AN: Thank you for the encouraging reviews and I look forward to adding on more and more to the story!
Noel's POV
"First day of middle school!" My mom was practically bouncing up and down in her seat while dad drove with a solemn expression. I grinned before looking out the window, it was raining today, and the shops and sidewalks of Coldwater weren't busy at all. Then there was school and sports. The week before had been volleyball team try outs. I'd made the 6th grade varsity team and elected as team captain. I knew all the girls though, six of them already being my best friends.
"Don't forget, I have volleyball practice till five," I reminded my parents. Mom gave me a ridiculously indulgent look as dad smiled rather evilly and looked at me using the rear view mirror.
"Maybe I'll forget to pick you up and make you walk home,"
"Then I'll spend the night at Gran B's house instead and neither of you will hear about my first day," I called his bluff and my mom laughed. She enjoyed our father and daughter banter as much as we did.
"Alright we're here," Mom announced with barely contained excitement as our Ford truck rolled to a stop in the line for the pick up/drop off zone of the school.
"You've got your cell phone?" Dad checked. I couldn't stop the stupid grin that came over my face as I flashed my brand new iPhone at them with a sparkly black Otter Box. Mom and dad had agreed to get me a cell phone when I started middle school, but mom had not agreed to get me such an expensive one. After back to school shopping, I'd walked in to find the iPhone box with a silver bow on top, and that was as much back to school shopping as dad had to do for me. He'd gotten the unlimited everything plan with Verizon, which was the carrier for my parents' cell phones as well. I'd been given free reign to download music and apps to my heart's content just last night.
"I see Taylor and Sadie, time for me to head out. I'll see you guys later. Love you," I leaned forward into the front to kiss my dad's cheek and then my mom's. She smiled at me again before they both said "I love you too," in complete sync.
"Have a good day, Princess," My dad added when I opened the door and I gave him one last smile before throwing my bag over my shoulder, patting my pocket for my phone, and leaving my parents behind.
"Noel! Oh my gosh, I love your outfit . . . and your hair! Why couldn't I look as good as you this morning?" Taylor playfully pouted as we all headed in to our new school. We were directed to the gym by the teachers before receiving our sixth grade orientation station that was organized by first letter of your last name.
"What if the eighth graders eat me?" Sadie gasped as we were forced to separate.
"I'm Tanner and this is Devin, we are your orientation leaders!" Both boys didn't fail to check me out and I offered a smile before trying to find some other place to look. I was tall and skinny, wearing a size zeros in jeans. Mom reminded me that I looked a lot older than my age most days and I didn't even wear make up.
"Noel," My heart hit overdrive and I bit my lip to hide my explosive smile when I turned to see none other than Matthew Anderson standing behind me with a huge smile that caused my own to blossom.
"Hey Matt," I moved closer to stand in front of him so we could speak easily in the loud gym. When did he get taller than me? We'd been the same size in elementary school before we left for the summer. We'd been kid sweethearts, being as much as a "boyfriend and girlfriend" got at that age. His silky blond hair was still tousled and kind of chose to do its own thing, slightly curling at the edges and those light blue eyes were still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Now he stood a couple of inches taller, only a couple, but it made things feel different.
"It feels like a long time since I've seen you," He said and I blushed a little though he'd barely said anything.
"A summer used to be a long time. So what are your classes?" I'd missed seeing him on registration day, telling my parents I wanted a few more minutes to talk to my friends before we left, but in truth, all I wanted to do was catch a glimpse of Matthew.
"Let me see your schedule," We held them side by side and found every class perfectly aligned and we both laughed.
"Looks like your stuck with me," I teased and the look in his eyes told me maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.
"Alright newbies, let's head to the sixth grade hallway, and find your classes!" Tanner said to our group which was all of fifteen kids. The halls were already crowded with the other six graders and I felt Matt's finger lightly interlink with mine as we seemed to move at a crawl. He must've felt my startled gaze because he smiled back at me as we were jostled.
"Wouldn't want to lose you,"
"I think I can handle a crowd," I had to admit to the fact that my heart was squeezing with every beat at the contact though. He didn't respond, only smirked a little at me, and we finally became a group again as Tanner and Devin waved us into a classroom that had a bunch of math posters.
"You can let go now," Matt whispered as we all moved around the class to find where things were.
"Maybe I don't want to," I said over my shoulder as I moved along with him. Though I managed to hide my complete and utter delight, Matt held on to my hand tighter, and I could feel how perfectly our hands fit together. Tanner and Devin herded us through every major subject room before showing us the library, cafeteria, and the rooms for extracurricular classes such as art or choir.
"So someone got a cell phone?" Matt flicked the case through the pocket of my jeans.
"Did you?" I asked back, before I realized what he'd done, he snagged my phone, pulled out his phone, and proceeded to exchange our numbers without my permission.
"I'm kind of sad I'm not your first contact," I snatched my phone back, but not before shooting him a dirty look after dropping his hand.
"Maybe you won't even be a contact," I muttered, proceeding to ignore him, but I wouldn't dare delete his number. He laughed, but stopped when I moved my hand from his when he tried to grab it again.
"Oh come on Noel, I was just playing around," I put a couple of feet between us. I wasn't even mad anymore, but it was fun to watch him work at my attention rather than receiving it on a silver platter.
