Stella's POV

I slam the door shut. He knocks repeatedly, begging me to open the door. He's here. Why? What does he want? To talk? Because last time Noah wanted to talk, we ended up having an argument that finished with me running away. When I was suspended, I blocked everyone from school who I had some form of communication with so I wouldn't know if he has tried to contact me; Kate said I had made the right decision.

Oh no, Kate! I forgot about her! If Noah doesn't give up soon, she will find out what's going on and I'm really trying to avoid that from happening.

"Who was at the door?" Kate's voice makes me spin around so fast that I think it's my fastest reaction time. In shock, I open and shut my mouth like a fish; Kate has an amused expression on her face.

What do I say? WHAT DO I SAY?

"Um, it was a d-d-d-delivery man," I stutter.

I really need to work on my lying skills!

"Where's the parcel?" Kate asks.

"Pardon?"

"Where's the parcel the delivery man brought?"

How do I answer that?

"Delivery man? I didn't say delivery man. I said n-n-nobody. Yes, there was nobody there," I conclude.

At the same time I say this, Noah bangs on the door and calls my name again.

He's still here! I hope she didn't hear it!

"What was that?" Kate questions.

So much for not hearing it!

"What was what? I didn't hear anything," I lie, attempting to look calm and casual.

"I think it came from outside. Excuse me, Stella!"

Kate tries to get past me so that she can get to the door but I don't allow her.

"It's probably some silly kids playing pranks on us. Nothing to worry about. Oh, Jake needs help with a question on his homework and I don't understand it either," I distract her, hoping that it works.

"OK," Kate says, moving away from me. She enters the living room and asks Jake what question he needs help on.

Wow! That was easier than I thought!

I release a sigh of relief: hopefully, Noah gets the message and will leave. I go into the sitting room and is startled by Kate, who is standing by the window.

"If this boy outside the door knows your name, you must know who he is, right? And let's not forget he is wearing the Minehead Academy Uniform," Kate suggests, her eyes never once leaving the window," I want the truth, now, Stella."

Teaches me a lesson to never have an early celebration!

"His name is Noah," I start to explain but Kate is impatient so she interrupts me.

"Who is he?"

"A boy in my year group."

"What does he want from you?"

Funny, you ask that because I have the same question!

"We had an argument the last time I was at school. I really don't want to see him," I declare.

For a few moments, Kate does not say a word, which is unusual for her.

"Then, I'll send him away," she assures me," Go upstairs. I'll call you when he's gone."

"Thanks, Kate!" I show my appreciation by giving her a smile before rushing upstairs and closing the door behind me when I reach my bedroom.

He's leaving, finally! Wait...how did he get here in the first place? It's not like he could have found out where I live when we met for the first time on the bus because of two reasons:

1. Noah and Oliver had got off before Storm and I.

2. We were going to Storm's house to start our English project...

Hold on a second! Storm is the only person at school who knows where I live and it definitely can't be a coincidence that the day after she came to see me, he is on my doorstep. I knew that I was going to regret not being more cautious when returning home that same evening Storm followed me home! Retrieving my phone that is lying on my bed, I unlock it and tap on 'Phone' before scrolling down to Storm's name. I click on it, unblock her and call her.

"Hello," Storm's voice surprises me as I wasn't expecting an immediate answer.

"Storm, explain to me why Noah is on my doorstep," I don't bother with a 'hello' or a 'how are you'; I am too angry to try to be polite.

"Oh-well-I-um."

"Oh-well-I-um is not an answer. Perhaps I have to repeat myself: Storm, explain to me why Noah is on my doorstep."

"People at school are still spreading rumours about you. Noah noticed I was not at ease when somebody mentioned you and asked me what was wrong. I tried lying to him but he didn't buy it. Noah got offended that I was hiding something from him so I told him that I met up with you yesterday. Then, he started asking a billion questions; he told me he wanted to see you because he had to make things right between you and him. When Noah asked for you address, I told him I couldn't tell him because I would be breaking the trust I was trying to build between you and I. I was expecting him to become angrier than he already was but he just simply walked away from me and gave me the silent treatment for the rest of the day until I couldn't bear it any longer. I told him your address. I'm sorry, Stella."

"I just wish you could have given me a warning before I got the shock of my life."

"I know. So are you going to talk to him or have you already had a chat with him?"

"I'm not going to talk to him."

"WHAT? WHY?" Storm's exclamation almost makes me go deaf.

"Because I've made up my mind and that's my final decision."

"So, what's your plan, genius? Leave him outside your door to freeze to death!"

"No! Kate is sending him away as we speak."

"It's not too late to give him a chance."

"And why should I?"

"Because-because..."

"Because what?"

"Because Noah got suspended for you! He took a risk for you!"

Noah what? Suspended? No, it can't be: it's just a story Storm has made up in her head. That girl has such a wild imagination that it's not a surprise that she confuses reality with fantasy! Why would Noah get suspended for me? None of this makes sense!

"What are you talking about, Storm?" I question.

Storm starts to explain to me that the same day I got suspended, so did Noah. According to what she has described to me, Noah's friends had dared some girls to write that I'm a murderer on the wall in the girls' toilets. Up until I had discovered the graffiti, Noah had no knowledge of it and he certainly didn't know that Liam, Jonah and Oliver had played their part in it. However, the truth always comes out and Noah got so furious that he started fighting Liam. While Storm was retelling the story, my mouth was wide open in shock; a fly could have flown in. Since I first met them, I never liked Liam, Jonah and Oliver but I would have never expected them something so...disgusting! It's the only word I can use to describe their actions.

