I woke up with the sun. We’d forgotten to close the curtain last night, and Cress groaned as the soft morning light filtered through our bedroom window. I’d slept surprisingly well considering it was my first night in a new place. But now that I was awake, I had no hope of returning to sleep.
Cress grumbled again and pulled a pillow over her face. She’d come in much later than me last night, and I quickly rose from my bed to close the curtain. We didn’t need to be up for a couple more hours, and I was sure Cress would want to go back to sleep.
By the time I turned back to face the room, her breaths had become slow and deep once more. I was impressed by how easily she’d drifted off. There was no way I could go back to sleep once I was up, so I decided to get dressed. I threw on a pair of shorts, a tank, and my running sneakers. I was feeling kind of jittery about starting school, and I figured a little fresh air wouldn’t hurt.
The corridor was silent as I made my way outside. Everyone was still sleeping after the party last night. I was glad I’d decided to bail early. I’d heard quite a few girls arriving back at the dorm in the middle of the night. They were crashing around and laughing as they kept trying to shush each other. I was guessing they’d had too much to drink and probably felt terrible this morning. Even Cress didn’t make it back until nearly midnight. She didn’t seem too drunk, but she was definitely tipsy. She liked to giggle when she’d been drinking and thought putting on her pajamas was hilarious.
The air was crisp as I left the dorm, and the golden morning light showered the school in a beautiful, almost unearthly glow. I never understood why some people hated early mornings. They were, without a doubt, the best part of the day. I loved seeing the sunrise, and I always felt a kind of boundless hope that anything was possible as I watched a new day begin.
I set off at a light jog, heading toward the lake and the forest beyond. Whenever I went for runs back home, I’d always jogged along the beach. I loved the gentle sound of the waves lapping against the shore and the warm salty breeze rushing through my hair. There was nothing more soothing than watching the morning light shimmer over the waves or seeing the water devour footprints in the sand. While Weybridge was no less beautiful, it was definitely different.
Everything felt so lush and green here, and the smell of tree sap and pine needles permeated the air. The lake was like a mirror this morning, perfectly reflecting the clouds floating above it, and birds chirped as they woke to greet the sun.
I still couldn’t believe this place was to be my life for the next year. I didn’t want to like it here, not when I’d been forced to come here, but it was hard to hate the school. Especially when I’d already started to make some friends.
I followed a path past the lake and into the trees. The forest was gorgeous under the early morning sun. Dark shadows still clung to the leafy foliage, but soft shafts of sunlight managed to creep through the canopy above. As I breathed in, I was hit by the earthy smell of loam and the sharp fragrance of pine. The ground crunched pleasantly beneath my feet as the cool air brushed against my skin. For a moment, I didn’t have to worry about the crazy situation I’d been put in. It was just the forest, my loudly thudding heart, and me.
The path became uneven as I ventured farther into the woods, and the shadows creeping across the ground grew darker as the canopy overhead thickened. I kept my eyes on the forest floor, making sure I didn’t trip. I was clumsy at the best of times, and with tree roots poking up through the dirt path all around me, there was a high chance I wouldn’t make it out of the forest safely.
I was so fixated on the ground I didn’t see someone approaching until it was too late. I heard the scrape of footsteps ahead of me and quickly lifted my gaze. But I didn’t have a chance to stop. All I saw was the brief flash of a guy’s bare chest before I slammed right into him. I clenched my eyes shut as his strong arms wrapped around me, caging me to him as we fell. He grunted as we hit the ground, and the wind rushed from my lungs as I landed on top of him.
I let out a small groan. Damn, that hurt. It could have been a lot worse. If the guy had landed on top of me, I knew I’d be suffering a whole lot more.
“Shit, are you okay?” His voice was deep and rumbly and far too familiar. It only took a few seconds for me to realize who I’d landed on. I closed my eyes a little tighter, hoping that if I kept them shut then perhaps it wouldn’t be true.
“Isobel, are you okay?”
Nope, his voice only confirmed it. I was sprawled across none other than Noah Hastings, and given how closely we were intertwined, I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me so I could disappear.
Slowly, I blinked my eyes open. Noah was staring up at me with a slight frown crinkling his brow and concern flashing in his green eyes. They were almost the color of the trees surrounding us; far too pretty to belong to someone so arrogant.
