Olivia debated whether or not she should go to school; Noah seemed pretty pissed at what happened, but it wasn't intentional. Even if it was, she wouldn't have done it either way. She figured she could just find ways not to bump into him at school. Pun not intended.
In the parking lot, Olivia stayed put in her car, checking to see if Noah's car was in its usual spot. Surprisingly, it wasn't. Maybe he'd come late, but she wasn't exactly sure. She exited her car, looking around to see if he'd come at any moment. Olivia was prepared to hop in a bush or run into the restroom if she had too.
As she came closer to her locker, she examined the hallway and peeked over towards Noah's locker. It felt like she was in some thriller movie where she thought she was being followed everywhere. She sighed in relief, glad he wasn't there. She was actually scared of what he might do to get his revenge on her.
Grabbing her art book for homeroom, she could feel someone creeping up on her and as she turned to her left, Isaac leaned against the locker out of nowhere, smiling at her.
"Hey," He studied her face, noting that she looked terrified but relieved at the same time, "Are you okay? You seem jumpy."
"I'm fine, just a little, you know, cautious." She said nervously.
"Ah, the whole Noah tripping thing has you on your toes, huh?" Isaac chuckled. "Relax, don't let him get to you." He reassured her she was going to be fine.
"I know, I'm just… a little scared." She sighed. "Okay, really scared."
Isaac placed his hand on her shoulder, "Like I said, I'll beat him up for you." He clenched his fists up as if he were ready to fight. Olivia giggled, his comment making her feel a little bit better about this whole situation. "Let's get to first, I hear we're doing clay sculptures today." He said excitedly as Olivia shut her locker.
They started to make their way towards Mrs. Walsh's class when Olivia turned around to check once more if Noah was at his locker. She let her shoulders relax when he still wasn't there.
Olivia was still on high alert.
Besides being the laughing stock of the entire school that Thursday afternoon, Noah decided to stay home to lessen the chance of being reminded of that horrible day. Usually he was the one to join in on someone else's embarrassment, but this time, he was the one that had the focus on him. Noah dealt with it by avoiding everyone at all costs.
"Noah, you're going to be late for school." His mother, Rachel Sanders, knocked on his door.
"I'm not feeling well." He groaned.
"Okay. Get better." Her voice faded away from the door, and it made Noah feel a little angry. Wasn't she going to check up on him? What if he really wasn't feeling well? He sighed, knowing she cared more about her job.
He headed downstairs, checking his phone in the process. Austin had texted him, along with Dylan, along with a few unknown numbers. He opened up the first unknown number, weirded out by how this person got his number. It read:
"Hey Noah! It's Karen, remember me? Got your number from a friend, just wondering where you're at since you're not at school! Text back! :)"
He quickly deleted the number, and realized that the two other unknown numbers were friends of this Karen girl. He didn't even know who they were, which creeped him out.
After getting those unwanted texts out of the way, he opened Austin's text, which read:
"Heard what happened yesterday, can't believe she did that bro! Black Sheep must be getting tired of our shit haha!"
Noah pursed his lips, remembering what happened yesterday. He didn't want to be reminded about it, so he didn't reply. Hearing the name Black Sheep made Noah a little agitated. All he could think of was how she had the nerve to ridicule him like that.
He opened Dylan's text last, which said:
"Sup Noah, if someone texts you saying they got your number from me, they're lying. Some chick tricked me into letting her borrow my phone to make a call. She weird too."
That explains it. He should've read Dylan's text first; after all, it didn't remind him of Black Sheep and getting three unknown numbers texting his phone seemed a little suspicious to him. It wasn't unusual that girls were following him like lost puppies though. Ever since he cut his hair after middle school, girls were practically throwing themselves at him. He didn't mind, but at times, it got pretty crazy.
Like once, when Noah was a sophomore, his cousin, Drew Sanders, flew him out to Florida over the summer. Being a city boy for a majority of his life, camping was completely new to him. Well, one day while they were out on the water fishing at some lake, they had come across another boat that included a family of about six people. There was a girl, around Noah's age, staying on the other boat and out of nowhere, she jumps into the swamp-like water and swims all the way to their boat. It was pretty odd and what she had done next was completely unexpected. She clung onto their boat and started asking for his name and kept telling him countless times that he was handsome and what not. Noah would've been okay with it if the girl was cute, but in this case, he was certainly freaked out. She even asked for his number and he used the same excuse almost everyone's used at least once in their life time.
"Sorry, I don't have a phone."
He remembered that day clearly, and as she crinkled her nose in disbelief, she wouldn't leave him alone.
"That's insane. Everybody has a phone nowadays!"
She waded in the water still hanging onto their boat and he felt that she was going to go crazy, psycho, stalker on him. The only reason he was able to get away was because Drew had asked- more like scolded- the girl to let go of their boat and to leave them alone.
That was probably the strangest girl he's ever came across. Even Black Sheep wasn't that weird.
Throughout the day, Olivia felt that Noah was hiding around every corner, just waiting for her. She became aware of her surroundings, hoping Noah wasn't near her at all. Turns out he wasn't even at school.
Once fifth period came around, she sat in class waiting for him to walk through the door, late as usual. After the bell rang, she waited and waited. And waited.
He didn't barge through the door like he normally did. That was such a huge relief for her. She was able to get through the rest of the day not feeling like she had someone watching her every move and she knew she wouldn't be embarrassed that day, which made her feel a lot better.
Olivia went straight home after school, still cautious that Noah could be in the parking lot waiting for her. He wasn't though, and she began to wonder if maybe she was overthinking this whole thing. Was she? She knew what he was capable of, and he has embarrassed her many, many times before. Why would she think he wouldn't do it again? Especially now that he actually had a reason to get back at her.
She shook the thought from her brain, just wanting to get home and start her surprise weekend. As she pulled into her street, she realized that there was another car in their driveway, taking her spot. Olivia furrowed her brows, wondering who exactly that could be. She parked on the side of the house and gathered her school things.
"Mom, who's car is that in the drive way?" She yelled into the house, locking the door behind her. Making her way into the living room, a girl sat on the couch with her back facing Olivia. The sound of Olivia's footsteps made her turn around and Olivia's eyes went wide.
"Oh my god, you're here! In New Orleans!" Olivia exclaimed, walking over the girl.
"I am, and so are you!" The girl replied. Olivia's mom walked down the stairs, smiling at the sight of the two of them hugging.
"Surprise!" Emily clapped her hands, "Myra called me this morning to tell me she was coming to town!"
"So this is the surprise you were talking about?" Olivia asked, smiling from ear to ear.
"Actually, it wasn't. But now your surprise will be even better, especially with what Myra had told me she had in store for you."
"And what is that exactly?" Olivia looked over at Myra who was grinning.
"It's a surprise, and I won't tell you until tomorrow." They all laughed.
"I haven't seen you in three years!" Olivia giggled, sitting down with Myra.
"I know, we never really had time to visit after the last time we came. My mom and dad wanted me to tell you guys that they miss you both so much." Myra added in. "But, we are going to have a great weekend together!"
"Can't wait." Olivia smiled. This is exactly what she needed to get her mind off of everything that happened this week.
Myra Livingston, Olivia's best friend, had moved away after their eighth grade graduation. She was probably one of the sweetest people Olivia has ever known. She looked up to her, and if it wasn't for her, she wouldn't have been able to get through her father's death the way she had. They called each other almost every single day after it happened. It was like she knew exactly what to do to help Olivia process this whole tragedy that felt like a dream.
She had Myra to thank for guiding her during that troublesome time, along with her mother.
Now Olivia couldn't wait for this surprise weekend to pan out.