Luckily, the last class of the day was very much Noah-less.

Which meant I could actually pay attention without someone's eyes boring a hole into me; or so I thought. Even without him present, thoughts about him still somehow invaded my mind, mixed feelings about this unexpected date coursing through me.

It's not that I had no interest in dating. After all, I'd had my fair share of crushes through the years, although usually nothing really came out of them. Probably because, for some reason, I'd become a blubbering, blushing idiot whenever I'd be around my crush, so making the first move was out of the question. Even being myself around the guy I liked felt like mission impossible. Eventually, my infatuation would just fade, so most of my attention was focused on studying.

But, at the end of last year, I made the firm decision that I would enjoy the final year of being in high school. I would go to parties, talk to boys, go on dates, kiss someone -- I just wanted to make some fun memories.

At the start of this year though, I never expected that I'd be dating Noah Archer.

Even less so that I'd be the one who asked him out. It was a first for me. But, I guess things were different when you didn't actually like the person.

With a heavy sigh, I slammed my locker door shut, earning a few frowns from the students still left in the hallway.

"Damn, Sky, what did that locker ever do to you?" A familiar, deep voice spoke from behind me and I turned around with a grin on my face.

"You say locker, I say improvised punching bag," I said, shrugging and taking in the guy in front of me. His curly blond hair was short but looked irresistibly fluffy, blue eyes that studied me, laced with humor. "It feels like I haven't seen you in ages, Jake!" I added, my smile widening.

"Not sure how to feel about you saying that, seeing as we share the last class," Jake replied, laughing as he tilted his head.

"You know what I mean!" I clicked my tongue, lightly pushing his chest, "I just can't remember the last time we spoke, you always rush out of class to some Club of yours."

Jake grimaced, and ran his fingers through his hair, "Guess you have a point there. But if you'd stayed on the Debate Team...." His words faded, but I knew the insinuation.

Letting out a sigh, I shrugged, "What can I say? I thought I'd better leave and let the rest of you shine for a change."

He laughed, his eyes crinkling as he shook his head, "How mighty noble of you, Sky." After another chuckle, he cleared his throat and looked me in the eye, "I'm serious though, we miss you. I miss you." Jake said, softly and my eyes widened.

"Uh, yeah, I miss the team too," I said, biting down on my bottom lip as I fought through my slight wave of confusion about this entire conversation, "So, uh, I have to get going now though but--"

"Oh yeah, of course, come on, I'll walk with you." He said, squeezing my arm before he started walking.

"Don't you have a Club meeting now?" I frowned, tossing my bag over my shoulder.

Jake just shook his head, grinning, "Nope, it was postponed today. Which is great since I got to run into you like this."

"Alrighty then...." I muttered, feeling suddenly stiff as we started walking down the hallway.

In a way, I could consider Jake a friend. We weren't nearly as close as we once were, but after spending a lot of time together as part of the Debate Team over the years, I did feel like I knew him pretty well.

At the same time though, I had a feeling like he'd been avoiding me this year. I kind of assumed that he was busy and probably upset that I decided to leave the Debate Team after being their Ace since the start of high school. No one debated with more fervor than Skyler Fox. Our team was reigning champion for years, so I wasn't surprised when some of my old team members shot me nasty looks once I'd abandoned them.

Taking all of that into consideration, the fact that Jake was acting so friendly all of a sudden was a little confusing. Maybe he'd just gotten over his resentment finally?

"So, how have you been Sky? I know you were close friends with Lily..." Jake asked, shaking me out of my thoughts.

"Best friends, yeah. That was... rough. But we still talk on the phone all the time, and she promised to come visit during winter break." I muttered, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

Honestly, it was a bit surprising that Jake even knew Lily's name, or that she'd moved away. I couldn't remember them ever sharing a class or interacting while she was at school. What was his end game with this? Maybe I was just growing too suspicious, what with my little Noah investigation....

"That's great, I'm glad you guys still have such a great relationship." Jake said and smiled, but soon his face reverted back to a more serious expression, "Speaking of that, I really do miss talking to you, Sky. I was wondering if you'd want to hang out together one day, catch up and everything."

