Page 37 of Two Weeks to Fall in Love

I never should have switched with him. It was bad enough I’d come to school with the same headphones, but now that he’d given me his, it felt dangerously close to what an actual girlfriend and boyfriend might have done. And we were far from an actual couple. Right?

Letting out a sigh, I took off the headphones and placed them in my bag.

A part of me felt guilty for doing that.

Noah had been so excited the whole day, showing his new headphones off to his friends like they were some precious trophy.

But he was used to the attention he got from everyone. It didn’t phase him.

I splashed some water on my face and stared into the bathroom mirror before closing my eyes. Only two more classes and then school would be over for the day. I got this . The bathroom door opened and closed, but I was busy repeating my mantra a few more times to let it really sink in.

“We’ve been looking for you, Skyler.”

My eyes flew open at the sound of my name, and I spun around to see who exactly had been looking for me and why. Four girls stood there, at the entrance to the bathroom, staring directly at me.

This was it. My time had come. The classic teenage rom-com confrontation. Just as Melissa had predicted, I was being cornered by a bunch of angry girls in the bathroom.

I swallowed, my hands instantly balling into fists at my sides. How was this going to play out? Was there going to be hair pulling?

Whatever their choice of punishment would be, I was ready, and I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. If they thought they could intimidate me, they had another thing coming.

“We just wanted to tell you that—”

I wondered which clichéd statement they were going to hit me with first. Noah Archer isn’t yours. You should stay away from Noah Archer. Noah Archer is out of your league.

“—we’re here for you. If you need anyone to talk to after, that is,” the girl in the front finished and smiled at me.

“Huh?” I said, my face stuck in a confused grimace.

“With Noah, we mean,” the girl to her left clarified. “We all dated him, once upon a fortnight. So we know how difficult this last week can be.”

“Hey, don’t go negative already, he could stay with her.” The middle girl poked the one to the left with her elbow.

“Right, I’m so sorry! You do seem to have the best chance so far.” The left girl giggled and beamed at me.

I blinked. And then blinked again a few more times.

“I’m sorry, what’s happening right now?” I asked, even though I was slowly processing the things happening in front of me.

From my understanding, it seemed as if Noah’s exes had banded together and formed a cult?

A club? But this couldn’t be real, right?

“Yeah, this wasn’t exactly tactfully done.” The girl on the right tossed a nasty look at the two who had spoken, let out a sigh, and stepped forward, extending her hand. “I’m Eliza.”

I shook her hand, and the rest of them quickly followed with the introductions as well. Lilah was the middle one, Mikayla the one to her right. The last one, who had been silent until then, nodded at me and said, “You can call me Barb.”

Eliza cleared her throat. “Like Mikayla said, we all used to date Noah. Ending things with him can feel kind of like getting off a high, so we just ended up talking to each other, being each other’s support system.”

“There’s a few more of us in the group chat but we didn’t want to overwhelm you,” Mikayla said with an apologetic smile.

“And you’re here to . . . what?” Even after they’d said all of that, I was still half expecting them to pounce on me.

“Offer support, like I said,” Lilah stated, and the rest of them nodded. “Like if you need any, that is. To talk to someone or like, a shoulder to cry on, ya know, anything.”

This couldn’t be real. It went against every teenage flick I’d ever watched. The girls in the bathroom were supposed to threaten your life, not offer to help you get through a breakup. There had to be more to their end goal.

“Why?” I asked, skepticism more than clear in my voice.

“We rise by lifting others,” Barb said. “Supporting each other over a guy felt better than pulling each other’s hair over one.”

“Yeah, no man is worth the sisterhood,” Mikayla added, and the rest nodded happily.

This was the twilight zone. I was stuck in some weird parallel universe, that was the only explanation. How could a bunch of girls who were in love with the same guy ever get along?

“And you’re all still in love with Noah?”

Their eyes went wide and then they started laughing as if I’d made some great joke instead of a logical deduction.

“Oh, hell no.” Barb was the first one to get over her fit. “We’ve all moved on. I have a girlfriend. Mikayla’s trying to make it work with a childhood friend.”

“Excuse me, I’m making it work. That boy doesn’t have a chance,” Mikayla countered, and flipped her hair.

“I’ve had a boyfriend for the past . . . oh wow, it’s been seven months now,” Eliza said, her eyes glistening in obvious happiness.

“I’m single but I’m way over Noah. Being single is just right for me right now,” Lilah added, and shrugged.

I tilted my head, confusion mounting. “Then why are you all . . .” I didn’t even know how to express my current thoughts.

“Part of the Noah support group? We just became friends in the process. Plus, everyone’s experience with Noah—it’s like all of us learned something about ourselves in the process, and sometimes it helps to talk about that stuff.

No one else could really understand us, so the group chat really helped.

” Eliza looked at the other girls with clear affection in her eyes, and I felt my heart swell.

“Anyway, the bell’s about to ring, but we just wanted you to know you’re not alone in this, whatever happens.” Mikayla moved forward, took my hands in hers and squeezed them once, offering a warm smile before letting go.

“See you, Skyler!” Eliza said, and the others echoed her goodbyes.

“Uh, bye,” I muttered to the closing door.

Reeling, I leaned against one of the sinks for balance.

It would take me some time to process what had just happened, but one thing had become crystal clear: these were the girls I had initially used as an excuse to wage war against Noah Archer.

And they didn’t need or want my help. Girls who not only didn’t have broken hearts, but seemed to have gotten stronger from dating him.

All of the energy drained out of me when I realized how wrong my behavior had been. How toxic my train of thought, my justification for punishing an innocent guy, had been.

I had thought I was the hero of my story. Turns out, I was the villain.