Dedicated to: ria7727

I was laughing and talking with Max and Emma as we headed to his car. It had been a few hours since Harper left- it was 8:30- and to be honest, after the first five minutes of frantic texting, being away from Harper was a bit of a break. It was a good calm down from my ever-raging heart.

"So... The Book Thief." Emma began, spreading her hands out. I groaned, as did Max.

"I hated that book."

Emma gasped. "How could you? It's the best book ever!"

I shook my head.

Emma sighed. "Fine, you don't like it, but- "

"Yo, Noelle!"

I spun around to locate the voice. Joshua was jogging towards me, his blonde hair flying in the wind. I stopped, glancing at Emma and Max who merely shrugged.

"Yes?" I asked cautiously. I waited as Joshua reached me, not even breaking a sweat after running here. He nervously ran his hand through his hair.

"I was wondering if you maybe... wanted a ride home?"

I softened a little bit, surprised.

He wants to drive me home?

That's sweet.

Impossibly sweet.

I looked back at Max, who gave me the 'go ahead' look. I considered it. No doubt it would be extremely awkward, but he looked so hopeful, I didn't want to say no.

"Sure," I stuttered. He smiled. "That's great."

He started walking down the path to the car park, leaving me behind. I looked at Emma and Max who were still standing there, confused, and Emma mouthed a 'no' to me. I shrugged at her and followed behind Joshua.

He was many paces ahead of me, him walking first and having longer legs than me so I had to jog to catch up. Once I was side by side with him, I gathered my courage and spoke.

"So... why the sudden decision to give me a ride home?"

Joshua chuckled. "Not so sudden. I've been wanting to give you a ride home for days."

I smiled, flattered. "Seriously, though."

"I don't know... I like you, I guess. I mean, as a friend. I want to get to know you. You're not like the other girls, you know? You're different."

I smiled, looking up at him. "How incredibly cliché," I stated. He grinned, and I suddenly found myself wondering how on earth Harper could hate him.

We were nearing the carpark now. How could the two miles have gone by so fast?

Joshua began walking to a red car in the corner, and I followed him. To my surprise, there was a silhouette of a figure leaning on the car, smoking. I expected Joshua to shoo the random guy off, but he didn't.

"Hey, Alfie," he muttered, opening the shot gun seat for me, and gesturing me to sit down. I just stood.

Oh.

Alfie got off the car, approaching me. He stopped when he saw me, smirking slightly. "Noelle, right? Harper's girl?"

I blushed. "I'm not Harper's girl."

"Righhhtttt... " he dragged out, nearing me. I flinched and he noticed, but he didn't seem at all hurt. He was so close I could smell the smoke and alcohol on him. He raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, babe, I'm not trying to seduce you or anything, if that's what you thought. Just trying to get Andrews all pissed off."

In a way, that was relieving, but slightly hurtful. Was I not good enough to flirt with?

I simply smiled at him and slipped into that car. Joshua- who hadn't said a word- and Alfie got in as well, and Joshua started the car in silence. I crinkled my nose slightly- the car smelled of smoke and alcohol as well.

We were five minutes from my house when we finally started talking. I badly wanted to bring up the topic of Harper but I felt it was the wrong time.

"So why did you take notice of me this year at school?" I asked cautiously, fiddling with the hem of my t-shirt.

Silence.

It was almost as if he was trying to make up an answer.

I began to boil with anger.

"Um... I guess that you looked pretty that day?" Joshua stuttered out, clenching the steering wheel tighter. Alfie simply sat in the back, eyes flitting between the two of us, amused.

I narrowed my eyes at Joshua. "It's because of Harper isn't it? That's the only reason why you spoke to me, right?" I asked venomously as he pulled into my driveway.

He bit his lip and looked down. "Look- Noelle, it was because of Harper, I'm not going to lie, but- "

I opened the door of his car and slipped out. I should have known he didn't want to spend time with me, he didn't genuinely like me. He just wanted to get to Harper and make him angry. Through me.

Idiot, Noelle. Idiot.

"That's enough," I bitterly choked. "Thanks for the ride."

Before he could answer, I slammed the door shut. I could hear Alfie taunting Joshua as I walked away. I didn't even bother to look back to see whether they had left or not as I walked up the driveway and slipped into the house.

Yes, I know I had overreacted. But still. He was just using me.

As soon as I entered the house, I was welcomed by soft laughter and chatting voices. It smelled like cookies.