When I first met Noah, I didn't think much of him: I thought he was just like Oliver. I have to accept I was wrong and he's the absolute opposite of him. How can that be possible! Yet even when I had got to know him a bit more, I still I had the wrong assumption of him. The last time I had seen him, I had called Noah a coward but he had guts to defend me like that.

"Storm, I've got to go," I try to finish the call.

"Stella, wait-," she starts to speak but I've already pressed the button to end the call.

As I'm leaving my room, I bump into Evie, who says that Kate wants me downstairs. I thank her before climbing down the stairs and setting foot in the living room but I'm stopped in my tracks when I notice Kate is not alone.

Noah. He's standing by the sofas. When he realises I'm here, he stares at me with an unreadable emotion on his face. While none of us are breaking eye contact, Kate comes back from the kitchen and she freezes when she spots me.

"We need to talk alone," Kate states as she approaches me. We both move further away from where Noah is standing so that he can't catch any of our conversation.

"I know I should be minding my own business but I couldn't send him away," Kate whispers apologetically, wary of my reaction, which I suppose she is expecting to be explosive.

"Thank you, Kate," I dispel her fears and I give her a sweet smile to convince her even more.

"What?" I have to fight the urge not to chuckle as she's just broken one of her rules: not to answer 'what' with each other because it's not polite.

"I've changed my mind. I want to talk to Noah."

"That's great! Don't worry I'll go upstairs and give you two some privacy. Just give me a holler if you need anything!"

With that, Kate leaves the room and now, I only have Noah for company. While I advance towards him, I can't lie by saying that I am completely calm. I am nervous. Nervous about if my theories about Noah are true: he's different from the people he surrounds himself with. Nervous about if we'll be able to mend what has been broken.

"Hi," I greet apprehensively, gesturing for him to take a seat on the closest sofa to him. I perch on the other sofa and drum my fingers on my kneecaps; if you haven't noticed already, I can never keep still when I'm worried.

"Hi," Noah returns the greeting.

There's an unpleasant silence and I start to regret the new decision I had made last minute.

"So...I'm guessing that the lady that let me in and was talking to you is your foster mum?" Noah tries to get rid of the discomfort floating in the air.

"Yeah," I really need to expand my answers to more than one word.

"She looks nice."

"Yeah, she is and...funny, sometimes. Don't tell her I said that, though!"

"Don't worry! Your secret's safe with me!"

"She's really resilient and stubborn. She never gives up. I was expecting her to try to persuade me to talk to you but she didn't."

The smile that was on his face a second ago has faded into a solemn expression as he questions," So what did change your mind?"

"Storm told me about you getting suspended," I reply.

"Storm called you?" Noah asks.

"No, I called her. I made the connection."

"Did she tell you the reason why I got suspended?"

I nod.

"I'm really sorry, Stella! If I knew what they were going to do, I would have stopped them!"

Why is he apologising? I should be the person expressing how sorry I am? He defended me just after I had called him a coward! He didn't deserve to be called that. I didn't deserve his support. Yet he still gave me it.

"No, I'm sorry, Noah! I'm not sure if you remember but I shouldn't have talked to you like that last time I was at school!" I'm so ashamed of myself that I look somewhere else apart from his eyes.

"I think the words were: "'It's complicated' is a coward's way of saying that they don't have a valid excuse!'"

"I was stupid to say that! You were really brave to stand up to your friends!"

"You were angry and I understand why. I shouldn't have just stood by and watched them behave like that towards you."

"But you didn't turn against me when everybody else did. I'm really grateful for that."

Another silence.

"Have you and Storm made peace?" Noah questions.

"No. Yesterday, when she came to meet me, we had something else to chat about," I try not to bring up the reason she had wanted to speak to me; even if River has made a mistake after mistake, I wouldn't want to get back at her by sharing what she has done with people who have no business in it.

"Will you ever...forgive her?"

"I don't know."

We both turn to look as we hear the stairs creaking and Kate arriving on the bottom step.

"Don't worry, I'm not hear to eavesdrop! I'm just going to start preparing dinner!" she states, holding her hands up.

"I think I should start getting home," Noah says.

"You sure? You can always eat here," Kate suggests cordially.

"I don't think my parents will be pleased with me staying out after dark."

"Fair enough. Stella, can you show him the way out."

I nod and start walking out the living room and into the hallway. I unlock the front door and hold it open.

"I guess I'll see you...around," Noah mumbles, stepping onto the doorstep.

I sense that he was about to say 'at school' rather than 'around' but it's only natural because it's what you usually would announce when you're about to leave after meeting up with your friends or just people you know from school.

"What is it, Noah?"

It looks like there's something on his mind that wants to be said aloud.

"When are you coming back to school?" he blurts out.

How should I answer that? Even I don't know how to respond to that! When I'm ready? I don't know when that is? When the time is right? When will that be? When everyone at school forgets my existence? Because that's not happening any time soon!

"I'm not sure. Why?" I reply to his question with another one.

"Storm told me to tell you that Miss Cooke says that you can email your project to her if you don't think you'll be in school for the deadline. She'll only mark you on the writing part," Noah reminds me of something that I've forgotten about before adding," Storm thinks that Miss Cooke misses teaching you. She's sure that lots of the other teachers do because you were probably one of the best students in their classes. Storm didn't admit it herself but she definitely misses you. We both do."

Noah misses me?

What's wrong with you, Stella? He just gave you a list of other people apart from himself that misses you and you just had to focus on the detail that he misses you, too! Why? Do you-?

A high-pitched scream spreads through the house:

"SPIDER!"

"I need to go. Bye!" I shut the door before he can repeat a 'bye'.