Chapter 20

Chapter Seventeen
I Wouldn't Say No To You
We walked through a door, Noah continuing to hold my hand and guide me until I was standing... in a shower. I looked around until I realized I was in the boys locker room but nobody was around because school ended and there was no practice for any sport going on today.
I couldn't tell what Noah was thinking as I looked at him. His face was hard but eyes were soft.
My eyes followed him as he stood me under one of the shower heads and then let go of my hand as he reached over to turn the water on.
"I'll uh... I'll go grab a towel."
I didn't say anything as he looked at me for a minute and then walked away from the showers. The hot water rained on me, finally getting my muscles to relax. I didn't realize how tense or how cold I had gotten but once I stood there under the water with my eyes shut for a minute, I already felt a lot better as I tried to stop replaying what just happened in my head.
I turned around so I was facing the shower handle.
I craned my head side to side, hearing my neck crack. Did Madison really just do this? This was fucking bizarre. Did Noah seriously just... see me like that? Drenched in filthy water with bright red paint stained all over my pants.
I slipped my black vans off and then bent one knee at a time up backwards to pull of my socks and drop them on the ground of the shower by my shoes.
It didn't matter if all my clothes got more wet at this point. They were already gross and contaminated. Fuck Madison.
I unbuttoned my previously white, now stained jeans and started to shimmy out of them, kicking them out of the way once they were off. Fuck Madison. I really liked those jeans. They were cute and fit really well AND made my butt look good.
I pulled my shirt up off my head and dropped it on the ground as well.
My eyes shut, I ran my hands through my hair, attempting to get myself as clean as I could here before going home and showering again. I felt so greasy. Fuck Madison.
"Okay, I got- Oh okay! Wow."
I turned around, my hands dropping from in my hair.
I looked at Noah who stood there with a towel in hand. He was frozen in spot, his eyes trained on my body for a few seconds before he looked at me, our gazes locking. I saw his adam's apple bob as he gulped, biting his tongue to keep his eyes set on mine and refrain from looking down.
"Never been to the beach and seen a girl in a bathing suit?" I ask after a minute when neither of us spoke. My voice was flat and bland.
Noah cleared his throat as he started walking closer to the showers. His eyes locked on mine, "Towel."
I reached for it without taking my eyes off his, "Thanks," I exhaled.
Noah took a few steps backwards, our eyes never leaving each other's. Finally, I looked down before looking at Noah again.
"I'll let you... yeah." Noah forced a cough before turning and walking.
After ten minutes, I finally shut the shower off and wrapped the towel around myself after ringing out my hair. I picked up the jeans and t-shirt and chucked them in the garbage before picking up my dripping wet shoes and walking out to the locker room.
Noah was sitting there on a bench, staring at his shoes. He looked up when he saw me, "Oh, hi. Um... here," he stood up and handed me some clothes that were folded on the bench beside him. "These were the only extra clothes I had with me here."
I smiled gratefully as I carelessly dropped my shoes on the ground and took the clothes from him.
I walked around the corner to change away from him. I had no choice but to strip off my undergarments that were also wringing-wet. I was left in black joggers that wrinkled a lot at my ankles seeing how much shorter I was along with a white v-neck that left my boobs... well, it left my boobs as my boobs which were quite decent if I say so myself but I felt really awkward with my... my uh, nipples being clearly shown.
Don't get me wrong. I supported feminists but wasn't a really out-there one myself but... it just made me feel naked, okay?
I grabbed the towel and my other things and went back to Noah, shifting uncomfortably on my feet.
Noah stood up and looked at me, clearing his throat.
I looked down at the shirt I was in and then looked at Noah awkwardly tilting my head, "Do you uh... do you maybe have an extra hoodie?"
"Yeah," Noah turned around and opened a locker that I guess was his, pulled a sweatshirt out and then came over to me. He grabbed the things in my hands and then handed me the top.
There was an awkward freezing moment like in the movies. Our eyes locked and we both stood there awfully close to each other, waiting for the other person to make a move.
I remembered what I had been doing all week and took a step back, breaking our locked gazes and looking at the ground for a moment before taking the sweatshirt from him.
Noah quietly nodded as he watched me slip the sweatshirt over my head and put it on before he placed the things away.
"Oh, here," he came over to me once again and handed me socks and Nike slides. I looked down at his hands and then laughed as I took the items and slipped them on, "you have extra shoes too?"
I looked up from the bench I was now sitting on as I put the socks on to see Noah with a small grin on his face but his seeming distant and... kind of sad? He shrugged, "Lot's of soccer practices and sometimes we swim in gym class."
I nodded, slipping the shoes that were way too big on me and then standing.
I exhaled a deep breath as I looked at Noah who was busy grabbing all of our things out of his gym locker and from the bench. "Ezra gave me your bag from your locker before he left," Noah said as nodded to it.
We both reached for it at the same time but Noah grabbed it quicker, "I got it." He smiled lightly as he swung my bag over one shoulder and his over the other before turning to look at me again.
He reached his hand out but then stopped, cleared his throat and led me out of the change room.
He was going to hold my hand - something that wasn't weird for him to do but then stopped. He stopped and didn't grab my hand because I had been distant this week.
My plan was working.
My plan was working... right, so why was I disappointed?
I silently followed him out of the school and to his car when he turned to me again, "Ezra drove your car home since him and Charlie carpooled this morning." I guess they really sorted everything out. I was thankful to have these guys in my life but everything felt so clouded in my head right now.
Noah opened the passenger side door for me and let me get in before he opened the back door to put our things inside and then got into the driver seat.
He looked at me before starting the car, as if to ask if I needed anything else.
When I smiled lightly, he put the keys in the ignition and left the school.
