be gentle with your hands as they search for one to hold.
be kinder to your heart as it looks for someone to love

"Maybe try to raise your chin a little higher," Noelle instructed, tapping the bottom of her chin. She turned it upward as she raised her arms, gracefully moving across the concrete in twirls.

Having observed the dark-haired girl, Sarah nodded before following her lead. She lifted her chin just as Noelle had, following each and every twirl that Noelle had done moments prior.

Noelle smiled, bobbing her head along to the soft music from the boombox. After Sarah finished her twirls, Noelle did the same move - just more passionate than before. She felt the music, getting way too into it as her body moved and bent in the direction she needed it to go.

"Seriously, how are you so good at this?" Sarah asked after Noelle stopped dancing. "Like, you make it look so easy."

Noelle shrugged, taking a long sip out of her water bottle before responding. "I'm not that good."

"You really are," Sarah argued.

"I've just been doing it for a long time, so some things are easier than others." Noelle sat on one of the patio chairs.

"I've been doing it just as long as you, Noelle, and I can't perfect the moves you do." Sarah copied her actions. "It's more than just routine for you, it's basically in your bones."

"It's my passion," Noelle responded.

Sarah smiled, knowing the other girl meant every word. She could tell just by watching Noelle during practices that dancing meant a lot to the girl, and she didn't know why. She didn't bother to ask, either, because she felt it might be too personal of a question to ask. They were friends but weren't that close to where she could openly ask questions like that.

"It's obvious, and I don't mean that in a bad way." Sarah took a drink of her water, "You'll have to let me know where you buy your shoes from, they're much better quality than the ones I own."

"I can send it to you now," Noelle told the other girl. She pulled her phone from her bag and found the link to the website she ordered it from. After sending the link to Sarah, she put her phone away again. "Are you sure you're fine practicing still? I know we did quite the practice earlier, I don't want to bore you with it."

"Anything's better than what I usually do all day." Sarah sighed, leaning back in the chair she sat in. "I don't mind dancing, although I don't have nearly the same amount of energy you have."

"Well we can do something else," Noelle suggested. "There's lots to do if you look hard enough."

Sarah smiled, looking around. "The pool looks warm."

"True," Noelle agreed. Just as she was about to say something else, the sound of the back patio doors opening caught her attention.

She glanced over to see her mother standing in the doorway, with two figures she couldn't make out behind her.

"Hi sweetie," Danielle spoke softly, smiling at her daughter. "Sorry to interrupt, you've got more guests."

Noelle's brows furrowed in confusion, unsure of who could possibly be there for her. The only other person she could think that it'd be was Corey, as Dahlia never came over unannounced.

She didn't have very many friends and the little friends she did have usually asked before coming over, which was rare.

"Okay," Noelle responded, realizing she hadn't said anything.

Danielle stepped out and to the side, revealing who had come over. Noelle was quick to notice Rafe Cameron, along with his best friend and Sarah's new boyfriend, Topper Thornton.

They weren't actually there for Noelle, and she knew this. So she just pulled her cover-up closer to her body as Sarah stood from her chair. She looked confused and shocked but greeted Topper nonetheless as they walked closer to the patio chairs the girls had been sitting in as Danielle retreated back into the big house.

Sarah and Noelle had become friends shortly after Sarah had approached her in the studio. This led to a fast-blossoming friendship, one both girls adored more than anything. They had a lot in common, yet hadn't gotten to the point of revealing their deepest darkest secrets to each other just yet.

Around this time, Sarah had begun dating Topper. He was a boy Noelle had seen around every once in a while, yet never really talked to despite the both of them being Kooks. He also hung out with Rafe Cameron all the time, Sarah's oldest brother.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sarah asked as she looked between Rafe and Topper. She'd asked the question that had been running through Noelle's mind, something Noelle never would've bothered to actually ask out loud.

"I wanted to see you," Topper told his girlfriend, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Sam said you were here."

"Just practicing, I could've called after." Sarah walked back to her spot next to Noelle, "We were having girl time."

"Well, what were you doing for girl time?" Topper asked, following her footsteps. He sat down on the same patio chair she sat on, glancing between the two.

