I'm currently laying in my twin bed, cuddling under my black and pink-floral comforter. My mind is still reeling from the kiss Rhett and I shared earlier. I didn't tell Rue for some reason.

Mom came home early for once, but thankfully Rhett had left by then. She knows something is up. I just have a feeling.

"Noa!!" My mom's demanding voice booms through our small apartment. I have a feeling I know what she's upset about.

I roll out of the bed, barely catching myself from hitting the ground. Rue looks up from her small desk at me, snickering. She is usually the one getting yelled at, which may be surprising for some of you. I'm not as rebellious as I may make it appear.

"Yeah, mom?" I ask as I approach the kitchen where she is hastily cooking up some beef stew for my sister and I tomorrow since she won't be home for a couple nights. She glances up at me with a stern face.

"Do you know I got a call from the school this morning, asking where you were?" I shake my head no with an innocent look, trying to pretend I don't know what she is talking about.

"Noa. Don't lie. Tell me the truth. Did you have another episode? D-do you need more
medication or therapy sessions? If you need to stay home from school just please call me next-"

"Mom! I didn't need to stay home...I-I needed to take care of a friend. He needed my help..." I bite the inside of my cheek, already regretting that I just let the mouse out of the trap.

"Friend?" She smiles at me, then continues to stir the stew up, adding in more salt.

"Yeah. His name is Rhett. He had something bad happen to him, and I took care of him." I decide not to elaborate on it anymore. She continues to smile, happy that I finally found a friend.

If only she knew it was a bit more than that.
"Okay. Next time just let me know, yeah?" I smile and nod as I walk to grab a glass of water. They say not to drink water before bed, but my mouth is incredibly parched.

Once I drain my glass, I wash it quickly before putting it away. Mom wishes me goodnight as I hug her and go to bed.

My mind is awake once more, replaying the day over and over in my head.

Replaying things that I wish I would've done.

Things that I'm too scared to do because it would mean I'd have to open my heart up, and that's something I can't do. Ever.

---

"Noa!! Come on!! You're going to be late!!"

I flutter my eyes to see my sister scrambling around the room, throwing on whatever clothes she can find while stuffing her backpack with her books and homework for today. I just watch her rush around not really understanding why she is freaking out...my alarm gets us up at six forty-five every morning.

She finishes getting ready and gives me a confused expression.

"Why aren't you getting ready? Your alarm never went off, and we have literally ten minutes to get to school!" She checks her cheap, white watch around her wrist again. "Make that eight minutes now!"

With this I spring out of bed, not caring to make the bed as I'm scrambling for clothes. I skip putting on my makeup, which upsets me since my eyes have dark circles under them, and my skin is pasty white with small blotches of red pimples across it.

I look disgusting.

"I'm leaving! Bye!" I hear Rue yell out the front door, which angers me even more. She couldn't wait like two more seconds?

I put on some older jeans with my converse, not combat boots for once in my life, and grab a black v-neck t-shirt with some random lyrics on it. I think it's Rue's, but at this point I don't care since I don't want to be late.

Once I grab my backpack, which I thankfully packed the night before, I bolt out the door, making sure I have my keys in my pocket and my phone. I begin to run down the street in the direction of the school, running as if my life depends on it. My eyes flicker both ways as I cross the streets, watching out for cars.

Cars are basically the devil's machine.

I make it to the school in record time with two minutes to spare. I use the two minutes to switch out my books and throw my backpack in my locker before rushing down to my first hour.

Once I'm in the doorway of the classroom, I notice most of the students are there. Usually people glance at me and look away. This time though, they all stare at me, holding back snickers.

I mean, I know I look like crap, but I honestly think I don't look that bad.

As I shrug it off and make my way to my desk near the back of the classroom, one of the guys who I think plays one of the more popular sports here- pretty specific, huh?-lets out a whistle.

Is my bra strap showing? Has he not seen a girl before in his life?

He then whispers as I walk past him, "nice hickey, Noa."

First of all, it's funny that he knows my name, and I have no clue what his name is...perhaps Brad or Chad? It's probably some basic white boy name like that.

Second of all, kill me. I totally forgot about the little 'love-bite' Rhett left on me.

I feel my cheeks heat up as I take a seat into the desk, I try to cover the mark with my hair, but it's hopeless since it looks weird with my hair wrapped around my neck, appearing as if it were choking me.

The only thing I can hear are the whispers. Students take glances at me, laughing to themselves.

I pretend to ignore it. I don't care. I don't care at all.

...
Once class is done, I walk out into the hallway, rushing to my locker. As I open it, on the--second try might I add--I scramble the clutter around, trying to find a sweatshirt or shirt I could wear instead. I don't find one, unfortunately. Sighing, I grab my materials for my next class, which is chemistry.

Right on cue, Rhett walks up to me with a sheepish smile, noticing his mark on the area between my neck and chest.

"Oops..." is all he says as he walks in sync with me to our next class. I roll my eyes, trying to ignore his presence. It's really hard.

"Noa...please talk to me...I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be that visible."

He whispers the last part as we take a turn down another hallway. I scoff because he probably doesn't want people to know that he was the one to give it to me.

Then out of literally nowhere, he grabs my hand in his and holds it as we continue to walk.

This action gets me to finally acknowledge him, and I'm met with a beautiful smile. I feel myself smiling slightly before I notice his ex and a group of girls glaring at us and scrunching their faces up in disgust. I squeeze his hand and tug him closer to me while glaring back at all of them.

I mouth 'fuck you' while ending it with a lethal smile just to show that I really don't care about them. They all huff and storm off as I curl my lips in victory. Rhett just watches the whole thing with a smirk which I'm growing more fond of each time he does it.

"Wow," is all that comes out of his mouth before we step into the classroom, breaking away from each other. I walk over to my seat and hear one of his friends tease him. He tells the guy off nicely, and, surprisingly, his friend stops.

Rhett looks over and smiles once more before class begins.

I let myself smile back. Liking the way I'm feeling.

The thing is...will this last? Or will I come down from cloud nine and be shrouded by the dark once again?