A/N:

I guess we're doing songs now.

~~~

Beller Academy's sports season had just begun, and Scott convinced Maddie and me to join their track team. I agreed happily, and Maddie was forced to tag along.

Tryouts were fine, and surprisingly, all three of us made the team.

Noa and I didn't exactly hate each other anymore, but we certainly weren't friends. She made an appearance of actually being there in the morning twice so far, and I tried to shove down the curiosity of where the heck she was.

"Hey, look who it is," Scott said as we sat down for lunch. She nodded in Noa's direction, who was in the same spot as she was the day before, scrolling mindlessly through her phone.

Maddie glanced at me.

"Yep," I said, taking a bite of my sandwich.

"The devil herself," Mariah unnecessarily added, making Maddie snort.

"You know, she's actually not that bad," I muttered.

They all turned to me. "What?" said Scott.

"I'm just saying, maybe you shouldn't, you know, judge her so harshly," I mumbled, quieter because their full attention was now on me.

They stared at me, and Mariah shook her head and sighed. "Trust me, Mel. I've been here two years, and Scott's been here one. She's that bad."

I fell silent, and Mariah and Scott got into a deep conversation about which teacher was having an affair with who. Maddie kept periodically glancing at me, and I just ate my sandwich.

To be honest, there was a chance Mariah was right. I didn't know Noa at all, and they had been here longer than I had. Who knew when she would show her true colors?

Fourth period was biology, and Mr. Keeves assigned us a project. We were to create a poster about the different stages of succession and add a food chain.

Dinner came and went, and so did more gossip about my math teacher and the school counselor. I went to my room and sat at my desk, planning to get a head start on my biology project.

I was a few hours in, and halfway done with, the essay portion. I checked the time on my phone, and it was nine o'clock. The housemasters would be coming for curfew soon.

Noa wasn't there. It wasn't that I was worried about her missing curfew, but that I wanted to know what all the sneaking around was about.

I heard doors opening from one side of the hallway, and I knew the housemasters would reach our door soon.

A key turned in the lock and Noa slipped into the room, looking pissed. I turned in my chair and folded my arms.

"Where were you?" I asked.

She stormed towards her desk and dropped her bag down on the floor next to her desk. "Nowhere."

"Noa," I said. "You almost missed curfew. What were you doing?"

She paused and looked at me. "Satanic rituals."

My jaw dropped. "What?"

"I'm kidding," she said, turning around.

I blinked. When did she start cracking jokes? Right, never. She was always either cranky, frustrated, or insanely serious.

Recovering from the slight shock, I shook my head. "So are you going to tell me where you were?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?" she asked, her back to me. She was taking off her jewelry, including the double-star-shaped necklace I was admiring a few days ago.

"Because, Noa. You asked me not to believe what people say about you, but that's kind of hard because of all the sneaking around you do," I said, frowning. She didn't look that mad anymore, which was a good thing.

Noa snorted. "Sneaking around? For your information, I was in detention."

I stared at her. "Are you serious?"

She nodded. There we go, I thought to myself. This is when she would reveal what kind of person she truly is.

I leaned forward in my chair. "What did you do?"

Noa only shrugged. "Nothing. We were taking a test and this girl said I was cheating."

"Were you cheating?"

Noa made a face of mock disapproval. "I'm hurt that you think that lowly of me." I glared at her. "No, I wasn't," she answered, and my eyes narrowed. It seemed she sensed that I was still suspicious of her, and she rolled her eyes.

"I know what you're going to say, Melanie. I'm not a cheater. I was taking my test, minding my own business, and the girl next to me started whispering to her friend. They weren't trying to be very quiet, so one of them got caught," she said.

"And?" I asked, wondering what it had to do with her.

"And the teacher asked her who she was talking to, so she pointed to me."

"So? You didn't tell her the truth?" My brows furrowed as I tried to understand what she was saying.

Noa turned away. "I did. She didn't believe me."

My lips parted. I glanced at the loud painting above Noa's bed, then back at her. "But that's not fair," I said. "You didn't even do anything and you're the one who got punished."

"Yeah, but it's whatever," she said dismissively. She had moved onto folding clothes and was putting a pair of shorts in her dresser.

I stared at her, confused. "Wait, you don't care? You're not going to do anything about it?"

"What's the point? It's a waste of my energy," she said simply. She picked up a cream-colored button-up that had elbow-length sleeves. It didn't look too casual, but I knew Noa would find a way to make it chaotic.

Noa smoothed down the shirt, folded it, and put it into her dresser. I was sitting on my bed with my ankles crossed, leaning back on my hands as I eyed her.

"I don't get you," I said finally.

