The Prince

Part 20

Tsukasa left home early for school to make it in time for practice. When they'd moved here, he thought it would be impossible to find a school with a good sports programme, but it seemed as if his mother had made the impossible possible.

Grabbing his bike, he weaved between cars at lightning speed. Locking up his bike, he slowly walked up the steps to school. Maybe if he was lucky, he'd catch a glimpse of Noah this morning. They always bumped into each other on the oddest occasions and could never have a proper conversation.

He was new and too shy to go up and speak to Noah. Even though he might seem confident, when it's someone you like, it is a different story. And his friend also didn't inspire any confidence that Noah was single. He'd ask the team if they knew anything, he thought, keeping an eye out for Noah.

"If you two hurry up then I'll drop you at school!" Raymond called after the boys as they left to get their bags.

"No, it's okay, Dad, we'll take the bu...." Before he could finish his thought, Noah immediately jumped in.

"Thank you, Mr. Cook, that would be really nice of you." He smiled sweetly at Raymond. Anything to keep looking at him for as long as possible. If Skye was going to look like this when he grew up, then he'd be a great investment.

"You're gross," Skye grumbled on his way to his room.

"Yeah, but now we get a free lift to school, Grumpy."

"Yes, stepmother," Skye snorted, closing his door behind him.

Noah felt more at ease with the family and was genuinely surprised when they included him in everything. He soon realised that Jackson was the main cause of mayhem in the house and that Raymond kept it all calm and together.

On the first day, he'd found a cupboard and drawers filled with clothes for him, with extra shoes. He didn't know how to thank them and when he tried to talk to Skye about it he only waived it off like it was nothing new.

Sitting next to Raymond, he happily made conversation as they were driving. He could get used to this view to school, he thought, sparing a glance at Skye who looked bored, as usual. Sometimes he'd like to run up to him and mess up his hair to see if he was really human.

"Have a good day boys," Raymond grinned at the two as they got out.  "Oh, Noah, don't forget your lunch."

Hastily grabbing the bag, he rushed to catch up to Skye, not sure if public interaction at school was allowed.

"Will you at least try to stay on your feet today?" He grinned at Noah before moving off.

"Hey, do you know that guy with the red hair?" Tsukasa asked his teammates after they were done practising. He'd spotted Noah walking into school with him.

"Skye?" Yeah, he's top of Class A, they call him the Prince because he's also very popular and his family basically owns the school." One of the boys said matter-of-factly, watching as Skye disappeared into the crowd.

"Oh," Tsukasa said quietly, feeling miserable. It would be hard to go up against someone like that.

"Come on, he's not that great," His friend consoled him. "You're way more popular than he is, right guys?" He looked around to the others who heartily agreed as they walked on.

As Noah walked down the passage for lunch, his phone started buzzing. Taking it out, he decided whether to pick it up or not since it was an unknown number and he didn't really feel like taking a spam call. After a few more rings, he finally gave in and answered.

"Do you always take so long to answer your phone?" A petulant voice spoke in his ear.

"Well hello to you too, Skye. I didn't know it was you. Anyway, what was so important you had to interrupt my busy morning?"

"Yeah, right. Can you meet me at the amphitheatre for lunch?"

"Sure, why?" The line immediately went dead. "Skye? Skye?" What the hell? Not even a goodbye or anything, he must be in a rush to see me, he snorted knowing that was as far from the truth as possible.

At lunch, he headed over to the amphitheatre looking around for Skye and soon spotted him coming toward him, his lunch bag in hand.

"So what was so important you had to see me?"

"You took my lunch," he mumbled, holding out a brown bag to Noah.

"Are you sure? They both look the same to me." He held up his bag to see what was so special, then he spotted a small sticker of a bear hugging a bright red heart. He didn't expect Skye to be sentimental over something as small as this and the sweet bear seemed completely out of character with him.

"Give me the bag, dork," he grabbed it from Noah, holding out one to him.

"Skye, what are you doing all the way out here?" Archer came up behind them.

"Not a word," Skye warned as he turned to greet his friend. "Hey, Archer."

"Hey, you're the kid who keeps falling down, aren't you?" Archer pointed in apparent excitement.

"Eh, I don't fall all the time," he mumbled, blushing as he heard Skye snort.

"Come on Toady, let's find a sunny spot, It may be the last until the winter sets in." Archer grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

"Toady?" Noah chuckled watching a blush cross Skye's cheeks.

"Shut up and have your lunch."

Not far away, in the glass passage that ran between two buildings, a young man stopped his friends to look at the three sitting on the lawn outside.

"Who is that sitting with Skye?" He asked suspiciously, turning to the group behind him.

"I don't know, what do you think Didi?"

"Don't know, but he's been hanging around Skye a lot lately. I heard them talk on the phone"

"Well, I think it's time we had a talk with him." He turned to glare at the group, before moving off in a huff, his friends following close behind.

Completely unaware of what was being plotted behind his back, Noah walked to his class reading through the list of study groups open to him. His excitement about being in Class B had dropped a bit since the workload picked up at a steep pace. So much for getting ahead in the system, he thought going through the list again in the hope that there was one that wasn't too intimidating.

Walking smack into a solid object, Noah fell hard to the floor, his backpack breaking his fall. Not again! Skye already thought he was a clutz, he didn't need the rest of the school to think the same thing.

"Hi Noah, it looks like we meet again." Tsukasa leaned down to help him up.

 Noah could feel the heat rise in his face, and got up, as he glanced at the smiling face in front of him. This was getting out of hand, how many times were they going to bump into each other? At this point, he might as well take out insurance against fender benders.

"Sorry, Tsukasa, I didn't see you," he mumbled scratching the back of his neck. How was he ever going to live this down?

"That's okay, I was looking for you..." he started before one of his friends called for his attention.

"Hey, Tsukasa! Coach wants us to meet on the field now. Are you coming?"

"I, er I...." he stuttered not sure what to say, suddenly feeling nervous under Noah's bright gaze. "I'll see you later then." He smiled before jogging off to his friend.

Noah had his mouth open as he watched Tsukasa disappear down the passage. He was looking for me? This changed things, but he couldn't let his heart get its way, he couldn't get excited about what could possibly happen. Tsukasa was a nice guy, that's all, nothing to read into what he'd said and anyway, he wasn't going to make a fool of himself over a hot guy. It was better to keep his distance.

"I saw you fall," Skye chuckled next to him, sparing him a glance before moving off.

"And you're still a jackass!" he called after him earning himself a few scandalous looks in the process.