It was Noa's first day at high school and things were already going badly.
She was put in the debate class instead of theatre, which meant she wouldn't be with her friend Shahar, she wasn't seated next to Shahar in homeroom, and the history teacher already gave them a group project.
The only good thing she could think of is that Shahar bought her a coffee from the cafeteria.
Shahar has been Noa's best friend since childhood. Their parents were friends and they made the two play together since they were toddlers. They were in the same kindergarten, elementary school, and theatre clubs. They were always at each other's side.
Some theorise that the closer you are to someone, the more likely you are to fall in love, and in Noa's case that couldn't be more true. She was in love with Shahar.
It's just⊠Shahar was so sweet and friendly and kind, she was an angel on earth, and she looked like one too. She had short, curly black hair and wide green eyes and too many freckles to count. There were times when Noa couldn't stop staring at her when she was awestruck by how pretty her best friend was.
It was hard for Noa sometimes, the crushing weight of loving someone who would never feel the same. But it was better to have a friendship with heartbreak than no friendship at all.
So Noa was having a bad day at school, made worse by the fact that the girl she was doing the group project with, Becky, was absolutely insufferable. Not only was she a teacher's pet, but when the teacher assigned them to each other, she declared that she'd "rather do the project by herself than with that idiot."
Needless to say, Noa wasn't a fan of Becky.
They had to prepare a lesson for next week on a greek god of their choice. Noa was going to suggest Apolo, which was her favourite greek god, but Becky ignored her, saying that they'll be doing it on Athena, flipping her blonde hair in Noa's face while turning to leave.
"I hate her," Noa cried out on her way home with Shahar.
"Yeah, she does seem⊠intense," Shahar agreed, though was clearly trying to be nice.
"She actually flipped her hair in my face! Like who does that?!" Noa continued to vent as the bus pulled to their stop.
"Some people are just like that Noa," the shorter girl shrugged.
They got off the bus and went to Shahar's room to play video games and ignore their homework like they always did when Noa got a message from an unknown number.
'We're doing the project after school tomorrow. Meet me in the library.'
Noa sent a thumbs-up emoji and saved the number as 'insufferable blonde' before going back to the game of smash bros, which she was losing.
"Girls, do you want me to order pizza?" Shahar's mom walked into Shahar's room.
"Yes mom," Shahar said, before turning to Noa. "What toppings do you want?"
"Just cheese is fine," Noa said, knowing that's what Shahar wanted.
"A cheese pizza it is," Shahar's mom smiled, and walked out of the room.
"You want to watch a movie?" Shahar asked after beating Noa at another round of smash bros.
"Sure! Something animated," Noa replied, putting away the game while Shahar set up her laptop and picked a movie for them.
Shahar's bed was small, and it barely fit the two of them, so they had to partly cuddle to be able to watch the movie. Noa had her arm around Shahar's shoulder and Shahar was halfway on Noa's lap. It made butterflies flutter in Noa's stomach, but it also made her feel guilty, knowing that Shahar wouldn't want to cuddle like this if she knew how Noa felt.
When the movie finished Noa walked the twenty-minute walk home and was greeted by her mom's cooking and her mama reading in the living room.
"Dinner's almost ready Noa!" Her mom called. "Can you set the table?"
Noa nodded, then remembered that her mom can't see her, and said she'll do it, before grabbing the plates and silverware and setting the table for the three of them.
"How was school?" Her mama asked while they ate.
"It was fine," Noah lied.
Noa threw a huge fit over the summer about her mama making her join the debate class instead of the theatre class, and they weren't really on speaking terms since then, other than the basic small talk.
"Good. That's good," her mama said, finishing her food and clearing the table.
Noa knew that her mama only wanted what was best for her, and deep down she missed their late-night talks, but she also was tired of her mama deciding everything for her. She wanted to be in the theatre class, to be with Shahar, and now she was stuck with some mean blonde girl in the debate class.
She cleared her plates and when to her room to watch an illegal recording of a musical, trying to mentally prepare herself for tomorrow. She didn't know what she dreaded more, political science or doing the group project with Becky.
All Noa knew was that she wasn't looking forward to tomorrow and that she wasn't enjoying her high school experience.