A Boy Called Noah

Chapter Ten

Noah James

After collecting his tray of cafeteria food, Noah scans the loud and crowded room. Spotting her familiar purple hair he walks towards Lekia's empty table. Her head is down as she listens to loud music. Noah sits down in a not-so-subtle way and Lekia's head immediately snaps up. She narrows her eyes and asks without removing her earphones, "What are you doing?!" Noah shrugs with a mouth full of sandwich, "Sitting." Lekia rolls her eyes annoyed, "I can see that. Why are you sitting here?" "Because I want to. It's a free country and I get to decide where I sit." Lekia grumbles something inaudible under her breath.

Suddenly the chair next to Noah gets dragged out and Adam sits down with Marcella following suite. "Hey, Noah. I see you've got a new friend." Adam sticks his hand over the table to Lekia, "Adam Preston." She looks between his outstretched hand and his face and rolls her eyes. She looks down at her phone and ignores his surprised face. Marcella snorts and says, "Talk about the cold shoulder." Adam pouts and stares at Noah with puppy dog eyes, "Why's she so mean to me?" Noah laughs and playfully rolls his eyes, "She's like that to everyone. Don't take it personally." Adam raises an eyebrow, "Why are we here then?" Marcella hits her boyfriend on his shoulder. "Ow! What was that for? I really just wanna know." Marcella rolls her eyes, "Don't be rude. She's probably just not used to having people around." Adam huffs, "That doesn't give her the right to be cold to us or in this case, completely ignore our existence."

Noah rolls his eyes at his friends and turns to face Lekia whose head is still lowered to her phone screen. "Lekia." Poke. "Lekia." Poke. "Leki-" "What! What! What?!" "Hey." Lekia scowls at Noah and mutters the first word that comes to mind, "Idiot." "That he is." Marcella agrees from the side. Lekia looks wide eyed at Marcella as Noah feigns hurt by holding a hand over his heart. "She's right. He's a total idiot but we love him." Noah thumps Adam's forehead with his index finger, "Don't be stupid. You don't have to mooch off of Marcella's thoughts just for Kia to like you." "Kia?" "I know I don't have to 'mooch' off of someone else's thoughts for her to like me." "Hello? Do have any say in this?" Marcella smiles sympathetically at Lekia, "Sorry about them. I wish I could say that they're not always like this but I really don't want to lie to you. I have a feeling that we're gonna be good friends." Lekia smiles the smallest of smiles and turns to face the bickering boys again. "She's probably not even into guys like you, Noah. You're probably just wasting your time." Noah full on glares at Adam, "That's not what I want. I just want to be friends." "Yeah right. I know you Noah James, I've known you since diapers. You aren't just friends with someone, you always have some sort of hidden intention." "Not with her. I really just want to be friends with her. Nothing more. Nothing less." "Right." Adam rolls his eyes and turns away, successfully ending the argument. "Asshole." "Would you two stop?!" Marcella suddenly snaps, "You're like two five year olds. God. Grow up! Come on, Lekia. We've got better places to be and better things to do." Marcella successfully pulls Lekia up and out of her seat and the two make their way out of the cafeteria.

"Look, man, I'm really sorry about what I said. You know I didn't mean it. I know you never meant anything bad with Lekia. I was just a little hurt that she was being so cold to me. And seemed more relaxed with you." Noah smiles at Adam, "I know, man. You never actually mean any harm and give her some time, she'll warm up to you eventually." Adam reluctantly sighs and nods his head dejectedly, "Yeah, okay." The bell rings and Noah pats his friend's shoulder, "Come on man. Just two more periods." Adam groans, "Ugh, yeah but it's PreCalc  and Chemistry. The most useless classes ever." Noah laughs and pats his friend reassuringly. "Can't argue with you there, bro." Both boys rise and throw away the rest of their food. Adam sighs deeply and his shoulders slump as they make their way to their PreCalc classroom.

***

"Oh my soul. I think my brain has melted." Adam groans as he and Noah exit the Chemistry lab. Noah laughs and nudges his friend forward when he spots Marcella and Lekia walking toward Marcella's locker, "Go talk to her. I'll see you at practice." Adam nods and starts walking towards Marcella who quickly says goodbye to Lekia as she notices Adam, "I'll see you tomorrow, Lekia." Lekia also notices Adam and nods her head, "Sure. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Adam." Adam nearly does a double-take and waves at Lekia, "Bye."

***

Adam and Noah slump down in Noah's car after their long and hard practice. Coach had been extra hard on them today because of the oncoming game. "Ugh, I swear Coach hates us." Noah laughs at his friend. "Not gonna argue." Adam groans and moves to rest his head against the window, "Just drive, bro. I just wanna go home." Noah laughs and starts their journey to his friend's childhood home. "Don't worry, man. We're almost there."