||NOAH||

After a while of fun activities, my parents thought it was time that we should now start unwrapping the awaited offers. Everyone gathered around as they watched me settle down in the center to unbox and take off the covers. My eyes widened in amazement as I unraveled the first gift showing a canvas with an amazingly done portrait of me. Everyone cheered, staring at the artwork as I held for them to see. I already knew that it was James, knowing the fact that he was always so talented in visual arts, "thanks, James!" I smiled. James formed a corny hand heart with a wink to which we both laughed. The others clapped as I proceeded to a weirdly, yet suspiciously, moderately sized packaged box. Holding it up, it was unexpectedly way lighter and less dense than I thought it would. I looked around as I wondered who would possibly give something like this. Tearing out the patterned paper, and lifted the cover to reveal an opened bag of chips. A sudden burst of laughter fills the room as Felix starts slapping his knee hysterically. I gave him an unimpressed look as I lift it up and bestowed for everyone to see; soon they all joined in with the gag. "Happy eighteenth birthday Noah!.." Felix managed to breathe out from all of his wheezing. Rolling my eyes, I still gave him a smile and appreciated the small amusement.

-

The wonderful gifts kept coming as I received more and more. All watched intently as I was now working on Ari's presents now. She gave me a condescending smirk as she waited patiently with hands folded on her lap. Taking out the smooth box from the bag, I took an article of clothing out of it and showed it to everyone; the other guys stared in amazement. "Dude?! Balenciaga!" Liam and Taylor exclaimed as I displayed the very expensive hoodie from a very opulent manufacturer, the name in bold and flamboyant letters.

"Dang..." Jackson let out breathily.

"Oh there's more," Ari pointed inside cheekily. Noticing a smaller box at the bottom of the bag, I pulled up the lid to reveal a sparkly Ice diamond crusted necklace that sparkled when the light hit it. Again, the other guys were speechless, eyeing the extremely costly items. My side of friends just seemed rather tame as they, including myself, had known that she would go through her way to purchase things like these to show off. "Umm... thanks Ari," I said.

"No problem," she giggled. Gently placing them beside me along with my other stuff, two remaining items sat right in front of me. Handling the smaller boxed one, I lightly removed the wrap and saw that a delicate pendant of half a heart that was in it. At first, I thought it would be from Brad; that is, until I found a small note with in inside, "Annabel?" I murmured as I read the name, wondering if she could have been the one to give this to me. I looked at her, she gave me a tender smile. Looking back at the object in hand, I grinned and decided to wear it right now. "Thank you," I said to her. She nods. Inspecting the last one, I looked at Brad who appeared relatively nervous. I tilted my head, not knowing why. Once again, I place my hand on it to start unwrapping when Brad interrupted, "umm... I'm giving this to you because I wanted something from me to remind you... of me," he says. My eyes widened, revealing that it is a jersey jacket with our school colors. I flipped the back to view that it had Brad's name embroidered on it.

"...I-It may not be expensive, It may not be from a famous label, but... I swore I'd give you back that was personal from me. I hope you like it," he breaks into a weak grin.

Gazing at it and softly caressing the material, I looked up to him. Time slowed down as I stood up ran to him, giving him a squeezing hug. "I love it," I whispered. There was a momentary pause until I felt him return the embrace and laid his head on mine.

"Aww!" Kate expressed which then caused a chain reaction as the others did so too, some even clapped. "That is so adorable," Kate added in more comments as I felt myself blushing furiously. Letting out a peal of tiny laughter, I continued to stare at Brad's jersey with a huge dumb smile and put it on.

-

After we ate our dinner, which everyone enjoyed Mowery's cooking so much, the others reminded us about how we would spend what's left of our time in the fair. I quickly said my goodbyes to my parents as we all stood outside the doors.

There was a short period when everyone was having a wonderful and Ari came up to me. Raising a brow at her, she comes up close to me and held me hand, "hey Noah, there's something I wanna tell you."

Blinking, I kept silent for her to speak, "you know, I umm... I just wanna say, sorry, for being annoying."

Flabbergasted, It wasn't expected of her to say such a thing, "what?" Mouth open in awe.

"Well, ever since you've left with Anna, I thought that I mad had something to do with it. I kept bugging, her, and everyone else...

I was quite the attention seeker, I heavily accepted that fact. Looking back now, I just..." she sighs and releases my palm to rub her arm awkwardly, "Anyways, I wanted to apologize for my behavior, for everything. I'm aware that, I can still sometimes come off as 'flaunty' but I try to work on that..."

Ari's sincerity was rather comforting, I could tell. Honestly, I'm quite happy for her development to see her improving. Grinning, I nodded at her, "I appreciate that, thank you."

Mirroring her smile in return, she crosses her arms, "yeah, it felt good giving gifts and I felt rather happy to do so as well."

-

I wondered if Ari wanted to tag along so I asked if she was interested in the idea. Though, she said that she didn't want to come because she needed to tend to some business. Saying her farewell, she entered her own vehicle and drove away ahead.

The guys were pumped as they rushed to get to their cars. Felix must've been the one to drive Kate, James, and Annabel here, seeing that his own transportation is parked here. By instinct, I was about to follow them when I caught the sight of Brad staring back at me from afar before going in his truck. I stopped in my tracks as my eyes darted from him to Annabel who was also waiting for me inside Felix's car. I frowned, desiring to be with both at the same time. Eventually, I had to make a hard decision and walked over to Brad. His eyes twinkled with glee as he watched me take my seat in the front next to him. He gives me a very happy look as he placed a hand on my cheek, his eyes panning up and down on me, "you look so cute," he says, complimenting how I looked in his jacket. Due to Brad being broader and bigger, his jersey was massive which made sense, making me look like a kid submerged in their father's attire. I grinned, putting on my seatbelt then snuggling deep into his jacket and catching his smell.

This is the best gift ever.