Page 30 of Two Weeks to Fall in Love

Two Weeks to Start the Fight

Anger replaced all the fear and discomfort I was feeling. How dare he? What gave him the right to corner me like some weak prey he thought he could pounce on? He seemed to think he was entitled to his actions because once upon a time I had liked him, or at least the person he used to be.

A good kick to the groin. That’s exactly what the doctor ordered for Jacob Miller.

I clutched his shirt tightly in my fists to get some balance for my kick. He must have misinterpreted that movement, as he suddenly gave a victorious grin and leaned forward as if he was about to kiss me.

Ew . In your dreams, you perv .

With all the strength I could muster in the lack of space I had pressed against the cabinet, I pulled my leg back as much as I could and slammed my knee straight into his crotch.

A shrill wail left his lips as he keeled forward. I used the chance to push him down until his ass ended up on the ground, hands pressing against his groin.

Wasting no time, I got a good distance away from him and made sure I was facing him as I continued to back away.

“What the fuck, you bitch,” he wheezed, his voice still angry but slightly overshadowed by the pain.

I made a clicking sound with my tongue and shook my head. “You weren’t listening. No means no, you douche canoe.”

He glared at me before slowly getting up. I moved back farther, eyeing the boxes of equipment. If he tried something again, I was going to smash a glass beaker over his head.

After he was up, he just stood in place, his chest moving up and down rapidly.

“I don’t like you. I might have liked you once a long time ago, but now that may be my only high-school regret,” I said, a calm coldness in my voice.

Jake blinked a few times, processing the words spewed at him. Then he ran a hand down his face and let out a dry laugh.

“What you’ll end up regretting is dating Noah.

You have no idea who he really is. Honestly, Sky, what do you even know about him, huh?

” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

“He has the girls at this school fooled with his nice, mysterious guy routine. But I know the truth. I know his secrets . I know how rotten that family of his has always been.”

My chest tightened, a little seed of doubt sprouting in my mind. The way he said that, it was clear there was stuff he knew. The kind of stuff that I might have jumped at the opportunity to learn more about up until recently. But not now, not anymore, and definitely not after what he’d just done.

“That’s rich coming from you. First you assault a girl and then you call someone else rotten.” I snorted. “You might not have a lot going for you, Jake, but you’re definitely not running out of audacity.”

“I never said I was perfect,” Jake growled. “But pretty boy isn’t perfect either. He’s an actor, a liar; he uses others and destroys them when he’s done, watching the wreckage as it sinks. He’s the worst kind of asshole.”

A chill ran down my spine at how eerily familiar those words sounded.

It was exactly the kind of thing I’d been thinking when I’d decided to go through with this Noah plan. Hearing it come out of Jake’s mouth made me painfully aware of just how bad my previous behavior had been. How villainous. I swallowed hard and tried pushing down the dark feeling of self-disgust.

“Jake, you’re wrong. I understand you might truly believe that, but Noah isn’t like that.” Taking the smallest step forward, I tried to bring some warmth to my voice. “There’s nothing fake about him. If you gave him a real chance and got to know him, you’d see that.”

Jake let out a disgusted sound and looked at me with raised eyebrows. “You’re under his spell, too, just like the rest of them. I thought you were different. I thought you were smarter.”

Well, I guess we were going back to feeling no sympathy for him again.

“Do you want to know?” Jake started, almost frantic now. “Do you want to know the secrets he hides? I’ll tell you. Maybe that will open your eyes.”

My eyes widened and I took a deep breath. The most shocking part was how easily my answer came out, without even a second of hesitation.

“No, I don’t want to know. If Noah wants me to know, he’ll tell me himself.”

Jake seemed taken aback by that, eyes narrowing as if he couldn’t believe that. Then I heard the door rattle as someone pushed on it.

“Skyler?”

My whole body warmed at the sound of the familiar voice. “In here, Noah!”

The door jiggled again and I moved toward it, hoping that if he pushed while I pulled, we could get it free.

“Sky, wait a second,” Jake yelled, and I heard his quick footsteps behind me.

The sound of the door rattling behind me stopped. I didn’t even have time to call out for Noah before Jake reached me and grabbed my arm.

