CHAPTER FOUR
( STUDYING )

        ANDY WAS A great liar. She'd been lying to her parents for as long as she could remember. So when her friends questioned her abnormally long absence and Felix's cold food, she blamed a long line and the workers. When they asked where Nolan was, she told them that they'd been searching for parking and he'd decided to drop her off in the front so he could keep looking. When they asked why her hair was a mess, she told them they'd had the windows open.

Then, she got absolutely wasted and avoided Nolan until he took everyone home. She changed into a pair of shorts she'd had since 5th grade and an extra large shirt she'd found while thrifting with Laney that said WORLD'S SEXIEST GRANDPA on it with a picture of who she assumed was the previous owner on the back. Then passed out.

Light seeped through her bedroom curtains, making Andy wince and rollover. She buried her head in her pillow, regretting any and every decision she'd ever made as she drifted off to sleep again.

Her phone started buzzing.

Andy groaned and reached for it. She opened her eyes just enough to see that it was Laney calling her and answered it. "Hey."

"Morning," Laney greeted in a singing tone. Andy could tell she was grinning.

"I hate you," Andy responded.

"Oh, you're projecting," Laney retorted. "Be ready in five, we're going to get coffee."

Andy groaned again. "Okay." She slammed her finger down on the hangup button and nuzzled her head further into her pillow.

She lay there for a moment, drifting somewhere between sleep and awake. Eventually, she forced herself up and threw on the first things she grabbed from her closet.

She ran her brush through her hair, popped a few ibuprofen, and managed to get her Converse on before taking in her appearance. She'd pulled out a black baby tee with the word princess on it in pink glitter and a pair of low-waisted jeans. She nodded in satisfaction.

Even hungover and half asleep, she still managed a decent outfit.

A moment later, a honk came from outside. Andy sluggishly made her way out of her room. "Wren, I'm leaving!" she called out, knowing he would be the only one awake. Their dad was working and their mom was sleeping after her shift at the hospital.

"Okay!" he hollered back a second later.

With that, she walked out of the house. As she neared Laney's car, her heart dropped to her stomach. In her sleepy state, she'd failed to ask the blonde who we included.

She should've known it included the boys, too.

Nolan sat in the backseat behind the passenger seat. He glanced up at her, their eyes locking for a moment. Andy swallowed hard.

Act cool.

She tilted her chin up and slid into her seat. Immediately, she was greeted by sarcastic applause from Felix. "She's alive!"

"I'm gonna kill you," Andy threatened, turning her body to narrow her eyes at him.

"She comes with a thirst for blood – ow!"

"You okay, Andy?" Vince asked after elbowing Felix, his eyebrows furrowed in genuine concern. "You got pretty messed up last night."

"Except for the fact that I feel like my head is going to explode, I feel fine," Andy assured him. "You know how Graham's parties are. If you don't get fucked up, you're not doing it right."

"You couldn't say a complete sentence," Felix told her. "There's fucked up, and then there's fucked up."

"Fucked up is blackout," Andy argued. "I didn't blackout. I remember everything in perfect detail."

Well, the things that mattered anyway. Like the way Nolan's calloused hands had felt on her skin, running up and down her sides and hips. How his curls felt tangled in her fingers.

"Well someone who drinks like that has something to forget," Felix stated matter-of-factly as Laney turned onto Main Street where the cafe was. He leaned forward and rested his head on the shoulder of her seat. "Who'd you do, Andrea?"

Andy reached out, pushing his head back. "Fuck off."

"Was it Matt?" he questioned, snickering.

"That was a one time thing!" she exclaimed, stepping out of the car. "Why aren't you guys interrogating Nolan?" She motioned toward him as he stood, making his eyebrows furrow. "He disappeared for practically the entire night."

He was talking to Carina," Felix responded, patting Nolan's shoulder as he crawled out. "By the way, how'd that go, bro?"

Nolan shrugged. "Fine. We just talked."

