|| NOAH ||

"I hate you guys. He probably thought I was a weirdo," I said as  my head hung low while maintaining eyes on the road. I felt myself cringe. I envisioned myself in his perspective: me running to get into my car to hide after stomping my foot like an enraged toddler. "Ugh..." I groaned.

"Aww, Noah's all pouty," Kate pinched my cheeks as if I'm some child.

"Please don't distract the driver," as I said and sent a glare at her through the front mirror. She grins at me and stuck her tongue out cheekily. "See that brick wall over there?" I mentioned as we neared a structural building with a solid looking barrier. Immediately my friends look at it. "Yeah, why?" Kate asked curiously.

"Looks like a good place to crash on if you don't shut up," I said in a serious tone. I tried to hide a grin that almost formed after making such a sarcastic remark.

"Okay Kate, stop pissing him off. I don't wanna die," Felix spoke with a tone of nervousness. Kate buckled up with her seatbelt and zipped up a line across her mouth. Right now, we all decided drive around, eat somewhere, and have a chat. I would sometimes treat them to go to places and pay for food or go out to movies after school on Fridays. I really enjoy spending time my friends. Though I don't really worry much about the amount of my currency being used since my family has an abundance of money. I 'do' trust my friends a lot. The first time I told them that we could all go to a burger restaurant and said that I would pay for everyone's food, they didn't want to accept my offer because they felt bad about it. Sometimes they would still feel guilty now and then. That's when I thought that they weren't those types of people that would leech off of someone, but I wouldn't say the same if I remained in my past school. "So where at, the mall?" I asked them.

"Sure! I actually wanna go shopping for a bit," James spoke from the back seat.

"I wanna come with..." Kate added in. She leaned forward to get closer to Annabel who is sat in the passenger spot, "you wanna join us?" Kate asked Annabel.

"No thanks, you guys can go," Annabel politely declined.

After a few minutes, we finally arrived at the mall. I parked my car at the bottom level of this place and pressed the lock button after everyone exited. This mall is pretty big, it has many retail stores, a food court, and some fancy restaurants. The others were starting to plan on which place to eat, but this time, I decided to pick out which place without telling them where exactly yet. "Oh okay," they all said and went along with it without defying. We found an elevator and ascended to the very top floor of the mall. Felix and Kate just kept silent for the entire ride, but Annabel and James looked skeptical. "Wait, I've been there only a few times and from what I remember, the top floor is where all the luxurious areas are..." Annabel pondered.

James looked evenly mortified at the sudden realization, he turned to me with a horrified face, "Wait, Annabel's right, I've been here a few times as well and they're freaking expensive!" He exclaimed.

Kate and Felix looked at each other with discomfort and fixated their eyes on me next, "Noah, don't tell me..." they sounded worried.

"Why not? Do you guys not want to try it?" I said.

"Well... the way how Annabel and James portrayed the top level, we're just worried about the pricing," Felix said.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for it," I passed it off as if it was nothing.

"That's the thing you dummy!" Kate threw her hands in the air, "you're spending your money again just for us!" They all seemed so troubled about the fact that I just want to have fun with them.

It's quite understandable. I can't really say that I can relate to them when it comes to prices or money. I do come from a wealthy family and they consider themselves to be average. But I know that I won't just impulsively spend too much money. I've accumulated a lot of cash the past few days so I can spend my time with my best friends and treat them. I don't simply earn by allowance by doing nothing, I actually do housework and help my parents run the business. It may be a bit too much for a teenager to do something like that, but that's why they prepared me for it since I was young. "It's okay guys, for real..." I started, "I know you're scared, but trust me, let's just at least enjoy this once," I said to them. They all still looked unsure. It took a while of persuasion before they finally gave in. "You genuinely terrify us sometimes dude..." Felix sighed. The others nodded.

We finally reached the upper floor and the doors slide open for us. The floor is slightly smaller compared to the lower stories. The kinds of shops here are mostly designers, which confirms that they are pricy, and the cuisine served here is as well. Although, not everyone who goes here looks like snobby rich people, which I hope helps provide comfortability for my friends so they won't feel out of place. Since we're on the top floor, the place is opened roof as well, except when you go into the shops and restaurants of course. The edge is fenced with a thick, and about five-foot glass fence which looks intimidating, but it should be strong enough to withstand the weight when somebody leans on it. It is only four o' clock, but the sky has a shade of pink. "Wow..." Kate uttered, amused by the sight.

"Not gonna lie, it is pretty up here," Felix spoke.

"It's a shame Ethan couldn't come..." James said sadly.

"Where is he by the way?" I asked him.

"He had a few assignments he wanted to work on. Plus, his cousin Zack can bring him home anyways," Annabel replied.

I nodded, "alright guys, which place do you guys wanna eat at?" I said with a huge grin as I looked around the various restaurants here.