The Prince

Part 17

"You seem to be in good spirits, mate." Travis sat on the lawn next to Noah.

"I am. I aced the promotion test, so I get to move one class up!"

"What? You're giving up your position of being first in Class C, just to end up last in Class B? You're basically wiping yourself off the leaderboard," he shook his head. In their school, only rankings counted and if you want to be noticed, you must stay on top. They didn't care who or what you were as long as you made the school look good.

"It doesn't really matter, does it? I didn't do too badly in the test you know, they're bumping me up to Class B and I'll take it!" He was overjoyed that he did so well in his tests, even though he had to beg and plead to write them in the middle of the term.

"Well, welcome to the club," he smiled, clapping his friend on the back. "I will kill you if you take away my place on the board though."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks." He pulled a face at Travis. "Are you working today?"

"Nah, it's probably going to be a slow day, anyway, you?"

"Definitely! I finally got my own table after my test run and I'm not giving it up! I'll show that snot that I can do it."

"Snot?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Skye Dealer or Cook or whatever, that's who!" he was irritated again thinking about him.

"It's Dealer-Cook and you know who he is, don't you?"

"Of course not! I only met him a while back, didn't I?" Maybe he should go back to checking the school's chat groups. Obviously, he was missing out on valuable information.

Are you serious? He's treated like a god because he's the crown prince of Dealers International and Zenith, two of the wealthiest companies in the country," he shook his head. "Why do you think his groupies call him the Prince?"

"You're joking, right? They don't look like they have that much money, I mean, they don't show it and both he and his dad work at the bakery." He'd never really thought of Skye and his parents as rich. To him, they were very nice people who'd helped him out of a shitty situation, even if Skye's personality needed a full overhaul.

"I'm telling you mate, that guy is loaded and he's supposed to inherit everything when he turns twenty-one. On top of that, his uncle is this crazy inventor. He's all over the internet."

"Now you're really talking crap. Who'd give away two major companies to a twenty-year-old?"

"The super-rich work on a different level to the rest of us. Anyway, it's time I make a run for it, I have study group next."

"See ya." Getting up he made his way back to the last class of the day. He was also supposed to sign up for a study group, but hasn't had the courage to ask yet. The joys of being bottom-ranked in a class.

Worrying about ways to get his grades up, he walked smack into something hard, falling to the floor. Looking up, he watched as Tsukasa turned in surprise from a group of boys he was talking with.

"Sorry," Noah automatically retorted, wanting the earth to swallow him whole at that moment. Not again! This is the worst thing to happen to him now. It must be Skye's curse on his luck.

Hey, Noah, sorry about that," he held out his hand waiting for Noah to take it. "I'm not going to bite, you know," he chuckled, gently pulling a red-faced Noah up.

"I didn't mean for that to happen," he mumbled, wondering how he was going to get out of this conversation.

"It must be destiny,"  Tsukasa grinned.

Oh god, Noah thought, if he kept grinning like that, he'd declare his immediate, undying love for the boy. But he didn't have much time to bask in the warm glow of Tsukasa's beauty, because a familiar shadow fell over him.

"You fell, didn't you?" Skye gave him a smirk and walked off down the passage.

"Is he really your friend?" Tsusaka curiously asked. The times he'd interacted with the two, Skye seemed more annoyed by Noah than anything.

"Yes, we're friends. Don't worry he has a good heart, it's just locked away in ice at the moment," he thought it would be unreasonable of him to lay into Skye and his personality since he seemed to genuinely care in his own weird, detached way. At least, he hoped he was right.

"Well, I've got to go," he said awkwardly, not ready to stop looking at Tsukasa and his beautiful, sincere face that seemed to smile a lot. He and Skye were complete opposites, he thought when you put them side to side.

As he was rushing off, he noticed the looks of the kids around him. Did he again overstep his boundaries when it came to both Skye and Tsukasa's fanclubs? Things were getting out of hand if you can't speak to the popular kids without the permission of their groupies.

Walking to the school gates at the end of the day, he noticed Skye waiting, looking completely bored by everything around him. What was up with him and his lack of emotion, he wondered, walking on.

"Are you going to work?" Skye stopped him at the gate.

"Yeah, I was, why?"

"No reason, let's take the bus together." He waited silently for Noah to respond.

"Are you serious?" This hot and cold act of Skye's was getting really confusing. Most of the time it looked like he would happily murder him and then at other times, he was almost nice.

"When have I not been?"

"Right, let's go before I get my arm yanked off," he fell in step with Skye, who seemed to purposefully slow down to stay in step with Noah.

Once on the bus, Noah thought that Skye would sit next to him, instead, he took the seat behind him. Shrugging his shoulders, he took out his earphones to listen to a book that had him gripped. He looked up when the bus stopped and a group of students got on and almost slid off his seat in shock when Skye sat down next to him and grabbed one of his earbuds, pretending to be listening.

This was obviously an attempt to avoid them, but he was sorely mistaken when they all squeezed into seats around him, eagerly talking and trying to get his attention. But true to form, Skye ignored them and kept listening in stony silence. Noah pitied the group, yes he looked like every high schooler's dream guy, especially in his uniform, but he was difficult and would probably make the worst boyfriend in the world.

When the group finally got off, there was relative silence on the bus again. Skey immediately pulled the bud away with a revolted look.

"Why are you listening to that?"

"It's a book, why?"

"If you read less of those kinds of books, then maybe you'll get to move up from Class B."

"You know?" he asked in surprise, not sure why Skye would notice something like that. Maybe he wasn't such a turd after all.

"Don't worry, I wasn't checking up on you, I noticed it in passing."

"There is the Skye we all know and love," he remarkeddrily. Of course, he wouldn't really be interested, it was a silly thought to start with.

Without an answer, he got up at their stop and walked off, leaving Noah to run behind him to catch up.