As Time Passes By

Chapter One: The Beginning

As I slept soundly on my table, someone barged into the classroom unattended. I thought it was somebody who wanted to use our stinking bathroom, but no.

It was Ruby Jane Naess, Ru for short. my best friend, highly sassy. "Noelle Catalina Nichols! Wake up!" Ru exclaimed as she snatched the pillow out of my head.

"I don't want to play Barbies with you, Ru,"
"No! That's not what I was supposed to say! We have church choir! How could you forget such a practice?!"

I snapped back to reality. I did remembered, I knew it was today.
"Can I skip that?"
"Noelle! The school's director is handling everything! C'mon, let's just go!" Ru grabbed my hand and raced out the room. My brain was half awake. I couldn't even stay balanced for even just a second. As we reached the Chapel, the director awaited for us at the main entrance.

We were requested to hand over the IDs in order so we could enter. "Elle, I forgot my ID." Ru whispered as the director turned its back. "Ru, you gotta be kidding me," I replied. Just then, as the director checked my ID, a random dude entered the Chapel without his ID being checked. "Excuse me, young man. You better stop right now!" The director demanded. As the dude faced our direction,  I could not ignore how charming yet dangerous he looked. His dark brown eyes, his precious skin.

Everything looked so weirdly combined. I just went inside and ignored the situation. After a few minutes of waiting for Ru, she appeared out of thin air beside me. "What the hell?! How did you get here?! And why are you wearing a wig?!" I asked, my mind loading with questions. "Oh, dearie. You should really know how to copy and paste, you know? Do you act like someone else? Damn, that dumbass direc-"
"Ruby Jane Naess! This is the Royal Chapel, not a cursing club! You and Ms. Nichols, separate seats RIGHT NOW!" The professor commanded as he grabbed Ru out of the seat. A few minutes later, the seats were occupied by a few Grade VII students that I was introduced to before.

"Hey! Your Noelle, aren't you?"
It was Shaine Monde. I met her while me and Ru have a punishment by cleaning the toilets in the Grade VII's powder room. Shaine spilt teas about her life, and I listened with annoyance. Then the row went silent when the dude from earlier stepped in the row, sitting next to me.

"Shaine, who -" Mary Ann, also a Grade VII student, had covered my mouth, preventing me from talking any more words. I kept my mouth shut until I decided to read the pocketbook I had kept inside my blazer a few hours ago.

"Hey," my blood froze as I heard the dude starting a random conversation. I looked onto my right, Mary Ann and Shaine have kept their heads low as possible. My arms are trembling like crazy while I tried to focus reading the novel, when all of a damn sudden, my book came flying out of my hands all the way to the hall of the Royal Chapel.
I looked at the dude, my brownish eyes furious. "What exactly is the reason for making my book to have wings -"
"Books are for idiots, darling." He interrupted while he tucked my hair to my ear. My eyes caught his ID, Noah Armstrong.
It had read. I rested my hands to the arm of the chair and moved my face closer to his. "Listen up here, boy. I'm not a bunny, nor even a whore. So don't treat me like I'm your property." I snapped.
His eyes were deep brown, his lashes were precious just like his face. He laid a hand on my fingers, I could feel the softness of his palm, his appearance was perfect, but his attitude isn't. "Noah Armstrong" He raised his hand, desperate for a handshake. I looked back to his precious eyes, reading it carefully.
"Noelle Catalina Nichols." I shook his hand and took my other pocketbook out of my blazer. Noah stared at the book with annoyance as I opened the page. "Are you seriously taking this the hard way?" He asked. I could feel a game starting between me and him, I smirked as he finished his sentence. "If you could survive it, I'll play it with you." I shrugged, my eyes glued to the novel.

A few hours later, the choir ended. As I went out the Royal Chapel, rain had spilled from stone to stone, I had no umbrella, no jacket, no protection for the rain. I sighed hysterically while I looked at the other students bringing everything they needed for the rain, I was devastated. I had to return to my safe house early before Grandma comes to visit earlier than I do.
"Raining, is it?" Noah asked as he held my hand. I could feel the warmth of his fingers, my cheeks were turning hot like fire. "Yeah, and I can't just easily cross with this blazer not being wet. I would be killed by my cousins." I sighed, feeling useless. Just then, Noah took off his jacket and handed it to me.
"Take it."
"You gotta be serious?"
"Hell yeah, my mom is already here. So, just take it, you need it anyway"
"W-well, thank you. I will return this as soon as possible-"
"Keep it. It's not a big of a deal"
After that, he just went off without the jacket. I looked at the fabric with confusion, how can he just give it to me like that?
I went out of the gates and took a cab. The scent of the fabric was incredible, the scent of Noah was stronger than mine. As I stepped out of the cab, thankfully, my cousins, Giselle and Layla Nichols, were still the ones who were present in the house.

"Noelle! Finally, you made it!" Layla exclaimed excitedly. Just then, Giselle held the jacket I was wearing and felt its fabric. "Elle, the fabric is nice. But, you gotta take it off, or else Nama sees you," said Giselle. Yeah, I remembered. Nama, our grandmother, really hates non-fancy clothes or even materials she can see that looks rubbish. I quickly ran upstairs to my bedroom and changed the wardrobe to a fancy one.

A few minutes later, Nama had arrived. Giselle, Layla, and I had quickly stood up to greet her. As Giselle hugged Nama warmly, Noah's scent had stayed in my blazer. The scent was unstoppable, and my feelings were deeply confused:

Am I in love?