~Thursday January 20th~
Standing up from my chair, it feels like I've just woken up from a long night of sleep. I wobble slightly in my groggy state, which was induced by a ninety minute history lecture. I know Mr O'Connor means well, but listening to him talk about the Revolutionary War for an hour and a half first thing in the morning was not what I needed today.
I watch as Olivia scurries out of the classroom, quickly finding Cameron where he was waiting for her in the hallway. I don't bother trying to follow them, I hate third wheeling. I've brought this up to Olivia before and she says that she really doesn't mind when I join in on their conversations, but I prefer to leave them be when they're alone. I'd hate to intrude on an intimate moment, embarrassing all three of us.
So instead of chasing after Olivia, I spot Noah walking down the hallway by himself and go to join him. I think it's safe to say that we've become actual friends in the past week, which I am very proud of. If you had told me just over two weeks ago that I would soon call the guy who I thought was out to kill me my friend, I would think you had lost it. But Noah has changed, he's become much kinder, and I adapted my own attitude to fit.
"Hey Noah," I say as I fall in step with him.
"I'm not in the mood Teresina," he grumbles, just loud enough to be heard over the chatter of our classmates.
"What's wrong?" My tone changes from happy and casual to concerned.
"It's none of your business, I said I'm not in the mood," he replies just as grumpily. Before I can say anything else he suddenly turns down the hallway, in a direction that I know does not lead to his next class. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion and stop at the side of the hallway, slightly hurt by his avoiding me. This is not the Noah I had dinner with on Monday, not the Noah that protected me from Andrew, not even the Noah I had a short text conversation with last night. I thought he knew he could talk to me when something was wrong.
"Don't take it personally, he gets like that sometimes," Cameron says from behind me. I turn around to see him and Olivia, they must have noticed the short exchange when they were stopped in the hallway. "Can't blame him really," Cameron trails off, making me even more confused. I look to Olivia, but she shrugs her shoulders, just as clueless as me. Cameron seems to get lost in thought for a moment before continuing. "Anyway, he'll calm down soon enough. Just give him some space. He'll reach out to you when he's feeling better." I look back at Cameron again, desperately trying to process this information enough to form a response, but I come up with nothing. I have absolutely no idea what is going on right now. "See you guys later," he says, sending a small wave to Olivia who returns it with a sweet smile. As he walks off, I continue to open and close my mouth like a fish to Olivia.
"Girl, I don't know," she says before I can even ask. We both turn and walk towards our classrooms.
"What... just happened," I finally say.
"I still don't know, but I have a completely different question for you."
"Shoot," I say, not wanting to think about Noah anymore right now.
"Do you think Andrew could be a werewolf?" Olivia says in a hushed voice. I immediately stop walking and Olivia pauses too, likely anticipating my reaction.
"Are you three on some kind of drugs?"
"No, I'm being serious."
"Am I dreaming right now? Neither you, Noah, or Cameron are making any sense."
"You're not dreaming, I'm actually serious about this," she says, pulling my arm to make me continue walking. "I have evidence."
"Nothing you say will convince me that Andrew is a werewolf."
"Hear me out! Okay, so once a month or so he goes up to you and asks you out, then disappears for a few days, then comes back and apologizes, right?"
"Yes..."
"What if that's every full moon?" Olivia says, her eyes widening with emphasis.
"You're ridiculous."
"Wait, I have more proof! This past monday, he got super aggressive, right? This Monday was a full moon." I give her a questioning look.
"I'm unconvinced."
"This one's more of a stretch, but he hasn't cut his hair in a while."
"That one is more than just a stretch Olivia. He's not a werewolf just because he has anger management issues and needs a haircut."
"Well what's your proof?" She asks me.
"Don't you think we would have realized by now? I've known him for over ten years, I think I would have noticed."
"That's not solid proof."
"Your's isn't either! This is insanity," I say more to myself than to Olivia.