“I’m fine.” I tried to push myself up, but it was a little hard to do so without touching Noah’s chest. His firm skin was covered in a light sheen of sweat, which only added to his appeal. It wasn’t hard to see why all the girls at school were so infatuated with him. Without his shirt on, he looked like a Calvin Klein model. It really wasn’t fair. No one should look this good.
I realized I’d been staring at his chest a few seconds too long, and I scrambled to get off him. I was rushing, and as I started to move, I noticed an unpleasant ache in my ankle. I ignored it, tripping over myself as I hurried to get away from him. I must have looked like one of those baby fawns trying to take its first steps because just about every movement I made was a little frantic without being particularly successful.
Noah let out an irritated huff. “Here.” He took hold of my arm to help me balance.
His touch made my skin prickle and set off a fluttering sensation in my stomach. The tingles caught me by surprise, and I jerked out of his grasp. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”
I avoided looking him in the eyes. I didn’t want any tingles caused by Noah Hastings, and I could think of nothing worse than letting him know he’d affected me that way. I’d given into those kinds of feelings once before, and things with my ex hadn’t ended well. I wasn’t stupid enough to go and get a crush on the one guy at this school I’d been directly warned about. Definitely not one who was also already entangled with another girl and who appeared to be Levi’s Weybridge equivalent. Nope, I wouldn’t be doing any of that.
I went to put pressure on my aching foot, but the moment it bore any weight, my leg collapsed under me, and I staggered right back into Noah. He caught me easily and helped me stand tall once more.
“You know, most girls just flip their hair or bat their eyelashes,” he said. “I have to admit, you’re the first one to try running into me.”
He was still lightly touching my arm to steady me, and I shook him off. “You think I did that on purpose? It was an accident.”
“You wouldn’t be the first girl to do something crazy to get my attention.”
My mouth dropped open. The nerve of this guy. I’d been right to think Noah’s beauty was only skin-deep, and I was starting to wish he’d heard me after the party last night when I’d said as much. “There’s something wrong with you, you know.”
A flicker of uncertainty seemed to flash in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by the look of superiority he seemed so fond of. “I’m not the one falling all over a guy to impress him.”
When I’d met Noah outside the dorms on my first day, he’d been grumpy and indifferent to almost everyone, especially the new girl. But clearly, that was him on a good day. I’d never met someone so conceited in my life. Sure, he was gorgeous, but who could actually stand spending more than two minutes with him? Perhaps that was why I hadn’t seen him speaking much last night. No one could actually put up with him once he opened his mouth.
I stepped back from him, making sure to walk lightly on my sore foot. It took a concerted effort not to wince in pain from the small amount of pressure I placed on it. Something was definitely wrong with my ankle, but I didn’t want Noah to know it.
“Well, I can see my planned collision has failed to get you to fall in love with me, so why don’t you run along and we forget this ever happened.” I turned before he could respond and began to hobble away from him. I was moving painfully slow and could feel him watching me as I continued to struggle. Why wouldn’t he just leave? Would this embarrassment never end?
He let out a heavy breath. “I can see you’re in pain. Let me help you back to school.” It must have nearly killed him to make the offer, but I had zero intention of accepting his help.
“I just need to walk it off.” I said the words with hope rather than conviction.
“Walk? You look like you need someone to carry you…”
I ignored his comment. I couldn’t begin to imagine what would happen if the whole school saw me emerging from the trees cradled in Noah’s arms. Every girl here would put a target on my back. And Noah? Well, playing the hero would probably inflate his big head so much his neck would collapse under the pressure.
I’d barely taken two more awkward steps when Noah caught my elbow. His touch brought all those horrible tingles back to my skin, and I wrenched my arm away from him. “I’m not some damsel in distress.”
The corner of his lip twitched, as though he was holding back a smirk. I wasn’t sure the guy was capable of humor because his face remained markedly blank. He stared at me for several long seconds before he finally responded.
“I didn’t say you were. But you’ve got a long walk back to school if you don’t let me help you.”
I knew he was right. Limping all the way back through the woods by myself was going to take forever, and knowing my luck, I’d only fall over again. I couldn’t bring myself to accept his help though. Not when I already knew it was a bad idea for so many reasons. Besides, there simply wasn’t enough room on the path home for him, his ego, and me.
“I’ll manage.” My ankle throbbed with pain in response, as if my body was protesting my decision.
