Ch28

NOVA

As much as I need that hug from Ava right now, I'm so thrown off by what she says preceding it. That she's not supposed to? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"I don't..." I raise my hand, shaking my head. "I don't want that hug right now."

She twists her lips, looking everywhere but at me. Her eyes are roaming around random things and she won't even look at me.

"So, what do you want?"

"What I want is for you to explain what you meant by that statement. You're not supposed to? I don't understand what you mean by that."

Ava does a low whistle. "I don't want you to be upset about this. No hard feelings. But my mom saw the scandal."

Oh no. This better not be what I think it is. I don't want to hear shit about Ava's mom thinking that I'm trash when I haven't done anything wrong at all.

"She warned me about you and..."

"I don't know what to say."

Ava shrugs. "Then you don't have to say anything."

"No, I think I do. I think you are the most manipulative, two-faced, bitch I've ever come across in my life. You fucking do something..." My voice rises but it's cracked now. "And then you... you go and tell your mother another thing. Why didn't you tell your mom that you released the recording?"

Ava rolls her eyes hard, flipping her hair behind her back. "Talk about this recording again? I don't know why you're so mad about it. It's done, isn't it? I stopped your brother and his friend from doing a bad thing to an innocent girl."

That is not the point. Ava is turning this around. I know why she insisted on being right. But seeing the repercussions of her actions, I thought she'd have the tiniest bit of remorse but no. She's standing in front of me, defending her actions.

"I just can't with you. You were supposed to be my best friend. Did you ever care about me?" I ask her, watching her reaction closely.

She sighs, glancing down. "I don't know what to say to you but you can believe what you want to. If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't come in here when I heard you crying."

I watch her turn to look at her reflection in the mirror and then back at me. "Do you think this top looks good on me?" She asks, her hands cupping her breasts through her clothes.

Is she being serious right now? "Fuck you!" I tell her, turning around and leaving the bathroom. She sounds so self absorbed and I hate that. I can't believe I thought she was a good person.

When I walk into my first class for the day, it's with a scowl on my face. It goes on like every other day with nothing interesting happening apart from teachers trying their best to make students learn and understand.

I don't find school work hard at all even though I'm in junior grade. What I do find surprising is how students can not be in love with their studies. It may sound weird hearing the way I feel about my books.

The workload is not a joke but it's something I enjoy. Ava used to say that it's because my parents made me and my brother study from scratch.

The rest of my classes pass by like a breeze and the last class I have for the day is Psychology. It's the one I dread and not looking forward to at all.

Why? It's the only class I share with the one person I don't want to see. Enzo. It used to enjoy this class because of his presence. I'd always look forward to it but today is a lot different.

The door to the psychology room is already shut when I reach out. Fuck. I'm late. I hate being late. Not to a class I love as much as this one. I take a deep breath, smoothing down my boho skirt, before pushing the door open as quietly as possible.

Every head turn. Of course. Late on a day when day is already this bad. I offer a tight smile to Mrs. Gable, hoping it'd soften her glare or something.

"Glad you could join us, Nova." She says, pausing with her dry-erase marker hovering inches from the whiteboard.

"Sorry," I mutter, my head staying firmly down as I scan the room for a desk. My heart sinks. There's only one empty chair left in the entire classroom... and it happens to be right next to Enzo.

He doesn't even look up from his desk as I walk over. I pull the chair out, the legs scraping loudly, and sink into the seat. I keep my eyes fixed straight ahead, hyper-aware of the heat radiating off him just a foot away. We used to sit like this every week, exchanging dumb words and passing notes. Now, the silence between us is so thick it feels like trying to breathe underwater.

Mrs. Gable sets her marker down, her eyes drifting over to our corner of the room. A subtle, knowing smirk touches her lips. "Now that's a new development," she remarks.

She's referring to the fact that Enzo and I haven't sat together since well... I did that thing. It's something I'd rather not think about now.

I bite the inside of my cheek and stay completely silent, staring fixedly at the blank page of my notebook. Beside me, Enzo doesn't react either, though I see his jaw tighten. I'm not sure he understands what Mrs. Gable just said.

"Alright, settle down," Mrs. Gable continues, turning back to the board. "Today we’re moving into our unit on social influence and group dynamics. For the upcoming term project, you’ll all be working in pairs..."

Groans echo through the room, but my mind is completely elsewhere. I can't focus on her lecture. I just keep staring at my paper, aggressively doodling random lines to make myself look busy, praying the period would end quickly.

"...Before we wrap up, however, I need to hand back last week's evaluation," Mrs. Gable says as the clock ticks toward the final minutes of class. She walks down the aisles, placing papers face-down on desks.

She drops mine on my desk... a bright red A circled at the top. I glance over at Enzo’s desk out of pure instinct, but Mrs. Gable doesn't leave a paper for him. She just taps her fingers gently on his wood surface, looking down at him with a mixture of concern and sternness.

"Enzo, stick around for a moment after the bell, please," she says.

His jaw works as he nods. "Yeah. Okay."

When the bell finally rings, the classroom explodes into the usual chaos of shuffling papers, zipping backpacks, and noisy chatter. Everyone scrambles for the door.

