quickly. he blocks niola from walking away from him before continuing. "look, i know what guys smiliar to him are like. they, uh- they like to date whatevery girl they can get their hands on. and you seem like a smart girl. i-i just don't want him to ruin you or break your heart."
niola rolls her eyes, "i appreciate your concern, but i can handle myself."
'what is wrong with guys wanting to control everything in my life? first zade trying to flirt with me for YEARS, and now this random boy coming up and attempting to get me away from matt? i'm so sick of this! why can't i date whoever i want?' niola thinks to herself.
she shoves the boy aside and storms out of the class. blinded by irritation, niola doesn't even notice that matt is already waiting right outside of the door. she slams into his chest and lets out a huff of annoyance. without bothering to look at the person she just collided with, she pushes past him. matt's brows furrow, immediately sensing that something is wrong. he grabs her wrist to stop her from walking any farther away from him.
all niola feels is someone's hand clamp around her wrist. their grip is tight and slightly painful. upon feeling a stranger yank her backward, niola spins around and slaps them.
"shit," niola breathes when she realizes that she just slapped her boyfriend across the face in a public area. "sorry. i didn't mean to. i thought–"
everyone around them stops what they're doing. everyone gasps and starts whispering to their friends.
"just stop." matt demands. niola's eyes widen at his tone of voice. not that she can blame him since she just physically hurt him – and possibly embarrassed him in front of everyone.
"matthew, i'm so sorry." niola apologizes again. her words come out quick and she begins to speak before she thinks. "i didn't know the person who grabbed me was you. i was annoyed and angry and i just acted without even thinking. if i had known it was you, i would have-"
"what's wrong?" matt asks, softly placing his hands on her shoulders. he meets her eyes and niola's heart speeds up at how worried he looks.
"why are you asking me what's wrong? i just hurt you!" she points out.
"you would never hurt me without reason." matt tells her, squeezing her shoulders and taking a step closer. he remembers how quickly she rushed out of class. "did someone say something? why are you so stressed?"
"uh-" she pauses.
for an unknown reason, there's something urging niola to hug matt. something deep down in her gut wants to sob into his chest. she wants to wrap her arms around him and just squeeze him until she can't hold him any closer.
even though nothing super bad happened, this tiny inconvenience is suddenly bringing up every issue in her life. like that boy doubting their relationship was her final straw.
all of her negative emotions are like a tower of wheat. it's light and feeble, but she has it stacked perfectly that it looks like everything is okay – like her emotions aren't slowly eating her away from the inside. and that boy talking to her? that was the gust of wind to knock it all down. now she's finally realized how out of hand her tower has gotten.
she was so overwhelmed by everything else happening around her that she neglected her tower completely. she began to just throw the wheat around without being careful. and now it's been knocked down. now it's all piled around her and her perfect tower is nothing more than a pile of rubble.
"silvers?" matt says, snapping niola back to reality. she hadn't even noticed the tears that are forming in her eyes. "silvers, are you okay? look at me."
"i'm fine." niola says as she shakes matt's hands off of her shoulders, blinking away the wetness of her eyes. "i'm fine, don't worry."
"of course i'm going to worry. you never get upset like this. did someone hurt you?"
niola suddenly feels extremely guilty for her feelings. matt is super worried about her, but nothing even happened. someone was trying to be nice – trying to prevent her from getting her heart broken. and now niola is acting like something awful happened.
"seriously, nothing is wrong. i just got something in my eye."
"something like sadness?" matt asks.
"something like an eyelash." niola corrects him. "anyway, what do you need? why'd you show up at my class?"
"oh, right." matt is sudddenly reminded of his conversation from before. he drops the conversation about niola's tears – deciding that if niola wants to open up to him, she will. he won't force her to. "nick, chris, and camille really want you to come to the party with us tonight. you don't have to, but it would make them all happy."
niola opens her mouth, ready to decline his offer. but she suddenly remembers her diminished wheat tower. now that her tower is wrecked, nothing will be stopping her from being overcome with emotions she's been ignoring for a long time. maybe a small party is exactly what she needs to distract herself from everything.
"that would be great."
"oh, i understand." matt says, since he fully expected her to say no. suddenly, he processes her reply and he audibly gasps. "wait, what!?"
"as long as i can find someone to watch rayne while i'm gone, i'd love to go to the party." niola explains with a small smile. "and that's no problem anyway. i could simply ask my neighbor to watch her tonight and i'll pay her extra. i'm sure i'll get the extra money somehow."
matt nods, understanding what she's saying.
but even though he's happy she agreed, he knows that something is wrong. niola would never agree to go to a party hosted by someone she hates. especially not this easily. still, he doesn't ask her what's wrong because he doesn't want to come off as desperate or trying to force her into confiding in him.
"okay, we'll let them know in the car." matt says. but suddenly he gets an idea. "y'know, what? why don't you come home with us? you can get ready at our house and if we have extra time, we can just work on our project."
"i don't have any clothes at your house, though." niola reminds him. "i kinda need to wear clothes to a party."
"camille leaves her clothes in chris' room all the time. i'm sure she'd be happy to lend you a dress if you want."
niola thinks for a second become coming to a decision. "okay."
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a/n : i've got so many plans for this party 🫣
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