I like cookies.

I walked into the living room, and to my surprise Maggie Andrews (Harper's mom) and my mom were sitting on the sofas laughing and talking.

"Um, hi," I said, putting my bag down on one of the chairs. They both looked up and grinned.

"Hello, darling," My mom called, putting her coffee down. "You've met Maggie, haven't you?"

I nodded. Maggie spoke up. "Yes, we have. It was a pleasure meeting you. Me and your mother- we were childhood friends. Have you met my son, Harper?"

I nodded again, and couldn't help but blush slightly. After all, I had almost kissed him twice.

They must have noticed my clear embarrassment, as they turned to grin at each other mischievously. I raised my eyebrow, preparing for what was to come.

Wait- maybe Maggie knows where Harper is.

Should I ask her?

Just as I was building up the courage to ask her about her extremely hot son, Lana and Jenna ran into the living room, face flustered and panicked and adorable.

"Mom," Lana began. "We might have a problem with the microwave."

Oh.

"What?" My mom shrieked, face paling. In a second she had already jumped off the sofa and was darting towards the kitchen, Maggie hot on her heels. Alarmed, I went after them.

Speed walking, of course.

The first thing I saw was my mom, shrieking, and racing out of the house for the fire extinguisher in the backyard. Then I saw the fire.

It was blossoming from the microwave, maybe the size of my pillow, smoke seeping from the edges. Jenna was standing in the corner in terror while Maggie was frantically swatting it with a dishcloth. I grabbed one as well, quickly ran it under the tap, and started hitting the microwave with the cloth.

I knew that I wasn't going to die or anything, but this was freaking scary.

I looked around for Lana, who was standing in the corner, unsurprisingly laughing her head off.

Wow.

I rolled my eyes as my mom came racing in, the large fire extinguisher in her hand, before spraying the microwave. A white cloud of water vapour erupted from the damage and that was all that was left of the microwave. Oh, and a black pile of ash and a slightly scorched marble table top.

We all took a deep breath- except for Lana, who was still laughing- calming down from our frenzy of panic. We all stood in silence. Finally, Mom spoke.

"Lana," she began, her voice dangerously low. "What were you thinking?"

Lana shrugged, her demeanour seeming to shrink a little under the harsh gaze of our mother. "I wanted to make a campfire to roast the marshmallows." She feebly held up a packet of the white, fluffy treats. I almost burst out laughing, but one look at my mom's enraged face ensured that I didn't.

"You what?" She demanded.

"So I- I put the metal spoon in the microwave." Lana winced, then added thoughtfully, "And the plastic bowls."

Mom turned bright purple.

I looked over at poor Maggie who was unfortunate enough to be here. "Go," she mouthed to me, and I nodded quickly, slipping out of the room and racing up the stairs to my bed, relieved to not have to suffer Mom's dangerous explosion.

I sighed, changing into my pyjamas and laying down in my bed, pulling the covers over my head. I glanced out the window quickly, trying to look into Harper's room.

Of course, not in the creepy stalker way.

The lights were on, but I couldn't see him in there.

Is he still out?

Well, of course he is, Noelle, it's only nine thirty. You're the only one who goes to sleep at this time.

Just as I thought this, Harper came into the room. Not in his normal confident strides, but in smaller, feebler steps. For once, I didn't care about the lack of his shirt, he just looked so troubled. I wanted to go over there, hug him, talk to him. But I didn't. I just stayed where I was, watching him go to the window. For one heart-stopping moment, his eyes caught mine, and I could see the pain building up in his green orbs, waiting to spill. I could understand what he was feeling, but I couldn't. I felt a deep longing in me, dying to know what was wrong as he held me in his eyes, and then he closed the curtain and the tight rope of the trance went limp.

---------------------------

"So Max hasn't seen him either?"

Emma shook her head, leaning against her locker. "Nope."

I sighed, exasperated. Emma raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you so curious, anyway?"

I sighed again."Because I'm worried about him. Harper hasn't spoken to anyone, even his best friend the whole time. And the last time I saw him he looked so pained, like his entire world had come crashing down before his eyes, or something."

Emma slung her arm around my shoulder supportively, squeezing gently. "Don't worry, Noelle. I'm sure he's fine. It's just today. He might just be sick."

"But- "

"Hush. Now let's get to English."