My eyes widened as I pushed open the front door of the school. Well, that was unexpected. Once upon a long time ago, when I first joined the debate team, I might have had the smallest crush on him. Back then, had he asked me to hang out, I would have jumped for joy. Now, all I did was frown and stare at him.

"Where-Where is this coming from, Jake? I mean, it's a little out of the blue." I asked, cautiously.

He laughed and scratched his head, before turning to me, "Yeah, I mean, I've been thinking about this for a while and since I just saw you at your locker today I thought it was a sign, you know? So, how about it, over the weekend maybe?"

As soon as he asked that, I stopped at the top of the stairs, my gaze settling on the figure waiting for me at the bottom. Considering how the last 2 days have been going, I was pretty sure I should keep the weekends open for Noah's eccentric, impromptu dates. As much as I didn't want to spend time with him, the rational side of me was well aware that the reason I even asked him out was to spend time with him. To figure out who he was, what made him tick, and how the hell he had every girl at Evergreen High under his spell. In order for that to happen, I did need to fully immerse myself in the dreaded experience that was dating Noah Archer. A sigh left my lips and I shook my head in disappointment of what I was about to say.

"I'm a little busy this week, probably next week too. But, maybe after that we can... grab a coffee or something." I muttered, feeling a little guilty for some reason.

Jake's eyes followed my gaze, and his face seemed to darken for a moment before a smile popped back on his lips, "Oh, are you dating Noah now?" He asked, as if that fact wasn't already known all over school. "Didn't know you had a thing for him."

I clicked my tongue, looking at my feet, "It's... complicated. Anyway, I should get going. It was really nice talking to you again, Jake."

"Same here, Sky. I'll make sure to ask you out for that coffee again in two weeks." He said, and winked before ruffling my hair.

I frowned, still more than confused about what triggered this random encounter, but smiled at him before skipping down the steps.

As soon as I reached the bottom, I noticed Noah's intent gaze was focused on me, and for once, his headphones weren't firmly placed over his ears to block out the world. His eyes traveled behind me and he frowned for a moment before focusing his attention back on me.

"You friends with Jacob?" Noah asked but despite the frown on his face, he sounded amused.

"Yeah," I said, even though I wasn't sure I could really classify Jake as that, "Why? Do you know him?"

"Hmm, guess you could say that," He replied, enigmatic as ever, and I let out a frustrated huff.

Before I could say anything, he reached out his hand to me expectantly, his eyes still occasionally glancing behind me. Sighing, I held his hand and ignored the way my heart clenched as he entwined our fingers.

"I should have just used my hand to smack you for what you pulled today," I muttered, narrowing my eyes at the memory of the most embarrassing class experience of my life.

Noah let out a boyish chuckle, his face grimacing apologetically, "Said I was sorry, didn't I? Besides you didn't have to reply instantly, or let out such a grunt in class. That one's totally on you." I heard the humor in his voice as he recalled the events I'd prefer to erase from the collective memory of everyone who attended that class.

The worst part was, he was right. It kind of was my own fault, for both the grunting and the texting. My own curiosity that ended up getting the better of me. Not that I would ever admit to Noah that he was right about anything.

I muttered something unintelligible, and his smile widened before he pulled me toward the parking lot.

Before we left, I took a quick look at the top of the stairs where Jake still stood, and for a brief moment I could have sworn his face was twisted in uncharacteristic anger. When he saw me looking though, there was a bright smile on his lips as he waved at me.

Weird. This entire day was just becoming so weird.

His fingers thrummed against the wheel in a rhythm only he seemed to hear, while I focused on the blurred world through the window. My mind was still full of questions that I just couldn't phraze into coherent thoughts. It's not like I really knew what to expect when I asked Noah out, but I was starting to feel a lot like Alice in Wonderland. I just wasn't sure who he was in this equation. Was he the hole I fell down to venture into this strange new world? Or was he the rabbit that lured me into it? Or, just maybe, he was actually the Mad Hatter. After all, he definitely acted like it.

