Invisible To Her Bully (Jessa and Noah) novel Chapter 272

Chapter 272

Noah

My phone buzzed on my desk while I was halfway through pretending to do homework.

I stared at the page in front of me for a second before picking it up.

Jackson.

That alone was weird.

Jackson almost never called unless something was wrong.

We usually just texted or saw each other at school.

I answered.

“Did you forget where my house is?” I said. “You know you can just come over.”

Jackson didn’t laugh.

That was the second weird thing.

“Noah,” he said. “Have you noticed your girlfriend acting weird this week?”

I leaned back in my chair.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “First of all… you never say my girlfriend. You say Jessa. What’s going on?”

“Just answer the question.”

I frowned slightly.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I noticed.”

Jackson was quiet for a second.

Then he exhaled.

“So I’m not imagining it.”

“No,” I said. “You’re not.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, thinking about the last few days.

Ice cream.

Her zoning out at lunch.

The way she kept almost saying something and then stopping.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Jackson was quiet again.

A long enough pause that my stomach tightened a little.

“Jackson.”

“I’m not the one who should tell you anything.”

That made my eyebrows pull together.

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“What does that mean?”

“It means,” he said carefully, “you really need to talk to her.”

I sat up a little straighter.

“Talk to her about what?”

Another pause.

Then Jackson said something that didn’t help at all.

“Just… talk to her.”

“Dude,” I said, “that’s not helpful.”

“I know.”

“Did something happen?”

“No.”

“Then why are you calling me like this?”

Jackson exhaled again, like he was trying to figure out how much he was allowed to say.

“I’m just saying she’s got a lot on her mind.”

“I already know that.”

“Okay.”

“So what aren’t you telling me?”

“I’m not not telling you anything.”

“That sentence made zero sense.”

Jackson ignored that.

“Look,” he said. “You and Jess are good, right?”

Now my stomach actually dropped.

“What?”

“I’m asking.”

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “We’re good.”

Another pause.

Then Jackson said something that made my brain immediately go into overdrive.

“Good.”

That was it.

Just that.

Good.

I stared at the wall across my room.

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Chapter 272

“Jackson.”

“What.”

“You’re being weird.”

“Runs in the family.”

“Seriously.”

He sighed.

“I’m not trying to start anything, man.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Just telling you to talk to her.”

I leaned back in my chair again.

“You know she won’t tell me anything until she’s ready.”

“I know.”

“I already tried.”

“When?”

“I took her out for ice cream a few nights ago.”

Jackson snorted slightly.

“You two are ninety.”

“Shut up.”

“Fair.”

“But yeah,” I continued. “She almost said something.”

“Almost?”

“Like three times.”

“And?”

“And then she backed out.”

Jackson didn’t say anything for a moment.

Then he said quietly, “That sounds like Jess.”

“Exactly.”

Silence settled between us.

Then Jackson cleared his throat.

“Well… just talk to her.”

“I will.”

“And Noah?”

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Chapter 272

“Yeah?”

“Don’t overthink it.”

That was suspicious.

“Why would I overthink it?”

“Because that’s what you do.”

“Since when?”

“Since you started dating my sister.”

I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see it.

“Okay, that’s fair.”

We were quiet again.

Then Jackson said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

The call ended.

I set my phone down on the desk slowly.

And immediately my brain did the exact thing Jackson told me not to do.

Overthink.

Because something about that conversation didn’t sit right.

Jackson had definitely known something.

He just wasn’t saying it.

Which meant one thing.

Whatever was going on with Jess…

It was big enough that he felt like I should know.

But not his place to tell me.

And that’s when the thought hit me.