Golden

nine

Hazel Palmer couldn't believe her luck to be going on a date with Kilian Reyes, the Kilian Reyes, and she made it very obvious to everyone around her, including Noah who unfortunately shared his class with her.

"I'm gonna be so popular once I'm his girlfriend," she stated proudly. "He even started following me on Instagram this weekend. Did you see?"

Hazel, Noah, and a few other students were gathered around her desk after the teacher had assigned them to discuss a topic in groups.

"He's been following me for a while," another girl, Zahra, chimed in.

"But has he asked you on a date?" Hazel replied with a shrug.

Zahra rolled her eyes. "When's the date?"

"Well, we haven't agreed on anything yet. He just said he'd go out with me and gave me his number."

"You're so lucky," the third girl at their desk said, causing Noah and Zack, who completed the group, to snort.

"Who knew that's how girls think about our Ian," Zack mumbled with a grin, glancing at Hazel. "Sounds like they're only after him because of his popularity, though."

Hazel's face immediately took on a deep shade of red. "That's not true! Ian's really cute."

"I heard he's still not over his ex," Zahra said, glancing at her nails. "Gretchen Brexley."

"His friend Finn said Ian hasn't been-" Hazel was cut off by Noah who already knew what was coming.

"Do you want to actually discuss our assignment or keep gossiping?"

Zack cracked a bright grin. "He's right. Let's get this over with, as much as I enjoy listening to you girls."

Zahra rolled her eyes at him. "You're disgusting."

It was Tuesday, and there was no meeting for the student council since they had already discussed the results of the school's event day on Monday. Noah already had Ian's number since the guys had a groupchat together; however, he had never messaged him in private before. It felt weird opening the chat and staring at its blankness.

Noah contemplated whether he should even text Ian in the first place. School had ended half an hour ago, there were still a few hours left until dinner, and even though he had homework to do, Noah was bored out of his mind. He hadn't seen Ian since their meeting yesterday and they had barely talked then, and Noah knew he shouldn't, but he wanted to see him.

So he texted him, asking what he was doing.

Ian responded after a few minutes. "Why?"

"Because I asked?"

Ian was probably annoyed with Noah's answer because he took a few more minutes to respond.

"Keeping Finn from falling asleep, wby."

Noah let out a sigh. "Wanna do something?"

"Like what?"

"Idk."

This time, Ian started typing immediately, but it took him about two minutes to send his response. "Like teach me to swim?"

Noah stared at his screen in surprise. "You sure?"

"Yeah?"

"Meet you at the pool in 10."

*****

"I've changed my mind," Ian stated, but Noah stopped him from running back into the locker rooms.

"Come on, we've already changed and all. Don't back down now."