The First Boy

The first day of school flew by faster than I expected. All my classes went by fast and my teachers already laid on the homework. I was expecting homework, but not as much as I got. During lunch, instead of hanging out with Cassie and Stella, I went to the library to do homework. I dodged Noah as much as possible, and Lina was nice to me all day so that means she didn’t know Noah took me to school this morning.

I am on my way to the girl’s locker room to change into my cheer practice uniform, when I see Noah and Lina by his locker. Her face is inching closer and closer to his. He keeps on trying to move further away but he has no more room to go. His head hits the locker and she took her arm and drapes it around his strong neck. She pulls him close so their lips can touch, and she kisses him nice and slow. I quickly turn down another hallway, so I don’t have to see the Noah and Lina make out session.

It’s the first time in a long time that I feel my heart break. I know I have no right to be sad after the way I acted today. I pushed Noah away all day and made him think I did not like him. My heart is hurting, and I have no one to blame but myself. I got my hopes up for nothing. I knew I never had a chance with Noah, and I should’ve never let my guard down. Noah and Lina will always be together. Always.

I peak my head down the hallway to see if the coast is clear. Noah and Lina are nowhere in sight and I quickly run to the locker room to get changed. Practice starts at 2:15PM on the dot every day after school, and 7AM if we have a Saturday practice. Lina and Stella believe that if you are a second late to practice, you have to run the whole practice. No exceptions.

I quickly take off my dress and put on my cheer shorts and cheer sports bra. I barely put my sneakers on the correct feet, I throw my stuff in an unlocked locker, and run straight towards the football field where we practice. I know I should put my sneakers on the right way, but I am already running late. As I’m spiriting towards the squad, they are getting in their cheer formation. Stella is going to strangle me if I’m late for the first season practice.

I started to feel my right sneaker slip off my foot as I am trying to push it back on. I trip over a small rock and my right ankle smashes straight to the floor. It takes all the strength in me not to cry. I extend foot to see my ankle swell up and turn a light purple. I can’t even lift up my head because I’m so embarrassed to see who saw me trip over a small rock. I knew I should’ve taken my time to put my sneakers on.

“Isabelle!” I hear Cassie scream.r

Cassie and Stella are running over towards me with worried eyes. I feel the tears fill my eyes and I can’t help but to let them flow. Cassie examines my ankle and I wince in pain. From the look on her face, I know it’s not looking too good, but she doesn’t want to worry me. Stella is speechless which worries me even more because she always has something to say.

“Belly, can you stand up?” Stella asks, even though she knows the answer.

“Okay,” Cassie calmly says, “we need to get you to a medical center. You definitely twisted your ankle I’m just not sure how bad it is.”

After we graduate high school, Cassie is going to college to become a registered nurse. She has always been the one to go to if you weren’t feeling well or had a medical concern. She was like my family doctor except she wasn’t a doctor, or a nurse. I still trusted her with all my heart and knew that she was going to be a great nurse one day.

I keep on shedding tears like a snake shedding skin. Not only is my ankle in the worst pain I have ever felt, I have to go to a doctor. I hate the doctors. I hate anything to do with medicine, like I am a little kid. That’s why I had Cassie. I am also so embarrassed that I am making such a scene out of nothing. The football players get sprained ankles all the time. Why can’t I be more like them.

“I’m not going to a doctor Cassie,” I say as the tears still stream down my face. At least I haven’t wailed yet.

“You have to go see someone. Your ankle is more like a fat grandma’s ankle.” Cassie says and it makes Stella and I laugh a little.

“She’s right Belly, Cassie can’t diagnose you on this. It could be better or worse than we think.” Stella says with her worried eyes.

I hate her worried eyes.

Stella and Cassie take my arms and put them around both of their shoulder’s. I take my left foot and try to put all my weight on it. I accidentally put too much weight on my right foot and wince in pain again. The tears are coming down like water works now. My ankle really hurts, and I never suffered from an injury like this before.

“Isabelle!” I hear Noah calling from the opposite side of the field.

I look up and I see Noah in his football uniform running towards us. The whole football team is looking at me and I could tell they feel bad, but they don’t know what to do. When JP sees us, he comes running right behind Noah. As Noah approaches us, Stella moves to the side and Noah scoops me up in his arms like I am light as a feather. Compared to the other girls on the squad, I am the one with a fuller body. My hips are bigger than average, and I sure weigh more than most of the girls on the squad.

“I’ll take her to the ER.” He says to Stella and Cassie with me in his arms.

If I could’ve, I would have jumped out of his arms and run away because Lina is looking right at us with dagger eyes. I can tell Lina wants to run over and see what is going on. If she wasn’t the cheer captain, I know she would’ve. I am in serious trouble.

