Noelle

The next day passed in a blur. Soon it was Wednesday afternoon which was just me doing my homework and roaming lazily around the house. I know, my life is pretty boring. 

I thought about going over to Aria’s but their dog Duchess hated my guts for a mistake I committed as a kid.

I was ten visiting my Uncle for vacation as usual. At that young age, I already felt more at home with Uncle Arnold than my own parents. Mrs. Tate invited me over to play with Aria. She wanted her to have a girlfriend because Aria was always playing with her twin and his best friends.

She gifted me a bar of chocolate as I got up to leave. I took it halfheartedly, I wasn't a fan of chocolates back then and I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

Immediately I enter their living room, Duchess barked and wagged her tail happily as she saw me. Quickly I decided to give the chocolate bar to her.

I ripped off the foil and used my small palms to feed her. She barked happily again before coming closer to sniff at it and before I could blink, she was barking loudly and giving me a wild chase around.

Luckily, I was saved by Reese and Lucas; they cooed her till she calmed down.

I went home crying, still gripping the chocolate tightly. The two ponytails my Aunt pulled my hair into were scattered with hair sticking out of both.

Eight-year-old Nick laughed at me all day while Aunt tried to console me. Later that day, Nick ate the chocolate.

Since that day whenever I visited Aria, Duchess was nowhere to be seen. When I go over, Duchess was always with Lucas or Melody but today, Aria was left alone with THAT dog.

Saph, on the other hand, was at Santa Monica’s pier. She was like clockwork, never staying in a place for too long. It was still a miracle that she was in Cherwood since freshmen year.

We all practically lived together. Our houses were close to each other; Aria lived two houses away without parents and Saph lived in the house facing mine with her tourist parents. Yup, you can definitely guess where she got her adventurous spirit from.

I roamed more around my house, eating a slice of vanilla frosted cake from the fridge along the way. Uncle Arnold’s birthday was a few days ago. Nicholas was out in football practice and the rest of my family were still at the office. Leaving me all alone inside the large house.

For thirty minutes I stare at the clock ticking. It was 3:30. I stepped into the living room and plopped down on the couch I turned on Netflix to find something to watch and Famous in Love popped on the screen.

I was itching to watch the second season, eager to see who Paige picked but I could not. Aria and I were movie buddies, she brought up this crazy but brilliant idea. She thought it would be fun for us to wait until a bunch of episodes came out so we could do a movie marathon.

I was so close to disagreeing with the plan but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Saph didn’t make it easy for both of us. She gave lots of SPOILERS. We asked her to join but she said no and the plan was crazy!

It was weeks later and here I was, regretting my decision as Famous in Love stared at me I stared right back. I blinked twice when my phone next to me rang.

The caller's name, Nick flashed on the screen. I picked up with a sing-song voice.

“Hello.”

“How could you do this to me Cuz? The girl you set me up with just got me benched for one of the most important games of the year,” he said angrily and I gasped, I didn’t know what happened but with Nick angry, I knew I had messed up pretty bad.

“Oh My God. Am so sorry, tell me what happened so I can fix it. I’ll take it down,” I replied apologetically. I pinched myself hard to see if I was dreaming. Ouch! Nope, not dreaming, it was real, I  hurt Nick.

“The damage is already done Noelle,” he said sadly, ending the call.

I let the phone slip from my hands and onto the couch. It landed with a soft thud, I barely noticed, I didn’t notice anything at all. I had ruined one of his important games.

Nick had big dreams of getting a football scholarship to USC (University of Southern California). He told us periodically at family dinners that he wanted his college fees given to someone who needed it.

I know, pretty big dreams for a sixteen-year-old and he was determined to keep to it. That's why he tried to get noticed early by football scouts since he had only a year of high school left.

Hurriedly, I took the post down. My app was popular in Georgian, everyone just had to know the next couple to be match made and to ask relationship related questions.

It was easy to run and match make, within a few days of research and calculations, I could find a perfect match. And with one click, the newest couple goes viral.