I smiled at her gratefully before allowing her to drag me down the hallway to our English classroom. We walked straight in, sitting down in our normal seats, waiting for a few minutes before the teacher finally began the class. Ms Adams seemed to be in a bad mood, as she was glaring at us the whole time, occasionally picking on poor Robert, who had just transferred here from Toronto and didn't have the right equipment yet.

"You don't have Macbeth yet, Robert? What on earth have you been doing with your time! Irresponsibility is- "

Ms Adams was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and closing shut. Everyone's heads spun at the noise, including Ms Adams.

Harper.

He didn't waste his time awkwardly standing there, and instead quickly walked to his seat, refusing to catch my eye.

Which happened to be behind me.

And due to the tiny area of the classroom, the desks were really cramped together so that the back of my chair rested on the front of his desk.

Great.

"Late again, Mr Andrews?" Ms Adams ask venomously. Harper quickly sat in his seat, nodding slightly. She glared at him. "I will deal with you in detention. At least you didn't miss any valuable learning. I was just telling off Robert here."

Robert whimpered.

"I'm warning you, the next person to piss me off is getting in even worse trouble." Ms Adams hissed, swearing.

Wow, Ms Adams is in an extra bad mood.

She sighed, leaning on her desk. I could feel Harper behind me, I was so aware of his presence, the light scratches the edge of his pencil made on the desk, his breath fluttering pieces of my hair around.

"Alright, kids, take out your homework- the analysis on the actions of Macbeth, post-murder!"

I froze.

Oh, gods.

Oh, gods, no.

I had completely forgotten, what with the beach trip.

Dread bubbled up in my stomach as I stared blankly at the teacher and everyone took out their homework, even Drew Gates, who never did his homework.

Must have been really important then.

Ms Adams must have noticed my lack of movement as she glared at me harshly.

"What happened, Ms Richards?" she growled.

I gulped, feeling my stomach knot. I had never forgotten my homework before, except in Grade 2 when I didn't do it on purpose.

Okay, here we go, you can do this. You'll be let off, right? This is the first time you've screwed up in her class. Or any class.

"I- I- ," I gripped the sides near the back of my chair tightly, the edge of the wood digging into my hand. "I forgot it." I blurted out.

I could almost feel all the sympathetic, pitying looks aimed right at me.

"What?" Ms Adams asked, anger, building up quickly.

I opened my mouth to repeat myself, but she stopped me.

"I heard enough, actually." The anger was more evident now.

She finally burst.

"It's just you. This stupid generation that you are a representation of. How can you be so stupid to forget a homework as important as this? Don't you know you have a test coming up, you mindless child? You most definitely have a detention tomorrow!" She hissed at me. I clutched the edge of my chair tighter, feeling eyes bear into me, Ms Adams' voice ringing loudly in my head.

"How can you be so extremely irresponsible? By God, child, how can you be so dumb?! What is wrong with you? Were you dropped as a baby? On your head specifically?" She continued. No one laughed. The panic was rising in me, and I felt my shoulders hunch and my eyes water as my body was consumed by unpleasant shudders. Ms Adams didn't seem to notice, or care, and continued. Her voice drained out, until all I could hear was ringing, but I could see her lips moving.

No. I can't have a panic attack now.

My vision began to blur, and I could hear the faint sound of Emma shouting at Ms Adams, but I couldn't react. I couldn't do anything, as I struggled to keep the tears from falling.

Suddenly, like a shot of heat through the cold, I could feel somebody's warm flesh ease my left hand off the chair very gently, as if it were glass about to shatter, and pulled it back a little so that it was hanging between my chair and the desk behind me. Slowly, the person's hand took mine in their's, cradling it softly, interlacing my finger's with their own.

The hand didn't squeeze mine, it just kept holding it, keeping it very close to their own palm. I felt a surge of energy and warmth at the touch, and I felt the bubble of panic in my stomach deflate, and my world went back to normal, the ringing reducing, the world sharpening.

Harper.

Harper.

I couldn't think straight.

Ms Adams was still shouting, but it wasn't the same, I wasn't getting affected as badly as before, now that my hand was intertwined with his. And he didn't let go, not until she calmed down, and he gently eased his hand away from mine.

And all through the lesson, whenever Ms Adams would bring up the topic of me forgetting my homework, Harper's hand would immediately dart back to mine, and everything would be okay.

