Chapter 8
The sleepover had been so much fun.
We ate popcorn, watched movies, gossiped about a bunch of stuff I didn't understand, and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning.
Best night of my life.
Okay. Second place to meeting Ed Sheeran and watching a private concert of his.
That had been great.
However, I still was thinking about Mike's call. The opportunity.
Not even five minutes after I hung up the phone with him, mom called. She hasn't called me since her and dad left Texas. Somethjing about being super busy, yet she calls immediately after she hears I have an acting opportunity.
I could hear Dad practically prying mom off the phone just to say hi to me.
He had called a few times since they left, but no more than once a week. I understand he's really busy so I don't pester him too much about it, but I still wish he would call more often.
Back to the offer, I didn't know what to do. The movies sounded like an amazing opportunity, but I still didn't know if I wanted it.
I had tried to push the idea to the back of my mind, but everytime I would have any spare time, it would creep back to the front.
I knew at some point in the near future I was going to have to make a final decision, but I just didn't want to do it right now.
As if the stress of the movie wasn't enough, Cal had been acting weird ever since I came back from the sleepover. He's been shut up in his room and grouchy when he does come out.
I doubt his strange attitude has to do with me. I'm sure something happened while I was gone and he just hasn't told me yet.
I was fixing myself some breakfast for the morning, when Cal stumbled into the kitchen. Like each morning for the past four days, he had a scowl on his face and he wasn't even close to being ready for school.
"Cal, I'm leaving this house in fiftteen minutes. Are you going to be ready?"
I grabbed an apple and bit into the red piece of deliciousness.
"Yes, mom, I'll be ready," he said, rolling his eyes.
I put the apple down onto the nearest surface and faced him with a hand on my hip.
"Okay. I'm tired of this. What's going on Cal? You've been acting weird all week. Did something happen while I was at the sleepover?"
I asked the two questions that had been occupying my thoughts for the week and patiently waited for him to respond.
"What's going on? You want to know what's going on? Well, why don't you ask your boyfriend or has he already dumped you," he spitfully said.
Okay. Why is he being so defensive? And what the hack does this have to do with Noland.
"First of all, we're not dating, not that our status is any of your business. Second of all, you can walk to school if you're going to be that rude," I said, my face turning hard with a scowl.
I knew I was probably over reacting, but I'm a teenage girl. That's what I live for.
"Fine! I don't need your charity! I can make it to school myself," he said, turning on his heel and walking out of the kitchen. A few seconds later I heard his bedroom door slam.
Why is he acting so immaturely?!
"Ugh," I groaned, stomping my foot.
I grabbed my keys from my purse and my apple from the table.
I did not have to put up with his crap. He could find his own ride.
****
The school day went by rather slowly.
I took a test, turned in some homework, feel asleep during a lecture. The norm (I guess).
When I walked into fifth period Biology ll class, I noticed I finally had table buddie.
"Noland?"
When he saw me step into the classroom, he smiled and waved at me from his seat.
"Are you in this class," he asked, as I settled into the seat next to him.
"Nope. I just thought I would come sit beside you before class," I said bitterly.
"Woah. Okay. You have a little sass this morning," he laughed. Then his face turned solemn and he asked, "Have you been having a bad day?"
I let out a big breath and ran a hand through my wavy hair.
"Yeah. Sorry for being snappy. Cal and I had an argument this morning and I'm pretty sure he's still mad at me because he hasn't even looked in my direction.''
Noland tensed up a little, but quickly relaxed again and leaned forward in his chair.
"I wouldn't take it too seriously. He's a guy and we normally can't even remember to tie out shoes so he will probably get over it pretty soon," he said, with an easy smile on his face.
I nodded my head in agreement (like I knew anything about guys) and decided to change topics.
"So why are you in this class now?"
"Oh, yeah. My schedule was changed so I was moved into this class period. The teacher told me this seat was empty and lucky me, you sat in the seat beside me," he said, smiling at me.
Awww!
"Yeah. Johnny kinda scared away any classmates wanting to sit beside me so the seat has been empty since the beginnning of the school year,'' I said shrugging my shoulders.
I looked back at the big guy and saw him staring at the back of Noland's head, as if challenging Noland to turn around and look at him.
I quickly turned back around and looked at Noland.
There was just something about him that drew me in. He wasn't some pretty boy that you could find in an abercrombie ad, yet I was attracted to him like i've never been attracted to anyone before.
Maybe part of the reason was because he was so real. I've met loads of hot guys, but I could never tell who was genuinely nice and who was faking it. I was too scared of getting hurt to try dating any of them or crushing on them for that matter
Noland was different though. I felt like the risk was worth it, even though I knew nearly nothing about him.
Maybe it was the way his eyes squinted when he smiled, or how his hair was always perfectly messy, yet styled.
Could anyone's nose be more perfect?
I studied his side profile a little longer until I heard my name being called.
"Rory...Rory."
"Huh," I said, sitting up straight.
I realized Noland was the one calling my name which meant he had probably caught me staring at him.
"You okay there? You kinda zoned out there for a moment," he said with a smirk.
He deffinitely caught me staring at him. Fan-freaking-tastic.
"Yup," I said, putting my head into my hand to cover my very red cheeks that were only getting worse the longer Noland smirked at me.
Luckily, the teacher chose that excruciating moment to start class.
