The End Is Only the Beginning

24. Free

24. Free

On Wednesday all I wanted to do was talk to Noelle. She still hadn't spoken to me following Friday night.

Despite the lack-of-sympathy that Noelle pretended to have, she would have given me the perfect advice on how to cope in, and respond to, my current situation with Aaron. Instead, Kasim was my only source of comfort. Although he's a great friend, Kas always seems one-hundred percent clueless.

"Are you and Eli still talking?" Kasim and I were walking to our first class of the day, English, a few minutes later when he decided to ask that.

"Not really," I shrugged.

"Why? What happened?" Kasim asked, sounding both surprised, but genuinely concerned.

I wanted to answer with 'Aaron', but that wouldn't settle well. Also, that didn't explain why Eli hadn't tried to get in touch with me either - I mean, he didn't know about the situation with Aaron, and he seemed ok after I apologised to him. "I don't know, I haven't really had the time."

"So you're ignoring him?"

I shrugged again. "He's not been in touch with me either," I stated truthfully.

"A mutual ghosting? Cool."

Kasim stuffed his hands into his pockets, and the pair of us continued to speed walk to our lesson. We only passed one other pair of loitering students in the hallway, a girl and boy who were probably looking for a private place for an impromptu make-out session.

"Has Noelle said anything about me?" I asked, my own curiosity getting the better of me as I broke the silence.

Kasim hummed, acknowledging the question but not really giving an answer. "She hasn't said much, but then again, I've not seen her too much either," he said. "Why? Has something happened between you two? Are you avoiding her?"

"She's not talked to me since Friday. Figured she saw me leave with Aaron and has been giving me the silent treatment ever since."

"I don't think she saw you two. If she did, she never mentioned it. Plus, she was acting fine after you left."

I frowned. "So why is she avoiding me?"

Kasim shrugged as we reached English, his hand on the door handle. "Just ask her, she's not the kind to beat around the bush," he answered, pushing the door open.

English passed exactly as I thought it would - and as it had been for the last few days - with silence form Noelle, and with Kasim awkwardly trying to fill it. Despite Kasim's over-sharing, the class was still missing Noelle.

Kasim headed to his second class as soon as the bell rang, calling a quick 'see you later' to us as he left.

Now I was left with Noelle - and Lindy, but she was currently occupied with a teacher. "Noelle," I spoke, and only then did she notice that we were alone in the otherwise empty classroom together.

"Yes?" Noelle asked, acting clueless.

"Can we talk?"

She picked up her bag, throwing it over her shoulder. "Actually, I've got a class to be in, and the teacher's super strict, so I should probably-," Noelle tried.

"Noelle," I cut her off. "That's bullshit, and we both know it. You're avoiding me, and I want to know why?"

She stopped fidgeting for a brief second before continuing. "I'm not avoiding you, Caleb," Noelle lied, "I've just really got to be somewhere else." She left the classroom, and a couple of seconds after, I followed.