The Girl in the Hoodie

17

[Chapter seventeen]

"Hi, Nev!"

"Kia Ora, Meg." I greet back, my voice low and scratchy.

"Woah, why do you sound so tired?"

"Maybe because I am."

So Noah and I stayed at the field in Riverhead all night and fell asleep looking at the sky while lying on Max's jeep. We only got about an hour of sleep because Noah's phone started ringing frantically.

It was Max yelling at Noah about taking his precious jeep in the middle of the night.

Apparently Noah left a note that said, "Borrowed your jeep. Don't freak out."

Max freaked out.

Noah dropped me home before speeding off to return Max's jeep.

That brings us to now.

In hell--I mean, school.

As if on cue, Max and Dylan walk over to us, dragging an extremely tired Noah behind them.

"Wow, Noah looks as terrible as Nevaeh sounds." Megan mutters before her eyes widen. "Uh-I mean, you look great, Noah! You're glowing!"

"Nevaeh?"

Max is met with a snore.

"Nevaeh!"

I jump awake. "Pfft I didn't just fall asleep leaning on my locker, what're you talking about?"

"Alright, why the hell are Noah and Nevaeh so tired?!" Dylan exclaims after a few seconds of everyone staring at me.

Max's eyes widen as he looks between Noah and I. "Oh my god, you two were together last night!"

The whole hallway turns silent as everyone turns to stare at us.

"What the hell are you looking at?!" Noah shouts, making everyone turn around go back to whatever they were doing.

"You stole Stella and picked up Nevaeh last night!" Max whisper shouts. "You two were together last night!"

"Yeah, we were. What's the big deal?" Noah questions, shrugging nonchalantly.

Megan turns to me with wide eyes. "You were with Noah King last night?! He didn't do anything did he? Did he try to run you over with Max's jeep?" She turns to Noah and pokes his chest. "Did you try to run her over with Max's jeep?"

Noah narrows his eyes at Megan. "Get your damn finger off my chest before I rip it off and feed it to my dog."

Huh, didn't know Noah was hot-headed.

I roll my eyes. "You don't even have a dog."

"Shut up, Carter."

"Alright, one, you threatened my best friend, so no, I will not shut up. And two, out of all the times you've told me to shut up, when have I ever actually listened to you?" I question rhetorically.

"How about I shove my fist down your throat and choke you to death?" He growls at me, clenching his fist. "Maybe that'll shut you up."

What the hell is up with him today?

"Boy, you threaten me again and you're going to crying to your mommy about how you no longer have a dick." I glower, taking a step forward.

Megan pulls me back as Max and Dylan share a look, having a conversation with the excessive movement of their eyebrows.

"Carter, just shut the hell up!" Noah snaps.

"Don't yell at me, asshole!" I snap right back.

He takes a step towards me but Max and Dylan both grab him and drag him away.

"That was weird." Megan states. "I haven't seen him get angry this quickly since before he went to juvie."

"What?" I turn to her with my eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, before they went to juvie, Noah was a real hot-head. He got mad real easily and hurt a lot of people." She explains. "He once slammed some a-hole's face into the locker so many times that he almost killed him. Max and Dylan pulled him off so the guy only got really bada concussion. Noah got suspended for two weeks though. And I'm surprised the guy didn't get brain damage."

My eyebrows furrow even more.

I bet you can see the gears in my head turning and a shit load of calculations being solved in my brain.

My mind drifts back to the antidepressants.

I still don't know what he's diagnosed with.

But still. What happens when I don't take my pills?

I haven't seen Noah get angry so quickly before and those pills might just be what's stopping him from doing so.

My mind then drifts to something I read about an anger issue disorder called Intermittent Explosive Disorder.

My eyes widen.

Does Noah have I.E.D?

If Noah does have I.E.D, for some reason, I feel like that's not the only mental illness he has.

Although antidepressants are used for I.E.D, they're also used for many other things.

Noah seems more sad than angry most of the time.

There's a chance he might actually have depression.

Oh my life, did I really just figure all that out?

Girls put two and two together faster than a calculator.

Or in this case, antidepressants plus Noah plus anger issues.

I really need to find out what's going on with Noah.

I want to help him.