TRIGGER WARNING: attempted assault; scenes with higher intensity, intimidation and aggression toward a woman (but without physical contact)

This day, not different from others in any significant way, was nothing like any day before.

For starters, it felt like I couldn't not notice Noah, no matter where he was. Even if there were crowds of people talking over each other, as soon as I heard the sound of his laughter, somewhere, my body tightened, head instinctively seeking out the source.

If I looked over a crowded hallway once the end of class bell rung, I could always tell where he was in a crowd.

It wasn't intentional, in fact I was increasingly more disturbed as time went on and my heightened awareness of him didn't lessen.

The thing that really made me worry though, wasn't just my newly acquired ability to notice Noah Archer almost exclusively. It was the fact that he seemed to notice me to. When my eyes settled on his towering figure in a crowd, his eyes met mine. When the sound of his voice made me instinctively seek him out, I could see him doing the same.

Almost as if we were playing some game of hide and seek, except there was no hiding, just seeking. Always.

There was just one class left before lunch. Since we'd started dating, Noah had spent only one lunch break with his group of friends, and I had a feeling today wasn't going to be one of those days. Nervous flutters wrecked my stomach.

Mel had already gone to her next class, stressing over an exam she had, so there was no one I could talk to and distract myself. My gaze searched the crowd again. Seeking.

Until a tall, familiar figure blocked my path. I looked up and found myself staring up into Jake's smiling face.

"Heya, Sky," he said, his smile widening. "How was your weekend?"

"Good, good, great, yup. Yours?" I asked and instantly regretted it. Not even a small part of me cared about how his weekend had been. That shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. If you'd asked me a few years ago, I would have told you there was no way I'd reach this level of indifference with him.

"It was pretty good. Could have used some better company though," he said, and winked at me. I frowned. Was he flirting with me? "Go on any dates?"

"Not exactly," I said, trying to peer around him at the crowd milling around the hallway. "Uh, I think I should be going though, Mr. Stewart hates when you're late. He'll have me in detention for a week."

Giving him a pleasant smile I started to make my way past him when he grabbed my arm.

"Wait, Sky, I need your help," Jake said, his face falling as he bit his lip.

"My help? With what exactly?" I frowned, tilting my head. It was a little suspicious that out of all the people he needed my help. Even more so that he kept running into me so often. Something felt off in my stomach.

"I got asked by Mrs. Brown, the chemistry teacher, if I could carry some equipment from the old science classroom. It's kind of a two man job," he said, scratching his head. "Or well, a man and woman job at least."

"Wait, isn't that classroom under repair? I heard a pipe burst."

"Yup, that's exactly why he needs some help transferring equipment to the new one. What do you say? Help me out?" He said, seemingly genuine. It made sense. The classroom became indisposed just a few weeks ago. Last I heard they'd planned on restarting classes this week.

"But why do you need my help? Can't one of your friends jump in and–"

"Marcus has an exam next class so he's doing some last second revisions and Bruno is, well, let's not talk about Bruno. He's... indisposed," Jake said, grimacing.

I bit down on my lower lip, trying to decide whether I believed that or not. At the same time, with all this back and forth we probably could have already had the equipment dropped off by now. Still, something just didn't feel right.

"Come on, Sky, please, help your ex debate-mate," he begged, pouting as he clasped his hands together.

I chuckled, shaking my head. Maybe I was reading too much into his behavior and he really wanted to rekindle our friendship. No one could deny his timing was horrible though.

"Fine, fine, I'll help. But let's hurry, I wasn't kidding about Mr. Stewart."

We made small talk on our way to the classroom and I couldn't help but speed walk, wanting this over with as quickly as possible. My mind was everywhere but in the moment.

As soon as we stepped into the classroom I made a bee-line for the equipment, gathering it all into one of the plastic containers that were on the desks. A few seconds later Jake joined me which thankfully sped up the process and also ensured I didn't break any of the vials while rushing.

"Thanks for the help, this would have taken a lot longer by myself," he said once we picked up the boxes and started carrying them to the door.

"No problem, happy to help," I muttered, temporarily placing the box on one of the table so I could open the door. I didn't even remember us closing it.

Once my hand was on the doorknob, I knew we were in trouble. Big trouble.

"The door won't open." I mumbled, pulling the handle up and down frantically and trying to pull the door open with my whole strength. "It's, it's locked."

Panic started rising inside of me. We couldn't have taken more than a minute or two. How had this happened?

"It can't be locked. You're probably just not using enough strength," Jake snorted and put down the box he was carrying before taking over at the door. He wrestled with the handle, using both of his hands to try and pull the door open. After a few second he gave up and frowned. "It must be stuck or something."

The bell that signified the start of class rang and my panic grew by a hundred. The only thing Mr. Stewart hated more than people being late for his class was people skipping his class. This was going to earn me a month of detention.

"I need to get out of here," I said, going back to frantically pulling on the handle.

Jake stepped back and leaned on a table, not nearly as upset as I was about the whole stuck here and missing class situation.

"I don't think that's going to help," he said, leaning his head to the side.

Frowning, I took a few steps away from the door and let out a deep sigh.

Okay. Okay. Think, Skyler, think. We were trapped and we clearly needed help getting out.

I took out my phone and started writing out a text to Mel before I realized there was no way she could help me. She'd never check her phone during an exam.

