Page 10 of The Secret Of Us

I know that Noah doesn’t care a single bit about my past relationship, if you can even call it that, but at this point, I’m ranting to anyone who will listen. Unfortunately for them, that’s Amelia and Noah.

“If you see me going near a football player at any point for the rest of my life, I give you permission to yell at me until I come to my senses.”

“I absolutely will,” Amelia says with a nod as she squeezes my arm once.

We say hi to a few of the other girls on the hockey team as we walk through the corridors, and at some point, Noah ends up trailing behind us. He’s probably exhausted of me already, but I don’t want him to feel left out.

“Do you play any sports?” I might as well ask how the weather is. But we could share some common ground here.

He hesitates, opening and closing his mouth like he’s forgotten how to speak, until he finally says, “Football.”

“Ah.”

4

NOAH

I assumedthe first day of classes meant it would just be introductions to what we’re going to do for the year. So, when I walk into the biology lab room with Izzy and her friend to see the word ‘quiz’ on the whiteboard in giant letters, I’m a little confused.

I hear an exaggerated groan from my side and turn my head slightly to see Izzy curled over, her hands in her light hair. Amelia rubs her back, nodding as she urges Izzy to stand upright. She gently pushes her forward, but struggles as Izzy drags her feet, throwing her head back. I have to stop the corners of my mouth from turning up.

“It’s the first day,” she laments, and Amelia continues to nudge her forward until she reaches one of the lab desks in the second row. Izzy lifts herself onto the high stool, and Amelia places her bag on the desk.

I don’t know why I stuck so closely to them once we got into class. Obviously, they’d sit next to each other. I feel my ears getting warmer, and hope it’s not showing on my face, too. I clear my throat, saying a quiet ‘thanks’ before pivoting away from them.

“Noah, you can sit next to me,” Izzy says, and I stop in my tracks. I turn around, facing them again and looking back and forth between the two girls already sitting down. I don’t want Izzy to make her friend move just because she feels bad for me.

“It’s okay. I can sit somewhere else.”

“It’s fine. I’m going to sit at the back anyway,” Amelia says, pulling out the stool for me and taking her bag. “I always try to nap in this class.”

She steps past me, giving a quick wave to Izzy before making her way to a desk in the back corner of the room. When I turn back to Izzy, she’s smiling at me. She pats the seat next to her, and I take it.

We both pull out our books, Izzy scanning through her notebook from last year as if she can memorise it all before class starts. Coates uses the same textbook as my old school, so I already know the material we’ll be quizzed on. My childhood dream of being a doctor has meant I’ve always focused on my studies. As soon as I started secondary school, I taught myself things before we even covered them in class, just so I could stay ahead.

“Books away. I know you all read what’s on the board,” a grey-bearded man says as he enters the room. “Don’t worry, this score won’t be recorded anywhere. It’s just to get your brains working after such a long break.”

Murmurs of annoyance run through the class; the shuffling of books being thrown into bags that are then dropped on the floor. The teacher passes out a stack of papers to each row, instructing us to take one and pass them back until everyone has one face down in front of them.

“You have ten minutes. Start.”

I flip the paper over, scanning the questions, and they all seem fairly straightforward to answer. I start jotting down my answers, the only sound in the room of pens scratching against paper. It only takes me a couple of minutes to finish, so I let myself glance at Izzy from the corner of my eye. She’s got her head in her hands, staring down at her half-filled page.

I don’t know what comes over me, but I knock my knee against hers to get her attention. Izzy tilts her head to the side to look at me, and I nudge my paper closer to hers so she can see my answers. She drops her hands to the desk, her pen tapping once against it. She quirks an eyebrow at me, and I nod my head toward the page, indicating for her to take a look if she wants.

She moves her paper closer to mine, and when I glance at what she’s already written, I can see she’s pretty much got the same answers as mine, though hers are better written and in much neater handwriting. There’s only two questions that she seems halfway stuck on. After a few seconds of her having an internal debate over the ethics of copying on a quiz, she peeks over at my paper and starts writing on hers.

Once she’s finished writing, Izzy glances over at me, a pretty smile on her face as she presses her thigh against mine. Heat rises through my body, my entire being feeling like it’s on fire just from that one touch from her. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.

“Okay, time is up,” the teacher says, drawing me back into the real world. “Everyone pass your paper to the row behind you and three seats across. Back row, bring yours to the front.”

I pull my leg away from hers, hoping she didn’t feel the way I just set alight. We pass our papers back, and Izzy turns to find Amelia gesturing with her hands, something I assume means she wants her friend to check her paper. I take the chance while she’s not looking at me to pull the collar of my shirt away from my neck in an attempt to cool myself down.

The teacher starts going through the answers, and I try to focus on checking the paper in front of me, but I’m suddenly aware of Izzy next to me. I sneak another glance at her as she tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. I have to look away.

We finish checking the answers, and everyone gets their papers back. I can’t help but smile when I see we both have perfect scores.

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