---------------------------

I waited till everybody had left the classroom as well as Ms Adams, packing extra slowly and ignoring the stares I got on the way out, to finally fling my arms around Harper, something I had wanted to do all morning. His hands found it's away around me as well, looping around my waist, bringing me close.

"It's okay, I have you," he whispered huskily into my ear. I almost laughed with happiness.

"Thank you," I mumbled. He pulled back and smiled at me. Despite his expression, I could still see the pain in his eyes, behind that wall he pulled up to mask his emotions.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly. He looked as if he was going to deny his obvious pain, but he stopped himself.

"Noelle," he asked hoarsely. "I have never asked you for anything. So is it okay if just this once- "

I nodded.

He smile faintly, before grabbing my wrist gently and leading me out of the classroom. By now, the next class had already started.

I knew I was going to miss it anyway.

But I wasn't prepared when Harper led me out of the school and into the carpark.

I was on the verge of protesting before I stopped myself. Harper wouldn't act like this if there weren't a reason. He must really be in trouble if he did this.

I shut myself up.

We got into his car in silence, and stayed that way before we reached a vaguely familiar building.

The hospital.

Oh, gods. This was serious.

I didn't speak as we out of the car and entered the hospital.

In fact, the first time one of us spoke was when we were standing outside a room door, Harper's hand poised faintly over the door knob.

I felt like this was not the time to say some hilarious or sarcastic statement about how long he was taking to open the door.

"Are you as bad around coma-induced patients as you are with sports?" Harper said, a weak attempt at a joke.

I didn't say a thing, shocked.

Harper opened the door.

There was no delay in what I saw.

A girl, maybe fourteen, with jet-black hair, sprawled out across a hospital bed, various tube sticking out of her, a heart monitor near her head. I gasped, my hand over my mouth. I looked at Harper, he seemed to have weakened greatly, his eyes filled with a deep, intense sorrow. I was about to walk towards him, when I realized- he needed his space. He stumbled over to the side of the bed with the beautiful girl on it, before kneeling down beside the bed and taking her hand softly in his. That's when I noticed-

I couldn't see the colour of her eyes.

"Noelle," he began, choking on his words. "This is Kate. My sister."

I should have seen that coming, but I didn't.

"She was only thirteen, when- " he choked. I rushed to him, placing my hand gently on his back.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No," he protested. "I want to."

I nodded.

"She was only thirteen, a year ago, when I took her to a party at a friend's house. It wasn't one of those huge house parties, just a little one.

So anyway, I got very drunk, and me and a few of my friends went out to go partying. I asked Kate if she wanted me to drop her home, but she said no, insisting she would be fine back at my friend's house. I was stupid. I shouldn't have listened to her.

I got a call the next morning, saying that Kate was in the hospital. I was sober by now, and rushed to the hospital, where they told me Kate had consumed some type of drug that someone had spiked into her drink."

I gasped.

"They had then forced her to drink so much alcohol, so much her maturing body couldn't handle, and she went into a coma from alcohol poisoning, all because of my idiocy and the jackass who gave it all to her."

Harper sobbed, no tears spilling, his body consumed by racks of shudders. "You don't understand, Noelle. To get the call that your own sister is in a coma she could never wake up from, and that it's all your fault, that she could die because of you."

"No!" I protested, now down on my knees next to him, wrapping my arms around his body. "It isn't your fault. It's the idiot who drugged her."

"No!" he sobbed. "It is my fault, don't you see! I shouldn't have left her- "

"Harper, no." I said desperately, troubled by how much pain Harper was going through. "She told you to leave her. It's not your fault."

I moved so that Harper was sitting cross legged, and sat myself down in his lap, hugging him desperately, clutching at him. He buried his face into my neck and hair and used his hand that wasn't holding Kate's to wrap around me. I felt a wetness on my neck, and discovered to my shock, that Harper was crying.

My heart broke and I was consumed in raw sadness.

His whole body shook with tears as he cried into my shoulder, desperately clutching Kate's hand.

"I love Kate so much, Noelle," he mumbled into my skin, voice cracking.

"I know," I whispered back to him.

Somebody so young didn't deserve that to happen to her.

I reached back slightly to gently hold Kate's other hand. It was cold- almost lifeless. I thought deeply before saying my next words.

"It's okay," I whispered to Harper.

"I have you."

CHAPTER DONE
I THINK THIS CHAPTER IS QUITE GOOD, THANK GOD

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