Realm of Noah

Chapter 13

20th November 2019

NOAH

That math period had been amazing.

I mean, free marshmallows for easy math problems? If the ISA had motivated me like that, maybe I'd have never slipped into my rebellious ways.

"Does Mr Goldman always hand out marshmallows in a test?" I asked Renee as we walked towards our chemistry lab.

She'd been quiet for the whole duration, looking conflicted about something.

"Huh? No, that's the first time he's done that," She mumbled out, fidgeting on the strap of her backpack.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, slightly concerned.

"Yeah," She replied shortly, avoiding my gaze.

I frowned. For the past few days, I couldn't get a single proper conversation out of Renee, like she was desperate to avoid me. I broke my head over it, wondering if I'd done something to offend her, especially since she didn't know that I was Noah.

"Actually," Renee stopped walking as she turned around to face me. "I'm not okay. I don't understand why you'd want me to teach you if you're already so good at everything?"

Because I want to be with you.

"Oliver, why would you hide something so huge?" She repeated, her blazing gaze piercing through my own. "How long are you going to keep pretending?"

I stared at her, feeling a certain gravity about her gaze that hadn't been there before. It was almost like she was seeing past my facade, beyond the toothy Oliver who lied a lot and inhaled marshmallows like oxygen.

It took a while for me to answer.

"You know, don't you?" I whispered, knowing that there was no other reason for her to be angry. "You've figured out who I am."

"Of course I did!" She whispered back furiously. "You were dropping around very obvious hints after all." She rolled her eyes.

I smirked at the thought of my lame attempts to make her realise who I was. As loyal as Renee had been to Noah, Oliver certainly didn't enjoy seeing his girlfriend evade him like that.

"Want another hint?" I leaned forward, briefly lowering my eyes to her lips. She turned red and stepped back, still angry with me.

"I'm the one with the questions here. And I still haven't got a single answer," She hissed.

"Fine. I thought it would be fun to see you figure it out!" I admitted, sounding defeated.

"Fun?" Ren looked mad. "You did this for fun? You had no idea how conflicted I felt because I was so attracted to you, Oliver, and felt like I was betraying Noah, who is also you?"

Oh wow. Why did my dumb brain not think of this?

"Wait, so, you were attracted to me? This fake human, Oliver Jameson?" I asked her in disbelief.

"Yes," She looked embarrassed. "I didn't know who you really were, and that messed with my brain."

No wonder Renee had spent all her time running away from me.

"Ren, I'm so sorry, okay?" I bent lower to meet her eyes. "I had absolutely no idea because I'm a world-class idiot."

The corner of her mouth lifted, her gaze softening as it met mine.

"Well, are you really Noah Stark?" She stared at me, her lips parted in awe. "I can't believe it! How are you even a human?"

I opened my mouth, but the bell rang sharply at the moment, a reminder that we had to get to our next class. We shared a look, knowing that we couldn't be late for chemistry, or our teacher would go ballistic.