bleached bones and pinned butterflies

misunderstandings and phone numbers

'Are you sure you want to ride bikes? Those are for boys, you know?'

Shut up.

'You won't be as good as them. Guys are stronger, after all.'

Shut up. 

'Noah, dear, why don't you do something else? Leave such rough sports to others. It doesn't suit you.'

Shut up, shut up, shut up. 

'I guess you could join us... You're the only one decent after all.'

Noah bites down on the knuckle of her index finger, seething with rage as the back of her eyes burn hotly. The sting of the bite was better than feeling the humiliation of losing to that Korean fucker, the one Owen was obsessed with for stealing the girl he never had a chance with. Anything was better than being reminded about how that fucker had her and Samuel bow their heads to that ugly ass high schooler with the silly looking mustache.

Them, professional cyclists of Light Cavalry, losing to a bunch of nobodies...?! 

Noah bites her knuckle harder, wincing at the pain, but it doesn't distract her from her thoughts, whirling inside her head noisily. Never shutting up. All the people who told her that she couldn't bike, shouldn't bike. Her teachers scolding her for being brutish. Owen, of all people, telling her off for losing, for being less than perfect-

Noah wants to scream; if she only had her bike, if she had her gear with her-

Noah snarls and kicks the empty can lying on the road in front of her, and it clatters loudly against the pavement, drawing stares from the other people around her. They give her looks, scandalized and offended, and Noah can already hear their thoughts. Thinking about the weird white girl making a scene, being a public nuisance-

"The fuck are you looking at, huh?!" Noah spits at a group of guys looking at her, and they quickly leave, disturbed looks on their faces. Bunch of pussies, these lot. 

It only serves to piss off Noah more, though, and she knows that just a little bit more, and she's start screaming again. She wants to start screaming now, actually. 

She needs to get away, work off the energy because if she doesn't, she doesn't know what she'll do-

The can she kicked just moments before is held up before her face, and Noah is baffled enough that she stops walking, because what the fuck-

"I'm sure that you've been taught that littering is not allowed in public places, right?" 

Noah looks up in alarm, because that was English, and she honestly didn't expect to come across someone that actually speaks in a language that's understandable. And she-

Those eyes. That blank expression, as if they're too good to show emotions, too good to act like normal people- 

The holier-than-thou asshole shakes the empty, battered can, an unimpressed look on his face. "You can speak English, can't you?"

Noah sees red. 

"What the fuck do you think, asswipe?!" She screeches, shoving hard enough at the Korean fuckwad who ruined her standing in Light Cavalry that he actually stumbles, surprise on his face under that stupid looking bucket hat. "You already humiliated me enough two days ago in that shitty fucking farce of a race, and you take fucking potshots at my intelligence now?! You want me to claw off your face, is that it? HUH?!?"

Is she throwing a fit in public? Yeah, she fucking is. Does she care? Absolutely not. She's pissed as hell, and this fucker is gonna get a piece of her mind one way or another and Noah will get her rightful rematch.