[TD NoCo] Not So Hidden Desires

[11] Meet-cute

First day of school. It's hard for some people. Easy for others. For Noah, it wasn't any different from any other day.

It was an escape from home, so no matter how bad it was, it would never be as bad as his home.

For others, they were excited to see their friends again. For Noah, he never had any friends to begin with.

Everyone was excitedly chatting and hugging while Noah sat at his desk.

There were some students who went passed him and said simple greetings like "oh, hi Noah." Or "Oh, Noah's here too."

Of course, some of these students have been going to the same school as Noah for years and they were just being nice.

Even if he said hi back, they just walked passed him to see their friends.

He didn't mind. It was his choice not to make friends after all.

Among the students he grew up with, there was also other students who had come from other schools which he didn't recognize.

After the teacher read through the syllabus and introduced some key subjects, they decided to randomly pair up the students to get to know each other.

Noah got paired up with someone named Cody.

"Hi! Wow, you're Noah? My friends got put in the other class! How lame is that??" He immediately complained.

Noah didn't really know what to say.

"What school did you come from?" Cody asked curiously.

Noah told him the name of his previous school.

"I heard that school was for smarties! Are you a genius, Noah?"

"That's not true. It just had extra rules for no reason." Noah corrected him.

Cody laughed a bit. "I wonder why everyone thought it was for smart kids only?"

"Probably because only lame kids went there." Noah said.

"You think so? I don't think you're lame though."

"You don't?"

"No! I think you look good and have a good sense of style. It's a little nerdy... but, just look at me!" Cody said in his Mario t-shirt.

Noah couldn't help but smile at it like yeah it is pretty nerdy.

"Plus, when our names were announced together, this girl next to me said 'lucky'."

"Huh? Who said that?" Noah wondered.

"That girl with the orange hair." He pointed.

"Oh... she just- likes to make other people do all the work."

Cody laughed a bit. "So you are smart!"

"I mean- my grades are pretty good..." Noah said awkwardly.

"See? Smart. My grades are shit."

Noah was a bit surprised to hear that.

"Oh, sorry..."

"No, I don't care. You just don't look like the type."

"Yeah, that's what everyone says... but it's hard not to say words like that when you hear them all the time, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"Anyway, which ones are your friends?"

For some reason, Noah felt like he couldn't be honest. "They're... in the other class."

"Just like me!" He smiled.

Noah looked at him for a bit.

He just realized that this was the most he's ever spoken to anyone before.

But it was gonna be over soon, so he wasn't gonna think about it too much.

Soon, the bell rung.

"Lunch!! I'm starving!!" Cody said excitedly before running out.

Noah made his way to the cafeteria. He wasn't planning on eating since his parents never give him money anyway. But he still likes to get an early start on his homework.

He sat down by himself and started with his homework.

Not long after, Cody appeared. "Hey... you're not gonna eat?"

"Um, no... not hungry."

But to his luck, his stomach growled right after that.

Cody stared at him for a bit.

Noah looked away awkwardly.

Cody placed his lunch down on the table and passed it to Noah.

Noah looked at him in surprise.

Cody smiled at him. "This is my favourite, so I hope you like it!"

"What? But-"

"There you are, Cody! Gosh! We're gonna be late to our WoW tournament!"

"Oh, yeah! Let's go! Bye, Noah!"

Noah watched him leave and then stared at the food.

His cheeks burned up.

Meanwhile, Cody's cheeks were doing the same thing as he walked with his friends to the computer lab.