I woke up and panicked sightly, before realizing the arms around me were Noah's, not Corey's. Or any other boy's for that matter.
My eye was sore beyond belief. I don't know how it hit me, but it didn't have any mercy for me. I lightly touched it and pain shot through my nose, so I decided to let it be.
Trying not to wake up Noah, I reached over and grabbed my phone. It was Sunday, and we had Monday off as well.
Bridget was in her bed, fast asleep. It was almost nine, but I put my phone down and got comfy again. I shut my eyes as Noah's steady breathing lulled me back into semi-consciousness.
There was a knock at my dorm door, and I felt Noah wake up because of it. He pulled me closer as I heard Bridget slide out of bed.
"What?" Bridget said, opening the door.
"Have you seen Kat?" Ethan asked. "Noah's not here and someone told me he and Corey were arguing last night."
"I don't think.." Bridge started, then she stomped over to my bed and ripped the covers back. Noah and I both groaned at the loss of heat. "You two have a lot of explaining to do."
-
Noah and I explained everything about last night to the couple.
"Geez, Kat," Bridget said, tilting my chin up so she could see my eye better. "That looks nasty."
"Doesn't feel great either," I groaned. "I'm such an idiot."
"Yeah, you are," Bridge agreed, to which Ethan gave her a 'really?' look. "So, are you guys a couple now or something?"
"Well, we haven't really talked about it," Noah said, but I cut him off before he could say anything else.
"Yeah, we're a couple," I said, leaning into him.
"Kat, don't you think we should talk a bit first?" Noah frowned.
"We'll leave you guys to it," Ethan said, pulling Bridget up. "You need to talk privately."
"Babe, this is where all the juicy details come in," Bridge protested as she was pulled out of my room.
"She's your best friend, she'll tell it all to you later," he said, his voice muffled by the now closed door. I contained a laugh and turned back to Noah.
"Kat, I cheated on you," Noah finally admitted. "I was a stupid idiot this summer, and I would do anything to go back and change it."
I got serious again. "So you regret it?"
"Of course I regret it!" he announced. "What is there not to regret? I lost my best friend, the girl I love, all because I decided to kiss some girl who boarded at the same barn as me."
I stayed silent for a minute. "Did you guys... you know..."
"No. No, no, no, no, no," he said. "I've only trusted one person enough to do that with."
"Me," I completed.
"What about you and Corey?" he asked.
"He wanted to," I said. "I never let him. That might be part of the reasons he was so pissed at me."
"Well that's stupid," Noah said with a confused face. "He is literally the last person I want to be talking about right now."
"Agreed," I nodded. I scooted myself to him and wrapped my arms around him as sat on the floor, leaning against the side of my bed. "I can't let you take all the credit for being the bad one in this relationship."
"Why not?" he mumbled, absentmindedly running his fingers through my knotty morning hair.
"I mean, I've treated you like shit the past like month and a half," I explained.
"Yeah, but I deserved that," he said.
"No," I continued. "That's not how you treat someone you love."
Noah stopped his hand and turned to look at me, our faces mere inches apart, and said, "This whole mess hasn't changed the way I've felt about you since the day we met."
I closed the gap between our lips in an instant. Noah was slightly taken back, but only for a short hesitation, before he kissed me back, hard.
We kissed as if nothing had happened between us. As if the past six weeks hadn't happened. As if this summer, after Florida, hadn't happened
It was in this very moment that I decide to forget all of it. Forget the mistakes that both him and I have made. It's just the two of us now.
Well, it was just the two of us until Bridget barged in, making Noah and I jump apart.
"Well, you two got busy," Bridget said, and Noah and I just looked at each other and started laughing. Bridget went and pulled something from her desk. "I'm glad this is funny for you guys because this is very awkward for me."
-
"How the hell can a number be imaginary?" Noah ranted.
"Don't question it!" I groaned. I was trying to help Noah with his Algebra II homework, but he did not want to be helped.
"It's either real, or it's not! It's not like derf or whatever."
I laughed at his reference to iCarly, my favourite childhood show. "Okay, okay, okay," I laughed, wrapping my arms around him as he groaned in frustration. "So you just... There you go! Perfect!"
"I did it?" he asked, staring blankly at the paper.
"Yeah!" I cheered. "Now you just have to do nine more of them."
He quietly cursed under his breath, making me giggle. "These ones are easier than the first," I said. "Ms. Dime always makes the first problem way harder than the rest."