"The whole point of girl time is just... girls?" Sarah spoke, making it sound as if it were a question. "Besides, you can't really just invite yourselves to Noelle's house."

"Can we be here?" Topper asked, looking at the dark-haired girl.

"Um," Noelle stopped, glancing between Sarah and Topper.

Sarah scoffed as she rolled her eyes, "You can say no."

"It's not a big deal, I guess," Noelle mumbled anyway, despite Sarah telling her she could say otherwise.

"Great!" Topper exclaimed. He then looked at Rafe, who still awkwardly stood between Noelle's chair in the pool. "Come on, sit down, Rafe. We're having girl time."

Rafe rolled his eyes but listened anyway, walking closer to the chairs. "You're unbelievable."

Sarah began to mumble to Topper, something Noelle didn't bother to listen to. It wasn't any of her business anyway, and the last thing she needed was to get caught listening to something she shouldn't have been.

"Mind if I sit here?" A voice asked from her side. She looked to see Rafe pointing at the edge of her chair, where her feet sat.

Noelle looked at her feet before back at the couple in the other chair. Quickly shaking her head, she pulled her feet to her body to give Rafe enough room to sit.

Rafe sat down quickly, the chair making an odd creaking noise as the weight added to it caused it to dip down slightly.

It was awkward, and Noelle was beginning to scold herself for being such a people-pleaser. If she had said no, the boys would've left and she could go back to whatever she was doing with Sarah. Instead, they were sitting here in silence as Sarah and Topper talked about whatever Sarah said.

"So, you do ballet with Sarah?" Rafe asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Noelle didn't talk to Rafe. She hadn't really even known his name until she officially began to talk to Sarah, which said a lot considering they'd all lived near each other for quite some time. Sure, she'd seen him around but never really paid enough attention to care.

She knew part of what he was like, but it was only by whispers and talk of the town. She heard very little from Sarah, who didn't talk about her family as much, and Noelle being Noelle, didn't complain or mind. This meant Rafe was a mystery to her, which was odd considering everyone seemed to know everything about him.

"Yes," Noelle finally answered, having realized she left him without a response. She locked her fingers together around her legs, resting her chin on the top of her knee.

"That's... cool," Rafe awkwardly spoke, looking down at his legs. "Sarah doesn't really like it."

"Rafe!" Sarah complained, having heard his comment. "I do too."

"No you don't," He scoffed with a laugh. Sarah didn't respond, earning another look from him. "Seriously, Sarah, just before Noelle came over the first time you were asking dad if you could stop attending. That it was full of prissy Kooks who thought they were better than everyone else."

Sarah glanced between Rafe and Noelle, a look of shock covering her features. "What? I mean- no." She immediately denied.

Noelle's cheeks turned pink. This was a very awkward encounter, and it was beginning to get to the point where she wished there were no guests at her house at all.

"Don't listen to him, Noelle." Topper then spoke up, saving his girlfriend from further embarrassment. "Rafe's always like this."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rafe asked, his brows pushing together in confusion.

Topper smiled, "Whatever way you take it, man."

"That sounded gross," Sarah mumbled.

"You're gross for thinking like that." Rafe immediately shot.

"Anyways!" Sarah then exclaimed. She shoved Topper's arm off of her and leaned forward toward Noelle. "We should do as we were planning before they interrupted."

"What?" Noelle asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"What were you planning on doing?" Topper asked, looking between them.

"Swimming," Sarah spoke happily. She stood from her spot and took her cover-up off, kicking her sandals off as well.

Noelle just watched, not bothering to move from her spot. Topper glanced between Rafe and Sarah a few times before speaking.

"I wanna swim."

"You didn't bring a bathing suit, did you?" Sarah asked, resting her hands on her hips. Topper shook his head, and she tsked him before responding. "Then looks like you're out of luck because I don't think Mr. and Mrs. Bridgeman would appreciate a boy swimming in their pool in his boxers, would they?" She then looked back at Noelle, a smile on her face. "We might be getting our girls' day after all."

"Come on, Sarah. I doubt they'll notice if we're in the pool." Topper stood from his spot, looking down at her.

She sighed, looking at Noelle before back at Topper. "It's up to Elle."

