Chapter 17: Do You Like Strawberry or Chocolate?

"Hey, do you want a ride home?"

The dismissal bell rang marking the end of the school day. I looked at Nolan in confusion. Last time I got a ride from him, he ditched me halfway. I gathered my belongings quickly before answering him.

"I can walk."

Together, we headed out of the class. "Your stuff's still in my car," Nolan said. "It'll be easier for me to drop it off with you at your house."

Mentally sighing, I consented. He was definitely going to ask about Saturday night's event. As expected, the silence didn't last too long.

"You've been behaving weird since the Amish thing," Nolan stated as he drove. I kept my gaze out of the window. Due to school dismissal time, there was a lot of traffic. I knew I should've walked! "What's up with the serenading thing, Helen?" The car was stopped because of the traffic jam.

"What do you think is up?" I responded.

Nolan's blank stare gave away nothing. "Do you know the reason why Janine and I broke up?"

What was his point? "You weren't her 'ideal guy,' I'm guessing."

He looked out of the front window. "After like my third breakup, I went into depression," he began. "I quickly recovered from that with my fourth girlfriend. But after we broke up, I began having heart problems. Once I thought it was a heart attack even. It was just chest pain."

"Like in the vents?" I asked softly.

I already knew where this talk was headed.

He nodded. "Exactly. My parents kept sending me to the doctors. They tagged me with a heart problem called stress cardiomyopathy." I turned to him, now. Was he really telling me this? "Do you know what it is?" he asked. I shook my head quietly. I didn't know his perspective on it. With a smile, he said, "The heart's a big muscle. There are four chambers: right atrium, left atrium, right ventricle--"

"I know the parts of the heart, Nolan," I said rolling my eyes.

"I was just explaining how my doctors put it," he shrugged. "Easy way of explaining it is that my heart muscle has weakened. Those breakups stressed me out too much. First, I had anemia and then this stupid, weak heart."

The traffic moved and Nolan pushed the car to the traffic lights which turned red.

Something occurred to me suddenly. "Hold on, is that why you dropped out of the baseball team last year?" He nodded. "But why're you telling me all this?" He always called me selfish and egocentric. Why would he trust me?

You kiss him one time on the cheek and serenade him, and the guy reveals everything?

The light changed to green and we were on our way. The traffic had lightened considerably.

"My medical problems are the reason why Janine broke up with me," he said.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. She didn't wanna put up with something always so upset and whatnot. I still go to the hospital at least twice a month. The medicine helps . . . except for last week when I overdosed in anger."

That caught my attention. "You overdosed?"

I thought he said he took the wrong medicine.

"Minor detail," he said, waving it off. We had reached my neighborhood. "Just ignore what I said. So, all in all, my point's that you should probably stop doing all that." His thumb pointed towards the back seat where my violin laid. The car jerked to a stop in front of my house. "You're smart and you know what's the best thing for you," he said in a firm tone.

If I had known what was best for me, the vandalism incident wouldn't have happened!

Indirectly, Nolan was telling me to stop the advances I was trying to make.

I ran a hand through my hair and gave him a nod. I collected my belongings and Nolan helped me. We set the bike in the garage and I hid the violin next to it.

"By the way, get moving on the Janine breakup," he said before turning to leave.

"She doesn't have a boyfriend," I said. The girl went to an all girls' school, after all.

Nolan smirked. "You aren't getting away that easily, Hel-en. On Twitter, Janine sent over a hundred tweets about her and 'bae,'" Nolan airquoted.

I groaned.

Just why did people get into relationships so young?

¤》¤《¤

Nolan and I spent time in the library doing research and planning. Janine had two month boyfriend! No information helped except for the couple being at their school swim teams. We had to search up swim competitions coming up. There was one on Thursday.

"We'll go to the Thursday meet and take action," Nolan finalized. He was driving me home again.

"Fine," I muttered. For some reason, he still had a look on his face as if he was contemplating on telling me something. "Is there anything else?" The car stopped outside my driveway. Nolan ran a hand through his hair before turning my way. "What?" I prompted.

He pulled out his iPhone and showed me a text message from a private number.

It read: Start counting your last days. Karma might've missed you, but I won't.

"It's probably a prank," I said, trying to make sense of things. Who in the world would threat Nolan (except for maybe me one day)? He shook his head and showed me another message reading, I'm your worst nightmare, Milesblue. I'll show the true meaning of revenge. I suddenly got goosebumps. There were four or five other messages from the same person. All relating revenge. "How long have you been getting these?"

"Since last week."

Many worries came to my mind. Who would target Nolan? All those boyfriends? Girlfriends? The person knew Nolan's break-up scheme. What if I also ended up becoming a target since I was his (fake) girlfriend? What if it was all a prank? It didn't sound like it.

"Did you tell the cops?"

"Yeah, but they haven't been able to tap the number yet. No one has attacked me either, so they think it might be a prank," he said and let out an exaggerated sigh. "But the messages haven't stopped and I'm worr--I think you should be careful." I slowly nodded. He was worried about me?

