NOEL SLIPPED on a large oversized stripy polo shirt and tattered baggy jeans to complete his look for the day. He squeezed his curl mousse into his hair, and threw on his black backpack haphazardly.

Noel couldn't pinpoint what it was but he felt different. He liked the clothes he was wearing because they were clothes he's always wanted to wear but had never had the balls to do so.

Yesterday he had came back late in the night, he wasn't sure of the exact time, but he knew the clouds had been dyed an inky black and when he got back everybody was asleep.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Noel fumbled down the stairs, half asleep and half awake. Cheryl was sitting on the living room couch, taking part in an elaborate phone call that shouldn't really be happening at seven a.m. Ron was nowhere in sight, which made Noel involuntarily sigh in relief. His mom however was stuffing a toasted waffle in her mouth while slipping her work bag on her shoulders swiftly.

"Mom?"

"What is it Noel, I have to go to work." Kim's voice was clipped and firm, she still wasn't happy with Noel and she wasn't sure when she would be.

"I-I- I-" Noel didn't know where to start, he had so much to say that he didn't know he could talk about it this morning when he had to go to school. "Are you still mad at me?" Noel chose to say instead, but he regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth.

"What do you think?" Kim snuffed the last of her waffle. Turning to look at Noel's face which was still shockingly not hidden in those dust ridden hoodies. "I'm trying to make this all work, and you said it was okay. Not once did you say that it wasn't okay but your words are empty and your actions are contradictory. What am I supposed to do Noel? How am I supposed to feel?"

"But I am trying, I'm not wearing my hoodies anymore, a-and I'm going out with my friends..."

"Seriously! What type of friends are you making that your getting into fights and coming home late, and I know you came home late yesterday, I'm not stupid." Kim ran her hands through her black hair, which was not in its usual tight ponytail, but fell in smooth waves across her face. She was definitely going to be late to work today. "I want this family to work."

"They're not my family! Ron is a random man you met at the supermarket and Cheryl is his crazy daughter. I don't know them! I don't think you do either." Noel felt his throat burning with the venom he unintentionally spit out, there was so much he could expose at that moment but Cheryl had ended her phone call and had mysteriously appeared at Kim's side, her thin spindly fingers patting Kim's shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't you want me to be happy Noel?" Noel's mom shot an appreciative smile at Cheryl before looking back at Noel. "Don't you want to be happy?"

"They don't make me happy mom. They're the reason for my unhappiness."

"What have they done! What could they have possibly done to you?" Noel was stunned into silence, Noel knew exactly what they had done to him, but his words were sticking at his throat, and his hands were burning up, and the new pimple that had appeared on his chin was throbbing so badly.

Cheryl simpered closer to Kim, wrapping an arm around her and whispering into her ear. Kim shot a wan smile at her, the light that once burned bright in her eyes now fading. "If this family doesn't make you happy, maybe you should find a new one." Kim's voice was steady and clear, it wasn't too loud, it wasn't too quiet, it was the perfect pace and tone. Her face gave nothing away, she glanced at Noel, before settling her bag in place once more.

"Hey Cheryl, I'll be coming home a little later since I have to make up for the time I was late, but Ron should be home." Kim effectively ignored Noel, focusing all her attention on the sweet red headed cheerleader.

"That's okay, I have cheer practice anyway."

Kim then left, Cheryl on her heels not too long after (not without giving Noel an unnecessary sneer).

Maybe you should find a new one.

Noel knew exactly what she meant.

________________

School was the last place Noel wanted to be right now. He couldn't ignore people's obvious gawping at his bare acne ridden face. He figured they would have gotten over it by now, but his name was still swimming through people's lips.

He had went to meet May and Bethany at there locker, ready to indulge in there pointless babble, when he was approached by a swarm of bubbly cheerleaders.

May nudged Bethany in the stomach, as if she couldn't see it happening in front of her eyes.

"Hey Noel." One of them piped up, her lips were stretched into a smile yet it didn't reach her eyes, it felt disingenuous, superficial, fake. Noel opted for a lukewarm nod, unknowingly shifting his body closer to May and Bethany, who had got the memo and flanked him at both sides.