Topper then looked at Noelle, who silently scolded Sarah for putting the pressure on her. She glanced between the two before glancing over at Rafe, who watched silently from his spot next to her.

"It should be fine," Noelle softly said. They'd be too busy to notice anyway, they'd probably just glance out every once in a while and see the four of them outside and go on about their business.

That's how it always went. They always just made sure to check in on her and make sure she was still there, then they'd continue with the busy lives they had.

Topper smiled big, looking back at Sarah. She rolled her eyes with a smile, showing she wasn't that bothered by him or his presence. "Yeah, okay, fine." She told him, waving a hand. "Do whatever, I'm getting in now."

Noelle watched as Sarah passed Topper, taking no time to jump in the pool. Topper was quick to follow, stripping off all of his clothes minus his boxers. Her eyes averted when Topper began to undress, not wanting to seem as if she were watching him.

"You getting in?" Rafe asked as soon as Topper jumped in the pool.

"I don't know," Noelle mumbled.

"It's pretty warm outside, perfect day to swim." Rafe continued.

Noelle shrugged, not knowing what to say. She didn't really ever swim around other people unless it was her close friends. And there was something about both Topper and Rafe that made her feel self-conscious, but she didn't know what exactly.

How was she supposed to say that? She didn't want to be rude, but she felt awkward despite already having been in a bathing suit before they showed up.

"Elle, come on!" Sarah shouted from the water, giggling as Topper splashed her.

Noelle watched before glancing back at Rafe. He had a puzzled look on his features but didn't press her to get in the water.

"Elle is your nickname I take it?" He asked.

"To some, yeah." She nodded.

"It's nice. Suits you." He nodded, "Well, I'm getting in the water. No offense, but I wasn't really thrilled about coming over. I'd much rather be doing something else with the boys, but Topper was pretty insistent on coming."

"If you really didn't want to come over you didn't have to. You could've let Topper come on his own," Noelle said without thinking, nodding her head in the other boy's direction.

"Right," Rafe smiled a small smile. He hadn't expected the sassy response from Noelle, having barely spoken to her up until now. "Well then maybe I was just a little bit interested after I heard it was here we were coming."

It was a flirt, and although Noelle was a little dumb when it came to social queues - she understood that perfectly. However, she took no offense to it and didn't give in, considering she'd known about the reputation he had.

Instead of responding, Noelle stood up. Truthfully, she was both pained and tired of Rafe's poor attempt to communicate with her. She didn't know why he was trying so hard to seem nice, and although she appreciated it since she knew how mean he could be, she felt awkward and wanted nothing more for the awkwardness to go away.

She brushed off the black cover-up she wore over her bathing suit and pulled the hair tie from her hair. After throwing them on the patio chair she previously sat, she didn't bother to spare Rafe another glance before walking over to the pool where Topper and Sarah were.

"Finally!" Sarah exclaimed as she saw the girl approach.

"Sorry, I wasn't ready to get in yet but I am now," Noelle spoke. She sat on the ledge of the pool before sliding in completely, the water nice and cool on her skin.

"We should do something tonight," Topper told Sarah, "I don't know, watch a movie or something."

Noelle felt awkward. She mainly got in the pool to avoid an awkward conversation with Rafe, but now it seemed she was just third-wheeling. She didn't know which was worse, but before she could even begin to get lost in her own thoughts, the sound of someone swimming up next to her brought her back to reality.

She looked over to see Rafe had joined them. He kept himself above the water as he said something to Topper, something Noelle didn't bother to listen to. Topper responded, sparking a conversation between the siblings and Topper.

Noelle was left out, as she usually was. She didn't mind, though, as she'd rather blend in with the background than the three swimming around her.

She wanted to be invisible, just as she'd always been and would probably always be.

++

Hey! Hope you enjoyed.

Couple disclaimers:

1. If you couldn't tell, this is before anything in the first season happens. Therefore this is before all the powerlines and such are out.

2. I'm altering some personalities and relationships between characters in the show to fit my own storyline (ex. Rafe and Sarah). Not that anyone would, but that way if you're questioning why they're 'close', it's literally just because I'm doing it that way on purpose lol.