NOEL WASN'T exactly sure what time it was, what he did know was the sky was stained a menacing black and the creamy fullness of the moon was taunting him silently. He had slipped from Myron's car with the stealth of a criminal, turning back to shoot the black clad boy a wan smile before entering his house.

Noel breathed a silent sigh of relief at the quiet of his home, the lights were off in every room, bathing his surroundings in much needed serenity. He maneuvered his way onto the couch, falling into the pillows swiftly.

"You're home."

Noel turned to look at Ron's looming presence, his face was twisted into his regular sadistic smirk, his eyes steely and cold as he joined Noel on the couch.

"You're mom was worried. I wasn't." Ron was shifting closer to Noel, the scent of cheap beer and his mom's chicken pasta lingering on his breath. A cold realization swept through Noel's chest as it occurred to him just how little he knew about Ron.

He was practically a stranger.

"Do you remember what I said to you, if you ever did this again?" His presence shifted closer to Noel, his teeth baring garishly, his green pondwater eyes unpeeling Noel's meek frame.

"Didn't I warn you?"

His large calloused hand grabbed onto Noel's wrist, the ring on his middle finger scraped at his flesh as he pressed it further into Noel's wrist.

"D-d-don't touch me." Noel's words may as well have fallen on deaf ears. Yet Ron slowly unlatched his hand from Noel's wrist, the menacing smile still etched on his face.

"I always get what I want, I don't care how it happens. It'd be easier if you just complied then it won't be done the hard way."

Noel had no idea what Ron was saying, yet at the same time he understood exactly what he meant.

He breathed a silent sigh of relief as Ron moved away from the couch, just before he began to walk up the stairs he looked Noel dead straight in the face, his expression now morphed into an ugly snarl.

"Your face looks disgusting."

His words were abrupt, cold, strange, out of context, yet Noel felt his heart plummet down to his chest, the high that he had experienced before having been withered away completely to a past cherished memory.

This was Noel's reality.

With that, he heard Ron's retreating footsteps, the padding of his large feet slapping against the wood stair case, and his final words reverberating around his brain like tainted poison.

Happy Birthday to me.

_______________

"Have you heard?"

"What?"

The lunch table was strangely emptier today, Bethany and Dylan noticeably absent. May was sitting there rather despondently, her frame weaker and meek, a stark contrast to her bubbly complacent personality. She picked at the mysterious meat loaf in front of her, meeting Noel's eyes every now and again, smiling to herself as she saw he was wearing some of the clothes they bought that day. "Have you heard-" May repeated, halting her words as she figured how she was going to word her question. "Cheryl's dating Todd Stevenson."

"What! I thought she was with Myron?"

"Look." May pointed to Cheryl's flowery disposition, her long slender arms were wrapped around a tall boy with wood cutter brown hair, a shit eating grin armed on his face as he surveyed her presence leaning into his own.

Todd Stevenson was a senior who played football. That was all Noel knew about the brown haired boy, yet he couldn't help but feel something was missing.

"Where's Myron? When did this happen?"

"I think the weekend. Apparently they hooked up at a party."

"What about Myron?"

"Why do you keep on badgering me about Myron?"

"Was he cheated on."

"I don't have all the details."

Noel nodded to himself quietly before looking at May, really looking at May. At her recently dyed black hair and alarmingly new smokey makeup and at the new backpack on her feet sporting the words 'QUIET IS VIOLENT'. She was changing, albeit quietly, but she was still changing. "Are you okay May?"

May shook her head no, the bracelets on her wrists twinkling softly. "Bethany isn't talking to me."

"Oh, why?"

"We had another fight, she said some things, I said some things, and then she said I'll think it's better if we have some space from each other."

"What spurred this?"

"I guess, we both wanted different things from each other, we both can't fulfill that, so our friendship can't work anymore."

Noel noted on how vague and fragmented May's words were, on how her voice choked slightly and how her eyes watered slightly. To Noel, they seemed like such good friends, he can't imagine ever wanting to lose a connection like they had.

"Do you still want to be friends?"

"Yeah."

"Fight for your friendship if it meant something important to you, it's going to be hard to find another friendship like the one you and Bethany had, if she isn't willing then you can move on." May shot a shy smile at Noel.

"You're such a good person Noel, no matter all the crap people threw at you, you remained good."

"Well...I had a bit of help along the way..." They both exchanged shy bashful smiles, the conversation turning into something lighter and on the surface, the smell of expired meatloaf turning into unnecessary background noise. And at that moment May knew, even if she didn't have Bethany, she had Noel.

