Chapter 45
“Noah, Max, Dylan, Megan?” A voice wakes us up and we all sleepily uncurl from each other, looking up only to be blinded by the sun.
“The fuck?” I cover my eyes, my Maori/kiwi accent thick.
“Nevach?” The girl’s eyes nearly pop out of her head.
“Jenny Lingard?” My mouth drops open.
“Yeah, it’s me.” She gives me a small smile. “What the heck are you guys doing out here? You look terrible.”
“Jenny?” Noah shoots up. “Wha–but–we–what the fuck?!”
“How did you find us?” Max asks, filling in where Noah couldn’t. “We’ve been lost for days.”
Jenny gives us an unimpressed look and takes a step back, her face wrinkling like she smelt something foul. “You’re literally in the woods behind the university. This is the path I take on my morning hikes. I mean, you’re practically in sight of the trailhead.”
“What the-” Dylan hops out of his sleeping bag and onto the dewy grass below. “How-”
Jenny scoffs and jerks her thumb towards the trail just a few yards away. “Trail’s that way. Good luck.”
We all just stand there, dumbfounded, until Jenny was out of sight.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Noah says.
“We’re idiots.” Dylan adds.
“Like, major idiots.” Megan agrees.
“You know that journal of yours?” I turn to Max. “Burn it”
“Will do.” Max nods.
-Nevaeh-
“Hey, Vaeh, my best friend in the whole entire world-”
“What do you
“What do you want, Max?” I roll my eyes, cutting him off.
“Can I talk to you, please?” He pleads.
I sigh. “Fine.”
We slow down and trail a few feet behind the rest of the group as we continue our walk out of the woods.
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Chapter 45
“Speak.” I demand simply.
“Does Megan like me?” He questions. “As in…like–like me?”
I abruptly stop walking and stare at him with a bitch face right as we reach the edge of the woods, the campus in clear view. He also stops walking.
“Does she like you?” I repeat slowly. “Max, you are the stupidest person I have ever met.”
I start walking again, leaving him at the edge of the woods.
I hear his footsteps as he rushes to catch up with me.
“Well? Does she?” He whispers.
I shake my head in disbelief. “You oblivious motherfucker.”
“What?!” He whispers shouts.
“Of course she likes you!” I quietly shout back. “If she didn’t, I wouldn’t have told you to stop being a pussy and tell
her.”
His face breaks out with a large smile. “Okay. Okay. I’m going to tell her. How do I tell her?!”
I chuckle. “Take her out for ice cream, then to the park. Walk her back to our dorm, then tell her.”
He grins, hugging me tightly, picking me up off the ground. “Thanks, Vaeh. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Max.” I smile softly as he puts me down and runs ahead to catch up with Megan. He says a few things and she smiles and nods before they walk off. “Hey–WAIT! I DIDN’T MEAN RIGHT NOW! TAKE A SHOWER FIRST,
YOU DUMB FUCKS!”
I sigh when they’re out of sight and don’t seem to hear what I said even though I was yelling loud enough for China
to hear me.
Noah and Dylan slow down and wait for me to catch up before we continue walking again.
“What was that about?” Dylan asks, the boys walking on either side of me.
“He’s going to tell her that he likes her.” I tell them.
“He’s going to tell her?” Noah questions. “About fucking time. We’ve been trying to get him to tell her for eight years.
ILOW.”
I choke on air. “Eight years?”
Dylan nods. “He’s liked her since middle school.”
“Damn.” I whistle lowly. “Well, she’s liked him for a while, too. Since ninth grade, I think.”
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Chapter 45
“He better not chicken out.” Dylan mumbles.
“If he does, I’ll throw my shoe at his face.” Noah counters, making me chuckle.
“Please don’t.” I laugh. “He’s not going to look as pretty with a big ass shoe mark on his face.”
Dylan and Noah both chuckle as we make it to where the path separates and leads to the girls‘ dorm building and the boys‘ dorm building.
“You go ahead.” Noah turns to Dylan. “I’m going to walk Carter back to her dorm.”
“Great,” Dylan claps his hands. “I get the shower first.”
Noah rolls his eyes. “Just please make sure there’s toilet paper. I’m not going to go get toilet paper at two in the morning again because Max decided to take a shit without checking if there was toilet paper first.”
I choke back a laugh. “Again?”
“Yeah, whatever. Later, fucker.” Dylan says to Noah before kissing my cheek. “Bye, Vaeh.”
He turns around and walks down the path as Noah and I head towards the girls dorms.
“So we didn’t really get the chance to talk during the camping trip.” Noah states, his arm brushing against mine as
we walk close to each other.
“Well, we were kind of busy trying not to die thanks to Max and his master outdoors skills.” I smile slightly, making him chuckle as we get in the elevator.
“Are you still obsessed with Eggos?” He questions, shoving his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as the elevator stops on my floor.
