Wednesday; Two days to the Masquerade Bash...

"Alright, see ya in an hour!" I end the phone call with Nicole as I enter the door to my house.

Nicole, Cameron, Noah, and I have made plans to go shopping today for the masquerade bash. Noah's going to pick me up in half an hour, and we'll meet up with Nicole and Cameron at World Trade Center Mall.

I drop my school bag onto the floor and saunter downstairs into the living room, where Mom usually is when I come home from school.

"Ah, now I remember!" I murmur to myself. "Mom said she'd gone shopping with her business colleagues today."

Turning around, I cross the aisle and stroll into my room.

I loosen my ponytail and run my fingers through my hair as I open my closet doors and pick out my shopping mall outfit.

Deciding quickly, I throw on a brown crochet sweater and a pair of light blue ripped flare jeans, along with a pair of brown combat heels. To compliment the look, I slip on a chunk of brown and gold bangles, and fasten a classic black pendant around my neck. I don a pair of gold bamboo earrings, and finally, satisfied with my look, I head over to my dressing table to make my hair.

While humming Drag Me Down by One Direction, I run a brush through my hair a few times, and then flip my hair up and down twice. Automatically, my locks set into a wavy hairstyle, and I pin a brown flower hair-clip into my tresses.

Ready at last, I walk back upstairs, and as I wait for Noah to show up, I grab an apple from the kitchen to munch on.

Seating myself on a barstool in front of the kitchen counter, I pull out my phone from my pocket, and check my Facebook account. Ironically, the very first post I see is about 'teenagers wasting their lives on Facebook'.

Just as I finish my snack, the doorbell rings, and I stroll over to the door and pull it open.

Seeing Noah, I start, "Hey!" but my voice trails off as I look at the ground.

For Noah isn't standing on the ground.

He stands on top of a metallic blue scooter-like thing but with no handle, which glows with blue light.

My jaw drops open for a few seconds, and looking back up into Noah's eyes, I stammer, "Is that-is that... a hovertrax??"

Noah's eyes are alight with amusement, and he grins gaily, "Yup."

"But how-how..." I pause for a second, then let it out. "The first shipment of that is supposed to come out at least a month from now! How do you have it already?!"

Tapping his forehead, Noah says importantly, "Ah, smart girl! Yes, the first shipment is supposed to come out a month from now, but I think you're forgetting that your boyfriend is Noah Jameson!"

I shrug. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"My dad is friends with the creator of this thing, so the guy gave us a couple of them in advance."

After a second, reality sinks in to my brain, and excitedly, I squeal, "You mean that's a real hovertrax? You know... the one with the qualities of a Segway but without the handle?"

"Yup," Noah says, popping the p. "That's the one."

"Can I try it?" I ask, jumping up and down.

"Oh, you'll do much better than that," Noah says mysteriously, and veers the hovertrax over to the right. As he does so, he reveals another hovertrax, this one hot pink. "That one's for you."

Overjoyed, I manage to drawl one word: "Cool!"

Noah chuckles and offers me his hand to get onto the hovertrax.

I step out of my house, locking the door behind me, then, gathering up my guts, I take Noah's hand and climb onto the scooter.

Almost instantly, I start going backwards, and I grab Noah's outstretched hands to steady myself.

"Whoa, don't pull, or we'll both fall off!" Noah laughs.

Smiling nervously, I let go of his hands, determined not to go backwards this time. Luckily, I don't go backwards... but I don't go forwards either! It seems as if I am rooted to one spot.

"Noah, I'm not moving!" I cry.

Raising an eyebrow with an amused expression on his face, Noah suppresses a chuckle, and instructs, "You're pressing down on the ground too hard. Tilt your feet forward a little bit."

But when I do so, I start going backwards again.

"I said a little bit!"

After a minute, I figure out how to make the hovertrax move forward, and eventually we make it to Noah's car, a red Rolls Royce. Albeit reluctantly, Noah and I get off our scooters, and place them in the trunk of the car.

Riding a hovertrax is such a rush!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a short drive, we get to World Trade Center Mall, all hyped up to go shopping, and of course, riding our rad scooters!