“Don’t trust him, don’t trust anything he says,” Jake said, and squeezed my hand a little too tightly for comfort.

“Let go of me, Jake,” I said roughly, and yanked my arm out of his hold.

At that moment, there was a loud crash against the door. And then another. At the third crash, the door flew open, the top hinges almost tearing off the wall.

Noah nearly fell on his face as he stumbled into the room, eyes frantically searching the space. Jake made a move to grab my hand again, and in the blink of an eye, Noah was standing between us.

“Don’t fucking touch her, Jacob,” Noah said. His hand reached out and he tried to gently push me behind him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You broke the door,” I stammered, looking back in shock at the wreckage.

“I don’t care, I’ll pay for it,” Noah said, his eyes firmly set on Jake. His body was tense, eyes full of rage.

“You mean daddy will pay for it,” Jake snarled.

“Shut the fuck up.” Noah took a step toward him, and I grabbed his arm, afraid of this escalating. I had never seen him angry before, and honestly, it was a bit frightening. “What did you do to her?”

“We were just talking a little, that’s all, right, Sky?” Jake said, his tone mocking.

I wasn’t about to dignify that with a response. He knew what he’d done had gone way beyond talking, and I knew that if I told Noah that now, Jake was going to get exactly what he deserved.

“Let’s just go, Noah,” I said, tugging on his arm again. He looked down at me and his eyes softened before he let out a sigh and nodded.

I started pulling him back, and probably would have succeeded if Jake hadn’t kept running his dumb mouth.

“Oh yeah, we had a nice talk , Sky and me. Told her all about how the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Something in Noah seemed to snap, and he turned around, pulling out of my grasp. He stormed toward Jake, who stood in place like a statue, a sick grin on his face.

Noah grabbed him by the collar and yanked him up. Jake just laughed and put his hands over Noah’s. “Do it. Prove me right,” Jake hissed, and I could see Noah struggle with his restraint. “Do it, you asshole!”

I rushed toward Noah before he could rise to the bait and do something I was sure he’d regret later. I reached out and wrapped my hands around his biceps.

“As much as I would love to see you punch his face in,” I said, slightly shaking as I squeezed his arm, “I don’t want you to get detention because of him, Noah.”

“Worth it,” he muttered, still very much on the edge.

“Trust me, I already hit him so hard in the nuts his kids will feel it. If he can even have any,” I whispered to him.

Noah gave me a side-glance, and then his breath evened out a bit. He loosened his hold on Jake’s flannel shirt and a second later let go completely. Noah turned abruptly and took a few steps forward, running his hand through his hair and breathing deeply.

I followed him, feeling guilty for adding fuel to whatever was between them already.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, and he just shook his head.

“What are you doing in a locked classroom with him?” Noah whispered. Even though his tone was quiet there was a hint of accusation that I didn’t like.

“Well, I clearly didn’t plan to be locked in with him. He needed help carrying the equipment,” I explained, and nodded to the plastic boxes.

Noah stared at the boxes, a frown marring his face. “And no one else could’ve helped?” The disbelief was clear in his tone, and considering that was basically the first question I had asked as well, it wasn’t like I could really fault him for that.

“Apparently not,” I said, and sighed.

Noah still seemed on edge, gaze drifting from the floor to me and then to Jake. He was still battling whatever demons Jake had awoken in him.

“Can we just go, please?” I said again, and gently took his hand in mine, hoping he wouldn’t pull away.

His eyes focused on our hands now, and his breathing slowed. Encouraged by that, I entwined our fingers and gave his hand a little squeeze. A moment later, Noah let out a sigh and squeezed me back, before he made his way to the door.

“I think you can carry the stuff yourself, Jake,” I said, as we passed by the boxes on the desk and maneuvered through the broken door.

“Remember what I told you, Sky,” Jake yelled after me, and Noah’s grip on my hand instantly tightened.

His steps were too quick for my normal pace and he pulled me along the empty hallway. I stumbled as I tried to keep up, his grip making balancing that much harder.

“Noah, you’re gonna stop the blood flow in my hand,” I mumbled.

