Love Team

"Noah... I've been looking for you!"

She was walking towards us, and I could already tell by her face that she did not like that Noah and I were together. Her gaze was piercing as she moved closer to us.

"We were just talking. What's wro—"She did not let Noah finish his sentence.

She was looking at me. "What were the two of you talking about?" She questioned, but it seemed like she was not buying it. 

"Nothing... He just apologized unlike others," I said in an almost whispered tone after saying that it's nothing.

Her gaze was still not looking away from me. "You're weird...." She said it did not bother me at all.

I closed my bag since Noah and I were done talking. I was about to leave them when Lara stood up in front of me.

"Where are you going?"

This girl doesn't even have common sense, does she?

I looked outside and stared back at her. "Look, the sun is setting down, there's no one here aside from us. What do you think? Do I look like I'm going to camp here?" I spoke in sarcasm.

I heard a small chuckle from Noah while looking away from the both of us. Lara looked at me annoyed because of my answer.

I walked past her since I wanted to go home. "I'm asking you nicely. You should have answered nicely too!"

I look at her in disbelief. I shrugged her words off and got out from the classroom.

I looked for the keys inside my bag while waiting for the both of them to go out too.

"Are you going to go out, or should I just lock you guys inside?" I warned them since they were still inside. "What? Do you guys have no plan to go home or not?" I impatiently asked them for the last time.

They started walking out of the room, and I could not help but notice how Lara rolled her eyes at me.

"Let's go..." I heard Noah from behind while I was locking the door.

After locking both the doors and checking it for the last time, I noticed that they still hadn't left.

"You said let's go. Let's go!" Lara spoke to Noah, who seemed to be waiting for someone.

He stared at her in a cold gaze. "I'm not asking you."

I was not able to hold back my laughter after he said that. It made me laugh more when I saw Lara's reaction.

"Okay..." I said when at last I managed to stop myself from laughing. "I will go that way since it's near to the gate…" I waved goodbye after saying that since I might laugh again..

I turned back when I heard Noah again. "How about Paul and I drive you home? Where's your house?"

I gazed at Lara, who was already fuming mad. I was chuckling while I shook my head to decline his invitation.

"No thanks... My house is quite near to the school. I'll just walk," I said, but he insisted.

"I insist... It's getting dark. There's nothing wrong to be—"

"Shh...." I cut him off. "I'm going home. See you guys tomorrow." I finally turned back for the last time and walked away.

I can still hear the irritable noise from Lara. "Why do you have to ask her?"

"Why not?" Noah asked her back.

The last thing I heard was footsteps pounding down the stairs as I descended. I still couldn't help but laugh.

The next day, I went in early to help set up the stage for the first day of the program on Friday. Although I hesitated about climbing the wooden ladder to hang decorations, I did it anyway because no one else wanted to climb.

Of course, there can't be anyone supporting me at the bottom to hold onto the ladder tightly, or I might fall. I would fall even higher if I did.

"One more..." I commanded to the person who was holding the wooden ladder.

I waited for him to hand me what I was going to hang. I was just looking up and checking if everything was even or in order when suddenly the voice of the person handing me over changed.

"Here..."

I was surprised by the full voice that spoke, so I immediately looked down.

It was Ryde.

I didn't realize I had been staring at him for a long time while he was still reaching for the decoration I was going to hang.

I almost lost my balance when he suddenly smiled.

"Hi..."

I immediately grabbed the flower from him and pretended to think about where to put it, but the truth was that I was momentarily stunned by him.

How handsome is he?!

When I had placed the flower, he spoke again. "Do you need help? I can go up there if you want?" I shook my head at him from above.

I hesitated to speak because I thought I might get offended if I answered him.

"What's that?! There's a love team here too?!" I immediately looked at the person who spoke.

Liza, our secretary at the council. Our companions started making noise, when I scolded them all, they only made more noise. Ryde didn't even react to their teasing so I just left him alone in the end.

As usual, I was returning to the room for our class when I caught up with my classmates playing truth or dare. Most of the players were girls. I was also excited because almost all of our new classmates had adjusted to our section and were already participating in the games. I don't even know where they found the bottle they were using.

