Break the Distance

Chapter 11

Monday, 22nd of August 2016

Wellington, Canada

Richelle Smith

I walk into my dad's bedroom to see how he's doing, but he isn't there. "Dad?" I yell through the house but there's no response. I shrug and walk downstairs. In the kitchen I find a note.

'Went a little earlier to work, dad' it says. I sigh, another lonely morning...

I go back upstairs to take a quick shower. When I look in the mirror to do my hair I startle. My face is a mess. To be honest I kind of forgot about my jaw and now it's all blue and purple and it looks horrible. I try to cover it up with foundation, but flinch every time I touch it.

After some time I finally succeeded to cover it fully up and I'm kind of proud of how it turned out. Back down I just grab a granola bar and check social media.

"Oh my gosh," I say out loud when I read the announcement and let out a little squeak. They just announced that The Next Step will go on tour again and that they'll give a show in Auckland.

I have to go.

I'm not a big fan of The Next Step, honestly I only watch the dances with Noah in it, but since he's going to perform with them I have to go.

Then reality hits me. Auckland, I'll have to take a plan to go there, then buy one of those crazy expensive tickets, and I'm not going there without meeting him so I have to buy a meet and greet ticket too.

I'll never have enough money in the next 5 years. I'm pretty sure Dan and his clan are never going to have that much homework.

I'm hopeless.

How am I ever going to get the money?! I'm starting to panic as a notification pops up. ‘Noah Williams: ...' it says. I seriously stop breathing. My eyes widen and I squeeze in my arm to make sure I'm not dreaming.

That's the second time in 2 days. He really has to stop or I'll never get over him. 'There's nothing in this world we can't fix with some scissors and glue,' I read.

I love the song where this quote is coming from! What am I saying, I love the artist, I can't believe he actually knows the song.

I almost can't type because my hands are so shaky, from excitement. 'I love that song!' I send back.

'You know Sleeping At Last?' he sends a few seconds later. 'Yea,' I type, 'the other quote was from his song Touch.'

I can't believe it, I'm actually having a conversation with him. I'm pretty sure I'll wake up in a few seconds and realize that it was all a dream. Literally one of the best moments in a very long time. It gives me such a warm, comfortable feeling, I feel what I say for once matters. He's probably just being nice, but still.

I refresh the page a few times but he doesn't react, yea he was just being nice.

I start packing by bag for school when I hear the doorbell. With Dan's biology assignment in my hand I walk to the door.

"Good morning," I say when I open the door and see Dan. "Good morning," he says. I hand him the assignment and he takes a quick look at it.

"Looks good," he says and hands me 10 bucks. "Thanks," I say. I have to ask him, I don't want to ask him but I have to know. I need money. I need to meet Noah.

"Do you eh have any upcoming assignments?" I ask him. "Why?" he asks a little confused, "do you need money?" "No," I say quick, "I just eh I just want to be prepared." He nods slowly. I see it in his eyes, he's not believing me.

The thing is, when I need more money they just take advantage of me and give less for the assignments, so I don't want him to know I need money. "Because if you need money I've something else you can do," he say casually like he believed me lie, but you can just hear in his voice that he knows that I lied. This time I'm confused.

"What?" I ask. "I've a family dinner Saturday," he explains, "my family expects me to have a girlfriend."

Did I already tell that he's pretty rich? His parents expect him to get straight A's. "Why?" I ask. "Well," he starts and nervously folds the corner of the assignment. I hate it so much when people do that, call me a perfectionist and you're not lying. I even put it in a folder for him, but he doesn't seem to bother.

"In a few months we graduate, and my family kind of expects me to know what I'm going to do with my life by then," he explains, "also including having a girlfriend, but I don't have one."

I hesitate. "How much?" I ask him. "20 bucks," he says. "Deal," I say right away and he smiles relieved. "Saturday evening at 6, I'll pick you up," he says before turning around and walking away and I close the door.

What have I ever agreed on?!

I'm still somewhere lost in my thoughts as I hear the doorbell again. "You're fast!" Katie says when I open the door right away. "Oh yea I was standing in the hallway," I reply. "Ready for school?" she asks. "Always," I say smiling sarcastically and we both laugh.

I walk back into the living room to put my jacket and shoes on. School isn't that far so everyday Katie and I walk to school. It's a great time to catch up on everything since our schedules are completely different. The only classes we've together are English and PE.

The morning is long and boring. I only have math and science, but feels like the time crawls. That, and my thought keep drifting off to other things, mainly Noah. What would he be doing right now? I just want that the 'conversation' I had with him this morning would've last forever. I know he was just being nice. Nothing more than that, but I wish that he wasn't just being nice.

I feel my phone buzz in my pocket, when you talk about the devil... Without even thinking what I'm doing I grab my phone out and see the message that lights up on my screen. Noah Williams: I love that song! Why haven't I heard it before?' I instantly smile as I read it. " Richelle Smith," my teacher says then standing in front of my table with his arms crossed, "what are you doing?" Crap, did I really just do that? I was so far in my thoughts that I wasn't thinking about the fact that I'm in school and teachers don't allow phones in their classes.

"Sorry," I say putting my phone away while I feel I'm getting red.

"No," my teacher says then and shakes his head. I look confused when he holds his hand up. "Give your phone," he says. "What? No!" I say. "Do you want detention?" he asks. "No," I say. "Then give me your phone," he says, "phones aren't allowed in my classes and you aren't an exception." "Can't I just get a warning?" I ask.

"No," he says clearly. I sigh, roll my eyes and give him my phone. "You can get it back Friday afternoon," he says. "What?!" I say, "are you serious?!" "Yes," he says and locks my phone up in his desk.

Great.