The Girl in the Hoodie

29

[Chapter twenty-nine]

"Yes, home time." I whisper to myself happily as I make my way towards the front doors of my shitty ass school. "Best subject of the day. Tied with lunch, of course. Wait, I'm talking to myself. People probably think I'm weird. Meh. Don't care."

As soon as I get out of the school, I'm pulled aside.

"Dylan, what the hell, bro?" I pry my hand out of his grip and turn around to face him.

"Vaeh!" He breathes heavily, bending over and placing his hands on his knees as he catches his breath.

"Did you—did you run to catch up with me?" I raise an eyebrow, suppressing a laugh at his disheveled state.

"No!" He scoffs. "Maybe...yes! Okay, yes I ran to catch up with you! Shut up!"

I snort. "I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it." He points at me accusingly.

I laugh loudly. "Anyway, what's up, Dildo?"

"After lunch, while I was walking to class with Max, I kind of, blurted out that I was gay." He explains quietly.

I stand up straighter. "What happened?"

"Well, he was shocked at first, then he got real happy and hugged me, saying 'yay, I've always wanted a gay best friend'."

I chuckle. "That's cute."

"Yeah, whatever." He waves my comment off. "I still need to tell Noah."

"Okay, and...?" I cross my arms, staring at him expectantly.

"I want you to come with me to make sure I don't chicken out." He tells me.

"What? No! This isn't any of my business." I protest. "I'm irrelevant! Seriously, half the people at this school don't even know my name. They just know me as 'Hoodie Girl', but that's alright because I hate people."

"That has got to be the most relatable thing you've ever said." He blinks at me before shaking his head. "Please, Nevaeh!"

"Why are you so scared of telling Noah?" I question. "Just do what you did with Max. Blurt it out."

"But what if Noah gets mad at me for keeping a secret from him for that long?" He ask.

"Stop overthinking things." I order. "He's your best friend, he's not going to get mad at you."

"But—"

"Oi!" I cut him off. "Noah may be an asshole, but he's a rational asshole."

"Bu—"

"He's not going to get mad over this. He'll understand." I start. "And you know that. Now stop being a pussy and go."

"So you'll come?"

"Dude—" I cut myself off. "I tell you all that and you still want me to come?!"

"Please?!"

I open my mouth to protest again but shut it when I see a pleading look on his face.

I sigh. "Fine."

"Thank you!" We start walking out to his car.

We get in and he starts the engine before starting to reverse out of the parking space.

"Wait!" He slams in the brakes, making me whack my head on the head rest of the seat.

"What?!" I exclaim, rubbing the back of my head.