“Noah,” I say trying not to choke on my words, “I can take myself. You guys have cheer and football.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Noah says laughing along with my friends. “You can barely even walk, you can’t drive a car, Isabelle.”

“I’ll call my brother. If you can just walk me to the parking lot, I’ll be fine,” I say trying to grab my phone, but it’s in the locker room.

“Isabelle,” Noah says looking me in the eyes, his beautiful caramel specks. “I want to help you, please let me help you.”

I look into his eyes and try to see if he is lying. His eyes look honest, concerned. I can tell he truly does want to help me, and I need to stop being so stubborn and just accept his help. What am I so afraid of? Is it because I’m scared of Lina, I’m scared of getting hurt? I am not sure, but I need to stop.

“Okay,” I say breathlessly.

“Okay,” he says with a smile on his face. I smile back at him, and I feel Lina glaring even though I’m not looking at her.

Cassie and Stella tell me they will meet me at my house after practice, and to make sure I tell them when I get home. Noah is carrying me to the senior parking lot like it is no big deal and he has done this before. I’m not sure he has, but it’s definitely impressive. We make a little small talk before he plops me in his front seat. He runs inside to grab my backpack and clothes for me.

I elevate my leg on the dashboard and realize how bad it looks now. It is bigger than before and starting to bruise all around the ankle. I’m not a doctor but Cassie was right, this one is bad. Noah climbs in the driver’s seat and turns on the car. He looks at my ankle and his eyes pop open. I let out a small laugh because if I don’t, I think I’ll cry.

“If it makes you feel better, I have seen worse,” Noah says pulling out of the school parking lot onto Main Street. We should be at the medical center in 10 minutes tops.

“Oh yeah, definitely feel much better,” I say in a sarcastic tone.

He smiles bright “how did this even happen?”

“You didn’t see?” I question him. That means others didn’t see the stupid reason why I fell.

“Nope, but now you got to tell me because I feel like it’s a great story,” he says with one arm on the steering wheel and the other on the arm rest. His hand is so close to mine that I wish I could just hold it.

“Why did you practically beg Stell and Cass to take me to a medical center and miss practice? Did you not want to practice that badly?” I say.

“Belle, since I can’t call you Belly, have you ever thought that I may like you more than a friend?” I smile as he says my new nick name.

The scary part about this is that I think he has some truth in that statement. I look in his eyes where I get all my answers to my questions. Noah’s eyes hold so many truths and I trust him. He is always a straight shooter, never wants to hurt you, and he never will. I know he won’t even though he did when he kissed Lina.

“Oh bull,” I say looking out the dashboard window.

HE WAS JUST MAKING OUT WITH LENA.

“Excuse me?” He says genuinely confused.
“You’re really going to sit here and tell me you like me when I saw you hooking up with Lina right after school.” I say pointing to my ankle “This is practically your fault.”

Noah still has a look of confusion on his face, and the words register: Lina. Hook up. Your fault.

Although, I would love to blame Noah for this injury, it is my fault. I was a wuss and couldn’t walk passed them to go to the locker room, I decided not to put my shoes on, and I was the one who tripped on a freaking rock.

Idiot.

“You saw that huh,” he says not looking at me. I can’t see his eyes, not a good sign.

“Oh yes I did,” I say not looking at him either. I don’t want him to see how hurt I am by this.

“Well, if you stuck around for the show, you would’ve seen me push Lina off me and hear me tell her that it’s over for good,” he says inching his hand closer to me.

It could be all the emotions I am feeling, but I think Noah wants me to hold his hand. He wants the reassurance that I like him. He wants to know that I feel something for him so this all wouldn’t be a waste of time. If he only knows how much I truly did love him, he would never need reassurance.

We pull in the medical center parking lot. Noah turns off the car and takes the keys out of the engine. He looks at me with confusion. Neither him or I know our next move. He just got out of a serious on and off almost four-year relationship. I have never even held a boy’s attention long enough to go on a date. We could never be together, especially not right now. ESPECIALLY after Lina just got rejected from Noah.

“I knew I always had some sort of feelings for you Belle, I just think its fate for us,” he says opening his car door. He walks around and opens the passenger door for me. I look at him and smile my happies of smiles.

Noah takes my foot off the dashboard and slowly places it on the side of his car. He bends down and his face inches closer to my lips. He starts to close his eyes, and I close mine. His beautiful big lips press against mine. We start to find our rhythm and he’s kissing me like he means it. I put my hand on his neck and pull him closer to me. He takes his hands and puts his strong fingers and intertwines them in my hair.

After a couple of minutes, he slowly pulls away and look at one another. His warm and beautiful smile makes my smile beam. My face is flushed and if my ankle was purple, I wouldn’t even know I was in pain.

The first kiss with the first boy I ever liked.