Jenga

Chapter Four- Hard to Crack

"Noa darling!"

Oh no.

Why? Why does he have to call me that, out of all things?

It's way too early in the morrning for this.

"Noa darling!" Cyan repeats. He comes running up to me and wraps his arms around me from behind. "Why so somber?"

"Please Cyan, I'm not in the mood. And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling me Noa darling. Just Noa is fine." I try to loosen his grasp and I do, but all he does is smile and lift my chin up. His blonde hair whistles as the wind speeds through it, his smile turning into a smirk.

"What are you doing?" I ask, in a sort of sullen way.

"It's not alright for a girl to look angry and gloomy all the time."

"Oh please."

". . . Even if she looks frightening in the first place."

I quickly remove Cyan's hand from my chin. "How rude!"

"You sure are hard to crack."

"So what?" 

As I stomp away from him, I stomp into another him.

"Max, please stop standing in front of me."

But it's not him. I only figured it was Max because I've bumped into him like this before.

"Noa. I'm not your brother, I'm your English teacher."

Oh. I should have looked up before assuming so.

''Then, why were you in front of me Arthur?"

"I wanted to walk up with you."

"Up to class?"

"Yeah. Hey, are you in a bad mood?"

"Wow. I'm surprised you care. Yes, I always am, according to the uncivilized-eccentric psycho named Cyan."

"He said that?"

I nod, and a warm hand touches my shoulder. "Charlie? Charlie! This is the first time I've seen you in the morning."

"Here. You dropped this," Charlie says, handing me my journal. My private journal.

Looking down, I snatch the book and ask, "Did you look in it?"

"Yeah, but only the first page. Why, is it private? Or rather. . . full of your baby pictures?" Charlie says grimly.

I look up at him in anger and he smirks. "Leave me alone!" I throw my book at him and stomp away, once again. Those brothers. . . are alike in so many ways, it's scary.

Oh, wait. I threw the book I didn't want him to see at him. Well, whatever. 

If you're wondering why I bring such a thing with me to school, it's my good luck charm. Max gave it to me as a gift on my 13th birthday.

"Noa! Wait, watch out for the--"

Too late. Arthur tells me this too late, and now half my body lay on the floor while the other half lay on the staircase, the staircase I should be walking on. Instead, I'm getting a headache.

<> <> <>

"Cyan. Age 18. I'm best at being handsome."

"Charlie. Age 16. I'm best at fighting."

"Noa. Age 16. I'm best at grammar and vocabulary, not so much writing in general."

"Arthur. Age. . . classified. I'm best English, of course."

Idiots. "We're all idiots," I say sullenly.

"OK. Who lives with you, Noa?" Arthur asks, ignoring my remark.

"My brother Max and my grandparents," I answer.

"Where are your parents?" Charlie asks.

I set my glass of water down and flatten out my skirt. "I don't know. They both left as soon as I was born."

Silence falls and stays for a while, until Arthur continues, "What about you two?"

"There are our parents, our aunt Dale, our younger sister Civa, and our two cousins Macey and Jesse," Cyan explains.

"What a full house. It must be quite large," I say.

Cyan smiles mischeviously. "Would you like to come?"

Charlie jumps from his seat about to say something, but can't seem to make out the words.

Stunned, I ask, "Can I?" 

"Sure. How does tomorrow after clubs sound?"

"Perfect."

"Alright. then. Perfect."

"What the hell are you trying to do?" Charlie demands.

"Just playing around," Cyan says.

Arthur laughs wickedly and says, "You sure aren't hard to crack, Charlie boy."

"Don't call me that!" Charlie shouts. 

I slightly--and it is slightly--chuckle. Arthur hears this and says, "My work here is almost done."

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"You've never smiled before, have you?" he asks me.

I jolt and slowly shake my head. He's right.

"Well, I knew your grandfather. I met him when you were around 11, and he told me he needed someone to make his grandchild smile. He said you were good at English, so I became a high school English teacher. Your grandfather chose this high school for you, right? So, here we are. And you just chuckled, so that has to mean something."

"Why didn't you tell me all this when I first came to this school?!"

"Sorry, sorry, I apologize. Anyway, back to club buisness. We need at least two more members in this club, or else it'll be disbanded. So, I have a task for you brothers."

"What?" Charlie and Cyan ask, probably annoyed that they have to do something all of a sudden.

". . . Go find some people! Can you do that?"

Charlie and Cyan look at each other worriedly. "Nah, I don't think so."