"Good. I never asked you to," she answered.

--------

When I woke up the next morning, Noa was there. It was Saturday, and we had just finished another house bonding exercise that Noa was late to.

In the evening, Scott, Mariah, Maddie, and I were playing cards with a few other kids in the common area. Mariah and I both won once. Scott, who won three times, smacked his cards down on the table, bragging about how great he was.

Maddie, who hadn't won a single game, pouted and slammed her cards down as well. "Let's go to the pool," she said.

"The pool? Why?" I asked. Even Scott looked confused.

Maddie shrugged. "Why not? A lot of people are hanging out there today."

"You're just mad you won," Scott reasoned.

Mariah chimed in. "You just want to see the hot senior guys."

Maddie folded her arms, and I laughed. "Let's just go. I've never been to the pool; it'll be fun," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

When we arrived at the pool, there were already a ton of people there. It was a half outdoor, half indoor area with a sauna and a steam bath. But there were only a couple people actually in the pool. The rest were fully clothed and messing around on the deck.

Scott, Maddie and I went outside where the big pool was, and Mariah wanted to stay back with someone at the sauna.

"Woah," I marvelled, looking around. "When you said pool, I was expecting some small, hotel-sized thing. But this is . . . wow."

The outdoor pool was huge. There were also lockers lining the will behind us and lounge chairs on the other side.

Scott nodded proudly. "Yep. This pool was made for the school's swim team, but in the off-season, it's open to anyone who goes here."

Maddie looked just as awed as I felt. "I remember you telling me you swam. Are you on the team?"

Scott grinned. "Yes ma'am."

They continued talking, and I subconsciously turned them out as I looked around. There were a lot of people there. I could see the different cliques and friend groups, and began to categorize them in my head.

There was that one group of girls sitting close to the pool that looked like they would annoy the crap out of me, gossiping and occasionally throwing judgemental glances in random directions. There was a group of guys who appeared to be hyping one of their group members up to go talk to a girl.

There was also . . . Noa. Wait, Noa? What was she doing here?

More importantly, what was she doing talking to the group of annoying-looking girls?

Maybe they were the only people who could stand how impossible she was.

I turned back to Scott and Maddie, but they were gone. I caught Maddie pushing Scott toward another group, probably trying to get him to talk to someone.

It turned out, Noa and the girls weren't talking, they were arguing. One girl with a high blonde ponytail stood directly in front of her while the others stood behind for support or something. The girl and her group looked angry, but Noa just looked exhausted.

The one-sided argument became louder as the girls hand gestures grew more aggravated, and heads started to turn in their direction.

I found Maddie again. Scott was gone, and I was about to ask her where he was when I heard a scream.

I turned around in time to see the girl as she stood over the edge of the pool with her arms folded while her minions giggled behind her. Apparently, the girl had gotten frustrated that Noa wasn't reciprocating the same aggression she was giving her, and shoved her.

I watched in horror as Noa fell backwards into the water with a crash. Everyone went silent.

"Holy crap," I breathed.

"Oh my God." I heard from behind me. It was Mariah, who had come out of the sauna in her white towel.

"Did that really just happen?" Scott was back.

Some people stared in shock and others covered their mouths and snickered. I heard the murmurs, too. "I wonder what she did to her." "She probably deserved it." "That's embarrassing. Imagine falling in front of everybody."

Something inside me shifted. By now, Noa had surfaced and was wading to the edge of the pool in order to get out. She didn't look angry or sad or anything, just . . . tired.

But I was angry.

"What the fuck," I muttered, swearing in public for what might have been the first time. I knew it wasn't my place to get in the middle of this, and I also knew it wasn't any of my business.

Maddie watched me curiously as I stormed over to the pool. Noa reached the side of the pool just as I did.

What was I even doing? Everyone was probably staring, wondering who the heck I was publicly declaring that I was on Noa's side.

I stretched my hand out. Noa stared at me, surprised. But then she slowly, hesitantly took my hand and I hoisted her out of the water. She stood there, clothes dripping onto the deck, and I gestured toward the locker rooms with my head.

She glanced at our audience, then back at me, silently asking what the f*ck I was doing. As if I had the answer.

Shrugging slightly, I began walking toward the locker rooms. If she wanted to follow me, she could.

As the locker room door shut behind me, I turned to look at her. My arms were folded, but not in a way that seemed accusatory.

Noa didn't look at me. She had tucked her damp hair behind her ears, and her shirt was see-through because it was wet. She was fidgeting with her baggy jeans that looked insanely heavy with the water weight, and I looked away quickly, realizing I was staring.

A/N:

Idk about y'all but in my mind Noa is so freaking cute

<3