𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆. (a noco fic)

chapter three

"Who's that little guy over there?" Duncan asks the next week. He points at a small, stick thin brunette boy in a collared yellow shirt sitting with Trent, Justin, Harold and Leshawna.  I think I'm losing my vision because it feels like everything I see is in black and white. Colorless. Bland. 

God, I sound depressed.

Heather rolls her eyes and grabs her lunch. She unrolls the brown paper bag packaging of it and says, "That's Cody. Just moved here, a bit of a band geek, theatre kid and..." She sighs. "My step brother."

"Step brother?" Duncan grins. "This should be fun."

"No, Duncan, don't," Courtney says as she grabs his arm. "Stop giving yourself a bad look and getting yourself in jail again." Duncan rolls his eyes. He's always getting in trouble one way or another, mostly on intention but sometimes on accident too. 

"Yeah, you better watch it," Heather said as her eyes narrowed. "If I see you lay a pinky on Cody you'll bet your ass you're fucking done for. Plus," she said as she exhaled, "he's been through a lot. Cut him some slack."

I catch the boy as he grins and see he has a gap tooth. He's just joking around with Justin and Leshawna. He looks awfully happy.

///

After my last lecture at two, I stay back for a bit in the library across the road because if I go home I will feel lonely. My two older siblings are living on their own, my three younger ones are with my parents in the country, and the one sibling who is just a bit older than me is never at home. 

It's about six pm when I decide to leave. The street lamps are already on, which is weird, because it isn't that dark. By now most people have left. I walk down the front steps and crash into someone sitting on the steps.

It's the same boy who Heather said was her step brother. What was his name? Cameron? He's sitting right in front of the door having a smoke and staring off into the distance. 

I walk right into him, because he's a twig and I can't see anything when my viewpoint is beyond the ground. Tripping over him, I yell and fall face first into the concrete.

"Holy crap!" the boy yells. "Are you alright?"

My first thought is that he sounds familiar. His voice sounds a bit croaky though, probably from the cigarette, and it smells like smoke everywhere. I can see it too.

"I'm fine," I say roughly and stand up. I him up and down. I'm sort of squinting because I can barely see clearly. He's holding a fresh cigarette in his hand and staring at me with worry. "What are you doing out here smoking? It's prohibited on school grounds."

"Okay," he says and continues to take a puff. He then looks my outfit up with a prissy demeanour.  He looks judging, and I suppress the urge to hide myself or run away. "What are you doing here after school hours?"

"I asked you first."

"Well," the boy says. "I'm new here, so obviously I didn't know that 'smoking is prohibited on these grounds'."

"It's a fucking federal law."

"So?" He shrugs. "And I would rather stay here than go home. You have no idea how boring it gets in that massive house. I can hear my own footsteps echo when I walk around."

"Well you must be rich." Of course he's rich. He's Heather's step brother, probably married into a rich family and is spoiled, prissy and a brat. 

"It has its downsides," he says. "So, what are you doing here after school?"

"My family is away in the country for three weeks," I say. I don't know why I'm telling him all this random shit. It's really fucking boring and my desolation has gotten to the point where I am willing to tell this misbehaving little skank my whole life story. "And I have nothing to do and all my friends are off somewhere else."

"So you were just in there...studying?" he looked bewildered. "You're just wasting your time. Come on, we're adults now. Shouldn't you be at a bar or something with friends?" It's Wednesday. That happens on Fridays, and I use my lame excuses to skip. 

"Like you have time to even waste?" I look him up and down and stare directly at the cigarette. "From what I can see it doesn't look like you have much time." Time before he dies of lung cancer, and God do I wish I was him. I'm torn between wanting to die everyday and needing to stay alive for my younger siblings.

The boy sighs. "I'm dyslexic and I can't even look at a book without feeling like the words are coming off the page." He pauses. Look, I don't even know your name but you look lonely. Studying is boring. Do you wanna go somewhere? I don't know, for food?" He doesn't know that my body has a mind of his own and that I'll probably spew chunks if I try and eat. 

I don't know, do I want to go somewhere? Somewhere with this boy, this boy who I've never even met before? This boy who could potentially activate my life threatening allergies? I should start choking just to make him feel bad and ask him to get my Ventolin. 

"I'm not going anywhere with you until you throw out that cigarette." He looks at his hand, throws the cigarette on the ground and steps on it. He leans down and picks it up and throws it in a nearby bin. "Now will you come?"

I stand there and glare at him, thinking about it. "Fine."

He grins a gap toothed smile. "Oh," he says, "and by the way, my name is Cody." Oh, so it's not Cameron. "Cody Anderson."

"Noah Sterecra."

"Pleasure to meet you."

a/n

this is sooo cliche

i feel like i wanna make a oneshot book jkdshjkhjdkhjkdhadshjhdjhsjdh i need more opinions