"Okay," I said and bid him goodbye.

Everything just turned upside down.

One mistake.

Karma hated me.

I wasn't the only one who vandalized property, yet karma targeted me.

¤》¤《¤

I called Paris twice and we talked about my lack of progress with Nolan.

"Helen, bring out your charm!" was all Paris insisted.

Yeah, the non-existant charm.

I refrained from telling him about the threat messages just yet. What if it was just a prank?

Thursday after school, Nolan and I went to the swim competition as spectators. Seeing half-naked people gathered around was a little uncomfortable.

Mind you, some of the guys had nice, lean bodies.

"Stop staring," Nolan nudged me, "Your boyfriend's right next to you."

"Jealous?"

"Not of these guys. Swimming's not even a legit sport." Some of the competitors passing by us gave Nolan glares. "It's all about who gets out of the water fastest."

"Just like who gets off the field fastest in baseball?"

He was an ex-baseball player, wasn't he?

Nolan narrowed his eyes at me, ready to retort, but suddenly he shut his yap staring past me. I glanced over my shoulder and spotted our principal, Kay Pal, and his daughter, Janine. Next to her was a tall guy with black hair and dark blue eyes. I recognized him as Kayden Adams, Janine's boyfriend, according to Instascam--I mean Instagram.

There was an announcement for everyone to settle down. Instead of sitting on the bleachers, Nolan dragged me underneath them! There was enough room for both of us, but I didn't understand why he dragged me there.

"What are we going to accomplish under the bleachers?" I asked.

"I have a plan," he whispered. I held my groan. "Kayden will break up with Janine when he sees how she cares more about the competition  than him!"

"I'd be more concerned about the competition than my boyfriend," I said.

"I'm so shocked to hear that," he mocked. I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, what if Kayden misses one of his races?"

I gave him a hard glare. "Don't ruin someone's future, Nolan."

"Do you have a different plan?"

"Janine broke up with you because of your health. What if we tell Kayden to test Janine if she'd breakup with him in case he had some issues?" I suggested. Kayden wouldn't really break up with Janine over that. Hopefully.

"I like my idea better."

"Dude, you're an ex-baseball player. What if someone tried to make you miss an important match?" I reasoned.

He thought about it while we heard the competition begin. Slowly, Nolan complied with my plan. I peeked out from behind the bleachers and watched the swimmers preparing to dive. I had been a part of the swim team freshman year. It was a fun experience, but then I had to quit due to the academics. I watched the competitors dive.

"Swimming is a skill, not a sport." I didn't realize Nolan was also watching right next to me. His face was right next to mine and I hesitated turning. Though it was smart to be close to him, but I was having second thoughts.

"What's your problem?" I asked irritated. His swimming insults were quite offensive. "Are you hydrophobic or something?" He didn't answer rather sat back down, looking away.

"I can't swim."

"Shocker," I said dryly. I figured he couldn't from all those swimming taunts.

"Hey, swimming won't save you in a tsunami, okay?" he retorted.

I ignored the idiot. He was the weirdest human being I had ever encountered.

We waited until Kayden was out of the water and waiting for the next round before approaching him. Nolan was going to talk to him and tell him about Janine. I strolled around nearby as Nolan struck up a conversation.

"She's not very considerate of people with medical problems," I heard Nolan say. Moments like these made me feel bad for him, but whenever I thought of the awful breakups, it balanced out.

"She's changed," Kayden replied diplomatically. "You should see how well she treats my autistic brother." Well, my plan ended right then and there. Janine's boyfriend had to start preparing for his race and bid adieu. My own "boyfriend" sauntered to me.

From his look, I wasn't surprised to hear his comment.

"Your plan is done for. Time for mine." He turned to leave.

I grabbed his arm with both my hands. "Don't do it!" I said. We had messed up enough. "We'll think of a different approach--"

"You have the next five minutes for that," he informed before tugging his arm free and walking away.

I had to stop Nolan somehow. Working under pressure wasn't my forté, but desperate times called for desperate measures. I glanced around hastily trying to plan something. All the swimmers were sitting to one side. Nolan headed Kayden's way. People loudly chattered around me. Some kid was throwing a tantrum at the concession stand.

Wait.

Suddenly, a stupid plan came to my mind.

I was going to embarrass the hell out of Nolan and myself trying to save the seventh breakup.

May the odds be in my favor.

I closed my eyes, prayed to Jesus, and let out a shriek. I kept screaming until a decent amount of people wondered what was wrong with me. Then, I burst into crocodile tears. It was embarrassing but nothing compared to what I had done to people like Hanna. I added hard sobs and bent down as if I was done with life.

Silence fell.

"What's wrong?" someone asked.

