“Have you read any of them?” she questions sheepishly. “You know, he’s only going to keep texting until you reply. He’s worried about you. He’s like me, just not as bad, actually, this might just be the exception.”
I let out a heavy sigh, but can’t help smiling at her comment. “I know he’s worried and I get that it was an accident, he didn’t see me behind him and I shouldn’t have tried to break up a fight that was way out of my league. That was just asking for trouble and I don’t blame him for that nor will I hold it against him. I’m angry that it could have been avoided if he had just left it alone. He wants to be with Monica. What am I supposed to do? Go and tell him everything is fine in the world and that he’s still my special little guy while my vag grows cobwebs? No thanks.”
“For the record, he doesn’t want to be with her and you know that. He wants to be with you. It’s clear as day, but he wants a family for this kid. He wants to do it right.”
I let out a frustrated groan. “Why are we even talking about this anyway?” I question. “She’s pregnant. Me and Noah are done. There’s nothing more to it.”
Tully rolls her eyes and grabs me to stop me from storming off in some kind of dramatic exit. “There’s so much more to this,” she informs me. “Just because you guys can’t be together doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about you. He’s crazy about you and this whole situation is killing him. Hell, the fucker made me bail out of class just to come and check on you. You realize I had to fake a diarrhea explosion, right?”
“Yuck,” I cringe, scrunching up my face and making it hurt that much more. “But thanks. I thought you would have come and checked on me just because you wanted to, not because your brother made you.”
“Shut up,” she says, practically shoulder charging me. “You’re fine. You and I both know it. Noah is just worried you might be hating on him.”
“He’d be right. I am hating on him.”
She lets out a sigh. “Hating on him because of this morning or the baby thing?” she questions, being able to read beneath the surface.
“Baby thing,” I grumble.
“That’s not fair,” she scolds. “She’s like, six or seven weeks along. That shit happened way before you showed your pretty little face. You can’t hold it against him.”
“Doesn’t stop it hurting though.”
“I know, I’m feeling it too,” she sighs. “I mean, out of all the chicks he could have impregnated, why did it have to be her? She’s such a…”
“Skank?” I offer.
“Ha. Yeah,” she grins before her face becomes serious. “I assume you’re going to pretend the nurse sent you home?”
“I’d be stupid not to take advantage of the opportunity,” I tell her.
“Ok,” she says as the bell rings for first break. “I better go and find Noah before he comes looking for you.”
“In that case, I’m going to scram.”
“Good plan,” she laughs. “I’ll see you later. Text me if you need anything.”
Tully turns and walks away and I duck into the senior bathroom to quickly pee before getting out of here. Tully wasn’t wrong, I’ve only known Noah for a few weeks, but I know him well enough to know that he’s going to come looking for me and right now, I simply can’t handle that.
I walk into the bathroom and lock myself in a stall before getting down to business, but people walking in make me groan. I’ve always hated peeing with people in the same room. It’s not like we’re in the same stall together, but the walls are paper thin, so we might as well be.
Their shrill, over the top voices, instantly alert me to the fact that it’s Monica and Candice, and surprise, surprise, they’re bitching about me. What’s new?
I try my best to tune them out, but their arrogance continues to draw me in, and the fact that they’re getting all the details wrong about what went down this morning just seems to irritate me further.
“Cammy D. said that Noah and Spence were fighting over you and that Henley got jealous and threw herself at him. That’s how she got hurt,” Candice informs her with a laugh. “It was fucking perfect. You should have seen the trail of blood left up the hallway. You would have loved it.”
“Really?” Monica gasps. “Tyler in my math class said that Noah went all Hulk on Spencer because he told everyone that they fucked.”
I roll my eyes. At least that’s a little closer to the truth. A little.
“Don’t believe it,” Candice says. “Noah doesn’t give a shit about her. She’s a loser. He loves you.”