Today was such a bizarre day. Today was... what the hell?
On the short ride back to my place, I started thinking about the events that took place.
First period biology, Leo and I played fireboy and watergirl on my laptop all class, laughing at how badly we failed.
Then I had class with Ezra and Jade. We had a history lesson that was so boring Ezra almost fell asleep which ended with him getting yelled at by the teaching and Jade and I laughing our asses off.
Chemistry third period was with Charlie and Luke. Luke always made class eventful with random conversation. Today him and Charlie started arguing about whether mint chocolate ice cream should be allowed.
Fourth period I sat with Cade in english which was a normal thing now.
Lunch I spent with Jade and Joy because the boys had practice.
Fifth was functions. Noah didn't show up to class and Luke and I had a weird conversation about how we would live in a stranded desert.
Last period I had psychology with Jade and Joy and we just talked about movies and tv shows until we got yelled at for talking while the teacher was trying to teach.
After I left psych class I went to my locker to put my books away and get my backpack before I was going to leave the school. That's when the note fell out of my locker.
Wait. The note.
The note was supposedly from Noah but that was obviously a set up. I didn't believe it was from him and still don't. That's why I checked my phone- which by the way, was now broken from the dirty fucking mop water. Fuck you Madison.
I was going to text Noah but he had already texted me to meet him in the functions room.
That's when I went there and well... we know the rest.
This made no sense. I stared at my hands in my lap as I tried to connect the dots.
It's not like Noah would just hand his phone off to Madison on any circumstance. He hates her as much as I do. Noah was obviously not scheming alongside Madison... right?
I shook the thought out of my head. I knew I was being weird with him and he didn't know why but he wouldn't ever do that. Yeah, that's right - he wouldn't.
The car stopping once it pulled into my driveway made me come back into the real world. I looked at Noah who had his eyebrows raised.
"Can I see your phone?"
Noah, surprised, pulled his phone out of his pocket. His eyebrows pulled together in bafflement as he awkwardly unlocked his phone and handed it to me.
I felt his gaze on me as I went onto the messages app and went to mine and his chat.
The last message was from Sunday night after he left my house. All it read was "hey..." but I never replied because I was all weird about what had happened between us. There was no message from either of us after that.
If he sent it he wouldn't delete it because he wouldn't assume that I would ask for his phone and even if I did, he wouldn't just give it to me as easily as he just did. I already knew he hadn't done this, though.
I shut his phone and handed it back to him, not looking at him as I grabbed my backpack from the back seat and went to open the door but Noah pressed the button to lock the doors.
I looked at him weird. "What's wrong? What was that about?"
"Nothing," I dismissed, shaking my head. "Doesn't matter. I was just trying to figure something out."
"Tiffany, what is it?" He asked again, concern seeping through his words. "Tell me."
I hesitated for a moment before sighing and leaning back in the seat, "There was a note in my locker and then a text from you... that told me to meet you in our math room. I know it wasn't you, I just... I don't know."
Noah's eyebrows pulled together as he made sense of what I was saying. He looked at me perplexed, "What do you mean? I texted you?"
I nodded, "Yeah, the text was from your number." I paused for a moment, "I doubt you talk to Madison so was there any point in the day where you didn't have your phone?"
Noah thought out-loud, "The only time I don't have my phone is... it's during practice."
"That was at lunch today," I noted. "Could she have gotten your phone from your locker?"
Noah, again thought for a minute before answering, "The lock combinations are generic and easy to crack because half of them don't even work properly."
"What about your phone passcode?" I asked. "How would she have guessed that?"
Noah shrugged, "There's no way she-" he paused, glancing behind me as something hit him and then he groaned and clenched his hair in his fists before dropping his hands and shaking his head as he looked down in his lap. "it's my... my brother's birthday. She could have gotten it after a few guesses."
"She knows your brothers' birthdays?" I asked, confused.
Noah looked at me, his face holding a cold look, "It's not because she knows me well, it's because we've been going to the same school since elementary school so she could've remembered or easily figured it out from a quick instagram and twitter snoop through my profile."
I nodded slowly, everything coming into understanding. "She used you to get me there because she knew I wouldn't say no to you and then deleted the text so we couldn't figure it out. She was probably trying to get me to blame it on you too which would just give her extra satisfaction."
I looked up to see Noah looking at me weird so I quirked my eyebrows as if I were asking 'what?'.
Noah shook his head and dismissed whatever he was thinking. "Nothing to do about it now except get her back with what she deserves." He muttered, the slightest bit of anger evident in his tone.
I shook my head, "No, we're going to leave it."
"What? Why?" He looked at me like I had gone insane.
I shrugged lightly, "This can get out of hand very quickly and I don't need more... I just don't want something serious to happen if something goes wrong because Madison.. well she seems like she might take things a bit too far without realizing. Let's just leave it. We can talk more about it tomorrow because the whole group probably is already coming up with a whole list of revenge ideas."
Noah looked at me in an analyzing way for a moment before saying, "Are you sure?"
I nodded firmly, "Yeah. I just want to be the bigger person and drop it."
Noah seemed a bit hesitant but nodded anyways, "Whatever you want, Tiff."
I gave him a small thankful smile, "Well, thank you... for everything, Noah. You uh, you helped a lot today so thank you."
Noah smiled lightly at me but it didn't reach his eyes. He nodded.
I grabbed my bag and finally got out of the car. I walked up the driveway and it was when I reached my doorstep, I turned around.
I was partially expecting - or maybe hoping that he would be following me into my house like the other day but Noah wasn't.
I turned back around and walked into my house, shutting the door before I could look back outside to him and his car. It was after I had gotten inside when Noah finally pulled out of the driveway and left.