Circles

Chapter III

The following days, Alister tried to distance himself from Noah, as he had decided. When they came home from school, they took separate paths, and although Alister noticed that in the first few days, Noah had waited for him after school and stared at him insistently during recess without daring to approach, he didn't give it much thought and simply ignored him. After that, he would retreat to his room, do his homework, or take care of some household chores until his father came home, making sure that the boy didn't have many opportunities to talk to him, as he had anticipated what could happen.

At first, Noah seemed confused by the change in attitude and awkwardly tried to approach him, showing him some drawings or saying something unimportant, but Alister's lack of reaction seemed to confuse him even more. Despite his appearance, he quickly picked up on the hint and after a few days, he stayed away completely. Alister would see him wandering alone during recess, sitting on the swings or drawing under the shade of a tree. As before, nobody seemed to care.

A week later, when Alister had almost forgotten about the matter, Noah appeared at the door of his room.

"What do you want?" he asked brusquely.

The boy seemed surprised by his tone of voice, but still approached a little closer to him and left some candies with silver and yellow wrappers on his bed.

"The lady at the store said to share these with my brother. I had forgotten."

"Oh. Okay." Alister lay back on his bed, focusing on what he was reading.

Noah seemed to hesitate for a while before speaking again.

"You... perhaps you're mad at me because I forgot?"

Alister looked at him.

"Why would I be mad? They're just candies."

"Oh... right."

Alister couldn't stop looking at him. His hair was messy, and his clothes were somewhat dirty. It seemed like they had bullied him again.

"Is that all?"

"I-I was wondering... did I... do something wrong?"

"No," he smiled as usual. "Can you leave now? I'm trying to study."

"Are you mad?"

"No..."

"Then why...?"

He hadn't seen that coming. Noah was angry. Alister had always been good at categorizing people in his mind, and he knew what reactions to expect, but he had noticed that Noah didn't fit that pattern. His reactions were often radical and impulsive, and this was the second time that Alister was left unsure how to respond to something he did. He had expected him to be sad, even cry, and look for him like a small child would... but not to get angry.

"Go away," he smiled with some tension.

"No. Why don't you tell me you're mad? If I did something wrong..."

"You didn't do anything. I just don't want to be with you. You're annoying."

After his words, Alister saw Noah's face contort with sadness. He was on the verge of tears, yes, but his fists were tightly clenched, so Alister guessed that he was trying to control his anger.

"Is it because of what I told you about my friend?" he asked with a sudden change, and gripping his shirt nervously. "You said you wouldn't get mad..."

"No. I don't care about what you did. It has nothing to do with me."

"But you said you wanted to help me." Noah clenched his fists again, dangerously, and Alister remembered how he had pounced on him the day they met: without warning and without considering the situation.