Permafrost [COMPLETED]

Katie

"I wish I would have known about this." Noah whines, hands folded in his lap, probably wishing he was at home. "I need to study."

"We're on break, Noah. You don't study over break." Lena tells him and he crosses his arms, mentally telling her he's done with their conversation.

"You don't have Mr. Bresser, do you?" I ask her and she shrugs.

"I just got placed for next semester, Katie. I couldn't remember for the life of me." She says standing up.

"Where are you going?" I ask her and she points to the front.

"I see Levi. I'm gonna go say hi." She says pulling her skirt down.

"Lena, don't get caught flirting with him, again. He has a girlfriend."

"Not anymore. They broke up." She smirks and I roll my eyes.

"I swear if you have anymore guys going after you, I'll have to call you Queen Bee."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. Just because Griffin's been trailing me ever since we talked in Lacey's office, doesn't mean he likes me. And Levi doesn't like me like that, either. We're just friends."

My look deepens.

"Okay! I won't talk to him. I'll just wave. He's with other girls anyway. But don't expect me to come back. I'll find a spot up there by him. Come join?"

"Nah, we're okay back here. Right Nosh?"

He rolls his eyes but smiles at me. "Right."

After Lena leaves to go stalk her prey, Noah turns to me with an angered expression.

"I told you to stop calling me that." He says, his eyes narrows behind his thick rimmed glasses, his curly hair resting perfectly on top of his eyebrows. "Especially in front of other people."

"C'mon, I've been calling you Nosh since we we're little. Just because now you think it's uncool doesn't mean I'm gonna knock it off." He rolls his eyes. "It's a cute nickname! Embrace it!"

"I'm not a child, Katie. It was fun when I was little but now it's just embarrassing." He says getting too worked up over such a silly topic.

"You're still little to me." I say not meaning for it to sound the way that it did. He exhales loudly.

"You're only 2 months older than me! When are you gonna start treating me like I matter?" He grabs a fistful of the front of his hair. "And don't say you do now because this right here is not you treating me like I'm your friend. This is you acting like I'm a problem. You're acting like you're babysitting me. And that hurts. It always hurts." 

I reach out to grab his sleeve as he stands up but I'm a second too late as my hand grabs nothing and he walks away with his arms crossed, pissed off, bothered and frowning.

"Noah!" I yell after him but he doesn't stop. I didn't expect him to.

Bradley Res starts to talk on stage but I drown him out.

I stand up to go after Noah but his shirt slips away into the large crowd of people and I can't see him anymore.

Not that I would have anything to say to him, anyway.

I never realized it before but everything he said was true.

I've always treated him like my little brother.

When that's exactly what he feels like to me.

I look after him. He picks on me.

I pick on him. He looks after me.

I realize that I always treat him like a burden.

Like he's my responsibility.

Like I'm responsible for the decisions and mistakes he makes.

Like it's my fault that he choses to follow me and continues to be my friend.

He's still here and that has to mean something.

I really should be nicer to him.

He doesn't get enough credit.

Everything that he does for me and I treat him like he's in the way.

"Hey, are you okay?" I suddenly am broken out of my thoughts by Lena waving her hands in front of my face.

"Yeah, Noah took off, I don't know where he went." She frowns.

"Well I ran into Griffin, Levi and Marcus headed out to find his brother's place. They're planning on hiding out so they don't have to go to the other side."

"You wanna join them?" I give her a pointed look.

"Stuck for god knows how long in a basement with Griffin, Levi, Marcus, and that Luke guy? SIGN ME UP." She throws her arms up in the air and I can't help but laugh at her.

"We don't even know them that well." I frown.

"You don't know them that well. I went to school with Griffin and I've known Levi for a long time. Marcus seems cool and Luke is hella attractive. I mean look at him." I follow her eyes. "I'd let him murder me any day."

"You're so weird." I point out and she rolls her eyes.

"You coming or what?" She says taking a step towards them with her eyes still trained on mine.

"Now?" She nods. "I have to find Noah."

"Well I'll get you the address and you guys can meet us there." She starts to head over there.

"Okay." I say to no one as I watch her approach them.

I let out a big sigh and turn around, looking for the familiar striped shirt of Noah's that I know so well, myself having worn it a few times in the past.

I walk over to the other side of the park, seeing a girl with long black hair arguing with a tall blonde boy, her hand flying up to slap him in the face.

I avert my eyes before they catch me staring and run into Lena, her hand coming up to grab me.

"Whoa, slow down there." 

"Sorry." I notice the girl behind Lena and she blinks at me. "Who's this?"

"This is Kaitlyn. She's Luke's sister." I wave at her. "Would you mind watching her for a sec? I have to find my dad really quick. Here's the address." She shoves a piece of paper at me and I furrow my eyebrows.

"Um.." Before I answer, she's gone and the girl continues to play with the edge of her skirt.

"I lost my brother." She says and I point my finger.

"He's right over.." I drop my hand when I realize the group of him and his friends are gone. "Never mind."

I turn my head to suddenly see Noah standing there and I throw my arms up to hug him.

"Oh my god, I thought you were gone." I squeeze tighter.

"I went to the bathroom." He mumbles and I sigh, letting him go.

"Look Noah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said what I said and-"

"Hey Katie, it's fine. I'm good." He says but I don't take my hands off his shoulders.

"No, I don't give you enough credit and the truth is, I do treat you like a burden but you're my best friend and I will always look out for you no matter what."

He gives me a small smile and before I can say anything else, I see Bradley dragging and throwing Lena into his car.

"Oh no."