|| NOAH ||

With tired eyes, I groggily wrote down my answers on my advanced mathematics packet. After finishing up the last equation, I slumped down on my folded arms and heaved a sigh. Yesterday's work had exhausted me. All the paperwork was tedious. I felt a hand placed on my shoulder, "you okay?" Annabel's voice rung. I raised my head up to see her pretty face with her glimmering eyes looking at me worriedly. "I am, just... really low on energy is all," I yawned.

"Work?" She said softly. I gave her a nod with a pout. She pats my head and giggles. "What did you do this time?" She asked.

"I helped my dad organize some papers, attend a few meetings with him, garden work..." I gently rubbed my eyes.

"Don't overexert yourself," said Annabel. I looked at her with a warm smile. She always had this motherly vibe. It was found comforting how she always cares for me. I thought of what it would be like to be hetero, I would have fallen for her by now, instead, that's not the case. I like guys. I like... him? "Ughh!" I groaned and concealed my ever so red cheeks.

"What's wrong?" Annabel looked at me with a troubled expression.

"I-it's nothing," I turned away from her so she couldn't see how flustered I was. She falls silent for a moment. I then heard shuffling and saw her taking a few steps and stood directly in front of me. She knelt down, folded her arms on my desk, and looked at me, "You can tell me anything," she said. I stared at her crystal-like eyes and frowned. With slight hesitation, I started, "I was just..." I said and glanced somewhere else in the room, "I was just thinking of Brad," I admitted.

She nods, "do you like him?" She asks.

"I... y-yes... but," I folded my hands.

"But?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know if I want to like him. I don't know what I want," I sounded so conflicted.

"Why is that?" She tilted her head.

"I... I don't know myself. I think I'm scared?"

"At what?"

"Lots of things, what will my parents think? Will having a 'romantic' relationship drastically change and affect my way of life? I'm scared that someone in school will beat me up and call me disgusting? Should I even have a significant other in my high school period?" I held my stomach as I felt my anxiety growing. Annabel, though with an expression that she knows how it felt because of what happened to her before, placed her tender hands on my cheeks and gently turned my head to look at her, "Noah," she started, "don't be afraid. Your parents love you, you should know that. I've seen your parents and they're one of the kindest people I have met. People date all the time, and we've stayed in this high school to know that most of the kids keep their opinions to themselves or don't really care as much if you date the same gender, especially Brad. No one wants to mess with him," she said. I remained silent and closed my eyes. Assessing outcomes, thinking of possibilities, and such. The bell rang and I opened my eyes to see here picking up her stuff. "Hey, Annabel?" I said to her.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Why did you two... stop dating?" I asked, knowing that it must be a touchy subject. She frowned for a moment which turned into a kind look. "It's... personal..." she drifted off at the end and changed the subject, "think about it, you don't go to your old high school anymore. Here, you are free with many friends," she said before leaving the room. My body relaxed as I pondered for a few seconds. It's true though...

-

History. Mr. Masson's handing us our worksheets. I received it later on. My eyes glanced over to my left and looked at Brad. He notices me looking at it. For a while he made no motion, then he winked with a huge grin. I felt my body tingle. "Don't distract me," I mouthed the words and eyed my worksheet to redirect my attention away from him. I heard him chuckle. Gosh.

A few minutes have passed by. I finished all of the answers with ease but went back to make sure I have all the questions correctly answered. After being satisfied, I laid my worksheet on my desk and. I looked over to Brad to seem him struggling. He appears distressed and would occasionally run his hand through his hair. It was somewhat amusing and painful to see. He better not have forgotten every bit of information I thought to him last Saturday!

Ten minutes later. He's done. With his body looking a little looser and with a face of relief, he looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a thumbs up. He looks unsure as raises his hand at chest level and puts up a signal with his hand meaning that he's unconfident. I rolled my eyes at him and just leaned on my arm with my elbow on the desk. Pulling out a book from my bag, I opened it up and started reading and tried to block out every noise. Reading; one of my favorite hobbies, and time passers. Lots of other students started finishing up and the noise from other students grew louder. "Psst," I hear someone sound out. Almost not noticing and ignored it, thinking it was someone just trying to get someone else's attention. "Psst!" I hear it again. I looked around to see who it was. Turns out I was supposed to be the receiver while Brad was the sender. He looks at me with a gleeful grin. "What?" I mouthed the words. He raises up a piece of paper with literal chicken scratch. Even with my eyes squinted, I couldn't even distinguish the difference between his handwriting to Chinese characters. "I can't read it," I said loud enough for him to hear. He pouts and sighs. Brad looks at the teacher who is in the back of the class helping the remaining students with their questions. Then he sneakily makes his way to my chair and kneels down. "We have a football game this Friday, you wanna come?" He said.