I pack my bag slowly. Extremely slowly. I know I should walk out. I should sprint out to avoid the inevitable awkwardness, but curiosity glues me to my seat. I unzip my pencil pouch, pretending to organize my highlighters by color, and crack open my notebook, scribbling absolute gibberish. I need to know what's going on. Why wasn't his name on the high-score list? Why was Mrs. Gable holding him back?

Once the room cleared out, Enzo walked over to her desk while she Mrs. Gable leaned back against it, folding her arms. "Enzo... you failed again."

Holy shit. Again? My pen stops mid-stroke. Enzo's smart for this class. I know that because we've taken it together for a long time. Yeah, he can be cynical, lazy when he wants to be, but he's genuinely smart.

How could he fail? And Mrs. Gable said again? Meaning he's failed before? I don't understand.

Enzo runs a hand through his hair. I can't see his face since his back is to me. "I've been distracted."

"Clearly," Mrs. Gable says gently. "Because if this continues, you won't pass the term. You need a tutor for this subject, Enzo. Immediately. I have a list of options here if you want to look at them."

"Let's hear them," Enzo mutters, his voice low and flat.

"Well," Mrs. Gable scans a sheet of paper on her desk. "Nova is at the top of the class. She has a perfect score."

Now that is not what I wanted to hear at all. Yeah, sure. I'm not that mean. I would love to help out but we're both in an uncomfortable situation. I don't know how he feels about me and we haven't talked about the recording incident at all.

"Is there any other person?" He asks.

Of course. I'm not surprised at all. I kind of expected him to ask her that. He wouldn't want it to be me.

"The rest are good," Mrs. Gable says. "But given the policy on formal peer-tutoring programs, your parents would have to sign off on the official paperwork and be fully in on it. Only Nova can help you out casually without the knowledge of your father."

Silence stretches over the desk. Enzo stares at the floor, the mention of his dad hanging heavy in the room like a dark cloud. I keep my head down, my heart thumping against my ribs.

Enzo lets out a long, defeated sigh. "That's hard."

"I'd strongly advise you to speak to her," Mrs. Gable says softly, gathering her folders. "Think about it, Enzo." With that, she picks up her bag and walks out, leaving the classroom door propped open behind her.

The silence left in her wake is loud. I stare at my notebook, the sound of my own quick breathing loud in my ears. I know he's still standing there. There's no point in pretending I haven't heard every single word.

Slowly, Enzo turns. He looks at me.

I swallow hard, clearing my throat to banish the tremor in my voice. "When do you want to start?"

He blinks, caught slightly off guard, before his expression hardens back into a scowl. "I don't know."

"Today?" I offer, trying to sound cool and calm. "I'm not busy."

Enzo shakes his head, looking away. "No."

"I'm here on time." My eyes dart toward the open doorway, at the voice. Caleb is leaning against the doorframe, a smile tugging at his lips. His eyes lock onto mine.

I feel the temperature in the room plummet instantly.

Enzo’s eyes move from me to Caleb standing in the doorway. I watch the muscle in Enzo's jaw jump as he stares at the guy my brother explicitly warned me against. Enzo turns back to me.

"On a second note..." Enzo says. "Let's study now."

I look between the two of them, my mind spinning at a hundred miles an hour. What the hell is happening right now?

Caleb’s eyes flick from me to Enzo, his eyebrows pulling together in a slow, amused rise. He doesn't look threatened. If anything, he looks amused.

"Am I interrupting something?" Caleb asks.

"Yeah, actually. You are," Enzo says coldly. He walks to my desk, reaching over to grab my open psychology textbook, and slams it down flat on the desk between us with a loud thud. "We’re busy."

"Is that right?" Caleb takes a slow step into the classroom, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. He keeps his gaze fixed entirely on me, completely bypassing Enzo’s glare.

"Nova? You told me you were free after last period."

My voice suddenly decides to go on strike. I sit frozen, clutching my highlighter. On one side, I have Enzo, the guy who hasn't spoken more than two sentences to me all week, now suddenly demanding my time just to stake a claim against Caleb. On the other side, I have Caleb....

"I..." I start, clearing my throat. "I mean, I did say maybe..."

"No you did not." Caleb stands on his word.

"She doesn't need you in her head," Enzo says. "Noah made it pretty clear, didn't he? Stay away from her."

"Noah talks a lot. But last time I checked, Nova speaks for herself."

Caleb’s eyes shifts back to me. "Right, Nova?"

I swallow. I look at Enzo, then I look at Caleb. I take a deep breath, grab my tote bag, and shove my notebook inside, zip closing it with a drag.

I stand up, pulling my skirt straight, and look Enzo dead in the eye. I get what he's doing. He said he didn't want to study but he suddenly wants to?

"We'll start tomorrow during lunch," I say, keeping my voice as steady as humanly possible. "You can bring your study guide." I turn my gaze toward Caleb. "I did say maybe."

Caleb's smile is wide. "I didn't hear it."

"Of course you didn't. You were too busy making fun of me." I tell him as we walk out of the classroom. Looking back at him, I frown. "How did you know where I'd be?"

"I may or may not have asked a certain someone. Before you ask who... that was hot."

I raise a brow. What's he on about now? "What was hot?"

"You talking to him like that."

I almost burst out laughing, but I don't. I snort instead, shaking my head. "You think that was hot?"

"Yes. It kind of turned me on a little bit."