"Okay. Class, sorry for being out yesterday. I had a nasty stomach virus over the weekend, but don't worry i'm back now,'' Mr. Jones said extending his hands to a make his presence clear.
Like we couldn't see him standing at the front of the class in a bright yellow button up.
"Anyway, I said I would give y'all a week to settle in and then we would lock in the seating chart so..," he said, grabbing a clipboard off his desk.
"As I point to you, tell me your name so I can write it in the seating chart. And the person beside you is also your partner when we do disections," he said with a nod as he started pointing to people.
"Disections? As in like examining the inside of stuff," I asked Noland, with a cringe.
"Yeah. That would be it."
"Right... I thought that was just something they did in movies."
"Nope. It's very much real,'' he said, smirking at me again. "If it makes you feel an better, I can do all the cutting and all you will have to do is hold skin and give me tools. Things like that," he said.
I was about to respond, when Mr. Jones pointed to me.
''Name,'' he said, barely looking up from his clipboard.
"Rory Pinnock."
"Pinnock," he asked, finally looking up. "Are you related to Julianne Pinnock?"
"Yes. She's my mother," I said, trying to hold back and eye roll.
Most teenagers knew who I was, but anyone over the age of twenty-five only recognized my last name and connected it to my mother.
"Ahh. That makes sense. You look a lot like her," he said, continuing with his seating chart.
"I get that a lot," I mumbled under my breath.
Apparently I wasn't quiet enough because Noland turned to me with a questioning look.
"Do you get compared to her a lot," he asked, studying my expression.
"More than I would like,'' I said with a sigh.
"I get it,'' he said, surprising me. "My family, well, mostly my dad, owns most of the big stores in town and of course, he wants me to take over the business when he retires."
He blew air out of his mouth and glanced at me before looking at the front of the classroomm before finishing.
"I love being in the business industry and I plan to major in it in college, but I don't want to run a few small stores in a town no one has heard of. I want to live in a big city where I can actually have opportunities to better myself."
At this point, he was looking at the table with a crease between his eyebrows. I realized this was the first meaningful conversation we've had since we've met. Every other time we've just flirted, I guess.
We would just say whatever came up, but now he was opening up to me. That meant he trusted me.
Eeeekkkk!
"Me too," I said.
"You too what," he asked, with a puzzled expression.
"I want to live in a big city." with you.
Stupid brain. Giving me false fantasies.
"I've always liked every big city i've been too, especially Dublin. I love how I feel apart of something with all the people there, like I have a purpose" I said.
"That's exactly how I feel," he said, smiling widely at me.
I heard a throat clear and I realized the teacher was waiting for us to stop talking so he could start his lesson.
"Thank you, Miss Pinnock and Mr. Milton for allowing me to start my class," he said, turning to face his marker board.
"You're welcome, Mr. Jones," Noland said, winking at me.
I felt my face heat up so I hurriedly ducked below the top of the table to grab a notebook out of my bag.
I don't know how I'm going to survive this class without over heating.
****
The shrill bell rang, signaling the end of eighth period and school and I felt like cheering at the glorious sound. However, my happiness was short lived because when I walked out of the classroom I came face to face with Brittany Sanches.
''Rory. What a nice surprise," she greeted with a sneer.
I guess she heard I was still talking to Noland instead of taking her advice and ignoring him.
"Brittany. I haven't heard from you in a while," I said with a fake smile.
"Yeah. I've been a little busy between being cheerleading captain and running student council, plus doing all of the work from my AP classes. It's really exhausting."
Even though Brittany was the queen bee of the school, she wasn't the stereotypical stupid blonde. She was really smart and cunning in her own way. From what I heard, she had a way of getting others to do her work when she didn't feel like it, plus she still made excellent grades on her tests.
I wasn't stupid either, but I had to work to make good grades. For people like Brittany, good grades just came naturally, which was something I had more recently become jealous of.
I didn't have to worry about making the grade so my parents wouldn't ground me, when I was homeschooled. Sure my parents cared about me getting an education, but they way they saw it, my future was already set. They didn't care if I wanted to go to college and get a degree because it didn't matter either way. My grades didn't really matter to them because who did I need to impress. To me, however, I always thought that there was a chance of me going to college so I tried to work hard and keep up my grades.
"Wow. That's quite the schedule," I said, my voice laced with sarcasm.
"Okay. Enough small talk. I'm just going to get to the point."
She took a step towards me so that I was pushed farther up against the wall.
"I gave you a nice warning, telling you to stay away from Noland, but you didn't seem to get the point. Noland, is mine. We will get back together. I don't want some celebrity coming, and messing with his head. We all know you don't really care about anyone here."
I clenched my fists, but put a smile on my face. I would not let some slore come and insult me when she was ten times worse than me.
"Even though that is far from the truth, you can believe what you want. Look, Noland and I are just friends. I'm not here to get a boyfriend anyway; I'm here for school and that's all. If you're so threatened by me though, why don't you just talk to Nolan about it. I'm sure he'd be more than willing to tell you what's really going on."
With that I pushed past her shoulder and went to the school doors that looked more even more welcoming the closer I got to them.
However, I stopped just before I opened them because of the crowd that was outside.
To top off my wonderful afternooon, the papparazzi were waiting for me outside the school.
****
This chapter was really hard for me to write. It's mostly a filler, leading up to Noland's party. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. And I know this took forever to update, but I started school and I haven't had time to really sit down and write. So far, Senior year is kicking my butt.
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xx