Classes that morning were strange. Several students I’d never spoken to before came up to me to say hi, and even one of the teachers I passed greeted me as Miss LaFleur. He wasn’t even my teacher. Wes had predicted this on Saturday night. He said people were going to view me differently now they knew who my father was. I couldn’t understand why it made a difference. I was still the same person I’d been last week. It was crazy to think who your parents were could change people’s whole perception of you.
The increased attention was only made harder when I still felt broken over Noah. I wanted to be curled up in a corner somewhere—not trading fake smiles with people I had no interest in getting to know.
While students I didn’t know were suddenly interested in me, I assumed Noah’s friends would start to ignore me now we were no longer together. But when I walked into math class, Luther didn’t give me the opportunity to avoid them. I made my way toward a free desk at the front of the classroom, but Luther grabbed my arm and dragged me to the back of the room before I had a chance to pull out the chair.
“Sit, newbie,” Luther said, nodding at the free chair and returning to his desk right by it.
I slowly lowered myself into the seat. “I thought you wouldn’t want me to sit with you now Noah and I aren’t together”
“You kidding, newbie? Math with you is practically the highlight of my week.”
I glanced at Kaden, trying to determine if Luther was joking. Kaden just gave an easy shrug.
“So, you get your kicks out of disrupting my learning?” I asked, focusing on Luther once more. He tended to talk throughout every lesson, and it was a miracle I was managing to keep up with my math homework.
He gave me a bright smile. “I happen to think I make your learning more enjoyable. We all know you’re top of the class.”
“Except, I’m not. Even if I was, it would only be because I have to study my butt off outside of class.”
“See?” he replied. “I’m a great influence.”
I rolled my eyes at him but laughed. Luther was absolutely terrible to sit by in class, but I was secretly glad he still wanted to be friends.
As I sat with him and Kaden, I itched to ask them about how Noah was doing. Perhaps they had some small insight into the inner workings of his mind. I couldn’t bring myself to ask though. Not when I was trying to put the past behind me. If my interaction with Noah this morning was anything to go by, he was struggling to cope as much as I was.
“There’s going to be a party this Friday night at the boathouse,” Luther said. “You should come.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I immediately replied. Surely Noah would object to me being there. Plus, I wasn’t stupid enough to willingly go to a small, intimate party where I’d have no choice but to see him.
“It’s a great idea,” Luther replied. “Kaden and I both want to challenge you to a beer pong rematch.”
I looked between the two of them. “So, you want to get me drunk?”
“I intend no such thing.” Given the way Luther’s eyes sparkled though, he was totally lying.
“I still think it’s a bad idea.”
Luther’s expression dimmed, and he let out a sigh. “Look, Noah’s got issues. I’m one of his best friends, but even I know he can be a total stubborn idiot sometimes.”
“Whatever happened between you two, he’ll come round,” Kaden added.
I frowned as I looked between the two of them. “That’s why you’re still talking to me? Because you think he’ll change his mind? Did he even tell you guys why he broke up with me?”
Luther shrugged. “He just said the two of you could never work because of your families, but I’m a firm believer that love always finds a way.”
“And we’re still talking to you because we like you,” Kaden added with a soft smile.
“Yeah, you can’t get rid of us that easily even if you are a LaFleur.” Luther ruffled my hair with his hand, and I swatted it away with a smile.
It was kind of awkward talking about Noah with his friends, but I was somewhat glad we’d cleared the air, and that the boys still wanted to be friends with me despite my father’s surname.
I didn’t believe Noah would ever come around like the boys suggested. And I refused to devote even the smallest crumb of hope to the idea. Hope like that was dangerous, and I’d wasted far too much time hoping Levi would realize his mistake during my last breakup. No, my time was far better served focusing on moving on—no matter what Luther or Kaden said.
NOAH DIDN’T corner me again that week at school. Not like he had at the garden party or on our run. That didn’t mean it was easy when I saw him. He didn’t speak to me, and yet he was always around. Every meal he was in the dining hall, and it felt like I was constantly passing him in the corridors. Even in the class we shared, he continued to sit behind me. He made every minute of that class a living hell because all I could concentrate on was the feel of his eyes against the back of my neck.
I wanted to pretend he didn’t exist. But Noah was almost impossible to ignore even when he didn’t say a word. It was hardly surprising. Noah had always been difficult to turn a blind eye to even when we hadn’t been dating.
Despite the obvious distance between us, no one else mentioned our breakup to me after I spoke with Luther and Kaden. I’d been so caught up in all the attention I’d received because of my father that it took me a while to realize that no one seemed to be gossiping about the fact Noah and I were over.
I’d told my friends and Noah had told his, but it seemed that was as far as the news had travelled. I did overhear a couple of girls speculating about it in the locker room after PE on Tuesday though.
“Do you think something’s up with Noah and Isobel?” one girl said, drawing my attention.
“Yeah, Noah’s always sending her those dreamy little smiles of his,” another girl replied. “He didn’t even talk to her in class today though, and no one’s seen them together since the ball on Saturday night.”
The girls were standing on the other side of the lockers, so I couldn’t see who was speaking, and their voices weren’t familiar.