"You should've asked," I pretended to listen to Tanner's boring story of learning how to sew in Home ED.
"Will you stop being mad at me if I ask you to come to my first football game this Saturday?" I perked up and turned back toward him, but still chose to act reserved.
"Why me?"
"Why not you?" He countered, hope filling his eyes as he offered his hand, and then a smile broke out over his face again when I put my hand in his.
"I'll only come if you're going to win," I teased as Devin took his turn to speak for a while. Matt's smile turned cocky as he grinned and I angled better to listen to Devin's more interesting story of the time a kid passed out because he pricked his finger with the needle on accident and saw the small drop of blood. We didn't get to speak much after that because the rest of the day was filled with lunch and a terribly boring speech in the gym from the principal. Such things always seemed so much more interesting in elementary school.
"I've got to ask you something,"
"What is it?"
"I know we were in elementary school, but that doesn't really count, so I wanted to ask . . . Do you want to be my girlfriend?" I blushed as I smiled at the ground because I'd been hoping it'd all lead to this.
"Yes," I told him once I was able to look up and the answering smile in his eyes only reaffirmed my decision.
"I'll text you after I get done with football practice," Matt told me as we stood near the exit doors.
"Sounds good," I replied with a laid back tone while the inside of me was completely thrilled with the idea. Matt spotted his parent's car through the glass window of the door and quickly pecked me on the cheek before booking it outside. Taylor and Sadie squealed like little girls as we made our way toward the locker room to change for practice.
"He likes you and you like him. You'll be like a power couple. You two are the most popular people in our grade obviously," Taylor gushed as we put on spandex and t-shirts.
"I guess we are the power couple," I said as casually as possible. It took a moment for the rest of my best friends to put two and two together before we were all jumping up and down and laughing and being girls.
"You don't look too traumatized after your first day of school," Dad noted as I got into the truck. My phone was already being flooded with text messages from my friends and most importantly, the first message from Matt just popped up, but I wasn't about to touch that subject with my dad until mom was around.
"I think I'm traumatized enough to need some comfort food . . . like pizza?" I hinted and he kind of chuckled at me as he was already making the turn for my favorite pizza joint.
"You're mom already called and told me the same thing. I picked up this flyer at the sports store when we got the new water bottles. I forgot to show it to you," He tapped on the middle console and I opened it to retrieve the piece of paper.
"Club volleyball in Portland? You think I'm good enough for a competitive team?" I read through the flyer that was advertising try outs days in November when most school volleyball seasons would be finished. Dad gave me a "duh" look as he parked the truck and I hopped out with him to get our order. This day could not possibly get any better I decided. Dad and I didn't talk on the way home as I texted and he drove, but it was a peaceful silence that I treasured, and I was happy it never made things feel awkward between us.
"She's home!" My mom called and I ran in to tell her about the club volleyball and dad set the pizza down. Over dinner, I told them all about my day, leaving out most of the parts about Matt, except when I slipped up about asking to go to his football game this Saturday at ten a.m. Mom's gaze shot to dad's and I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"Matthew Anderson? The boy you went to elementary school with?" Mom asked with an unbiased tone and I nodded as dad very intently studied the table cloth.
"Is he your boyfriend?" Dad was direct, but he got the job done.
"Yes," I squeaked like one of the cartoons, the words barely leaving my lips as I braced for the worst.
"You're excused Noel," Mom said as she and dad went into a stare off across the table. I didn't question either of them as I grabbed my stuff and ran up the stairs to my room. I flopped down on my bed and whipped out my phone. If I didn't worry too much, then the worst wouldn't happen, that was sound logic in my head.
Did you two kiss? -Andrea
He kissed me on the cheek. -Reply
Apparently we were making out at lunch, wish that rumor were true ;) –Matt
I heard we already broke up. I'm glad that rumor isn't true. –Reply
First couple of the grade! I think you should get an award! –Taylor
Because that'd be such a great honor. –Reply
I heard a knock on the door, "Come in!" Dad's head poked in as did the rest of him, carrying my favorite Rocky Road ice cream, and he came to sit at the foot of my bed as I immediately dug into my treat.
"I'm not mad, because you seemed so concerned," He said after a while.
"I figured if I had to, I'd melt your anger with a smile," I shrugged and he chuckled because he knew as well as I did how susceptible he could be to my adorable charm.
"There are some ground rules that mom and I agreed on and if you follow them, I guess I can tolerate you . . . dating," I could see the internal shutter at the word, "One, he needs to come to dinner on Friday night before any of this gets too serious. Two, if you're going somewhere without parent supervision, you need to be with a group of friends, at least four others. Three, if it's just going to be you two, you need to be here. These rules are non-negotiable until you're in high school, is that clear?" I thought through each rule thoroughly and decided they were more than fair.
"It's clear daddy, thank you," I stood up when he did and gave him a tight hug.
"Go thank your mom too. I thought it'd be a better idea to just stick you in a bubble," I laughed as I pulled away and walked toward my door.
"I love you daddy,"
"I love you too Princess,"
AN: This chapter was more or less in honor of Father's Day. I promise the next chapter is where the action will begin. R&R would be much appreciated.
