^^ This chapter's inspiration: Fire and the Flood- Vance Joy^^ :D
Almost as quickly as it began, his lips left mine. I opened my eyes slowly and found that he was already staring at me, his lips pulled up into a small smile. I remained in his arms a moment longer before he winked and unwound himself from me, walking off in the opposite direction. I stood staring after him, my hands flying instinctively to touch my tingling lips.
What had just happened?
"Damn, girl." Tommy breathed from beside me, having just watched the whole scene unfold before him. I felt my cheeks flame up and I knew that they were scarlet, so I reached up to pull my ponytail out of its elastic and let my hair hide my face. The bell rang suddenly, excusing me from having to explain to Tommy what was going on, so I dashed straight to Algebra without saying goodbye, grateful for the escape. I took my usual seat next to the window, and as hard as I tried not to, I couldn't resist but to turn and see whether Noah was sat next to JC. JC's body was slouched forward against the table, his head resting on his arms as he snoozed. Underneath his arm was a pink detention slip fluttering underneath the fan, and I shook my head with a smile as I speculated how on Earth he'd managed to get a detention before class had even started.
Seeing the detention slip made me remember Noah's suspension, and I stared at his empty seat, perplexed. We'd arranged to meet before school and talk to Sam, but then Noah was supposed to go home, not follow me into the school and attack me with his lips.
I was so confused.
My mind kept drifting back to the kiss as the lesson started, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't focus on the logarithms the teacher was drawing on the board. The way his lips had felt against mine... soft and gentle, yet somehow still controlling. It was kind of like-
Stop!
I had to stop.
Focus, Isabelle.
Logs. Expand log4( 16/x ).
Easy. Just...
His eyes; oh gosh, those dark eyes that you could lose your soul in...
FOCUS ISABELLE!
Right, logs.
And his lips, those lips...
But of course, he wasn't mine. He was Sabrina's. He loved her; it was always going to be her.
The thought of Sabrina snapped me out of my trance as I dragged my nails through my hair. 'I'm giving them the show they want', Noah had said. Who was he talking about? The students? Sam? Sabrina? Was this all part of his grand scheme to get her back?
Of course, that's it. He kissed me to make Sabrina jealous; I mean, Sam already thought we were dating and the rumour had spread around the school in record time, so why wouldn't Noah milk the fake girlfriend thing if it meant he'd make her jealous? Granted it was all very clichéd and Noah had explicitly told me at the football party that he didn't want me to fake being his girlfriend, but maybe he'd changed his mind. It would probably work, anyway.
There were two things I was absolutely sure of; that Noah's kiss had been part of a plan, and that Sabrina was going to kill me when she found out.
***
✧ Noah Jones ✧
I had no idea whether or not I regretted what I'd just done yet, but knowing Sabrina and her tendency to lash out, I knew that I was going to. I didn't know what had come over me; I just saw Sabrina standing there throwing one of her new guys in my face and I wanted to hurt her back.
So I did something completely and utterly stupid.
My deal with Issy was that she help me win back Sabrina in return for her scholarship recommendation... not for me to use her for my own convenience.
In that moment, as I drove towards my too-big home where my father would pretend he had time for us and my step-mom would pretend not to mind, I hated myself. I hated this person that I was being. Was this what love was like? It made you do stupid, awful things to people without batting an eyelid?
As I stopped the car on the driveway I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see that I'd received a text from Issy. Sighing, I opened the message, and my eyes widened as I skimmed over her words.
Lil' Cupid: I promised you that I'd do whatever I could to help you get Sabrina back. If that means being your fake girlfriend or whatever then I'll do it.
I stared in amazement at her message for a few seconds longer, wondering how I'd managed to score a friend like Isabelle before typing a quick reply.
Noah: I told you at the party that I didn't want you to be my fake girlfriend. That still stands. You don't have to do this for me... deal aside. We'll find another way.
A second later my phone dinged again and I couldn't help the smile that engulfed my face.
Lil' Cupid: A promise is a promise.
***
✿ Isabelle Conway ✿
As much as my text to Noah had been sincere, I would be his faux girlfriend if he wanted me to, more than anything I'd wanted to confirm that my suspicions about the kiss were true... and they were. Noah wanted to make Sabrina jealous and had used to me to do so.
It was fine, really, it was.
I'd promised that I would help him so I was going to no matter how much it sucked that my first kiss had been a façade.
At school the next day, it took all my will power not to avoid him as he entered the cafeteria with JC, his eyes searching for me. I could almost feel the excitement radiating from Sam as the two made their way over, Noah taking the empty seat beside me and slinging his arm around my shoulders. His body language was relaxed, but I could see from the tension in his jaw that he was nervous, or, at least, a little anxious.
'You sure?' He mouthed to me, and taking a huge intake of breath, I nodded and pressed myself further into his side.
"Hey." I grinned, putting on a greeting show for everyone on the table, who were staring at us intently. Actually, everyone in the cafeteria was staring at us.
"Hey babe." Noah leaned over to kiss my forehead, and I had to hold back a laugh.
He raised his eyebrows at me questioningly as I released a small giggle, and I bit my finger to stop from laughing even more.
Babe?
"So there's a beach party tonight." JC interrupted, and I breathed a sigh of relief as everyone's attention turned to him, glad that the spotlight was off of Noah and I. "You guys in?"
"A beach party? On a Wednesday?" Sam queried dubiously, picking at a cafeteria-served french fry on her plate that was soggy and gross. How had our school managed to ruin french fries? You literally shoved them in an oven from a frozen packet-- not rocket science.
JC grinned and swung on the back legs of his chair, holding himself up with the table. Secretly, I hoped he'd fall and bruise that pretty ego of his. Kidding... not really.
"Yep. It's a college party, but everyone from school will be going too so it's fine." JC informed us, holding one arm out to gesture towards the lunch room. The left leg of his chair wobbled slightly beneath him, threatening to give way, but somehow he managed to stay balanced.
"We'll be there, won't we, babe?" Noah asked me, turning his face to shoot me a cheeky grin and a wink. Okay, now he knew that calling me babe was lame, and he was just rubbing it in.
I tried to make my face bright and not grumpy. "Sure." I beamed.
Because it's not like I have a million pieces of homework to do or anything. No, let's just go to a beach party on a Wednesday, because why not?
Freaking popular people.
Freaking fake boyfriend.
Freaking life.
Woohoo for super fast updates! Love you all, hope you're liking the story so far! Drama up ahead! Don't forget to give a cheeky vote and comment, if you would be so kind :) x