ON MONDAY MORNING, not even Lee noticed anything different about me – thankfully. But that was probably because he was too enraptured in his loved-up world. I couldn't have been more grateful to have him talking non-stop about how funny, how pretty, how cute, how smart, and how sweet Rachel was.
Up until we got to school, everything was all hunky-dory.
'Why did you leave Warren's early?' Jaime asked me, first thing.
'Oh, well, um . . .'
'Was it Flynn? Did Patrick really kiss you? He says he didn't, but you never know. I heard Flynn was really, really mad.'
'Oh, yeah, he was furious!' Olivia appeared out of nowhere beside Jaime. 'I saw the whole thing. He beat Patrick up and everything.'
'He didn't kiss me though,' I said. 'Patrick, I mean.'
'So what did Flynn do?'
'I heard he broke Patrick's rib.' Candice turned up out of the blue too, startling me. Jeez, where were these girls coming from?
'What?' I exclaimed.
'I said, what did Flynn do?' Jaime repeated.
I gaped at Candice. 'Are you serious? Is Patrick okay?'
'I don't know,' she said. 'He said he thought it was broken and a couple of guys said it was, after he went to hospital.'
'Oh my God,' I breathed. He couldn't have broken Patrick's rib. Not just because Patrick was drunk and was going to kiss me. No way.
'Hey! Hey – Earth to Elle!' It wasn't until Jaime snapped her fingers sharply right in front of my nose that I realized they were still talking to me.
'Huh?'
'Did Flynn take you home or what?' Karen asked. When had she turned up? 'I saw him drag you off.'
'Oh, that. Yeah. He took me home and I think he went back to the party?' I hoped it didn't sound too much of a lie. I didn't think I'm too great at lying; until this situation with Noah, I hadn't ever done much of it.
'No, I don't think he did,' Olivia said thoughtfully. 'I'm sure he didn't.'
'Weird . . .' I said with a shrug. 'I'll be back in a minute, I need to find out about Patrick.'
I walked off before they could pull me back into another conversation.
I grabbed Joel's arm, since he was the first guy I saw.
'Oh, hey,' he said, smiling. 'What happened on Saturday? I heard Flynn dragged you home after that thing with Patrick.'
'Did Patrick really have a broken rib?' I demanded.
'Uh . . . someone told me he might,' he said. 'He's not in hospital, though – he's coming into school.'
'That must've been some punch Flynn packed.'
'Glad I wasn't on the other end of it,' laughed Cam.
'Hell yeah,' Joel agreed.
'Do you know if he's here yet?' I asked.
'Who, Flynn? No idea,' Cam told me.
'No – no . . . Patrick,' I clarified, tripping over my words with impatience.
He shrugged. 'I haven't seen him.'
'Okay, thanks.'
'Wait,' Joel called. 'Where're you going, Elle?'
'To find Noah,' I snapped, loud enough for them to hear me. I stormed off to where Noah usually parked: in the far corner of the lot, under the big tree. And sure enough, there were the telltale signs he was there – freshmen girls giggling over him and trying to hide behind other cars; others lounging on their cars and trying to catch Flynn's eye; and the drifting smoke.
I stormed over to the lazy figures around the tree. There were a couple of stoner kids huddled under one tree, some huge guys off the wrestling team under another. Noah had a cigarette sticking out of his mouth right now, and was leaning against a massive sycamore tree. He was doing something on his phone, looking busy and bored all at once.
It was always hard to pin down Noah's friends. He'd hang around with the guys on the football team, or he might be with guys from his classes. He was a bit of a drifter though. Not a loner or an outcast, but he wasn't friends with practically everybody like Lee and me either. He was probably a little too intimidating for that.
'Noah!' I yelled, ignoring the glares and astonished stares – from both girls spying on Noah, and from the mass of people who wondered what the hell I was doing.
He looked up and, seeing how angry I was, heaved himself away from the tree.
'I cannot believe you!' I shouted at him.
He strolled up to me, dropping his cigarette in the progress and stomping it out under the black boots he usually wore. He slid his phone into his back pocket.
'What?' he said innocently.
I shoved him in the chest as hard as I could over and over, one shove for every word: 'You – broke – his – rib!'
'What are you on about?'
My shoving had no effect whatsoever on Noah's muscly body, but I could tell it was getting on his nerves a little. Like a fly buzzing around your head.
'Patrick! Everyone's saying you broke his rib! He had to go to hospital!'
Noah smirked. He didn't even raise his eyebrows or look remotely guilty. He just smirked a little. 'Yeah, I heard about that.'
'He could press charges,' I hissed.
'Yeah, but we both know he won't.'
'He didn't even do anything! And you don't have to look so happy about it!' I yelled, shoving him again. 'You broke his rib – for no reason!'
'The hell I did!' he yelled back. 'The guy was all over you. Anyone could see you were trying to push him off.'
