Rowena Roman

Chapter 1 Noah: Part 1 (Edited)

England 2005

Noah Harland sat at the back of his classroom flipping through the comic book that he had bought and found that he was already tired of it. It was relatively cheap but it was mainly just a hobby of his to pass the time of long hours in school when there was nothing to do, something he enjoyed but was never fully committed to.

But there was another reason why he couldn't concentrate on the comic that he was reading. She was there, the girl that sat one seat ahead of him by the window.

Diana Rowena.

She held a striking beauty with black hair that stopped just past at the nape of her neck and ice blue eyes with such pale skin people could have sworn that she was ill, but with her partial athletic build and rather tall height of five foot seven told otherwise. She sat straight up in her chair reading a small book while remaining silent.

Diana never seemed to talk, not to anyone unless it was necessary, but when she did there was no interest in her voice, as if she didn't want to be there, though he never tried to speak with her, not once, ever since the seating arguments changed and he was the one who had the luck and misfortune of sitting behind her.

He glanced back and forth from his comic book to Diana's back a number of times before deciding mentally to just go for it and talk to her. What could the harm be in that?

Noah extended his hand to tap on the girl's shoulder only to find himself pulling back with second thoughts, maybe he shouldn't bother her, maybe she would get mad at him for making her lose the place in her book.

When drawing his hand back his elbow knocked an eraser off of his desk and near the girl's chair, at first it looked as if the girl didn't even notice it. Until she reached down, picked it up and without a word, and placed it back on his desk before returning to her book once more.

"Uh, thank you." he said to her but she gave no response back so then he asked. "What's the book your reading?"

She glanced at him over her shoulder saying nothing.

"I mean, you don't have to tell me it's cool." Noah stammered. "Really, I was just wondering that's all."

"Mythology," She said causing the boy to stiffen slightly from her sudden speaking. "It's a book on mythology."

"Oh... you mean like the Greek myths and stuff like that?"

"In a way yes, though it's of every kind of mythology. More specifically stories on immortality. Though as of yet I keep coming across the tales I already know."

Noah looked to the book then back at the girl. "Then why not look up immortality online? Wouldn't that be at all easier?"

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

She closed her book and now sat sideways in her chair before speaking. "You can make anything up on the internet and claim that it's true. I've seen it done so many times that I've given up on the whole thing, at least when it comes to certain things I'm looking for. Besides, I rather like books, I like how they feel and even the smell." She gave Noah a half lopsided smile, as if she wasn't sure how to smile at him. "Although people would probably find that weird since everyone is so into technology."

"I don't think that's strange." He said. "I mean everyone has their own preferences when it comes to research right? And you seem rather old-school, rather than going with the flow of everyone else."

She let out a slight laugh before the teacher came into the room, the girl then returned to her proper seating. "If only you knew..."

Noah sat in the courtyard underneath a tree; he kept replaying what Diana had said to him before class had started. He wanted to ask her what she meant but their teacher would have kicked him out of the class before he even got the question across.