Lost and Found Chapter 6

Noel

If Noel Kahn wasn't dreading the first day of school before, he was now. He thought that waking up today meant he was now a junior, not a father. He wasn't angry. He couldn't be. There was nobody to blame but himself. He was just afraid. Afraid of what would happen to Jenna and him. Of what his parents would think. Of what people will say. He was scared to death. But he couldn't let that show. He had to put on brave face for Jenna.

He was way more tired than usual on the morning of the first day of school. But, never the less, he dragged himself out of bed and got ready. His parents were long gone by now, already at work. Noel wasn't really bothered by this. Sure, it was sort of annoying his parents were barely around. But he had gotten used to it over the years.

As soon as he was read, he was in his car and on his way over to the Montgomery's. He was on the lacrosse team with Mike, who was a year younger than him but he was cool. Mike has an older sister in Noel's grade, Aria. Noel thought she was nice enough but because of his reputation it would be social suicide to hang out with her. So they never really talked.

After picking up Mike, Noel finished his route to school. He and his teammate parted in the hallway. He had twenty minutes to kill before class started, so he headed to the library, where he knew Jenna always was before school officially began.

He found her sitting alone at a table in the center of the library. No one was around, minus the librarian and a dorky kid named Lucas in the back corner of the room. He quietly took the seat next to his girlfriend.

"Hey," he whispered.

She slowly raised her head to look at him. "Hi." She replied in a ghost of a voice.

Noel's stomach twisted. Her voice was slightly hoarse. Also, her eyes were bloodshot with dark circles underneath.

"Didn't get much sleep last night either?" he asked.

She shook her head and he nodded. This whole situation was hard for him, he couldn't imagine what it was like for her. She was not responsible for two people now; herself and their baby growing inside of her. That thought sent chills down his back.

"Maybe you should go home. It's obvious you don't want to be here and you don't look so good."

"Wow. Thanks Noel." Jenna spat sarcastically.

Noel sighed. "That's not what I meant…" he trailed off. "Maybe you should just go home and rest."

"And tell my parents what? That I didn't want to go to school today because I have a baby growing inside of me?" Jenna whisper-shouted. "Yeah, I think that'll go over real well." Jenna stood up, slammed her book closed and charged out of the library. Noel groaned, laying his head on the table. It's just pregnancy hormones, Noel reminded himself.

After a few minutes, he made his way back to the main hallway. While at his locker he watched Alison flirt with some new guy. He also watched as the guy rejected her. He couldn't help that he found it amusing. He noticed that Jenna was with her as well. She looked a little better. She had probably hid the darkness under her eyes before meeting up with them. He followed their direction to get to homeroom. On the way, Sean caught up with him.

"Hey, man. What's up?" he said.

"Oh, uh, nothing. Just annoyed to be back in school." Noel tried his best to sound convincing.

Sean thankfully bought it though. "I know what you mean. It's been barely five minutes and I already miss summer."

Noel did too but for an entirely different reason.

They took their seats in their English class. Normally Noel was a good student but today he fought to keep focused. His thoughts kept wandering to Jenna and the baby. His classes just seemed to merge together like a blur, until he got to lunch.

He ate where he always did, the table in the center of the cafeteria with Jenna, Sean, Kate, Alison, and Mona. He was the first seated but it wasn't long before Sean joined him. All of the girls came at once. Jenna sat beside him, giving a small, apologetic smile. He nodded, both of them sending a silent agreement that they were sorry about this morning and that it was forgotten.

Things seemed to be going great, that was, until Alison opened her mouth.

"Jenna you've barely eaten anything. What's up?" Alison asked.

Jenna slightly shrugged, "I'm just not that hungry,"

Alison wasn't buying it. "Are you sure it isn't because you want to be skinnier. I mean I've noticed you've gained some weight recently." She said it quietly, like it was only mean for Jenna, but everyone heard it.

Noel didn't give Jenna a chance to react and beat her to the punch. "Alison, can you just shut up and leave her alone?"

The blonde gasped, "Excuse me?"

Noel rolled his eyes, "You torment everyone in this school, even your friends like it's no big deal and I'm tired of it."

The whole table stared at him with wide eyes. He had just said what they had all always thought but had been too afraid to say.

Instead of retaliating, Alison said nothing and finished eating her lunch in silence. That didn't stop her from sending him a death glare the rest of the time.

Next period, Noel had economics. Yay. He had to keep from falling asleep. The teacher wouldn't stop talking. He went on and on and on. And what made it worse was he spoke in a boring, monotone voice the entire time. It felt like he had been talking for years when really it had only been fifteen minutes. Noel did start listening though when he started assigning seating partners, the people you'd be paired with for any assignment the entire year. He waited, for what seemed like forever, for his name to be called. When it was, Spencer Hastings was called along with it. Working with Spencer Hastings the entire year? This would be interesting.

Spencer was his favorite person to tease and annoy. It was fun because she was the only one who would give it right back to him. They had the same sarcastic sense of humor. He would deny it if anyone asked, but he enjoyed their banter. If Alison didn't hate her so much, he'd probably be good friends with her.

The pair took their seats next to each other and listened to Mr. Heck continue his lecture on what they'd be covering over the year.

Noel leaned over to Spencer, "Do you think he'd notice if I started bringing a pillow to class?"

"Maybe if he ever decided to stop talking." She said back.

He chuckled softly. "If that's the case then I might bring a blanket too."

"You could probably bring an air mattress and he's never notice."

The two laughed quietly. Noel then turned his attention back to the front of the room. He could feel Spencer's eyes on him so he looked back. "What?" he asked curiously.

"There's something different about you." She said. "Like something's off."

Noel shrugged. "Why would you think that?"

"I've known you for years and you've never acted this civil to me." He chuckled at that. "And you seem upset about something."

He looked down. Of course. Leave it to the smartest girl in school to be the first to question him.

"I've just got a lot on my mind I guess." He said honestly.

She nodded, "Well if you need someone, I'm a very good listener."

Noel smiled. For some reason, knowing he had her of all people to count on, made him feel almost better. He liked spending time with her.

"Well we are going to be seeing a lot of each other."

He had no idea how true that statement would be.

A/N: Soooo what'd you think? And no, this isn't going to have any Spoel in it. At least not romantically. It will be all friendship….kind of. You'll see what I mean in a few chapters. Same goes with Naria…? (Noel/Aria) just friendship.

Okay! Well don't forget to review. I have the next chapter ready and as soon as I get 5+ reviews I'll update!

Up next- Spencer learns more about her parents and runs in to a class mate she doesn't expect.

xxxMel