"Kiana here likes you!" The group burst into a spatter of giggles as Kiana, a girl with soft brown curly hair and doe eyes, began to blush quietly to herself. She tilted her head downwards so her curls formed a blanket around her face. "Guys, stop." She whispered, but she may well have been talking to herself.

Noel wondered why on earth a girl as pretty as Kiana, heck, any girl would look at him in an intimate way, he couldn't even look in the mirror without cringing (and occasionally smashing it into pieces.)

"Is this true?" Bethany regarded the group with distaste, eighty percent of them were snakes according to her quota.

"Why you getting salty for? Just because nobody would ever have a crush on someone like you." A cheerleader with stark blonde hair (that was obviously box dye) piped up, her tone was snarky and sneaky and her band of witches broke into childish giggles once more, even though her statement wasn't funny in the slightest.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well that you're a ni-"

"Say it! I dare you!" Bethany was all ready to lunge for the blonde witch if it wasn't for May holding her back.

"Look, we're going to leave." May spoke up firmly, her concern was for Bethany and Bethany alone, she couldn't care less about that stupid cheerleaders' crush for Noel, she suspected the same for Noel, but she couldn't gauge his reaction as his face was blank, albeit a little shocked.

"I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no idea why you decided to approach my friends just for the sheer reason of being nasty. I doubt being evil to others makes you happy, but if it does, keep it in your head, not around me or my friends." Noel's voice was strong and clear, he had unknowingly grabbed onto Bethany's hand and was rubbing small circles on her palm in a bid to calm her down, he could see her face twist into a subtle frown and he knew what they said (or what they were about to say) did hurt.

With that they turned around from the gaggle of witches and made there way onto the field.

________

"Thank you Noel." Bethany's voice was quieter than usual, and lacked her usual frank tone. She was sitting flopped on the grass, her hands picking at the grass till it fell away from her hands. May regarded her with concern but said nothing, the three of them falling into a comfortable silence.

"It's hard being the only black girl." Bethany suddenly broke out, her voice was soft and sincere, but almost challenging too.

"What do you mean...Myron is black." May piped up, her lithe face twisted into a confused frown.

"No. He's mixed race, that's different. He's practically white, everybody's practically white."

"I'm half Japanese." Noel spoke quietly, he hadn't realized he even said it out loud.

"Seriously?...I kind of hate you less." Bethany responded untactfully.

"Hey! What about me! I'm fully white!"

"No May, you're a different freaking breed."

The three of them burst into a slaught of unsavoury laughter, the suns bathing there smiles heartily.

May then turned to look at Bethany, her expression changing into one that was more serious. "Seriously though Beth, is it actually hard?"

Bethany let out a large sigh before speaking, rubbing at her chocolate eyes slightly before parting her lips. "Where I lived before it was super multicultural, you know? Everybody hung out with everyone, I never felt like my skin colour was something that I had to worry about or even think about. Then I moved here and I just felt...on the outside...people were so aware of me and my skin colour. Like for example I'd go to a restaurant in town with my family and everyone's always looking at us like they've never seen a black person before..." Bethany let out a dry chuckle, shielding her hand to block the glaring sun. "It wasn't until I met May that I finally felt normal. It's so hard to explain...you have to live it, if that makes sense..." Bethany mumbled the last part, her voice drifting off into nothingness, the golden sun illuminating her skin so it looked like it glowed. "You learn to get used to it. To adapt, to accept, to ignore it. Just sometimes...it can be hard to do so..."

May shuffled herself closer to Bethany, flopping herself onto the grass so there fingertips touched slightly. She turned her face to meet Bethany's that there noses were almost grazing each other's.

"If it helps, I think that there are so many people who'd want to have a crush on you...I t-t-think your beautiful."

Noel felt like he shouldn't be here because he felt as if he was disrupting the tension that was sizzling through the both of them, still, he couldn't help but watch silently as Bethany smiled back at May, before placing a feather light kiss on her lips that he wasn't even sure it happened at all.

"I think your beautiful too."