Few Weeks' Time

His fluffy hair was standing on ends as if he had just run his fingers through his hair multiple times already. He tossed on a grey zip-up hoodie over his uniform that she saw him in earlier, and it was zipped all the way up, crisp and neat as was the rest of his profile besides the hair that was getting on the longer side and in need of a cut.

Noah's friends greeted him, a band of rambunctious and respectful boys, their arms going around his shoulders and pumping him up for who knows what. The flash of his teeth was a surprise sometimes because most of his smiles look fake yet at times when it wasn't it was startling and refreshing.

Alice went over to Claudia's side and linked arms with her and leaned her head on Claudia's shoulder. Claudia patted Alice's back as if she were a baby. "What's wrong?"

"I'm tired of being pushed around," Alice whispered. "I really don't want to do it."

Claudia squeezed Alice's cheek. "It won't hurt to do it. Just get it over with since it'll only be to help the homeroom do better in the long run."

Alice pouted her lips. "I highly doubt that. I don't want to deal with Noah anymore."

"Now that's you complaining, darling," Claudia sang.

"You're right. I'm sorry," Alice sighed.

"Now, that attitude is even worse," Claudia laughed.

Madeline put her hands together. "What do you think of the idea, Noah?"

Noah turned back to her. "About what?"

"About the radio host for dating advice," Madeline answered. "It would be good for publicity for our little game, you see."

"When would it go out?" Noah asked. "I thought it was a surprise?"

"It is, but in a few weeks' time, all of the themes are going to be revealed anyways," Madeline said. "What is it just a bit earlier?"

Noah glanced over at Alice, who was telepathically telling him to decline, as there were a lot of other options to promote their little cute match-making shop, but Noah seemed to love to rise an ire in her since he immediately nodded with a smile that was as fake as his lovely image to Madeline who grinned.

"You're no help," Alice sighed.

"It's going to be wonderful!" Madeline smiled. "I'll have to get in touch with someone there send you two the contact information then."

"Okay," Noah nodded. "There's no rush, so please take your time."

Madeline clapped her hands excitedly before her features went into a flush with a cool face. "That doesn't excuse your absence for today's first ensemble of putting the float together though."

Noah scratched the back of his neck. "You guys are already done for the day?"

"Our hour and a half is up," Madeline said which brought a whoop out of Daniel's mouth only to bring a sharp glare over in that direction. "I have already sent the attendance list to the homeroom teacher."

Noah passed another smile on his face. "That's fine. I had another matter that I had to attend to that had already been cleared."

Madeline patted Noah's shoulder. "Then you should be good. There's no need for me to grill you. Alright, everyone! Let's cover this float with the tarp before putting it into the large shed outside."

Sophie was first to get up and grab the encasement of the blue tarp that was given to each upperclassmen homeroom class and unravel it which gathered the quick help of Dylan who was on the side on his phone and ended up shoving it into the pocket of his cardigan when Madeline went to that corner.

It was funny to see how Madeline had gotten everyone wrapped around her finger when she didn't even want the role in the first place at the beginning of the first semester. Their time together was coming to a close soon after college exam season, but Alice put that idea out of the way since she didn't want to stress too much about it when it hadn't even come time for it yet.

In all honesty, Alice was truly nervous for that season since she really wanted to get into a high-tier university despite all the headaches. She knew that she would be able to do it if she studied enough, knowing all the stress that it would bring her. It was that challenge that she had with herself since day one.

Claudia went over to help, stringing Alice along, and the students gathered to spread out the larger-than-life tarp that was used for the gym during the rainy season to cover equipment outside that couldn't be brought into the safety of the gymnasium over the float that still had glue drying.

Tristan ran to the float first and made sure to put the unfinished materials for later in the inside of the float so that the tarp would rest on the outside pillars leaving those that still need some work untouched. Owen unclicked the wheels which made it able to roll, and everyone gathered to find a piece of open space on the float.

Everyone pushed it over through the connecting doors that were rolled all to the side making way for the large structure to go through. Alice used most of the strength in her legs, and she glanced up from the side to see that they had finally made it to the shed that was unlatched and waiting for their arrival after much effort.

After getting the float in position among the rest of the covered floats from the other homeroom classes, everyone stalked out into the humid heat to wait for the next direction. Alice waved a hand in her face to no avail, feeling the stickiness cling to her skin while Claudia shielded her eyes with her hand.

Madeline propped her hands on her hips. "You're all free now folks!"

There were quick murmurs of good work and such from everyone around, and Alice bowed her head to her classmates and thanked them for their hard work before those who needed to be elsewhere took off and the rest continued to linger and socialize.

Bringing her head up, she made eye contact with Noah, and she blinked slowly at him to try and figure out what was going through his mind with his icy blue eyes and dark lashes focusing in on her.

It was probably along the lines of his purpose was trying to make her life harder for no other reason than his entertainment. He smirked, his lips hiking up in the corners, and Alice slowly shook her head to show her displeasure.