"I just can't seem to figure you out, Fox." Noah said, his tone light and curious.

Funny, we were thinking the same thing.

"You can't figure me out? That's definitely my line." I snorted, shaking my head at him.

Yet again, he surprised me. After all, I'd never met a more enigmatic person than Noah Archer and here he was, saying I was the one that was hard to figure out.

"Come on, I'm like an open book." He was teasing me. I knew he was, but as usual I still played right into his hand.

"Oh yeah, sure. If that open book was an encyclopedia written in old Latin." I rolled my eyes at him, shuffling in my seat to get a better look at him, "You do know that everything you say sounds like a riddle? I'm half convinced you're part sphinx."

At that, he laughed and looked at me, eyes twinkling with amusement and something I couldn't put into words.

"Well, that's a first. I mean technically, if I was a sphinx, what would I be guarding?"

A ridiculous question, very much on brand with him. Letting out a sigh I rolled my eyes, and shrugged.

"I don't know, your secrets?" I said, and saw him flinch from the corner of my eye. My eyes narrowed and I crossed my hand over my chest. "Or, like, the reason why you're doing this love experiment?"

He was silent for a bit and then he sighed, "I mean, I feel like I answered that already. I'm just looking for love, to fall in love, ya know."

"So you keep saying, but I think there's more to it than that, otherwise why look for love so desperately?" I tilted my head, trying to gauge his reaction and hoping to get something more out of it. A frown, a smile, or any kind of flicker of truth, but his expression didn't change.

He was quiet for a few moments, and it seemed like the conversation was over just when it was getting interesting, as usual. I let out a huff and focused my attention back on the window when Noah spoke up again.

"You seem awfully curious about someone you don't seem to like much, Fox."

Oh. Shit.

He knew I didn't like him?

A part of me had a feeling that he was aware of that, just based on the way he was acting -- as if he enjoyed making me mad -- but until that moment I couldn't be sure. Maybe his annoying behavior was his revenge for asking him out when I had zero romantic interest in him.

"If you know that, why did you accept to date me? You could have just refused." I challenged him, but my voice was thick with confusion and scepticism.

"I could have, yeah." Noah hummed, unbothered as he turned onto my street with ease, as if he'd been driving this route for years.

And that was that, he went back to his bubble of silence.

"So, why didn't you?" I tried again, raising a dubious eyebrow at his mysterious intentions.

I saw the corner of his lips twitch, his face a mask of amusement, an expression that, I was starting to realize, meant that he was at least two steps ahead of me in this dangerous game we were playing. Pulling up next to my house, he turned to me and tilted his head.

"How about I tell you on our date tonight? I'll pick you up at eight." He said definitively, a confident smirk pulling up his lips.

My heart started hammering in my chest, eyes widening at his reminder of the date I had almost forgotten about.

I thought I was being so clever.

I thought I was like a cat, luring Noah right into my trap.

Now, it was starting to feel a lot like I was actually the mouse. 

Hello my loves! ❤️

Long time no talk!! 😭😭 I got super sick with the flu last week, it seems that my system just went into shut down mode after everything this year and I needed to recooperate. I'm doing much better now though!

I hope the rest does good for my recent writer's block too. Not sure why it happened... I think maybe with the recent success of MMIQ, I felt a bit.... well, kind of like worried that TWTFIL or my future projects won't be able to be equally successful, or as well-liked, which is a very scary, self-destructive thought, haha. 

I'm trying to stay positive though, and trying not to look too far ahead. I just want to enjoy writing and talking to you guys instead of overthinking my future. ❤️

(I did say I was very much like Aimee from MMIQ when it comes to overthinking though, didn't I? 😂)

Anyway, how did you like this chapter? 

A few new revelations happened, and a new character introduction so I hope it was interesting enough. ❤️

I'm trying to finish up the new chapter for MIQ as well so I can upload that later today too. 

I missed you all so much! Sending you so much love! ❤️

Stay strong and stay safe!