I butt into people’s lives for perfectly good reasons that is, to make them happy and not to get hurt with Mr. Wrongs.

I tried to brighten my mood by watching Life Sentence. Twenty minutes later, I stared blankly at the TV as people said words. I heard the front door opening and a voice welcoming Nick home.

He walked straight into the living room like he had some program to watch on television. He stopped halfway when he saw me. He was looked wary and still had his jersey on. One lingering look, he turned and trotted towards the stairs.

Tears pooled in my eyes at his action. He didn’t want to talk to me, but I’ll beg until he forgives me.

With renewed determination, I follow a few feet behind him. “Nick am so sorry. It was a dumb and foolish move of me. Now you’re going to miss an important game because of me. I promise to never match make you with anyone ever again, so please just talk to me,” I said rambling and slightly out of breath. But he didn’t listen; he just continued walking and climbed up the stairs.

I stopped when I got to the first stair, allowing him to walk away. He needed to vent out his anger and cool off. Seconds later, I heard his door slam.

With a sigh, I walked into the kitchen to get a snack. “Hey Sarah, can I get a bag of chips,” I said as I sat on one of the high chairs next to the aisle. Giving me a curt smile, she handed me the chips. Sarah managed our lunch and dinner; she was a middle-aged kind woman.

Chewing away silently, I didn’t notice when Nicholas took his seat next to me until he spoke up. “Lunch Sarah." she handed him a plate of nachos. Giving him a quick glance, I faced my chips once again.

We ate in silence till he spoke up. “Am not mad at you,” he said softly. I abandoned my half bag of chips to face him.

“Are you sure? It seemed like it a few minutes ago." He stopped eating and turned to face me, easing my confusion.

“Well, am not. There would be a lot of other games. So quit feeling sorry for yourself, Spray tan,” he said, wiping his fingers clean with a napkin and flashed me a sincere smile, "besides, I can't stay mad at you." He slid off his chair and pulled me into a hug. I hug him back almost too immediately, murmuring “thank you.”

“About what you said earlier. No more matchmaking me with random people right?" He said, still hugging me tightly. I shake my head still buried in his chest “I promise. I won’t do it again, you are my little brother. I’ll respect all your decisions,” I whispered as he released me.

A wave of relief appeared on his face he tapped his chest once, “thank you! And when the right girl comes along, you would be the judge of that,” he said, resuming on his nachos.

I giggled, nodding my head. “It’s a deal,” I confirmed. We crossed our pinkies together.

I resumed eating as Nick told me what transpired at school, "so there I was, on the field doing pushups an hour into practice when ANNA entered the gym. She looked around the field and she when saw me, she ran towards me in full throttle, screaming my name.

Unknowingly to her, there were cheerleaders on the field too, practicing a pyramid routine. She ran towards them missing a step and knocking over the cheerleaders' pyramids." He paused to eat a piece of nacho.

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. Now most of the cheerleaders had broken arms and legs because of me and there was Mel, she was a cheerleader.

I decided to call Aria or Lucas to ask about her after Nick told me the whole story.

He continued whilst munching on his Nacho noisily, “so a few cheerleaders broke or sprained their arms and legs while Mel, who wasn't hurt at ALL! Kept shooting me death glares. Juan was at the top of the pyramid she got the worst injuries, her arms and legs got sprained. She was rushed to the hospital immediately. Their coach had my coach bench me for two games. I was angry at first but when I heard Juan had got the most injuries, I was glad.” Tears glistened in my eyes as I looked at him. He knew just how much Juan hated me. He and half of the school had seen her shove me into a locker in junior year.

I started laughing. Not about all the cheerleaders but just one and she was in the hospital. Meaning, she won’t be hovering over me for the next few days with plans on how to kill me.

After lunch, Nick and I sat down to watched a movie. Throughout the movie, I thought of ways to get back at Juan for the things she had done to me in the past.

Something that would turn all her glory to shame for the rest of her high school life…but what? I wasn’t an attention seeker or a bad person but she did deserve was coming for her.

Enough was enough. I was going to take a stand.