“You’d think the fact she’s a LaFleur would only cement the relationship,” the first girl said.
“Really? I heard their families are like total rivals…”
I’d heard enough and quickly grabbed my bag and rushed from the room. It was one thing to know people were gossiping about you, but another thing entirely to have to overhear it.
Cress and Anna were waiting outside the locker room for me, and they frowned when they caught my expression.
“Everything okay?” Cress asked.
I shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
My friends had been so supportive of me since the breakup, and I really didn’t want to off-load my problems on them again. I should have known people would start to theorize about Noah and I when we weren’t being seen together. And it’s not like the girls had said anything malicious. If anything, they’d simply stated the facts.
“You sure?” Anna asked.
“Positive.”
Those two girls were just the beginning, and as the week wore on, I overheard more and more whispers from people wondering if Noah and I were still together. One girl was even brazen enough to ask me outright.
“What’s the deal with you and Noah?” she said as I made my way to English on Thursday morning.
I cleared my throat. “Excuse me?”
“You and Noah. What’s happening with you two?”
Her friends standing behind her started to giggle, and I folded my arms, clutching my laptop to my chest. The girl looked too young to be in my year, and I got the impression she was asking me just to impress her friends.
“Look, I don’t know you, and my relationship is really none of your business.” I wasn’t trying to avoid the fact Noah and I were over; I just didn’t particularly want to have to talk about it with some kid who was trying to be a smart-ass.
“So, does that mean you’re broken up?” She continued to pry.
“It means I’m late to English.” I walked off before the girl could hound me any further because she looked ready to fire more questions at me. Thankfully, I was right by the classroom, and I escaped inside before she could respond.
I was more than ready for this school week to be over, and I collapsed into the free chair beside Cress. “I swear, some people have zero boundaries in this place,” I complained.
“Mmm.” Cress murmured a sound of agreement though she didn’t look up from her phone, so I wasn’t sure she’d actually heard me. It looked like she was trying to draft a message, but whenever she wrote something, she deleted it right away.
“What’s up?” I asked.
She let out a sigh and placed her phone down on the desk as she looked up at me. “I was supposed to go to a social committee meeting about the Halloween carnival this morning, but it was so damn early, and I arrived late. I swear, no one should ever have to arrive anywhere at 7:00 A.M. It’s so uncivilized.”
I frowned because it didn’t explain why she seemed so bothered. It wasn’t exactly unusual for Cress to arrive late to something. “Are you in trouble about it or something?”
“No.” She sighed. “If only.”
“So, why do you look so down?”
“Because they were assigning booths for each club to run at the carnival, and because I was late, all the good ones were taken.”
“Shit.”
“I know.” She nodded. “Not only that, but the cheerleaders got the booth we wanted. The girls on my dance squad are going to be so disappointed.”
“Surely, it’s not that bad. What did you get stuck with?”
“The kissing booth.” She gave such an exaggerated shudder I couldn’t help but laugh.
“That sounds okay.” I tried my best to sound convincing.
“Not when you realize that anyone can buy a token for a kiss. It’s the worst booth in the fair…”
“Oh, yeah, that does suck.” I was suddenly grateful I hadn’t joined any clubs at school.
“Tell me about it,” she said. “Quite a few of the girls on the squad have boyfriends too, so I think I’m going to struggle to find volunteers to man the booth.”
“Well, there’s always Anna. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to help you out.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she will.” Cress laughed, but her expression dimmed as she glanced down at her phone once more. “I’m trying to figure out how to break the news to the squad. Everyone is asking in the group chat what happened at the meeting.”
I shrugged. “I’d just be honest. Tell them the cheerleaders stole your booth and that they’re going to need to pucker up.”
“I don’t think that’s going to make them feel any better about it.”
I smiled as an idea came to me. “Or, you could tell them you got stuck with the stand but you’re going to change it to a kiss or scare booth. When people come up for their turn, they don’t know if they’re getting a kiss or a scare from the girls.”
“Oh, I like that,” Cress said. “Definitely more fitting for Halloween. Maybe I’ll create some kind of coin that can be flipped with kiss on one side and scare on the other so it’s a game of chance.”
“That would be so fun,” I agreed. “You could also get some cute guys to volunteer so the girls wouldn’t have to do all the kissing.”
“Like who?”
“Well, a certain twin who loves kissing comes to mind.”
Cress looked thoughtful. “Yeah, I’m sure I can rope Sawyer into it.”
“I think it would be harder trying to keep him away.”
Cress giggled, her familiar bright smile fully restored. “Okay, I think this might go down better with the team. I guess we’ll just have to convince a few other guys to help us out.”
She grew quiet as Veronica entered the room and took her usual seat in front of me. Veronica slowly turned to Cress and flashed her a fake smile. “Sorry the dance team missed out on the photo booth this morning. I know you girls were thinking about doing it, but I’m sure you can understand that I didn’t have a choice. I was just doing what the cheer team wanted. They have all these ideas for different backdrops, and I’d hate to disappoint them.”