'He was drunk!'
'I don't care if he was drunk, high, or just twisted,' Noah said, all up in my face. 'I'm looking out for you here, Rochelle, and the guy deserved what he got.'
'A broken rib? He probably won't be able to play soccer for weeks now!'
'Then he shouldn't have tried anything with you,' Noah said firmly. 'If he got his rib broken, that's not my problem. Why do you even care?'
'You hurt him over something stupid! You – you stupid violence junkie!'
I punched his chest with both hands, and Noah caught my wrists tightly. I glared at him and tried to snatch my hands back, but I couldn't; his hold was too tight.
We'd gathered quite an audience with all the yelling.
Someone pulled gently on my shoulder. 'Shelly, come on,' Lee said quietly. 'Just calm down. Both of you.'
Noah rolled his eyes at him.
'Calm down?' I exclaimed to Lee. 'Your brother beat up someone over a drunken mistake and broke his rib! How can you not see there's something wrong with that?'
'I didn't say there was nothing wrong with it,' he said calmly. 'But calm down about it.'
I clenched my jaw before realizing Lee was right, as usual. I yanked my hands away from Noah, and this time he let go. I didn't quit my glaring match with him though.
'I cannot believe you,' I said.
Noah just shrugged.
'I hate you sometimes – you know that, right?'
'Yeah, I know,' he said casually, his eyes twinkling at me – with something else that made my heart somersault.
No! Don't let him do this to you! Stay mad at him. You're mad at him, Rochelle, remember? He hurt someone for no good reason. Don't just stop being mad at him because he's giving you that look and you want to kiss him.
Before I gave in and did something stupid, I grabbed Lee and stormed off. I didn't even need to barge through people. They parted for me, before coming together again to share the gossip.
'I thought you were going to kill him,' Lee told me, failing to hide the laughter in his voice.
'Not quite,' I muttered. 'Ugh, he just makes me so mad sometimes! I mean, seriously, there was no need for him to break Patrick's rib!'
'Look, I know it's what everyone's saying, but you of all people should know there's a chance they're blowing it out of proportion. It might not be that bad. And it's Noah – you know what he's like. I don't know why you got so mad about it.'
'I can't do anything without him looking over my shoulder! And don't you start on about me being too nice or any of that crap. I'm getting a little sick of everyone looking out for me.'
So maybe I'd needed Noah's help at his party a while back. And I was grateful he'd been there to stop Patrick. But it was the way he acted – like he just assumed I'd do as he said.
Lee sighed in defeat but smiled at me when he threw up his hands in surrender. 'Look, I know you're mad at him, but don't take it out on me. And I see what you're saying. I'll try and talk to him, how about that? Ask him to lay off a little?'
I don't know why I'd overreacted so much to Noah like that. I think it was because I was so on edge that Lee might find out what I'd done after the party.
So I said, 'I doubt it'd have any effect.'
'I know it wouldn't.'
'But thanks for offering.'
'No problem. So have you done the English homework, or not? Because I didn't get a chance to do the conclusion and I'm stuck.'
I smiled. Lee always made me feel better. I loved my best friend, I really did. And his optimism was too infectious for me to stay mad about anything for very long.
The total opposite to his brother, of course. His stupid, sexy brother.
Call me a coward, but I hid out in the library over lunch. I couldn't bear to face any more questions about why I'd been so mad at Flynn, how I could even speak to him like that . . . I was half considering going home and skipping school for the afternoon, I was so sick of everyone, but I couldn't bring myself to actually walk out.
Lee kept me company of course, but eventually we had to leave.
I was half expecting to bump into Noah – or, worse, one of the girls – on my way to classes. I didn't. My karma must have done a sudden one-eighty since that morning.
When the last bell finally rang – I'd been watching the snail-like second hand move around the clock in chemistry – I couldn't have been happier. I just wanted to get out of there.
Lee had biology though, so I had to wait for him at the front of the school, lounging on his car.
'Hey, Elle.'
I turned around, looking up from playing solitaire on my cell phone. I smiled, but it felt a little forced. 'Patrick. Hey. How's, um . . . How's your rib?'
He gave a half-smile. 'Well, it's not as bad as everyone's been saying. It's just some bruising, but my mom made me go get it checked out because she got all paranoid I'd broken something, is all.' He said it quite light-heartedly, and I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.
'Oh, that's great! Well, no, it's not – but, I mean, everyone was saying it was broken so . . . I'm so sorry, Patrick, honestly. This is all my fault – I didn't mean for you to get hurt or—'
'No, it's my fault,' he said quickly. 'I came over to apologize. I didn't see you at lunch.'
'You don't need to apologize,' I insisted.
'No, I do, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried anything like that with you, and all the beer was no excuse.'
'Really, it's okay,' I told him fervently. 'I'm so sorry Noah went all . . .'