Noah shrugged and stepped back, waving for me to proceed. I wasn’t sure what his game was, but I wasn’t going to wait around to find out. I nodded and began to gingerly walk back along the dirt path.
I expected Noah to jog off again, now that he’d begrudgingly offered to help and I’d refused. But instead, he followed after me. I could feel his eyes on the back of my neck as I took each painful step. Was he really going to trail me all the way back to school?
“Are you sure your surname is Grace?” he asked as we walked.
I didn’t answer because I was trying to ignore him, but his question had me curious. Why would I lie about my surname? I was surprised he even remembered what it was. I hoped he wasn’t asking because he somehow knew about Matthew. I had a feeling Noah would only judge me if he knew the whole messy truth behind how I’d come to be at Weybridge Academy, and surely, I’d endured enough pain and embarrassment for one morning.
Thankfully, Noah continued before I could begin to truly worry. “Because you’re not exactly the most graceful person I’ve met,” he said. “I would have thought Klutz or Crash would be more appropriate…”
Despite my best attempts to pretend Noah wasn’t there, I couldn’t stop myself from turning on him. “What are you doing?”
“Walking back to school. Same as you.”
“No, you’re following me, and you keep talking.” I was doing a terrible job of pretending he wasn’t there.
“It’s called conversation. And I’m not following you. We just happen to be going in the same direction.”
“What? And you normally walk this slowly?”
“Do you normally walk this slowly?” he shot back. “You’re clearly struggling on that ankle.”
“I told you I’m fine. I’m just taking my time,” I lied. “You’re the one creepily stalking behind me.”
He let out a frustrated sigh and moved closer to me. Too close. He didn’t stop until he was just a hairsbreadth away.
“You know, most girls would just accept my help,” he said as I looked up at him. The vibrant green of his eyes had dimmed slightly, and he was looking at me as though he was trying to figure me out. He probably thought I had a few screws loose.
“I’m not most girls.”
“I can see that, Crash.”
I scowled at him, thoroughly disliking the nickname. I’d only crashed into him one time. And, yes, I wasn’t the most graceful person… Okay, I was clumsy and cumbersome at the best of times, but did he really have to call me Crash?
That small hint of a smile dared to pull at the corner of his lips again. It eluded me as his mouth remained a firm line. “Are you really so stubborn though?”
“I’m not stubborn.”
He let out a humorless laugh. “Said the girl who’s ignoring all logic just to prove a point.”
“I’m not ignoring all logic.” I spoke through gritted teeth. “I just don’t need help from someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” Surprise lit Noah’s eyes, but they quickly started to narrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious.”
“Pretend it isn’t,” he growled. “Enlighten me.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “I don’t need help from a self-absorbed, egotistical man-child who thinks the whole world revolves around him just because a few girls think he’s attractive. I was told to stay away from you, and it didn’t take me long to realize why.”
I didn’t think his expression could darken any further. Apparently, I was wrong.
“Who told you to stay away from me?” he asked. He seemed far more interested in the answer than addressing all the other insults I’d thrown at him. It was like he hadn’t even heard them.
“Someone who clearly knew what they were talking about.”
Noah exhaled, and I got the impression I was seriously trying his patience. “Whatever. Look, you’re going to hurt yourself even more if you don’t let me help you. I think you’re going to have to defy whoever this person was that warned you against me if you want to get back to school in one piece. Have you no sense of self-preservation?”
I kind of thought that keeping my distance from Noah was an act of self-preservation because being close to a guy like him could only end in trouble. I could hardly admit that to him, especially not with his words crawling their way under my skin. I just wanted to get back to my room to ice my ankle, and arguing with him was clearly getting me nowhere. He seemed persistent enough that he’d probably follow me all the way back to the dorms if I didn’t accept his help, so I finally caved.
“Okay, fine, you win. My ankle is killing me, and I could use your help getting back to school.”
“Finally,” he grumbled, but his eyes flashed with delight. I might have been frustrating him, but I could see how much he enjoyed being right. Accepting his help was hard enough to stomach without the knowledge I was also feeding that ego of his.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” I quickly added. “You’re not carrying me, nobody can know this happened, and once we get back, we return to being strangers.”
“You really don’t want people to know I helped you?”
“Obviously. So, if we could make this quick, that would be great.”
