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Noah
"Well, for a town like ours, they definitely went all out for the event," Nick says, nodding his head in approval.
Adi says, excitedly, "I have never been to any fest and I assumed it to be boring but this is so good."
I say to him, "This is like a carnival but with a competition."
I am not wrong.
It is like a carnival with stalls all around the main garden of the Town Community Hall. It has been decorated with vintage décor with a slow hum of a retro song playing in the background.
As far as Nick told me moments ago, the dance competition will start after some time.
In the literal middle of nowhere in this place, near the loud stalls, no one can find anything they want. All I find are some fucking overly sweet snacks and a fucking load of people.
Definitely not what I want or what I want to be in.
"She is in the green room."
I turn towards Michael Dunn, realizing that Adi and Nick have gone somewhere without us.
Michael and I have had a few interactions in the past. I don't know much about him but the fact that Bella went on a date for him tells me that Bella and he have a good understanding.
He has his hands inside the pockets of his jacket as he looks around the carnival before looking back at me.
"You said something?" I ask him, raising my eyebrows.
He shrugs. "She is in the green room."
"And who do you mean by she?"
"Oh," He smiles. "I didn't know we are playing pretend."
What the actual fuck?
"Are you trying to be mysterious?" I say to him. "Don't because you are not."
He looks at me, laughing. "Iris is right by calling you stupid but she needs to know that you are dumb too."
"I was not searching for Bella," I tell him, looking away from him.
"Sure, okay," He says back, swinging on his feet. "I would definitely not tell you that she was looking for you too."
I let out a breath and say, "Do not do an Adi, Michael."
"Okay," He replies, laughing. He turns towards me and smiles. "By the way, it is Mike for my friends."
I nod, unsurely, at him before looking away from him.
Nick and Aditya are now fighting over what flavor of cotton candy is the bestâcazzo, how immature.
"Immature," Michael scoffs.
"Exactly."
"Of course, the classic one is the best," he adds and I look away, frustrated. "You know your favorite cuisine can tell a lot about you."
"Michael, if you are trying to have a conversation, do not do it."
He sighs and turns fully towards me. I look at him and he says, "I know you like to keep it to yourself and don't really like socializingâ"
"Michael Dunn, you can call me an introvert instead of describing my whole persona."
He arches an eyebrow. "Introvert is a label. I thought you are a person who hates to be under a label?"
I am taken aback by that.
All my life I have been called out as a "Radcliffe" even when I am different from most of my family. I take that as an insult because it is an insult to my self-identity.
I am Noah Arthur Radcliffe. I carry all of the words in my name but I am just Noah Arthur.
I admit, "I never thought of it that way, honestly."
"To be honest."
"What?" I ask, confused.
He rolls his eyes and explains, "To be honest is the right way of saying, not honestly."
I look at him, incredulously. "Mike, you are a grammar police."
"Hey, the world needs them. Also, some teachers need to get their ego checked occasionally." He grins.
I chuckle. "Yes, I remember the flustered expression ofâ"
"Hey, Noah."
Alyssa comes and stands on my other side. She is holding a bunch of bags which I assume has some dresses.
I decide I am going to ignore the way Michael freezes, looking at her.
"Any idea, where is our school's green room?" She asks us. "There is quite a chaos in this place and I can't seem to getâOh, Michael, didn't see you there."
Alyssa's face hardens looking at Michael but changes when she turns to me, again.
"So?" She asks me.
I answer, pretending the atmosphere is not tense, "It is near the stage as far as I know."
"Okay." She looks between me and Michael. "So, what's the topic of discussion with Michael here? Is he trying to get you into the 16 personalities site? Do not try it, it sucks."
Alright, there.
Michael scowls. "You test my patience, Alyssa Jones."
"Please," She holds up a hand. "At least, I don't suck out people's souls by talking about food and food."
"Food is the ultimate source to survival in this overwhelming world."
Alyssa scoffs and says, "Overwhelming world? Care to explain to me what is overwhelming?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the person right in front of me."
"I-I am overwhelming?" Alyssa glares at him. "You are overly awkward and have fucking weird ocean eyes."
"You are fucking too tall and act too smart."
"Gosh, I hate you so much."
"The feeling is very much mutual."
"Oh, not this again." Nick comes in between and says, "Stop fighting so much."
Mike and Alyssa glare at each other, before they storm off in different directions. Nick sighs and goes in Alyssa's direction.
"That was an interesting turn of events," Adi comments as he comes with a bloody huge stick of cotton candy. He eats one and says to me, "They fight a lot. It is unhealthy."