"I knew that," Felix rolled his eyes, the doorbell chiming as the five of them walked into the cafe. "But she's into you."

"We're friends," Nolan defended.

"Nolan. . ." Laney scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Be for real. You're not stupid."

"Yeah, dude," Vince agreed, nodding. "Anyone with eyes can see that she likes you."

"Can I get a caramel vanilla cold brew?" Andy loudly interrupted her friends, giving the blonde barista a tight-lipped smile. Her eyes flickered to the girl's name tag, Maxine. Aside from the cafe, she knew her from school, having spoken a few times here and there.

"Yeah, of course," Maxine smiled politely. "Size?"

"Medium," Andy answered.

Maxine tapped on the screen and nodded. "Perfect. Anything else?"

As Andy's friends ordered their drinks, she made her way toward their table. She peered out the window, watching people move about Main Street. Most were groups of girls gravitating toward the boutique, probably to buy their homecoming dresses even though the dance was a month away.

"I'm just saying, dude, she's hot," Felix's voice made her look away from the window. She resisted the urge to let out a loud sigh as the conversation about Carina and Nolan continued. He pulled out the chair next to Andy. "You're hot. You're already perfect together."

"You do realize there's more to relationships besides looks, right?" Vince blinked at Felix, sitting next to Nolan who'd chosen to sit in front of Andy.

"Please, Felix is gonna end up with a girl with the personality of a rock," Laney chimed in, handing Andy her coffee as she pulled up a chair on the other side of her.

"Yeah personality is great – important, but you have to admit that looks play an important part, too," Felix shrugged.

"Okay, but Carina isn't just her looks," Vince scoffed. "She's really nice and she's super smart, too. She's good with kids. And, when she has time, she volunteers at the animal shelter."

"Well, isn't she just perfect," Andy bitterly remarked, eyes widening when it came out louder than she'd meant.

The doorbell to the cafe chimed and, much to Andy's dismay, in walked Carina. The girl stopped when she saw the group and grinned, waving as she walked over to them. "Hi, guys."

"Hey," everyone chorused.

"Last night was so fun, right?"

"Yeah, I think Andy had the most fun," Felix replied, shooting a smirk the girl's way. She rolled her eyes at him and flipped him off.

Carina laughed at their interaction. "I missed you last night, Andy," she told the girl sincerely. Andy mentally cursed her, wishing she could find some sort of falseness to her tone. "You looked great. So did you, Laney. I don't know how you wore your Doc Martens that long. My feet would've been killing me."

As Laney began to explain how she made her Doc Martens comfortable to wear, Andy could only focus on Carina. She was wearing a white blouse with puff sleeves paired with a pink plaid skirt. She wasn't wearing much makeup besides blush and mascara, and she had her braids pulled back into a half-up with two of them framing her face.

She looked extremely put together. Judging by the fact that she was carrying her backpack, she was put together. Andy's eyes flickered to Nolan, who was watching the two girls speak. She hated that she could clearly picture him and Carina together. They'd probably take the title of 'it couple' right from Rebecca Chambers and Ethan Marks, who'd inherited after Benjamin Lockhart and Lorelei Montgomery broke up over the summer.

"I'm definitely doing that next time I wear mine," Carina promised. "Thank you so much, Laney." She glanced down at her backpack and frowned. "Well. . . I need to study or I might actually fail the Spanish test on Monday."

"We have a Spanish test?" Andy questioned, the words falling out of her lips before she'd even had a chance to process that she was speaking.

"Yeah," Carina confirmed. "I think she assigned it because she knew everybody would be at Graham's party and not studying."

"She was right," Andy muttered. She hadn't even been paying attention in Spanish yesterday, too focused on her plans for the night. "Fuck."

"I can send you my notes," Carina offered with a kind smile. Annoyance burned in Andy's chest. Why did Carina have to be so nice? Why couldn't she be a stereotypical cheerleader?

