Leuthold Preparatory | ✓

Chapter Nine

The Bottle 

By the time he reached the castle, Noah was exhausted again. It was easy from the north-side of the castle to spot the botanical gardens and for him to fumble inside. He didn't speak to anyone that looked at him even for a moment as he went out into the hallway and towards the foyer, his eyes easily found Mi Na and Hanna as they stood at the top of them, they talked with two other girls.

There were a lot of students in the foyer that went every-which-way and Noah wanted to avoid them all. He went back the way he came, ducked into a different and emptier hallway and settled down. His head and heart were hammering with such violence he wanted nothing more than to lie down on the first bench he found and sleep. Maybe he could get back to his dorm, he thought before the thought slowly died at the idea of getting his third penalty from Ms. Rae if she caught him.

Before Noah could think further, the sound of bells began to ring over his head. Noah looked at the ceiling and around, he saw the students go by him in their yellow ties and into different classrooms, the hum of them all slowly vanished as the bells sounded. He tried to think if he had heard them the day before, he could hardly remember it had all gone by so quickly. 

"When classes change is a good time to get lost."

Mi Na's voice startled Noah from down the hall. He had thought she hadn't seen him watch her. Mi Na had her arms over her chest, she rocked a bit in her loafers as she looked beyond him to the window before she moved down the hall and sat on the bench across from him.

"Should we get to class then?" Noah asked.

"We don't have class," Mi Na reminded him.

Noah gave a long and tired sigh before he dropped his elbows on his knees and held his face in his hands.

"Long first two days?" Mi Na asked.

Noah nodded.

There was a long pause and Noah could hear that Mi Na was making some kind of noise, it got to the point that he looked up and saw her nervously picking at her teeth, her eyes turned away, fixated on the bust that was partially illuminated by the sun. Even Noah knew that her posture held something that she wanted to say, that thoughts ran ramped in her mind. 

"What?" Noah asked.

Mi Na dropped her hand and resumed her normal posture, Noah thought for a moment that he had surprised her.

"Just, uh, you know," Mi Na rolled her hand, before she sighed heavily and dropped her head. "Sorry," she said, her voice more forceful than it needed to be.

"Sorry?" Noah asked.

"For what happened at breakfast."

"Oh."

"Hannil ever catch up with you?" Mi Na asked.

Noah wished that she hadn't asked, he felt his shoulders slump before he could catch them. He could feel the ticket that had fallen beside him without touching it, he didn't want to look at it.

"I might have, um," Noah wiped his palms that had suddenly become sweaty on his thighs as he looked away from her.

"What?" Mi Na asked.

"Well, it was his fault!" Noah defended.

"What?" Her tone was different this time, she looked puzzled and Noah wished he could walk away from people. He wished he could his entire life, he never felt he had the strength to tell people to go away when he needed them to do just that. 

Noah nervously moved in his seat, his stammering started when he tried to think of a way to explain what had happened. He didn't know where to begin or really what even happened, he remembered his anger and his rage, the surprised look on Hannil's face.