I smirk. "Yes, but what we see is always not what it is."
Adi nods, eating the cotton candy. "Okay." He gets excited and says, "Can we go and meet Iris now?"
Of course, he did not listen to what I said.
Fucking cotton candy.
"No," I say, moving forward.
"But why?" His mouth is half-filled with cotton candy.
"Because," I look around, helplessly, before looking at him. "I do not know why. Just listen to me."
He chews, looking at me.
"What?" I ask, getting frustrated with his chewing.
"You are avoiding her since the supermarket incident," He says. "You didn't even tell me what's the bet?"
Yes. The fucking bet I made and lost.
Fucking Bet.
"None of your fucking business," I scowl, running my hand through my hair.
He takes a piece of that mothâ that damn cotton candy and eats it, giving me a smug expression. "Do I hear the non-existent heart beating?"
"Hey, Adi. Future called, said if you utter another wordâ"
Adi interrupts. "That you would rip off my arms? Yeah, that's old."
"Che te pozzino ammazza," I say and go in another direction.
"Say that again!" He calls out. "I have to translate and come back with a kickass comeback."
I sigh, frustrated, and about to turn towards him when I crash with him.
Fucking Thomas.
He says, "Noah Radcliffe, nice to meet you again."
"Fuck off."
He holds up his hands. "Anger issues still there, I see. Iris always hated people who can't control their anger."
I have a few good inches on Thomas Scott which means I can kick his arse.
But I am not going to.
Today is supposed to be Bella's day and it is going to be. No oneâno fucking person can change it.
So, I ignore him and turn away just when Adi comes to me. He looks between Thomas and me, confused.
"Adi, right?" Thomas asks him. "Hi. Heard that you are a computer genius."
Aditya scans him and straightens himself. "Yeah." He turns to me, grinning. "Competition is gonna start, come on."
We start to go but I stop, turning towards Thomas.
"Iris Cooper doesn't judge people by their issues. She just never judges anyone," I say to him. "Do not make a fucking false statement about her, next time."
***
The auditorium is filled with people. A lot of performances have passed by, and a lot of praises have gone for some. But I will be lying if I say I have paid attention to any of them.
"Hey, it is the next one," Colt tells me, nudging me. "Iris is going to be in the next one."
I nod, unsure what else to do. This is going to be the first time I am going to watch her dance.
"Just curious," Colt leans towards me. "Percy and Daisy together now?"
Ah, the couple of the day.
I chuckle, answering, "Yes, if you count sleeping with each other as together."
"I knew they did itâIris didn't even tell me," He says, frowning. "I am gonna have a long talk with her."
I tell him, "Dias, they haven't made it official yet."
"Are you sure? I mean Percy is taking Daisy as his date to your cousin's birthday party, no?"
Tiffany's birthday party is tomorrow and both of the sisters have gotten the invite to come to the party.
It is a mishap, really, that one family got two invites to the same event. Bella had gotten one from me while Percy gave another to Daisy. Both of them had a good laugh before Bella called me to tell me about it.
I do not know what is going to happen tomorrow at the party but I am sure it is going to be one to remember.
Now, the host announces, "Next up, You and I performed by Iris Cooper and Juliet Armani."
Everyone near me starts to hoot and cheer on as the lights dim.
Time is a funny thing. It passes away so quickly that no one can seem to catch it but I do.
It seems to freeze when her eyes slid to mine, momentarily, and her lips lift to a smile. A smile that is just between usâno one to judge and no one to stop us.
Just within that frozen time, I look at her. She has worn an elegant green dress that ends below her knee. Her hair has been made straight, making it fall on her shoulders, while her face has evidence of few strokes of makeup.
But I ignore everythingâtruthfully, I forget everything as she starts dancing.
Fluid. She is fluid.
She flows through the entire music. Her movements have a grace that speaks out loud and just takes away my breath.
Her love for dancing is so evident. Her soul seems to entwine with the music. She not only dances with her body but her eyes dance tooâwith love, pride, and happiness.
Dance, for her, is like breathing oxygenâshe needs it as much as she loves it.
I do not know when or how the whole dance becomes a blur but I do know that I come back to reality when a certain person thinks it is appropriate to wink at me in front of an audience.
Yes, I know Bella is going to be the death of me.
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- a u t h o r ' s n o t e -
weekly update on my life: i am a nocturnal hooman. just cannot sleep and my sleeping habits have gone so haywire that i am now an owl. wattpad and webtoon really has been giving me company during night.
until next chapter,
Inerys