Love, Kat
Chapter 6
"Are you fucking crazy? Get the fuck out of her room!" Most mornings don't go as loud as this one. Then again, most mornings you don't wake up with Noah Caster standing in the center of your bedroom with a Ludacris look in his eyes.
Sitting up, I look at the clock next to the bed, which reads: 7:00 A.M., in bold green letters. You have got to be kidding me; it's too early for this shit. My head weighs a ton, filled with dreams of bigger cities as well as the remains of sleep. I'm sure I look like crap, my hair a mess and my eyes only half way parted.
"What the hell is going on?" I yawn and reach for my phone pressing the home button. Immediately, the screen reads a bunch of missed calls from practically everyone in the universe including 7 from Noah.
"Why are you here? Kai, why is he here? Did I miss something?" Both boys are glaring at each other, tension as thick as fog. The thoughts of last night flood through my brain-waiting after practice, seeing Noah drive away with Farah, walking home in the rain, falling asleep with no one to even care. Suddenly my mood drops again and I am no longer struggling to stay away; there isn't anything that could make me fall asleep now.
"Oh." I note and look down at hands that have fallen asleep under the weight of my head. I get why he's here but I don't understand why he's here, in my room when he has the ability to see me at school.
"Ka-" he starts.
"Shut up." Kai interrupts him glaring at Noah in the meanest of ways. I take it Dad and Mom already left; this wouldn't go down if they were here.
"Kai, fuck off man."
"No, you fuck off. She already had it rough earlier yesterday and you just had to make it worst be leaving her stranded at the fucking school. Get the fuck out Noah!" My brother stands next to the bed blocking my view from the young Caster boy. When Kai's mad, it's really hard to get him out of that mood so I have no idea what to say or do right now. What I do know, is that Kai and Noah have to good of a friendship to fuck it all up over this.
"I have to pee." I whisper crossing my legs under the blankets as the feeling hits me like a wrecking ball.
They only glance at me before continuing to bicker.
"What makes it worse is you left her to fuck around with that girl!" Kai's words take a stab into both Noah and I, both of us wincing in unison. My shoulders deflate as I make eye contact with the brown hair boy himself who can't help but feel a little cornered at the moment.
"I already fucking know what I did Kai! You don't have to remind us! Let me apologize for a fucking minute without you standing over her like a watch dog!" Noah runs his hands through his hair in a way that kind of does something to help his situation on my part. I hate the fact that he's gorgeous.
Kai looks back at me. In fact, they both do like they are waiting for my permission to continue. "I just woke up...can I have a human minute to gather myself? Both of you get out."
Pointing to the door I wait for them move, but they don't. Stubborn assholes.
"Please leave so I can pee!" I holler, and after a moment of stillness, Kai is the first to move toward the door, Noah following not a moment later.
Rushing out of bed, I go to the drawer to look for sweats to pull under my t-shirt seeing how Kai would rather me not talk to his best friend in a long t-shirt again. While using the bathroom to empty my liquids, I take the time to clean up a bit. Quickly, I rinse my face and brush my teeth before pulling my hair into a messy bun.
When I open my door, both boys are sitting outside glaring at each other from one side of the hall.
"You have five minutes." Kai glares at Noah for one more second before walking down the hall to his room and shutting the door.
For a while we just awkwardly stare at the floor between us. I figure he's doesn't know how to apologize; he's never had to do it before. Why would you have to apologize when people worship even your wrong choices?
"I think we have three minutes left." I say after standing there for a month.
Noah looks up now, his brow furrowing. "Why aren't you mad?"
See, not even an apology.
"I don't know. Probably because it's something I would've expected from you. I should've known better than to believe you actually cared about someone other than yourself." I am surprised when my words come out so strong and confident. Although I still cant bring myself to look at him until I don't hear anything from his part.
His face is a dash of shocked with a sprinkle of hurt, but I don't take back the words. Instead, I back up into my room. If he won't say anything then I won't waste my time staring.
It's only when I start to shut the door he speaks.
"I broke up with her." When he says 'her' I assume he means 'Farah', but why's he's telling me, I don't understand.
"I'm sorry for your misfortune?"