But first, we head to Caribou Café to meet up with Nicole and Cameron. Along the way, we get lots of strange looks...

By the time we get there, Nicole and Cameron are already getting up to leave.

"Hey guys!" I call, causing their heads to turn in our direction.

"There you are!" Nicole touches her forehead exasperatedly. "We've been waiting for you guys for a quarter of an hour!"

"Ah, see, that's because someone took too much time getting to the car," Noah smirks at me as we begin rolling towards Nicole and Cameron.

"Hey, the hovertrax was your idea!" I huff.

This makes them look down at the ground, and notice our uber cool scooters for the first time. Nicole's jaw drops open, and Cameron raises his eyebrows, looking impressed.

"Fair suck of the sav! What you got there?" Cameron asks incredulously, leaning forward to get a closer look.

Cameron is always so quiet, I don't think I've ever heard him speak! It turns out... he does have a voice!

And a pretty strong 'Aussie' accent as well!

Before either Noah or I get a chance to answer, Nicole squeals, "Is that a hovertrax??"

Noah nods proudly.

"How do you have those already??" Nicole asks, unbelieving.

"Uh, hello?" Noah points at himself good-naturedly and continues, "Jameson here."

He says it with a tone of finality, as if it should be obvious now how he has the scooters.

And surprisingly, Nicole and Cameron seem to understand.

Nicole lets out a big "Ahhhh...", and Cameron murmurs, "Oh yeah."

Feeling uncomfortable from all the attention, I change the subject, clapping and saying, "Well, come on then! Time to go shopping!"

Nicole jumps up and down in place and grins. "Ohmigosh, yes!"

Noah and Cameron share a knowing look and roll their eyes.

Giggling, Nicole asks, "So where are you guys going to 'scoot' to first?" cracking all of us up.

Noah and I share a look. "Rodeo Drive, I guess," Noah shrugs, as if it's no big deal.

Humbly, Cameron responds, "Wow mate, that's too fancy for us." After a pause, he continues, "No worries! Tell you what... we'll go to the other clothes shops, and you guys can go to Rodeo Drive. We'll meet up back here after an hour, right?"

"Ok, cool."

Waving, Noah and I turn around and roll away, towards Rodeo Drive.

Along the way, we receive more strange and jealous looks, but getting used to the attention, I focus on the ride, twirling around a few times, and enjoying thoroughly.

When we get to the store, as soon as we enter, the manager's eyes light up with dollar signs at the sight of Noah. All the clerks rush over to us, offering drinks, and ushering us over to a sofa.

After a few minutes of chaos and confusion, Noah and I are seated side by side on the sofa, watching as a clerk holds up tuxedos for Noah to pick from. Noah sits with his right leg propped up on and folded across his left leg, his foot shaking with anticipation.

Meanwhile, I look around the store, and after a minute, a dress hanging on the rack in front of me catches my eye.

It is a gorgeous floor-length sky-blue chiffon evening gown, studded with rhinestones from the bust narrowing down to the abdomen.

My heart leaps when I see it, but it sinks again when I see the price tag next to it: 9,000 dhs.

I continue staring at the dress longingly, examining every one of its features, when Noah notices the direction my eyes are staring in.

Glancing at the dress, and then back at me, he casually asks, "You like that?"

"No..." I say, stretching the word, and batting my eyelashes to make it sound believable.

Noah chuckles and says playfully, "You're a terrible liar." After a pause, he adds, "Go try it on."

I shake my head. "There's no point... nine thousand dirhams for a dress?? My parents would have a heart attack!"

Leaning forward, Noah says intensely, "Just go try it on."

Gladly, I pick up the dress and check the size. It's in my size! Is that a sign?

I try on the dress in the changing room, loving the soft fabric. After admiring myself for a few moments, I walk back out to the store and pose.

Noah's face lights up when he sees me in the dress, and turning around, I pose again, with my back facing towards him.

The dress has a deep back, which just adds to its glamour.

Turning back around to face Noah, I ask him, biting my lower lip, "So, what do you think?"

