2: The Watch

Thanks to Keevan... Her opinion on the watch in the last chapter gave me a GREAT idea. :)

2: The Watch

      "So your name is Noah Constance?" Xavier asked with a smile. "My name is Xavier Whithrung. Nice to meet you."
      He held out his hand warmly.
      "N-nice to meet you, too," Noah replied, hesitantly putting her hand into Xavier's. He gripped her hand tightly and shook it. Noah's face was rose-red as she wiped her face with her long sleeve again (it appeared to be a habit of her's) and pulled her other hand away from Xavier shyly.
      "Want to sit with me and my friends at lunch, Noah?" Xavier asked. "Or do you want to stay with your other friends?"
      "I-it's fine, I'll sit with you, if that's alright..." Noah said, smiling a tiny smile.
      "Cool," Xavier said. There was silence between them for what seemed to be an eternity. They were both relieved when the homeroom bell rang; they both let out a sigh.
      "Bye, Noah. See you at lunch," Xavier said quickly, walking away.
      "B-bye, Xavier," Noah said quietly, still standing by her locker. As Xavier went down the hallway, he glanced back and saw Noah wasn't heading to her class. She just stood there, her head against the locker and her arms to her sides.
      Doesn't she have a class to get to?


      Noah watched Xavier go to his classroom. After he disappeared into Mrs. Jean's room, she turned her head to face the ceiling. She felt the cold, hard locker on the back of her scalp.
      I gave him the watch. I shouldn't have given him it. I should have taken it, Noah thought regretfully. She let herself slide down the surface of the locker and land on the tile floor. Noah sat and took her glasses off. A hot, salty tear slid down her cheek.
      He's going to never find out if I somehow take it back, right?
      She wiped her eyes and put her specs back on, then ran her fingers through her short red hair. Noah stood up and headed to homeroom.


      "Where's the girl you've been telling us about, Xavier?" Rosie said, kicking her short legs at the rungs of the table and sticking a fork with a piece of shortcake in her mouth. Jason nodded.
      "Yeah," said Awa and Satou simultaneously, both putting down their rice balls.
      Jeremy was too consumed in a gossip magazine to care about what was happening. Xavier took a drink of his Gatorade and smiled.
      "She'll be here soon," he said.
      Immediately, a small and frail-looking redhead with thin-rimmed glasses sat down with a tray next to Xavier.
      "H-hello..." she said shyly. Xavier glanced at her and turned to everyone.
      "Ah," he said. "Everyone, this is Noah Constance."
      Awa and Satou held out their hands at the same time, saying,
      "Very nice to meet you, Noah-san!"
      Noah blushed and shook both of their hands. Rosie smiled cutely, twirling her curly blonde hair around her finger.
      "We've heard lots about you, Noah," she said.
      "Yeah," added Jason. Jeremy looked up from his magazine with a half-sneer, half-confused look.
      "Is this a dude or a chick?" he said sourly. The twins smacked him.
      "She's obviously a girl, stupid! She's wearing a skirt!" they said.
      "Hey," Jeremy said with a smirk. "It could be a trans-whatever or something."
      "It is a she, Jeremy," Xavier retorted. "Her name is Noah."
     
      After a while of conversation between everyone, Noah's fork dropped to the ground. She turned to Xavier, blushing. He leaned down to grab it for her.
      Noah was nervously glancing from him to his pocket, where the pocket watch's silver chain hung. As his head went under the table, she reached her hand to his pocket. She got a grip on the chain and slid it out of his pocket.
      The pocket watch was safely back into her skirt pocket; she let out a sigh of relief. Xavier came back up, holding the fork. He set it on her tray and they continued talking until the end-of-lunch bell rang.

    
      I'm glad I got it back... Why did I let him keep it in the first place? Noah thought as she stuffed books in her backpack. A river of students flooded through the hallway, pushing Noah into her locker. Her head smacked the hard coat hooks. Tears flooded her eyes but she didn't make a noise. She just zipped her backpack closed and glanced at the watch. It was ticking fast, no surprise there. Noah was luckily the only one who knew why it ticked fast, and she wasn't about to tell anyone.
      If Xavier saw the inscription on the back... My life would be over.
      Noah read the words scratched in the inside of the watch. They were written by her.

Xavier Whithrung... I wish you knew.
Xavier Whithrung... My heart goes to you.
I've loved and I've lost,
I'd die at the cost.
Anything if you'd love me, too.

     
     

     

     

Author's Note

Please point out any mistakes, spelling errors, and grammatical errors. I'd like to hear any suggestions or opinions, give me your complete honesty.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY! I don't want to be slammed or flamed by someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, please. <3
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ;D

Reviews

[dearly beloved]

I don't think you need to put 'it appeared to be a habit of hers' in parenthesis, but that's your choice. I don't see anything wrong with this, but yeh, longer chapters would be quite nice. Story's coming along great so far! Keep it up!

[Taylor H.]

This thought confused me "He's going to never find out if I somehow take it back, right?"

Why did they make a joke about her being a dude? Does she look like one?

Wouldnt he have felt the watch coming out of his pocket? Wouldnt the others have seen her taking it? (Just adding my opinion)

Im really interested in this story, I loved the ending of the chapters. Really hooked me.

I just think you need to do more showing and less telling and maybe make your chapters longer :) good luck

[Jonah]

oooooh! Poetry inside the watch! I would've died if Xavier read it!

[Corvus]

It's getting better. As I said, detail is the key, but I like the way you use high school vocabulary for this. The Japanese twins really speak-well, in a Japanese style, and the jocks use the typical slang. I like it. You're doing very well.

[Kira]

The first line...eh. If you put it and the last chapter together, she says her name and then he repeats it. It just doesn't seem like normal speech.

Ah, the 'he doesn't know she exists' plot.

Wonder why it ticks fast...does it tie into Noah's backstory?

[Daydreamer54]

he wiped her face- you mean she. That's only it. This was a nice second chapter. I liked the little poem at the end, i thought it was cute!

[Keevan]

Hm. I immedieatly thought of the host club during that part at the lunch table. And with the shortcake lol. But I'm liking this book. Please continue.