Andy forced a smile, hoping it didn't showcase that she was internally screaming at the top of her lungs. "No, it's okay. I'll just steal Nolan's."

"Okay," Carina nodded. "I'll see you guys on Monday."

With that, the girl set her stuff in the back corner of the cafe and went to order her drink. Andy and her friends finished their coffees before heading to Centennial Park, which was a a block over and right in the middle of the town square.

They were there for about 45 minutes when Andy got a text from her mom telling her to come home immediately. She'd gotten an hour long scolding about how she'd left without telling anyone and (the worst part, though her mother didn't use those words) didn't take Wren.

In the end, Andy was sent to her room for the rest of the weekend. She'd gotten her phone taken away, but she'd had the last laugh because her mom had completely forgotten about her computer.

Plus, she'd be able to sleep the rest of the day.

After she texted the group chat and let them know about her groundment, she changed into comfortable clothes and passed out again.

When she woke up and checked the time, it was 8:30. The ache of her head had dulled with the extra sleep. She wasn't sure how long she'd been staring at her ceiling when she heard the knock.

"Go away, Wren!" she raised her voice, it coming out raspy from the sleep.

The knocking happened again. Andy sighed and threw her blanket off of her. She stood from her bed, shivering from the new temperature, and headed toward her door.

"Dude–"

She was cut off by the knocking. Her eyebrows furrowed as she slowly turned, realizing it was coming from her window. She swallowed, her eyes darting around the room to find a weapon. She reached for the water bottle on her nightstand and slowly made her way toward the window.

She swept the curtain to the side, raising her weaponed hand as she did so. She let out a yelp of surprise when she saw a person, then a breath of relief when she realized it was just Nolan.

She didn't have time to be awkward as she slid open the window. "What the fuck?" she demanded. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry," Nolan climbed through into her bedroom. "I texted you, forgot you didn't have your phone." He took off his backpack and set it on her bed.

She didn't bother asking how he'd got to the second floor. He's climbed onto the railing and then the pillars, hoisting himself to the roof. She knew because that's how she snuck everyone in or snuck herself out when her parents were still awake.

"What are you doing here?" she wondered instead.

He motioned to his backpack. "Can't let you fail the Spanish test."

"You're making me study?" she crossed her arms. "On a Saturday night?"

"How much Spanish do you remember from last year?" Nolan questioned, making himself comfortable on her bed. He pulled out his Spanish notebook from his backpack.

"Puedo ir al baño," Andy responded, cringing at her accent as she joined him.

"Okay," Nolan breathed out, offering her an encouraging nod. "We're lucky this is just a vocab test. It's not gonna be worth much of your grade."

Andy scoffed a laugh and leaned back, watching him slide out flash cards from the notebook. "You get those from Vince?" she asked, half-joking.

He hummed, grinning at her. "Yeah."

Andy ended up checked out before they even started studying. Nolan was wearing black sweatpants and a pink hoodie, which had raised his shirt when he'd taken it off. She recalled the night before when he'd done the same thing in the backseat of his car. Although his entire chest had been exposed to her then.

It was when he started questioning her about the difference between corto and bajo that she couldn't take it anymore. She groaned and flopped down. "I don't want to do this anymore."

"Andy–"

"God, you sound like Vince," she huffed. "Besides, you said yourself this isn't gonna impact my grade that much. And I can think of, like, a million things better than this."

"Like?"

"Like. . ." she trailed off, sitting up. She leaned in, pulling him closer by his shirt as she pressed her lips against his. "This."

Nolan pulled away before she could continue. "I'm sorry, I'm just – what does this. . . mean?"

"It doesn't have to mean anything, Nolan," Andy told him. "It's just fun."

He swallowed, nodding. "Right. Okay."

There was a hint of disappointment to his tone that Andy didn't catch because he's cupping her cheek and pulling her in a second later.

𝒎𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒍 !!
got a random burst of motivation for this book so here's chapter four after almost 6 months😭

it sucks but let's not talk abt that🙈