"I'm going to gather more evidence. Think about it! You'll see I'm right soon enough."
"Goodbye Olivia," I say turning towards my classroom and shaking my head at the strangeness of the past five minutes.
~~~~~
My trust in Cameron's word is confirmed when I receive a text from Noah at five-sixteen that evening.
"Are you busy? Can we talk?" Not the most comforting conversation starter, but at least I know I'm not the one in the wrong here.
"Sure, I'm free," I send back right away, eager to find out what was going on.
"I'm sorry Teresina. I didn't mean to be rude to you, I just knew that I would have been even meaner if I had let you start an actual conversation. I really didn't want to be like that around you."
"It's okay Noah, you really weren't that rude. But I'm still confused about what the cause of this was. Is everything alright?" I watch as the little text bubble appears and disappears three times before staying as he tries to decide what to say.
"Everything is fine, it's just that I could tell that I wasn't going to be very pleasant to talk to in that moment, and I didn't want you to have to deal with me like that. Anymore than you already have, at least. But the way that I tried to fix the situation wasn't very kind either, so I'm sorry."
"It's alright," I respond right away. "You don't have to avoid me Noah. I can look past a little grumpiness, especially since I've figured out that it's more of a facade."
"What do you mean?"
"I think I've got you figured out. And you're not who people think you are."
"Thank you?" Noah responds after a short pause.
"Yeah, that was definitely a compliment."
"Not a plea? ;)" Noah sends, referencing to when I asked him to stay and protect me when he forced me to steal out of Zach's locker.
"Not this time, Thompson." He doesn't respond for a couple of minutes, so I place my phone down and continue eating dinner. Not long later though, I feel it vibrate on the table and pick it back up.
"Thank you," is all he sent me.
"For what?"
"For understanding." I'm slightly dumbstruck by his response. I had expected that he was going to turn snarky by thanking me for the 'compliment,' but he is obviously completely sincere.
"Of course," I send back, not able to think of anything better to say. Nothing could sum up how I'm feeling about this better. Of course I'll be understanding about him having a bad day and not wanting to take it out on me. It's actually impressive how he's able to keep himself in check like that. He doesn't respond, and I don't say anything more.
~~~~~
~Friday January 21st~
"Five, six, seven, eight, and!" Miss Marie says from the front of the empty studio, causing me to spring to life. I focus intently on the choreography she taught me only seconds before, trying to keep my technique clean while also practicing the new sequence. When I finish what she's taught me so far I stop dancing and she pauses the music, immediately bombarding me with corrections on musicality and technique which I try desperately to remember. I try to ignore the tickling sensation of sweat dripping down my lower back as I wipe more droplets off of my forehead. I'm only half way through my hour long rehearsal, but I've been dancing the entire time.
When the hour is up Miss Marie sends me out of the studio for a five minute break before I will have to return again, this time joined by other dancers. I just learned one of the solos which I dance while some of the younger girls dance on the sides, as the corps de ballet. The next two hours will be easier because I will get to take breaks while the other girls learn choreography, but I'm already tired.
After drinking a third of my water bottle I go back into rehearsals. No matter how difficult the coming weekend rehearsals will be, the distant goal of performing on stage will stick with me. I'll never be able to give into the exhaustion, because I am far too excited.
~~~~~
Written 8/12/18, Published 8/19/18
Sorry for not updating last week, but I have good news! The reason why I didn't update then was because I thought this chapter was boring which made it hard to write, and I knew it wouldn't be as fun to read. So I added some things and roughed it out. I have had all 50 chapters of this book planned out since last summer, and the next chapter I had planned was even MORE boring. So I struggled with that for a little bit and then just scrapped it. Then I wrote the next five chapters in two days. So this means that I will definitely be updating for the next 5 weeks (into the school year). Also, just a warning, chapters 29-31 are intense. Like, you will all be shook. So get ready, that's coming soon ;)
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