"N-N-Nolan!" I cried out before breaking down in tears again. One year of drama class and I was an actor. Some lady was patting my shoulder. "It's just--I can't--Too many people here!" I said, moving away, pretending to be afraid of the woman. The lady seemed taken aback. People were staring. "N-Nolan!" I screamed again. "I wanna go home!" I yelled.

"Who's Nolan?" someone inquired.

"My b--boyfriend," I stuttered.

"Nolan! Where's Nolan?!" People were calling his name.

I started crying overdramatically. It was way too exaggerated, yet people believed me. I kept my face buried in my hands.

Soon, a voice whispered in my ear, "You're so dead, Helen Postulet."

I looked up to see Nolan with his lips pursed and eyes glaring at me. He bent down, wrapping his arms around me. I began shaking with laughter as I buried my face in his cold neck. I couldn't believe how stupid I made Nolan and myself appear. I had to get us both out of here before Nolan could advance his breakup plans.

Tears of laughter had soaked my eye area.

Nolan and I were awkwardly crouched and hugging. He pulled away soon when I silenced slightly. People were starting to leave, so I shrieked again. I received alarmed looks . . . especially from Nolan, whose eardrums had suffered.

"No! I don't want to stay here!" I complained, pretending Nolan was being a jerk. I grabbed the collar of his jacket and kept protesting.

"Take her home, boy!" the lady patting my back earlier told him.

I brought myself closer to Nolan, pretending to be afraid. I laid my head on his chest, wrapping my arms around his neck. He slowly stood up, taking me along. It was hard containing a smile. I fake sniffled as he stared at me. The crowd's eyes were on us. Some people whispered saying "the girl has social anxiety."

"Helen, dear, we came here to enjoy, remember?" Nolan said in a sweet tone.

I blinked rapidly and bit my lip, looking around nervously. He was going to sweet talk me to stay. I let out another scream. "Too many people!" I said and clung tightly to his stiff body.

"Dude, stop scaring her!" someone said. "Take her out of the crowd. She's obviously frightened!"

Nolan gave a swift nod before turning to me. "Let's go," he said with a false reassuring glance. He knew what I was upto. We plodded out with people giving me a lot of room to get out from. Nolan's arm was around my waist. I kept a tight hold on his arm in case he ran for it.

Once we were in the hallways, I let go, but he didn't.

"I'm done with the drama," I declared but he kept his arm wrapped around me.

"I'm not."

What did he mean?

With his free hand, Nolan unzipped his jacket. Then, he unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt. I squirmed, trying to run away.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed.

Parents and families passing by giving us weird stares.

"Wait, so your place or mine?" he asked a little loudly.

I tried to elbow him, but he kept a tight hold. "Stop!" I whisper-snapped.

"We haven't even started," he smirked. My face warmed up at what he was doing. He was definitely messed up. Students and teachers hanging around were eyeing us. "Do you like strawberry or chocolate?"

"What?" I said. Where did chocolate and strawberry come from? "Are we going out for ice cream or something?" I asked confused. My wrist watch accidentally got caught in one of the threads of his shirt and when I tried to yank it, his shirt was pulled too.

I felt him holding back laughter. "Stop being naughty, Helen," Nolan said and flicked my cheek lightly. "Keep your hands to yourself until we get inside the car."

I slapped my hand on my face trying to protect it from people around us. Nolan continued his double meaning remarks.

As soon as we reached outside and edged near his car, I pushed him away.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I demanded. He began buttoning his shirt quietly. I slapped his arm, gaining his attention.

"What?" he asked, with a bewildered expression. "You wanted to embarrass both of us, didn't you? I was just helping." I huffed. I would be a hypocrite if I called him out on his behavior. The spectacle I created was just as bad. "If you don't want to help, Helen, then don't. At least, don't get in my way either!"

Back to square one.

"Trust me, I am trying to help you," I said and rubbed my forehead tiredly. "If you'd just listen to me . . . your plan wouldn't work, Nolan. It was a fifty-fifty shot at them breaking over Janine competing and Kayden not. How can you help save the guy from Janine by destroying his future and helping Janine's?!"

We stood in silence. Nolan, the idiot, hadn't thought this much neither had he wanted to hear me out. I plopped down on the hood of his car, watching Nolan in the darkness. It was almost seven in the evening and dark except for the street lights.

"I wanted to get this breakup before tomorrow--Valentine's Day," he said breaking the ice.

"What's so special about tomorrow?"

He sighed before pulling out his phone and showing me yet another message from that private number.

Enjoy it while you can. This Valentine's day might be your last Valentine's or your last day.

What mess had Nolan gotten himself into?

¤》¤《¤

A/N

How was the chapter?

How was Helen's tantrum? Nolan's drama?

Who could be the private number?

Someone sent me a banner and I lost it in my inbox messages. Could you pretty please resend it? (I'M SUPER SORRY FOR BEING DISORGANIZED!) Btw, finally began watching superwoman after seeing so many comments about her on Hate vs. Love. Have I been living under a hole? Lilly is fab!

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