Becoming Flynn - a kissing booth fan fiction

Eleven

Author's Note: This is a bit of a new concept for me, but since I spent so much time thinking about Noah's character while writing The Missing Years, I thought I would go back and fill in the gaps in Noah's character development. In the first movie montage (and the book of course) we get to see a whole lot of Elle and Lee growing up, but only snippets of Noah. So this is my attempt at piecing his story together before The Kissing Booth. As always, full credit for these characters goes to Beth Reekles and also the team at Netflix for their movie adaptations. Let me know what you think.

"Mom! They won't let me play!" I complain. Loudly. My stupid brother, Lee, and his best friend Elle, are refusing to let me into their stupid blanket fort. It's not like I even really want to play with them, but the fact that they don't want to play with me isn't fair. Lee's my brother. He's supposed to want to play with me. All my friend's little brothers want to play with them. Why doesn't mine want to play with me?

It's almost like Lee isn't really my brother, at all. It's more like he's Elle's brother. They were born on the same day, at the same time, like twins. The two of them have always been together, have always been a team. And I'm just Noah. On my own. Noah's such a dumb name, I hate it. Nobody cool is called Noah. Except that I am cool. I have lots of friends at school. Everyone there wants to be my friend. Just not my brother and his best friend.

"Mom!" I say again.

"Noah, I hear you. Why don't you go play your video games and leave Lee and Elle alone. They're playing little kid games, anyway."

"Fine!" I stomp away to my bedroom. Mom's right. Their games are stupid little kid stuff. I just had my eleventh birthday and got a new PlayStation and lots of games. I play those by myself and try to forget about Lee and Elle. My games are more interesting than their made up games, anyway.

This is my last year at elementary school and then I'll be going to middle school. My best friend, Ryan, is going to the same school so we are going to be best friends there as well. I wanted to invite him to sleep over tonight, but it's a school night and his parents won't let him, so I can't. I guess the same rules don't apply to Elle, though, because she's allowed to sleep over sometimes on school nights.

Elle's mom, Joni, is my mom's best friend and always has been. Joni and Mike are kind of like my aunt and uncle and they spend a lot of time with us, with Elle and her little brother, Brad. He's small and loud, but he's only two, so maybe he'll turn out to be okay. We spent the summer at the house my family has down at the beach, like we always do. And Elle's family joined us too, like they always do. Joni and Mike had to watch Brad near the pool because he can't swim. He falls over all the time when he runs. He's a happy kid, though. I pull faces at him and he laughs.

I can play with Lee and Elle at the beach house. The games they play there always seem to need someone bigger, someone who can do something they can't yet. But not when we get home. They go to Lee's room and that's where they stay, mostly. Except when they're building blanket forts in the den. Apparently that's allowed now. Even though it's a school night and they should both be going to bed. Maybe Mom is just being nice because Mike and Joni are always so busy with Brad.

I know Elle sometimes feels like she has to help take care of Brad, even though she's basically just a little kid herself. I know she has to do a lot more chores at home than Lee does here. Maybe that's why she likes to stay at our house so much, because she can just be a little kid here, with Lee. She doesn't have to be the big kid here. That's my job. I'm the one who has to be responsible here. I'm always the one looking out for them, because they always seem to get themselves in trouble.

One of the kids in their grade started picking on Lee last week at school, but I pushed him and yelled at him to leave my brother alone. I don't like bullies. Sometimes people think I'm a bully, but just because I'm bigger than most of the kids in my grade doesn't make me a bully. I stand up for kids who get picked on by bigger kids, especially when it's Lee or Elle getting picked on. I hope they'll be okay next year without me.

Guess I can always keep an eye on them before and after school anyway. The bus stops at the elementary school on the way to the middle school in the morning and the opposite in the afternoon. At least I'll be able to make sure nobody picks on them on the bus. And I'll be able to sort out any kids who've picked on them during the day. That thought makes me smile and I keep playing my video games.

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"Why Mom? It isn't fair!" I yell and throw myself down on the sofa. My friend Ryan, my best friend, has to move, because his parents are getting a divorce. Which means not only is he going to move further away and we won't be able to bike to each other's houses, he won't even be going to the same school as me next year. We had all these plans and now his parents have gone and ruined everything.

Mom looks at me kindly. "I know it's not fair, honey. But sometimes people just can't work things out, even when they try really hard. And I'm sure that Ryan's parents really tried to work things out. I bet they're even more unhappy about Ryan having to move school districts than you are."

"I doubt it." Ryan had been so upset about everything going on at home that he'd actually cried at school. One of the other kids in our grade had started to tease him about it, so I'd punched that kid in the face. Three times. Which is why I am now sitting at home, talking to Mom about Ryan, instead of being at school. I'd been sent home and couldn't go back for three days.

"Noah, I know you were just sticking up for Ryan, but you can't go around hitting people like that. What if you'd hurt that boy?"

"I did hurt him," I smiled. "His lip was bleeding and he had a big bruise on his face."

"Noah! That is not something to be proud of," Mom tells me off.

"He started it! He was pointing and laughing at Ryan and everyone else was starting to laugh at him, too. He was already sad, he didn't need all the kids laughing at him."

"I know, Honey, but you could have used your words. You could have yelled at him to go away and leave Ryan alone. You should have told a teacher. You shouldn't have hit him. And you shouldn't be happy that you hurt him."

"Fine! Can I go to my room now?"

"Yes Noah, can you go to your room and unplug your PlayStation and bring it back here to me."

"What?! Why?!"

"Because you are suspended from school, and you're not going to be playing video games for the next three days, that's why."

Mom hardly ever gets angry at me, but I can see she means business now.

"Fine!" I huff, and trudge upstairs to my room, unplug the PlayStation and carry it back downstairs. "Can you please keep it somewhere safe? I don't want Lee breaking it."

"Yes, Noah, I will put it somewhere safe. I promise."

"Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, you can start on the homework the school sent you home with..."

"Ugh! So boring!" I interrupt.

"And if you get bored, I'm sure your father and I can find some chores for you to do as well."

"That's okay," I say quickly, "I'm sure the homework will take me ages anyway."

I take my backpack up to my room and empty out all the books and worksheets. I know that the homework won't take me very long, it never does. But I will take my time and drag it out, like I always do. Then I will check it a couple of times, even though I know it will be right. Anything to avoid Mom and Dad finding more chores for me to do.

Dad wouldn't be happy about me being suspended. He knew I was smart, he was always telling me that I could be something one day. School was important to Dad and he wanted me to do well. I wanted to do well to impress him, too. He sure wasn't going to be impressed today. The thought made me a little sad, but in the end I was still glad I'd stuck up for Ryan. It wasn't his fault that his parents were splitting up and moving him away soon.

I should ask Mom if I can call Ryan's house after school. I want to make sure he's okay and to find out what happened at school after I had to go home. I'm glad he's going to stay at school until the end of the year. But I'm going to miss him next year, at the new school. I'm going to go back to being one of the youngest again, and now I'm going to be on my own, without a best friend. Sure, I'll still have other friends, but it's not the same.