Chapter Three Ezra, 10:25

Verin walks with me until I reach home. I stop in front of the door and I wave her goodbye.

   "See you at school tomorrow!"

   "Okay."

I don't know if that will be true. I want to walk to school with Noah tomorrow. For two reasons: to give him his sweater back; and just for the heck of it. I feel a connection with him. I walk into the living room and, to no surprise, I see my sister, Tanya, laying on the couch. Our parents left when she was 16 and I was 11. Left, in my case, means murder. Our parents were murdered by a group of narcissists. I didn't cry when they died, though. Tanya says that they deserved death, so I don't care.

   "You're home late."

I put the coat up and said, "Yeah, Noah and I had to take care of a project."

   "Oooh~ Does this mean you have a new boyfriend?"

I can't help but laugh. "No. Definitely not! We're just friends!"

   "Yeah. That's what they all say."

I roll my eyes and head down the hall to my room. My room is all the way at the end.

I get into my room and jump on my bed. Today was so tiring. I practically got home at midnight. I can't wait for it to be tomorrow already. I want to hang out with Noah more. I close my eyes. He won't get out of my mind. Do I like him or something? I can't believe this is happening. I have never liked someone this much before. He really is something.

-

I wake up to the sun in my eyes. It is really bright.

   "Finally, you're awake! I called you twenty times before I finally came up here and saw that you were still sleeping!" Tanya walks out of my door. "Anyways, you better get ready fast. School starts in less than five minutes."

I  almost cried. "Then why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"

It is too late for me to call after her. She is already in the kitchen when I say that. I jump off my bed and land on my foot. Pain rushes through my foot. I almost scream, but I manage to hold it in. I grab a shirt from my closet and some jeans. Today there is a huge test in math. Wait… I didn't study for the test! I'm going to get a bad grade on it. I put my clothes on and head down the hall to the kitchen where Tanya is eating something.

   "What's that?" 

She looks up at me.

   "It was your breakfast, but you took too long so I decided to eat it for you."

I roll my eyes. I grab a piece of toast and walk out the door.

   "Hey!" 

Tanya calls after me, but it's too late for me to look back, so I just say, "Bye!"

I wave my hand above my shoulder and then immediately put it back down. I must've looked ridiculous doing that. I head up the road toward the school. There is no point in going to check if Noah is home because I'm pretty sure that school has already started. It is very humid out today.

   "Hey, Ezra!" I look over to my right to see Verin walking over to me. "School starts in a couple minutes, why are you getting there so late? Were you looking for someone?"

   "No. I just woke up really late. That's all."

I continue walking, completely ignoring the fact that Verin is trying to follow me.

   "Wait up! You know you're a lot faster than me!"

   "Exactly."

Verin is a great friend. She became my friend when I first came to this school. I started here a couple months ago.

   "Watch out!" I feel a tug on my shirt before I realize I almost ran into a tree.

   "Thanks."

   "No problem, but you have to be careful of where you are going."

   "I will. Thanks, again."

That was awkward. I feel slightly attracted to Verin, but at the same time, Noah. I don't know who I really like. We arrive at school and I see Noah in the distance. Verin followed me all the way here. I don't know why, but I guess it is over, for now. I have two classes with her. Second period and fifth period. I have all of my classes with Noah. I didn't notice him in any of my classes other than the fact that he sat in front of me in all classes. 

   "Hey, Noah. I came to give you your jacket back." Noah turns toward me. He looks great today.

   "Oh? No, it's ok. You can keep it. I gave it to you for a reason, but I can't remember why."

   "Well, ok. I guess I'll see you in class?"

   "Yeah."

I walk with Verin to my locker. Hers is right next to mine. What a coincidence. I look to my left and see Noah. What a surprise. I guess I never noticed him before last night. It almost amazes me how I have never seen him before. The bell rings and everyone near their lockers rushes toward their classes.

   "I guess we should get to class now."

   "Yeah."

I follow Noah to our first period, math. I don't like math, but I am really good at it. I never like subjects I am really good at because everyone asks me for help all of the time. At least Noah doesn't have to go through class like this.