He started to frown, and his expression grew puzzled. He was staring at me like he thought I was some kind of lab experiment gone wrong. Like he couldn’t quite decide what to make of me. My cheeks were warming under his scrutiny, and I quickly scrambled for something to say so he’d stop looking at me that way. “Well, are you helping, or am I going to keep on hobbling?”
It took him a second for the words to register, and he glanced down at my ankle and nodded. “Right, your ankle.” He moved closer to me, and my stomach dropped as he looked into my eyes. He seemed so much bigger when he was standing right beside me, and my breath felt suddenly shallow as I realized I was going to have to touch him again. Without his shirt, he had so much exposed skin, and nerves shot through me.
Noah hesitated for a moment, and I wondered if he felt as uncertain as I did, but then he cleared his throat and reached out to me. He took my arm and looped it around his shoulder before gently resting his hand on my back.
His skin was hot to the touch, and his muscles felt hard and strong as he supported me. He smelled far too good for a guy who’d just been working out, and I wished I could stop breathing so I wasn’t constantly hit by the musky scent of his deodorant. They did not make teenage boys like this back home, and I immediately regretted agreeing to let him help.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I muttered as we set off.
Thankfully, Noah remained silent as we walked, only speaking up when it looked as though I was about to trip again. It happened far more frequently than I would have liked. I really couldn’t help it. It was hard to pay attention to where we were walking. My mind kept drifting to the strong arm supporting me, and I couldn’t stop glancing at how chiseled Noah’s abs were. They didn’t look real, and I kept wondering if perhaps it was impossible not to be conceited when you looked that way.
It was a welcome relief when we reached the edge of the woods and the school appeared before us. I’d been itching to get some distance from Noah since the moment he wrapped his arm around me, but something stopped me from shrugging out of his grasp the first chance I got. Instead, I waited until we were closer to my dorm before I eased my arm from over his shoulders. I quickly glanced around to make sure no one had noticed us together. Thankfully, it was still early enough that everyone was still in bed. The fewer people who saw Noah holding me, the better.
“You really aren’t like everyone else here,” Noah said as he stepped back from me.
I was already well aware of just how different I was from the kids at Weybridge, and I hardly needed reminding of that fact when I was constantly surrounded by such obvious wealth. There was no way Noah could know about my humble background, so I wasn’t really sure what he meant. It was hard to decipher from his expression whether he was complimenting me or not. I had to assume the latter.
“If you’re saying I’m different because I don’t think you’re God’s gift to the girls at Weybridge Academy, then you’d be correct,” I replied.
He slowly lifted his eyebrows. “Is that how you thank the guy who rescued you?”
“Rescued? I wouldn’t have needed your help in the first place if you hadn’t collided with me.”
“I guess we’ll agree to disagree on that one.” He slowly shook his head, but he didn’t seem all that annoyed by my comment. “You should probably get the school nurse to take a look at your ankle.”
“It’ll be okay once I rest it.”
A small smile curved the corner of his lips. “And you said you’re not stubborn.”
“I’m not—”
“Do you need help getting to your room?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“Of course, you will.” He seemed amused by my answer more than anything.
“I guess I’ll see you around, Noah.” I turned and started toward the dorm.
“You can count on it, Isobel.” His words sounded like a promise and sent a thrill down the back of my spine.
I frowned as I opened the door and entered the dorm. Noah was still standing where I’d left him staring after me. There was concern in his eyes, but as I looked back, it quickly dissipated, making me wonder if it had been there at all.
He set off at a jog toward his own dorm. Watching him leave felt like waking from a dream. What had happened in the woods didn’t feel real and left me feeling off-kilter. Noah had been surprisingly persistent, and given everything I knew about him, I struggled to believe he’d actually bothered to help me. He didn’t seem like the type to stick around long enough to see I was bluffing about my ankle being fine, but I figured he probably enjoyed playing the hero.
It had been a strange morning, but I was going to do my best to forget the accident ever happened. I was going to forget how good Noah smelled and the way my skin tingled when we touched. And I was definitely going to pretend I’d never been pressed up against Noah’s naked chest or had his arm wrapped around my waist as he held me close.
I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to erase those things from my mind, but I was going to find a way. I didn’t need any annoying butterflies over a guy who probably wasn’t capable of loving anyone or anything more than himself. It would be best if I kept my distance from him like my father wanted. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