Lara was included when I saw the bottle stop in her direction, and our classmates shouted her name.

"Truth or dare, Lara?" my classmate Gale asked.

"Truth..." was her immediate smiling reply.

"Okay... I want to ask you this:" Even though I was sitting here, I suddenly became intrigued by what Gale said.

"Spill it..." was her confident reply.

"What's going on between you and Noah?" We were all waiting for her answer when she suddenly smiled widely.

Her gaze shifted towards me, and she suddenly stopped smiling. Her eyes rolled again at me.

I'm just waiting for an answer. What did I do again?

"We're kind of a thing..."

Suddenly, our classmates in the game shouted, and I couldn't help but look at Noah, who was busy with the phone he was holding.

Suddenly, someone tapped me on the back, so I immediately turned around.

"Are you two okay now?" Paul pointedly asked me and looked at Noah.

I'm not sure how to answer. "Maybe?... It depends if he won't fight with me again," I replied, pointing to Noah, who was actually listening to the two of us.

"We have a deal," he suddenly mentioned.

Paul looked at us in confusion. "Deal? What deal?" I laughed because I remembered what had happened yesterday.

"We'll try not to fight anymore. There, that's our deal." I answered him.

He suddenly raised both his hands. "Let's celebrate world peace!" he suddenly shouted. I, on the other hand, am confused by him. "You don't want it? It's on me!" I looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"He's inviting you to hang out with us after class..." Noah explained to me.

"Yes, will you come with us?" Paul asked me.

I shook my head because I couldn't, and my sibling and I still had to clean the office later.

"You guys go ahead... I still have to clean Ma'am Celine's room later," I declined them.

I thought they would stop, but Paul insisted on me. "We'll just wait for you so we can continue later, okay?" He made his decision quickly.

I shook my head at his suggestion. "Not really... My brother will accompany me later," was my reason to hopefully make them stop.

Suddenly, Noah interrupted. "Are you worried about coming with us? Because we're guys?" "

I nodded at what he said. I mean, we don't really know each other that well yet.

"Kind of... If you think about it, the three of us just met each other, right?" I replied.

"I'll just invite Aiza and Leila too. What do you think? You should invite Elton as well." I was still thinking of what to say when Lara suddenly interrupted our conversation.

"What are you guys talking about here?" She immediately faced Noah.

"We're planning to hang out," Noah replied tersely to her.

"Where? I want to go too!" She suddenly grabbed Noah's arm and looked pitiful, making me involuntarily grimace a little.

Suddenly, Gale passed by in front of us and saw what she was doing to Noah.

"Look at that. Our love team is really sailing here!"

The whole class immediately became noisy and started teasing the two of them. Lara pretended to be shy as she tried to stop our classmates, even though we all knew how much she secretly enjoyed what they were doing.

My eyes caught Noah's face, which showed no reaction to what was happening around him. I couldn't help but let out a soft laugh, and I laughed even more when I looked at Paul, who was shaking his head.

Their voices were getting a bit louder, so I spoke up to tell them to lower their voice because there was still a class in the next room.

Suddenly, Lara tapped me unexpectedly.

"Hey, I want to talk to you," she said to me brusquely.

"I'll only be nice because Noah told me I should apologize to you. So, I'm sorry... I'm sorry for what I did, and just forgive me already, okay?"

I can't believe he thinks so shallowly about asking for forgiveness from someone. I pushed her hand away from my desk.

"I don't need your apology, Lara..." I said to her, annoyed.

"I'm not going to say sorry for this, but I can't accept your apology if this is how you apologize. You're just saying sorry just for a show, right?" I took a deep breath before continuing.

"I just need a sincere sorry from you, but I know you can't do it... I don't expect it anymore because I know you really can't. I don't accept fake apologies."

I spoke and stood up, walking away from them with the water container towards the water dispenser in our room.

When I looked at her again, the whole class fell silent while looking at her. She bowed her head and suddenly stomped out of the room.

When I returned to my seat, Paul tapped me again, and when I turned to him, he gave me a thumbs up while Noah smiled at me.