*Isabella'a P.O.V*

It was my first day back at school since the volleyball incident. I'd only been off for a couple days, but it had been nice not seeing Candice. I am not looking forward to dealing with her today, though. Anyways, I finished tying the black ribbon around my ponytail and secured it before going downstairs.

I was running a little late so I just grabbed a Special K bar and scarfed it down, had a glass of apple juice, said goodbye to the family and then I was on my way.

"Hey, Max." I smiled as I met them at the bus stop.

"Hey, Iz." Max smiled back at me. Harvey and I just glared at each other until the bus arrived and we all got on. I do feel a bit sorry for Max, he was forced to be around all the tension during the ride to school. We soon got there, though, and we could go our separate ways. I followed Max to find Hailee while Harvey went running off to his precious little girlfriend.

~~~

The day seemed to speed by and before I knew it, I was packing up after my last lesson. I left the classroom and realised I needed the loo, so instead of going to my locker, I detoured into the girls bathroom. I did what I needed to do but as I left the cubicle and began washing my hands, the door swung open and Candice walked in.

"Great." I muttered under my breath as I turned the tap off.

"What was that?" Candice snapped, glaring at me through the mirror above the sinks.

"Nothing." I gave her an obviously fake, very sarcastic smile as I dried my hands with a paper towel. I began walking towards the door, only for Candice to grab my ponytail and yank me back into the room.

"Ow!" I yowled, turning around to glare at her.

"What? You didn't think I was going to let you leave that easily, did you?" She cocked her head to one side.

"Just leave me alone, okay?" I snarked, turning away. Candice grabbed my arm and forced me to turn back to her, digging her long, manicured nails into my skin so hard I'm surprised she didn't draw blood. She then stepped forward and got right in my face.

"Harvey asked me if me and you were still friends which can only mean one thing; you told him about our little conversation the other day. I thought I told you to keep it to yourself." She growled.

"He deserves to know what a bitch you are." I snapped fearlessly, glaring at her and looking her right in the eye. The next thing I knew, a blinding pain soared through my face as Candice punched me, so hard that it knocked me to the ground.

"Let this be a lesson to you." She bent down and snarled in my face, before getting up and leaving the bathroom. I lay on the gross bathroom floor for a few minutes, whining and groaning in pain before I finally plucked up the strength to stand up. I had to hold onto the sink for dear life as I got to my feet, cringing when I took in my appearance in the mirror. My right cheek, just below my eye was all red and swollen and I was 100% guaranteed to end up with big, painful bruise. I also had blood running down my cheek where Candice's ring had cut me. I bought a shaky hand up to my face, hissing when I tentatively touched my injury, my soft touch being enough to cause me pain. Eventually, I somewhat pulled myself together and stumbled out of the bathroom. I walked down the hall, towards my locker. The intense pain I felt was making it hard to stand up straight but I didn't really have a choice, or so I thought.

"Isabella?!" I ended up passing Noah in the hallway and as expected, he was shocked to see the state I was in, "Oh my god, what happened to your face?!"

"It... Uh... I... don't wanna talk a-about it." I managed to choke out. The pain was making it hard to function. I barely felt conscious.

"Okay, you're obviously pretty screwed up right now. The nurse will have gone home by now, so why don't I take you back to mine and clean you up a bit? I only live a couple minutes away from the school." Noah offered, taking my arm to help me stay upright. I just nodded in agreement, I didn't have the energy to argue or even reply. I put my arm around Noah's neck so I could lean on him for support and he took me out of the school and to his house. On our way there, I asked him what he was still doing at school at this time and he told me he'd been studying in the library.

We soon got to his house, which was luckily empty since both his parents were working. He led me into the kitchen and lifted me up to sit on the counter, where I tiredly rested my head on the cabinets behind me.

"How does it feel?" Noah asked as he opened his first aid cabinet.

"Still hurts..." I mumbled, wincing when a particularly painful jolt went through my cheek.

"Okay, I guess I'll clean the cut first... This might hurt a little bit." He said as he took a mini packet of wipes from the small first aid box, "They're alcohol free but there might still be soap in them or something." Noah was right, as he began gently dabbing the cut on my cheek with the wipe, it did sting a bit and made me wince a little.

"Okay... I think you're good." He muttered, using most of his concentration to place butterfly stitches on my wound.

"Thanks." I managed a small smile as the pain had started to go down a bit.

"No problem." He smiled back at me as he placed the last steri-strip on. He then stepped back and stared at me with a small smirk.

"What?"

"Even with a swollen, bruised face you're still, like, the most beautiful girl I know."

"I bet that's not true." I giggled, blushing hard. Hopefully the bruise on my cheek would hide it...on one side, at least.

"No, it's definitely true." He stated and I just laughed, peering up at him through the strands of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail, which was now an utter mess. Noah walked towards me, as I was still sat on the kitchen counter, and brushed the brunette locks out of my face. He then hooked two fingers under my chin and angled my face up so he could place his lips on mine. My mind went to Harvey for less than a second before I decided to forget him and enjoy the moment. If he's allowed to go after someone else, then so am I. Smiling into the kiss, I wrapped my arms around Noah's neck as he pulled me closer to his body, deepening the kiss. Eventually, we needed to breathe and pulled away.

"That was... Wow." Noah let out a breathy chuckle.

I giggled and bit my lip, "Yeah... Wow."