'Yeah, well, don't worry. It was just Flynn being Flynn. It's not your fault, Elle, so don't worry about it.' He smiled. I gave him a smile back.
A throat was cleared, and we both turned around to see a glowering Noah.
I ignored him and looked back at Patrick, who was trying his best to look like he didn't want to flee to safety. 'Well, I hope you get better soon.'
'Thanks, Elle. And seriously, I'm so sorry.'
'Don't worry about it. See you.'
'Bye,' he said, already walking off.
I shot Noah a glare and went back to playing solitaire. I could still feel he was there, watching me.
'What did he want?' he said after a while.
'To apologize.'
'What, and that's it? He just wanted to say sorry?'
I quit the game and shoved my cell phone in my pocket, whipping around to glare at Noah. 'Yeah, even though it's you who should be apologizing to him for hurting him! He had to go to hospital because of you!' I figured I'd guilt-trip him a little, so I didn't add that he'd only gone to hospital at his mom's paranoid request.
'Don't start this again . . .' He'd taken a couple of steps closer, and now he half turned away from me, tugging at his hair.
'Start what, Noah?' I snapped.
'You're really hot when you're mad at me, you know,' he commented in a husky voice.
My mind blanked momentarily and my breath caught in my throat. Why did he have this effect on me? 'Shut up, Noah. Go away.'
Where was Lee anyway? He shouldn't be taking this long . . .
I looked around. Most of the other students had left by now, and a few stragglers were looking curiously over at me and Noah. Finally I spotted Lee and Rachel standing by her car, talking and looking all cute and loved-up.
Damn it. I wished he'd hurry up already.
'You can always get a ride home with me, you know,' Noah said conversationally. I refused to answer. 'Elle . . .?'
Eventually I had to look back at him, and when I did, he was smirking victoriously, thinking he'd won the argument.
'Do you want the ride or not?' he asked. 'Lee's going to be ages, we both know it. My offer stands for the next thirty seconds. Time is ticking.'
I really did just want to go home. By the time Lee turned up, I would probably have run down my cell and be dying of boredom . . .
'Tick-tock,' Noah teased.
'Bike or car?'
'Bike.'
'No.'
He laughed. 'You know you didn't really hate it, Shelly. And it gives you an excuse to cling onto me.'
'Um, no.'
He got this weird look on his face then – like he was confused; like he was annoyed by my reaction. I'd honestly hated my last experience on his bike and was in no rush to repeat it unless I absolutely had to. Like, if a horde of monkey-ninjas were chasing me, and Noah's bike was my last hope of escape.
Then he let out a sigh and briefly touched my cheek, turning me to look at him. 'Elle, come on. Don't be mad at me.'
He wasn't talking about Patrick anymore, I realized.
'I'm not mad at you. Well. I am, about you punching Patrick. But other than that – I'm not, you know, mad about the whole, um . . . the other night.'
'Oh, come on. You've been avoiding me all day and now you're acting weird.'
'I'm not acting weird.'
'Yes you are. You aren't arguing with me like you usually would, and you aren't being your normal bubbly self either. You're mad at me.'
I sighed. 'I'm not mad – it's just that . . .'
'What?'
Oh, gosh, don't say anything! Make something up! Anything but the truth!
And, as per usual, my mouth seemed to be working away regardless of my brain.
'I'm worried because of Lee, and . . . I just don't want you to forget all about me now we . . . you know. Did it.'
Oh, dear God. I said 'did it'.
Way to go, Elle. You complete and utter fool.
Noah didn't seem to notice anything, though; he simply replied, 'Elle, I thought I put myself through this torture with you the other morning. I told you I was not just playing you for sex.'
I could see from his face that he was completely sincere. His wide eyes were pleading and honest, and there wasn't a hint of a smirk.
So I nodded. 'Alright.'
He let out a tiny sigh of relief. 'So . . . ride home? I'll even drop you straight to your place if you want.'
Now the smirk was back, because he was so sure I wouldn't be able to resist the opportunity to make out with him again. And I was tempted . . . but then I remembered he had his bike.
'Noah, there is no way in hell I am riding that bike.'
He held up his hands in surrender. 'Okay, okay – your loss . . .'
Then I frowned. 'I'm still mad at you for almost breaking Patrick's rib. It's a big deal because you lost your temper and you were stupid,' I added before he could argue.
He sighed. 'I know.'
I looked him in the eye, and the only reply I could come up with was to nod. He gave me an apologetic half-smile that made him look absolutely adorable; but I kept my expression neutral.
'I am sorry.'
I nodded again. 'You should probably get going.'
'Mm.' He didn't sound like he totally agreed with me.
'Goodbye, Noah,' I said, my voice level.
He lingered a moment before walking away, and I swear I heard him chuckling under his breath.
Well . . . that could've gone worse.
There was a little voice somewhere in the back of my mind that told me I wouldn't be in this whole mess in the first place if we hadn't done the damn kissing booth.