______________

Myron was standing outside of his school by his car again, his eyes searching through the throng of teenagers seeping out of the school doors, until his eyes matched with the colorful kaleidoscope that was Noel Adams, he stood out among the beige dressed crowd, his expression seeping into a bemused look as Myron called him over.

"I've got two tickets."

Myron's words washed like cold water over Noel, as his mind began to flood with an influx of gated memories. "What are you talking about?" Noel's gaze turned to the crumpled tickets in Myron's hands, a light smile adorned on his face.

"Do you want to go to Wood Acre?"

"Wait, seriously."

"I made a promise."

"But-but for how long."

"Just for the weekend, the coach leaves at 5pm on Friday. If we go now we'll get there in time."

"I-I haven't even-"

"Oh! I forgot about you asking your parents. It's okay, we can go another time."

"No-no, don't worry I can go."

"Are you sure, we don't have to go, I promise."

"No, I can go." Noel stated firmly, opening the door to Myron's car and sitting on the passenger seat.

He was going to succumb to Ron's wishes.

Maybe then everybody would be happy.

___________

Myron and Noel boarded the coach quietly, there weren't many people there, a group of three people dressed in elaborate camping gear were sitting at the back, nursing warm drinks in flasks and talking in thick heavy accents, there laughter circling around the coach and warming Noel's ears. There was a man about forty five years old sitting next to a younger boy, an abundance of fishing gear swimming against there ankles as they both talked animatedly to each other, the younger boy smiling so wide, his cheeks inflamed giving him the impression of a cute chipmunk. Behind them was a sullen girl with large bulky headphones, she rested her head against the roof of the glass, the coolness connecting with her pale cheek, her eyes were dark and broody and would regularly find themselves on Myron's rugged handsome frame, before squinting in discomfort at Noel's patchy face.

The coach began to judder on, the driver was a faceless man with a scratchy beard and coffee ridden breath, he merely grunted at Myron and Noel before taking there tickets with caffeine rooted shaky hands.

"Myron?"

"Yeah." Myron didn't know why he was whispering, it might be because he knew it was going to be a long ride to Wood Acre, and he could see the beginnings of the sun setting in the sky and the group of campers sitting at the back's laughter had dwindled off into silent chuckles, leaving the coach in a strange subtle silence.

"What happened between you and Cheryl?"

Myron could feel that uncomfortable prickle creeping through his throat, the atypical hollow feeling that had set in once he saw her vague care less text message.

I want to break up.

"She broke up with me on Saturday, at Jason's party. Now she's dating Todd Stevenson."

Todd, that jerky senior with too many teeth, who laughed way too loud and talked way too loud and had a way of jamming the football into your stomach way too aggressively, almost as if it wasn't meant for you at all.

"Are you okay?" Noel had been asking that question to people a lot recently, but the thing with humans is, they never will be completely okay, because they'll never be completely satisfied, there's always something that's wrong.

"Yeah." Myron's voice was fleeting, dismissive almost, his reply almost getting caught in between his lips. The break up didn't bother him at all – and that bothered him.

"You guys were together a lot though."

"Yet I didn't know her at all, not like I know you." Myron had turned to look at Noel's face, whose gaze was focused on the thread woven on the seat in front of him, the fabric crossed and doubled crossed with hints of primary colours swamped in the monotonous grey that ultimately dominated the seat.

"You've been talking to her for longer though."

"I only knew her on the surface. The fact she was hot, she was a cheerleader, she was popular, everybody wanted to be with Cheryl, I knew her toxic kisses, the jocks whistles and hollow praises, her having free rides in my car and her poisonous narcissistic comments, her long arms suffocating against my neck, and the silent happiness I felt when I wasn't with her. When I was on my own. I was fine with it, I was too lazy, too deep to halt the relationship, so when she ended it I felt relieved. I didn't have to pretend anymore."

"You're so nice you didn't have the heart to break up with her, you didn't have the heart to say no when she asked you out." Noel breathed silently, everybody always said Myron was too nice for his own good and Noel didn't know why. "Why are you always so nice?"

"Because, there are enough evil people in the world, they're not enough nice ones. If you ever have the opportunity to do good, do good."

Noel looked down at his phone, he had expected to see a missed call, a message, yet there was nothing. Strangely he didn't feel his stomach churning at what he was doing, he felt free. Still, he wrote a short message to his mom, chewing his lip.

"You're a real good person Myron, not me. Not me at all."