Just as I started rethinking my options, a text message came in, and I almost sagged with the joy that flooded my body. I'd forgotten that I shared the next class with Noah and was instantly more than grateful that he was the attentive type.

I exhaled in relief, the biggest smile pulling up my lips. Should have known he'd be the knight in shining armor type. After all, he'd personified every other rom-com male lead element, why not this one.

"Who are you texting?" He asked and I sent him the nastiest glare I could must, hoping that signified it was none of his business. Clearly he didn't get the message though. "Is it Noah?"

Now there was venom in his voice, an undercurrent of anger that hadn't been there minutes ago. When I looked at him, a sense of dread filled me. His eyes were filled with that dark anger I'd seen in him before on the steps, the anger I'd thought was just my imagination playing tricks. Only with such close proximity this time, it was unmistakably real, and very much present.

I swallowed and took a few inconspicuous steps back while fiddling with my phone.

"Of course," he snorted in that derogatory way that instantly made a person feel judged. "Why are you with him anyway? He's the worst guy in school. Probably the whole town. And you don't even like him."

True. I didn't start dating Noah because I liked him. In fact, it was the complete opposite of that. But things had started changing now and I was currently pissed off at Jake so I wasn't planning on telling him that he was right about anything.

"How would you know if I like him or not?" I challenged, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Because I know who you really like."

"Oh wow, and why don't you enlighten me?" I said sardonically, raising an eyebrow.

"Me."

I almost dropped my phone in shock. There was no way he'd said that. I must have misheard him.

"Excuse me, what?"

"I know you like me." Jake said, pushing away from the desk he was leaning on and moving toward me.

"What? You're joking," I said and laughed, unable to control my rection. His eyes narrowed and I instantly stopped. It didn't seem like he was joking. I took several steps back until my back bumped against the cabinet.

"You like me, you don't have to pretend. I've always known, but I just didn't think it would be good for the dynamic of the club if something happened between us. But now you've quit the club and well... that's not a problem anymore now, is it?" He kept talking, the smile on his face making me increasingly more uncomfortable by the second.

Uh, what the heck was happening?

"Jake, you're misunderstanding something. I don't want to be with you. At all." I tried, feeling ridiculous for having to point something like that out. Once upon a time, my heart might have soared with his words, but all I felt now was a strong sense of unease.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed, I have experience with this, I know the signs. I could see you always looking at me," he persisted, so close now that his chest was getting dangerously close to mine.

As if to accentuate his point, he ran a finger from my eye and along my jawline.

I shuddered, flinching away. "Okay you're definitely misunderstanding something. I don't like you at all."

My hands reached out defensively to keep him at bay. He stopped just before my hands touched his chest and looked down at him before rising back to look at me with one eyebrow raised. Fear started trickling into me.

The look in his eyes didn't look right. Something had changed in Jake since we'd been in the club together. Something angry and dark had taken residence.

How had I missed this? How could I not see past his mask?

"Oh come on, it's just us, you don't have to pretend anymore. I know you're just dating Noah to make me jealous. He dates everyone so you knew it would be easy. But, you can end it now. I got the message," he said, licking his lips and sending an cold shiver down my spine.

"No, Jake, no. There's no message. I haven't even thought of you until you started randomly talking to me again last week. I don't have any feelings for you, at all." I tried again, hoping I could still reason with him and his delusion.

I didn't understand where this was coming from. He'd shown absolutely no interest in me before. The fact that he was even aware of my feelings and just chose to ignore them had to mean he didn't feel the same way. What had changed?

A frown marred his face for a few seconds before a sick grin appeared on his face again. "You're lying. I saw the way you blushed every time you talked to me. You want me."

"No, I really don't wan–"

His hands slammed on the cabined behind me, trapping me in the enclosure of his arms.

Oh. Shit.

My heart hammered inside my chest, an uncomfortable chill crawling across my skin. 

I should have listened to my damn intuition.

Hi loves! ❤️

I know. I ended this on the worst cliffhanger. But, if it helps, I already have about a third of the next chapter written so it should be out very soon. Spoiler, time for Sky to kick some, uhm, balls. 

Anyway, I do have a question, does this chapter need a trigger warning? 

I'm still wondering if I should put a trigger warning, and if so, I'm not sure what to put. Attempted assault? Technically he doesn't touch her, but he's intimidating and acting kinda of psycho and that last scene where he puts his hands on each side of her is technically aggression. Early readers, PLEASE let me know! I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, I genuinely wasn't sure if it's needed one or not. 

Also, just to note this is literally the only scene like this in the entire book and it was kind of needed for what happens in the chapter after the next one or potentially even the next chapter, we'll see how the word count is looking. There's also a reason for Jake's behavior that's also gonna be explained then so, yeah, it's not just for dramatic effect or something. 

Was it too much? Should I consider making it less intense?

As always, I'm so open to your feedback and revising and changing things to make them better. 

Thank you so much for reading. I'm not even going to say I hope you enjoyed this chapter cause I know it wasn't enjoyable but I hope you're not mad at me for it either. I promise it's the only bad chapter. ❤️

I'm off to start replying to comment from the last chapter - I'll probably finish getting to them all tomorrow as it's already very late where I live but I appreciate all of you and your comments SO much. 

Love you, stay strong, stay safe. ❤️