Noah stopped so suddenly that I almost slammed into him. I could tell he was still angry by his posture, and when he turned to face me, it was clear to see in his eyes as well.

“What is it with you and Jacob? Why is he suddenly always around you?” Noah asked, his voice rough.

“I’d like to know that as well,” I stated, but the intensity of his gaze didn’t lessen and I knew that wasn’t enough of an answer for him. “We were in debate club together, and we were friends. But we hadn’t spoken in months until recently.”

“You’re gonna stay away from him,” Noah said instantly, in a demanding tone.

Even though staying away from Jake was definitely on my agenda, I didn’t like the way he’d said that—as if I had to listen.

A dark feeling stirred inside of me, prompted by all of Jake’s earlier venom. As much as I didn’t want to believe anything he’d said, a small part of me still doubted that Noah was sincere, and that small part had clung to Jake’s accusations.

“Noah, you can’t tell me who I can or can’t be friends with. That’s my decision,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. I needed him to understand that me staying away from Jake was my decision, and not because he’d told me to.

“Are you serious? You want to be friends with that psycho ?” Noah asked, his voice incredulous. He let go of my hand instantly, as if it had suddenly burned him. The disappointed stare he gave me made my chest hurt.

“I didn’t say that.” I clenched my hands together, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. “I just don’t like being told what to do.”

“Oh, so that’s a problem, huh. But being locked in a room by a guy who constantly tries to pick a fight with me, that’s fine.” He let out a frustrated breath. “That door wasn’t stuck, it was locked.”

Of course. I should have known. In the back of my mind, I probably had been aware that it was highly unlikely the door would have just randomly gotten stuck.

Not to mention that Jake had been behind me when we went in, so he had sufficient time to close and lock the door after he’d entered.

Anger rose up in me again, knowing I had been so naive.

“You seriously need to reassess the people you call friends ,” Noah said, disgust clear in his tone.

The anger in me boiled. It was one thing to look down on me, but looking down on my friends? That was a big no-no.

“What do you even care, Noah? You’ll only be with me for another week anyway.”

Noah took a large step back, staring at me as if I had just slapped him. “Was that your point with this, to just have some fun dating me for two weeks?” His voice broke, disappointment and anger mixing in his eyes.

I looked away from him, unable to bear the weight of those emotions. “Isn’t that your point? Since you’ve been doing this all along when you don’t even believe in love,” I said, my voice small and weak as I looked back up at him.

Why was I saying this? My timing couldn’t have been worse. In a sense, I knew why. Because I wanted him to tell me I was wrong. Because I wanted to be wrong about him. Because suddenly, I didn’t want to have just two weeks with Noah Archer.

But Noah didn’t do that. He just shook his head, disappointment more than clear in his expression.

“You don’t understand anything,” he said, his tone full of ice and daggers. Then he turned around and walked away.

*

For the rest of the day, I still saw him. I didn’t hear his voice, and there was no sound of his laughter, but I still found him in the crowd. I still saw him pushing his food around his plate during lunchtime.

But he never once met my eyes. I was seeking, but he was hiding. Ignoring .

Melissa knew something was wrong, and while I could tell she wanted to know what had happened, she knew I needed space. So she spent the rest of the day talking about anything and everything.

And when she dropped me off at home after school, she gave me a tight hug. The kind that tears you up and makes you want to break down and cry.

“Just call me if you want to talk, okay?” she said, and I nodded, grateful I had people like her and Lily in my life.

Once I got home, I collapsed on my bed, on the verge of tears. I felt overwhelmed by everything that had happened not just today, but all the days before. It was a torrent of different emotions—my mind being pulled in different directions, my preconceived notions of people breaking apart.

The guy I had liked for years turning into the kind of guy I hated.

The guy I had hated turning into a guy I could potentially like.

And where did that leave me?

An incoming text message buzzed and I grabbed my phone. My heart started hammering in my chest when I saw who the message was from. Noah . But when I read the message, my heart instantly dropped.

Noah : we need to talk. I’ll come pick you up at 6

Sighing, I buried my face into my pillow and screamed.

I was going to be the first girl in the history of dating Noah Archer to get broken up with after only one week.