midnight love // noco

more lies and a plastic baby

'Don't forget to look through paragraphs one to three, because we will have a pop quiz on Friday.' Mr Samuels says. None of the other kids are paying attention and are too busy with packing up their bag and leaving. Mr Samuels and I lock eyes and I nod with a small smile. I feel bad for teachers. Those poor souls try to teach but are ignored or talked through. I stand up and want to walk away, but the teacher stops me. 'Cody! I was meaning to ask, what happened to your eye?' He points at my face and I look at the ground. 'I walked into the door.' Mr S grins. 'Aha. Happened to me last week. Had a nasty bump on my forehead, but it's finally starting to clear up. Ice works wonders.' I smile awkwardly and nod. Another thing about teachers: they talk too much. 'Bye, Mr Samuels.' I say, before leaving the classroom.

—

I grab my books and shut the door to my locker, revealing Owen who apparently has been standing there for a while. I jump and curse under my breath. 'Jesus, you scared me!' Owen chuckles. 'Sorry, dude. It was just too easy!' He takes a bite from his apple and turns to look to look at me once more, a mixture of shock and worship on his face. 'Is it true? Did you really fight a bear? Dude! That is freaking awesome!'
'No, Owen, I didn't fight a bear. Who on earth would fight a bear?'
Owen's smile fades and his shoulders drop. 'Oh.'
'Man, I'm sorry. I've just had this question asked a thousand times already.'
Owen nods. 'Yeah, I understand.'
'If you have to know, I walked into a door.' I grab my bag and start walking away but Owen quickly runs after me. 'Cody, dude! Where are you going? The cafeteria's that way.' Owen points at the other direction. 'Noah's probably already waiting for us, all alone.' He pretends to wipe away a tear and grins.
I can't go with Owen. I can't see Noah. He really didn't seem like he believed me when I said I walked into a door, and I'm really not looking forward to him interrogating me. I slowly nod my head. 'Right. Go ahead, I'll meet you there. I gotta take a whizz first.' Owen nods and starts walking towards the cafeteria. I enter the bathroom and lock myself up in there for the rest of the break.

—

I exit the algebra classroom and walk down the hallway towards the biology classroom. The class I've been dreading all day. Noah's in that class. I decide to wait for a bit. If I'm late to class all seats will be taken and I'll be forced to sit by myself, alone at the front. That means no sitting next to Noah and no confronting questions. After having waited for about five minutes I finally finish my way to class. I enter the classroom just as the teacher is about to close the door. 'Hello. You must be Cody?' She asks. 'My name is Mrs Miller. I'll be your biology teacher for the semester.' I take Mrs Miller's hand and shake it. 'Hi. Yeah, that's me.' The teacher smiles at me and closes the door after I enter the classroom. 'Just a tip, Cody. I like to start my classes on time. So please don't be late next time.' I nod and scan through the room. It does seem like all seats are taken. Yes! My plan worked. Mrs Miller sits down at her desk and looks at me. 'You can take a seat next to Noah. The boy in the back.' I slowly take a step forward and indeed see Noah sitting at the back of the classroom, not having seen him at first cause there were others in front of him. Fuck! Why is the universe against me? I walk to the back and take a seat next to Noah. 'Hello new kid. Where were you? I was expecting you'd want to sit with us at break time.' Noah says, not looking up from his book. I grab my books and pencil case and place them on my desk. 'I had to...sort some last things out with the principal. Why is there no one sitting next to you?' I ask. The bookworm looks up at me and raises an eyebrow. 'You sound disappointed. You were following me around like a baby duck Yesterday and now you don't even wanna sit with me? Harsh.' He returns to his book and flips a page. 'The reason why no one is sitting next to me is cause I don't really have any friends in this class.'
I'm about to reply but the teacher speaks up. 'OK, I'd be very happy if you all stopped talking now so I can begin with my lesson. You can pick your conversations back up after class. Now, who can tell me something they absolutely love about their parents?'

After having listened to what seems a thousand stories about family holidays, hugs and more, Mrs Miller finally wraps the conversation up. 'Ok, you're probably all wondering why I asked you all to ramble on and on about your parents. While listening to your stories I've wrote some things down you guys said and from those notes we can make a conclusion about what you all think makes parents good parents. You can all agree that they should love you unconditionally and be there for you, taking good care of you.'
I frown. It's so wonderful to hear the stories of kids who do have nice parents who don't abuse them.
My thoughts drift off as Mrs Miller continues.
'Now I want you guys to keep those things in mind for your homework assignment, which will be 50% of your grade this semester.' Some kids start grinning, already knowing what's about to come next. 'Your homework assignment is...the baby project!' A few kids start cheering, others mumbling stuff as "fuck no" and "oh my god". The cheering pulls me out of my thoughts and I look around in confusion. I turn to look at Noah, who has a disgusted look on his face. 'I wasn't paying attention, why is everyone cheering?' Noah sighs and puts his head in his hands. 'We're doing the baby project, it's 50% of our grade.'
'What the fuck is a baby project?'
Before Noah can answer Mrs Miller starts explaining. 'You will all be paired into groups of two, and receive a baby.'
'A real one?' Some kid yells, finding himself awfully funny.
Mrs Miller looks unimpressed and continues. '..A fake baby, obviously. You will be the baby's parents and take turns in taking care of them. You'll have to feed it, cradle it, really care for it like it's your own.' A girl with brown pigtails raises her hand. 'How will you know if we actually do those things?'
'Good question, Amanda.' Mrs Miller says. 'The baby has a system in it which will send all information to the school. We will know if you actually do feed it in time, or let the baby cry all night...Oh, and we will also know if you stuff it in a closet.' A few kids who had the idea of abandoning the plastic baby sigh. Mrs Miller grabs a piece of chalk. 'As I said, you'll be paired into groups of two. One girl and one boy.' She starts writing the pairs on the chalkboard.

'...Amanda and David, Ben and Lola, Nicole and Ming....oh, it seems like we have more boys than girls in our class. That means we'll have one boy pair. Noah and Cody you will be partners for this project.'
Noah and I slowly turn to look at each other. The guys in front of us start laughing. 'Gayyyy!'
Noah rolls his eye and sighs. 'I guess we're gonna be parents, new kid.'

The bell rings and I pack my bag. Mrs Miller walks over to my desk. 'Hi Cody, I just wanted to ask how you're settling in?' I shrug. 'It's fine. I just have to get used to everything again.' Mrs Miller nods. 'Yeah, I understand. Moving schools can be hard.'
Tell me about it. This is my fifth school.
I nod at the teacher and start walking towards the door.
'Also, may I ask what happened to your eye? That looks like it hurt.'
I stop dead in my tracks and turn around. One more fucking question about my eye and I'm gonna scream. 'Why does everyone keep asking that?! Y'all are acting like you've never seen a black eye before! Why can't y'all just mind your own fucking business?!' I spit, before turning on my heel and walking out of the classroom, leaving both my teacher and Noah confused.

A/N:
yay another update!
sorry if it's a bit long lol.

I wanted to update yesterday but had this Christmas party with my colleagues and was way too tired to update loll

have a nice day/evening