"I know that wasn't an excuse to leave you there, and I don't know what I was thinking, but I had to let her know it wasn't cool what she did. We went back to her place and she thought I was there to do things with her but I was only letting her know we were done, even if 'we' weren't really a 'we', only fuck buddies from time to time. I don't do relationships, especially with people like her." His hand has placed itself on top of mine, which sits on the door handle. Pulling my hand from under his I let it hang from my side.
I find it hard to believe what he's saying.
"That's great Noah, good for you. I still don't understand why you're telling me this. You still left me to walk by myself in the pouring rain; you don't need to make excuses. If you didn't want to study then fine, I didn't really think you were serious anyway."
"Kat I was, I am, I swear." That thing happens, where he says my name and it sounds so good coming of his lips. I can feel parts of me begin to soften up. "I'm sorry I left you yesterday to walk home by yourself, in the rain. I should've stayed and studied with you and handled Farah later. Will you accept my apology?"
The corners of his lips twitch into a pity smile as I stare up at him through my long lashes. I weigh the choices in my head: accept his apology and hopefully go back to normal, or don't accept it and have things be awkward between us.
"Fine. Meet me in the library during lunch, that's the only way I'll help you." I keep a straight face to let him know that I am dead serious about this.
"Deal." And his face breaks out into a full smile.
"I want to kick his ass." Kai remarks thirty minutes later when we are heading to school. Noah left after I accepted his apology, leaving me to deal with Kai's disappointing looks.
I sigh. "You always do Kaidan Jay, even when you're not mad."
"Yeah, but now I really really want to kick his ass." He turns his signal on and switches lanes. So far, today has been one of those days where the sun is shinning just right, but the air is still a little chilly. One of those days where I feel like actually getting dressed and looking forward to getting through the day with a smile on my face! My hair actually cooperated letting itself look and feel good when it's not in the strains of a ponytail, and my face seems clearer and smoother than most days allowing me to keep it all natural. It's safe to say I just look more alive today.
"You'll get over it." I scroll up and down my text messages answering all of Luke and Jenny's from yesterday. I take this time to read through Noah's text messages from last night.
Kat, please answer the door.
Kat!
Kat, it's Noah, sorry for leaving you, please answer.
Are you home? Answer the phone or the door.
Kat, I just called Kai.
Kat...
"Kat? Are you listening?" Kai flicks my head to grab my attention.
"What no, I was looking at yesterday's messages. Sorry."
"I was talking about lunch yesterday. Farah is no longer sitting with us so you can still sit at the table again." I kind of want to laugh at Kai. He has so much power over people he can decide whether they eat with him or not, he's literally royalty.
Clearing my throat I shrug my shoulders biting on the banana I grabbed from the counter this morning; it's the first real thing I've eaten in days. I can feel my body losing energy as I go. I could probably go for a family of ten and a Happy Meal right now.
"I think I'm just going to eat in the library instead of the cafeteria for a while. First round didn't go so well."
"Why? You don't have to isolate yourself."
"Yeah, I do. If I don't I'll end up like you, ruling like a King, and I don't have the guts to do that," I finish off my banana as we pull into the school parking lot.
"I don't rule the school, Kat. I just have a voice people like to listen too."
"And I, brother, am not one of those people whatsoever." I unbuckle my seat belt as we pull into his special parking spot right next to Noah's. Not royalty my ass.
"I'll see you after the game then." Kai says as we step out of the car. I wave a goodbye and head towards the building. Noah is leaning against his car as I walk past; ignoring the knowing stare he is giving me.
Friday's, or game day, is always exciting for the students at Westwood. Girlfriends wear their boyfriend's last year jersey; the seniors sport their letterman jackets, and the rest of the school, with a few exceptions, sport their Westfield High t-shirts like no tomorrow. Of course student council decorates the school with signs reading: GO RAVENS!, WESTFIELD ACADEMY RAVENS RULE! and every other cheesy poster you can make for a football team.
With only five more games left, the anticipation increases along with the spirit of the school. If you ask me, football games are just an excuse to get to hang out with your friends outside of school; hardly anyone goes to actually watch the game anymore. Including me.
Big surprise, the anti-social butterfly stays home reading Pride and Prejudice, wow big shocker. I don't understand them anyway; too many whistles.