|| NOAH ||

"Thanks for dropping me off at my house as always Noah," Annabel appreciated with a smile as she exited my car.

"See you tomorrow," I said to her as I watched her walk up to the front door of her residence. She waved goodbye and knocks on her door. Observing as her mother unlocked and let her in, she notices me still parked in front of their lawn next to the sidewalk and waved hello. I returned the gesture back at her with a grin before driving off again to go back home.

-

Pulling up to our private lot in silence, I made it to my family's driveway, and rested my car before turning it off. Getting out and making sure I have it locked, I walked towards my massive house and rang the doorbell. Its rhythmic sound echo inside the halls and rooms of the building. After a few moments of waiting outside fiddling with my sweater, my housekeeper, Danny, opened the door for me, "welcome back Noah," he greeted.

Giving him a joking smile and nodded, "thank you, Danny," I replied and entered the house. Without even asking, he already has his hands out ready to take my school bag. "Oh, there's no need, I can bring it to my room myself," I kindly said to him.

"Are you sure?" Danny asked for reassurance.

"Yes."

He nods understandably and goes back to sweeping the floors of this house. Is it appropriate to be calling it a regular house? Would referring to it as a personal modern manor be more appropriate since this structure is very huge? My parents are very wealthy people, for they own many businesses and companies around America which provide us lots of income. I walked into the living room and found both of my them watching the news in their love seat for two. "Hi Mom, hi Dad," I said, grabbing both of their attentions.

"Hey buddy," my Dad said as he got up from his seat and gave me a hug and a pat on the back.

"How was school today?" My mother questioned, her head faced towards me.

"It was pretty decent, nothing eventful," I replied, both nodded.

"Remember to do your homework if you have any, Okay?" My Dad reminded me.

"Yeah dad, I'll be doing so right now," I said and started walking to the direction of where the staircase is.

"If you're hungry, chef Mowery cooked us some food and it's waiting inside the fridge, okay?" My mother announced loud enough for me to hear when I was already halfway up the stairs. I showed them a thumbs up before completely disappearing to the second floor of this place. Walking through the silent halls, the sound of my footsteps colliding with the white marble floors. As I finally reached my room and opened the entryway. Thanks to Danny for keeping the entire house clean, my room is always spotless and refreshing to look at after coming home from school. I placed my bag next to my bed and sat down at the edge. Taking small controlled breaths, slowly laying down onto my comfy bed. Handling all the meetings in school, taking advanced classes and additional work, it really drains my energy and stresses me a bit, but honestly, I'm used to it. I took out my phone out of my pocket and turned it on. Thankfully, I don't have anything to do right now, no notifications, nor planned reminders. Relaxing is needed right now. Sighing, I got up from the bed and walked to my huge full-body mirror to take look at myself. I looked a bit of a mess. With that, I went to my closet and started undressing so I can change into my pajamas. Picked out my baby blue sweater, soft white pants, and also slipped in my white indoor slippers to get fully dressed. Going back towards my mirror, I gave another glance at myself, a bit better. Taking my backpack that was still leaning against my bed, I brought out my mathematics book and notebook and placed them on top of my desk. I started working on my stuff. Thankfully this is my only unfinished duty for tonight, this gives me a lot of time to do nothing or what I want.

-

After thirty minutes of focused work, I finally finished my assignments. Groaning, I placed my head on my desk to take a small rest; that is until my phone made a ring sound beside me. I looked up to see what it was. A notification? A text message from the others perhaps? Maybe it's James again. I picked it up and got a better look at who it was. My eyebrow arched as I saw what it is. It is a text message from an unknown number. I picked it up and looked at what they had sent me.

"Hey Noah," it said.

"Yes, hello? May I ask who this is?" I asked. I waited for about five seconds until they responded.

"Yeah, sorry, I just now realized this is my first time messaging you so you probably don't know my number," they typed. "I'm Brad, you remember me right."

I raised both eyebrows. This was utterly unexpected. I was never anticipating a text from Brad. I stared at my phone's screen and thought for a moment, maybe he has some question needed to be answered. I do have lots of businesses to do and answering students' questions are somewhat one of them; though, it usually was via private emailing and quite a rare occurrence, "Is there anything you want?" I asked him.

Only a couple of seconds later, he has already typed his text quickly, "well, this might sound out of the blue, but may I ask if you would like to have lunch at my table tomorrow?"

Wow, this sure is quite a surprise all of a sudden. I fell into deep thought and questioned why Brad, the school's athletic jock, is asking if I could sit with him tomorrow. I'll have to ask my friends' permission first though. "Umm, are you still there?" Brad messaged again.

"Oh, yeah... sure I will," I typed to him back. Though it is a tad unusual, considering we do talk to each other, though I just don't know if we could consider ourselves at the friends category yet...

"Awesome! Can't wait to see you tomorrow," he replied.

This was all so bizarre...