Cress returned Veronica’s smile with one that was just as empty. “Oh, I understand,” she said. “But you don’t need to worry, we’re pretty excited to be doing the kissing booth.”
“Seriously?” Veronica scoffed. “You can’t actually want to kiss all the losers who are going to be lining up.”
Cress shrugged. “We have a few ideas that might make it more fun.”
Veronica lifted one eyebrow, as though she was having a hard time believing Cress, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she turned her attention to me. “I haven’t seen you and Noah together this week. Of course, everyone’s wondering is there trouble in paradise already?”
I swallowed a heavy lump that rose in my throat. I’d heard the whispers, and to be honest, I had no idea how everyone at school hadn’t already confirmed the truth. I didn’t want to have to admit it to Veronica though. The gloating look in her eyes might just kill me.
“Because I heard a rumor you two were over, and since you’ve been looking so…” She paused as she considered her next word. “So tired, I had to wonder if it’s true,” Veronica continued. “Did Noah already get bored of slumming it with the help?”
“She’s not the help,” Cress growled.
Veronica’s eyes flashed with vile pleasure. “Oh, so you’ll deny she’s a charity case but not that their relationship is over. Interesting…”
“I’m not sure why you’d even take interest in their relationship,” Cress replied. “It’s not like my cousin will ever be interested in you.”
Veronica shrugged. “That’s not what he was saying at the ball on Saturday night.”
The teacher started the class, and Veronica gave us one last smug smile before she returned her attention to the front of the room. I felt frozen to the spot. I hadn’t been able to utter a single word in my defense, and I hated that Cress had felt the need to fight my battle for me. I didn’t want to give Veronica the pleasure of knowing Noah and I were finished, but pretending we weren’t made me feel even worse. Was I really so pathetic I couldn’t admit to people the relationship was over?
I must have been completely tuned out to what the teacher was saying because the class erupted into excited murmurs and I had no idea why. My eyes darted to Cress. “What did I miss?”
She was grinning widely as she faced me. “Were you really not listening?”
“I was distracted.” I shot an annoyed look at the back of Veronica’s head.
Cress gave me an understanding smile. “Mr. Wagner just announced we’re going on a field trip for English.”
“We are?”
“Yep.” She punctuated the word with an enthused nod. “All the senior English classes are going to New York to see Romeo and Juliet next week.”
“Seriously?” It was hard to contain my excitement. I’d always wanted to go to New York, and even my conversation with Veronica couldn’t dampen the delight I felt that I was finally going to visit the city. Seeing the play would be fun too, but it was New York that had my heart racing with anticipation.
“Quiet down, everyone,” Mr. Wagner said in a weak attempt to wrangle back control of the class. No one wanted to listen. He let out a heavy breath like he knew it was a lost cause and started scribbling on the whiteboard.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Cress said as I faced her again. “I’m sure we’ll get free time so I can show you all of my favorite haunts.”
“That sounds great.”
“It does, doesn’t it? Oh,” she gasped. “We should make a weekend of it and stay at my place.”
“Do you think the school will let us do that?”
“I’m sure they’d be fine with it. Plenty of other kids are from the city and will probably do the same. So, what do you think?”
“I’ll have to check with my mom first, but if she says yes, then obviously I’m in.”
“Excellent.” She grinned brightly and continued chatting happily as she came up with ideas for all the fun things we could do. It all sounded amazing and exactly what I needed to create some space away from Noah. This school felt too suffocating at the moment. His presence was near impossible to ignore. I often felt like I could feel him even when he wasn’t in the room.
As Cress started planning out our time in the city, another thought came to mind. She wasn’t the only person based in New York. Matthew was there for the next couple of weeks too. He was supposed to be too busy with work to come to Weybridge and answer all my questions, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t go to him.
The more I thought about it, the more I started to like the idea. I was never going to get over Noah when my thoughts were still so tangled and confused about the reason behind our breakup. Matthew could give me answers. Perhaps with this trip. I could also get some much-needed closure.
But, first, there was something else I was going to have to do if I wanted to get over Noah. I was never going to move on when everyone still thought we were together and constantly gossiping as they tried to figure out what was going on.
It was time I grew more proactive about our breakup, which meant I needed to put an end to the constant cycles of rumors. So, when class ended and everyone started to file out of the classroom, I touched Veronica’s arm, stopping her before she walked through the door.
She rolled her eyes as she turned to me. “If it’s taken you all lesson to find your tongue and come up with a retort for me, I don’t want to hear it.”
“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not it. I just thought you should know that you were right. Noah and I are over.”
Veronica looked too stunned by my revelation to make fun of me. And even Cress, who knew the truth, appeared surprised I’d just admitted it to Veronica.
“So, he’s all yours,” I said before I pushed past her and left the room.
I didn’t see the point in fighting over a guy when he wasn’t mine anymore. I knew Veronica would tell the whole school the news. I just hoped any extra attention I received would be short-lived. Once everyone knew the truth, I’m sure they’d soon grow tired of the rumors and gossip.
As much as it hurt, it felt like a small weight had lifted from my shoulders. Saying the words out loud, that Noah and I were over, felt like a step in the right direction. I just had to hope I didn’t stray from the path.
