All Chapters of Private Lessons With The Bad Boy Bully: Chapter 91 - Chapter 98

"Why would you want to see him?"His voice was careful when he questioned me, but I could feel the tension in his body where we touched. He wasn’t happy."Have you changed your mind about the plan?""No! No, of course not." My words tumbled out in a rush and desperation. "I love the plan. It's going great. It's the best plan ever, really. It's just—"I pulled back slightly to look at him. "We used to be friends for a while. And he's been in the hospital for two weeks now, I think he's getting discharged soon. It wouldn't be fair if he'd been there all this time and I didn't visit him once."Noah studied my face in the dim light filtering through the curtains."You are far too caring for your own good, Lena." His hand came up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, his touch gentle. "What would you do without me to keep you from getting hurt?""I know, and thank you. I really appreciate everything you do for me." I caught his hand, squeezing it tightly. "But I think I need to go. Just

Marco appeared with two waters, and I was grateful for the attention. "You kids want anything to eat?""Not yet," Jace said, not taking his eyes off me. "Thanks, Marco."When Marco left, Jace leaned forward. "How've you really been?" At the same time I asked, “How are you feeling?”He didn’t make any move to answer my question, so instead I answered his."I’ve been good. Great, actually." I forced brightness into my voice. "School starts again in a week, and so does cheerleading. I'm excited.""Right. Cheerleading." His jaw tightened. "With Allison."I sighed, “Not everyone can have the luxury of having everything practically handed to them. In my case, I have to tolerate people I don’t like, just so I can be happy and do what I love. I think it’s a decent trade-off.”Jace gave a short, bitter laugh."Really? The girl who's made your life hell for four years is suddenly tolerable.”"That’s not what I said. And look, all of this is only possible because—""Because of Noah.“ He stated ac

I stood outside my house for a full minute, my hand on the doorknob, unable to make myself turn it.What if Noah had already seen the photos? What if he'd already decided that I wasn't worth the trouble?What if I walked in there and lost the last person I had left who was still on my side?I took a shaky breath and opened the door to find Noah sitting on my bed, waiting patiently for me.His posture was unnaturally stiff, his spine straight, his hands resting on his knees, and his jaw tight with tension.He wasn't looking at his phone, nor was he looking at anything else. Instead, he just stared at the wall like he was trying to see through it with a betrayed look on his face."So I guess you two are back together, aren’t you?” He started, his voice quiet.I would’ve preferred it if he had yelled at me, because at least then it would’ve been some kind of reaction, instead of this tense silence. I swallowed nervously, wringing my hands, trying to find the right words to say. "Noah—"

I blinked. "Huh?""You kind of stopped listening and started staring at nothing. You seem really worried about something." Martin poked my arm. "You haven’t done that in a while, are you okay?”Out of the mouths of babes."Of course I’m okay. Sorry about that, bud. Let's get back to work."Martin giggled, “You called me bud, just like Jace usually does.”“Oh.” I blinked. How long have I been doing that?” I asked, surprised to hear it. I barely noticed that I was picking up some of Jace's mannerisms, probably from all the time we used to spend together.“I didn't notice it either, until Jace told me and asked me to keep it a secret.""A secret?" I asled.Martin's eyes went wide when he realised it wasn't a secret anymore. "Uh oh. I probably shouldn't have said that""But don’t worry,” Marcus grinned, “I don’t mind it. And I'm sure Jace doesn't mind either, so it’s okay.”I cleared my throat, muttering, “Alright then. Let’s continue.”We were deep into a discussion about how the introdu