I continued helping him with the problems until we had completed them. "That wasn't too bad," he said about fifteen minutes later, after we zipped through his homework. "Do you have any homework?"
"I did it yesterday after the show," I explained, checking the time. "Want to go grab some lunch then go for a ride or something?"
"Yeah, that'd be nice," he said. "I'm gonna go change. Meet here in fifteen minutes?"
"Yeah," I said, and we headed to our separate rooms to change into riding clothes. After I changed and put my hair up, I headed back down stairs, where Noah was waiting for me.
"Ready?" he asked as he opened the door for me. I nodded and thanked him as I stepped outside into the crisp fall air. We walked to the dining hall together, and after a few moments of nothing, I snaked my hand down his arm. intertwining our fingers. He smiled down at me and gave my hand a squeeze.
We walked into the dining hall hand in hand. I don't know what made people stare more, us holding hands or the dark bruise on my face. He pulled me into the line and played with my fingers as we waited. Noticing my nerves, he pressed my fingers to his lips and smiled.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know, it's just, everyone's staring," I frowned.
"Ignore them," Noah grinned. "Why do their opinions matter?"
We grabbed our food and sat alone at a table. We caught up with each other, something we couldn't do at the beginning of the year. We talked about our families and our horses, and our summer experiences (minus Megan).
Suddenly, Noah got super tense and stood up. I looked up to see Corey walking towards us,and I got up and backed away.
"Kat, please," Corey said. "We need to talk."
"We do not need to talk," I said. "I told you I didn't want to see you again."
Corey kept advancing towards me, but Noah stepped between us. "Dude. Back off."
"What, did she come crawling back to your sorry ass?" Corey asked. "You back off. I need to talk to her."
"We're not talking!" I said. "Go away!"
He tried reaching around Noah to me, but my boyfriend just shoved him away.
"Watch it!" Corey yelled.
"No, you watch it!" Noah shouted back. "Lay off her! She doesn't want to talk to you!"
"How would you know what she wants?" Corey yelled. "She's my girlfriend!"
"I was your girlfriend," I corrected. "And you don't know anything about me."
"Oh, and Noah does?" Corey challenged.
Noah got right up in Corey's face. "I know more about Kat than her best friend does," he said. "Hell, I probably know her better than her own sister does."
"Kat?" Corey asked.
"What, you think he's making all of this up?" I asked. "You have no idea the kind of relationship Noah and I had. Have. I have never felt the way I feel about Noah with anyone else. I'm sorry you can't handle the idea of someone loving me first."
He started walking away, and Noah and I both let out a sigh of relief. Then put of nowhere, Corey spun around and punched Noah square in the jaw.
"Noah!" I scream as he stumbled backwards. I caught him before he could hit the ground and pulled him back up. At this time, there was a group of people around us. Some people were with Corey, who was cradling his hand, and the rest were with Noah and I. I glared at Corey. "Get the hell out of here."
Soon, some teachers walked in, making the group part.
-
"We're a mess," I said to Noah as we sat, waiting for the school doctor to see us.
"Yeah we are," he grinned, despite the growing bruise on his chin. Soon, the door to the clinic opened, and out popped Corey with a bandage on his hand.
"I'll see you two troublemakers now," the doctor said, pulling us in. He took a look at my eye first, saying how it would heal in no time with some ice and a bit of ibuprofen.
As he examined Noah, I sat on a nearby chair, nervously picking at my nails.
"Well, you're lucky he didn't break your jaw," the doctor said after bringing him back from x-rays. "That's going to be pretty swollen and tender tomorrow. Ice, lot of ibuprofen. As long as your horse doesn't buck you off every time you ride, you're good to keep going to your classes."
"Thank you, doctor," I said as I stood up.
"Not so fast, you two," he stopped us. "The superintendent wants to talk to you guys first."
I groaned as he led us to the superintendents office, where Corey was seated. There were two seats opposite of him, probably so the boys wouldn't tear each other's faces off.
The superintendent has us each explain our sides of the story. I explained everything, from last night to this morning. Noah explained last night, and Corey, who went first, lied and said I hit my eye on my saddle as I was untacking Moose.
To which I said, "Are you an idiot?"
"Noah, Kathleen, you're free to go," the superintendent said. "I'm going to talk to Corey. I'll be sure to email you guys my decision. Have a nice day off tomorrow."