He nods. "It looks amazing on you!"

"Yeah?" I ask excitedly. Then my face falls, remembering that I can't afford the dress. "Too bad."

I go back into the dressing room to change into my original clothes, and when I come back out, Noah is considering a dark blue tuxedo and matching blue pants, which comes with a white shirt and light blue tie, and a white handkerchief to place in the front pocket.

Looking up at me, he asks, "What do you think?"

"It's perfect." I nod certainly.

"Alright then!" Then, frowning with concentration, Noah murmurs, "But where do we get the masks from?"

"Oh, I have the perfect mask for that tux at home!" I exclaim. "My parents went to a lot of masquerade bashes, and so we have a whole collection of masks back home. Let's just go check out a few more stores for my dress, and then we'll head back to my house."

Noah smiles mysteriously and says, "Okay, well, I'm going to go pay for the tux."

I nod. "Alright. I'll just pay a quick visit to the restroom, and then I'll meet you back at the cashier."

We part ways, and when I come back after several minutes, Noah holds two bags.

Walking over to me, he hands me one of them, and grins, "Here you go."

Looking up at him dubiously, I sneak a peek into the bag, and gasp when I see the sky-blue evening gown! I look into his eyes, speechless.

"You're welcome," he murmurs softly, breaking the silence.

"No I can't take this," I say, shoving the bag back at him.

He looks at me with questioning eyes.

"You've already given me this hovertrax! And now a dress worth nine thousand dirhams... I just can't," I shake my head.

After a pause, Noah casually responds, "Rhea... my parents are multi-millionaires. Quite frankly, nine thousand dirhams is nothing." He hands the bag back to me. "Just take it."

I look down at the bag, and then back up at Noah's sincere eyes doubtfully. His eyes urge me to thank him and get it over with, so hesitantly at first, I fling my arms around his neck.

"Thank you so much!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back home, I drag a wooden chest out of my wardrobe, and haul it towards my bed, which is where Noah sits.

"Wow that's a big chest," Noah remarks.

I dig through it, and after a few seconds, I come up with the two masks that perfectly match our outfits.

The one that matches mine is a light blue mask, with a studded border. The top of the mask joins together at a peak, then comes down in a small curve. The middle of the mask, the light blue part, has silver swirly lines running over it.

The mask that matches Noah's tux is dark blue, with a silver border. It's style is similar to mine, with the top joining at a more rounded peak, and then descending in a curve. The corners and sides of the mask have bold silver lines running over it, and the center of the mask has a few silver spots, running down from the top to the middle.

"There we go!" I exclaim triumphantly.

"Those masks are fabulous!" Noah murmurs happily.

At least our outfits for the dance are going to be flawless!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday; The day before the masquerade bash...

Noah and I head into school hand in hand, fingers interlocked, and greeting people on the way, we make our way to our lockers, which are right beside each other.

We unlock our lockers to get our books, all the while talking about random things, when an envelope falls out onto the floor from my locker.

Another light pink envelope sealed with a red heart.

Noah looks down and his eye twitches angrily when he sees it.

"Is that another secret admirer note?" he growls.

"I guess so," I shrug.

Bending down to pick up the envelope, I tear it open and read the message inside.

The masquerade bash is coming up,

I'm sure you'll be there, looking tip-top.

And now I can't resist, I've got to meet you,

At 7, I'll be by the drinks, waiting to greet you.

~Your Secret Admirer

"What does it say?" Noah asks, leaning forward curiously.

"Oh, nothing," I say casually, shoving the note back into my locker.

So, I'm finally going to meet my secret admirer tomorrow. The mystery is finally going to be solved!

*****************************************************************************************************

What did you guys think of Noah's gifts to Rhea? And, for real this time, we're very close to finding out the secret admirer!!

The picture up on top is of Rhea's and Noah's masquerade bash outfits. Dazzling or not?

Congratulations, you guys did it! You earned the early update!

The next update will still be on Friday the 25th, unless you guys manage to earn the early update, which will be for 10 votes and 5 comments.

VOTE! COMMENT!

~Ananya