THE JOCK JUST WANTS THE PREP [ 1 ]

19 - FRIENDLY AND FRIEND TALK

||NOAH||

With all five of my friends with me, and other representatives such as: Davey, Tedd, Adri, and Christine; another group of friends who are all sophomores, we stood in front of the entire choir class for our practice of the national anthem. With our postures correct and vocal muscles warmed up, we sang with confidence, good effort, and dedication.

"Well done," our choir teacher Mr. Gil praised us for our performance. We also received a bit of applause from other choir mates who served as audience. With our song rehearsed, it only lifted a bit of my anxiety. I sometimes have a surge of nervousness whenever I perform with such an enormous crowd. Not exactly a quality you should be expecting from a preppy kid, but it's one of my weaknesses. "Awesome job you guys," Davey complimented us other tenors.

"Thanks, Davey," I smiled at him.

I had a thought for a moment, "Your brother Zack is a football player right?" I asked him.

He nods, "yeah, though he used to play back then during middle school. Now he mostly just plays basketball or soccer..." Davey stopped to look at older sibling who is sat on the chairs with the other bass members, "...but he will be bringing Ethan and me to the presentation though," said Davey. I turned to Ethan who is stood next to us, he nods. I then looked at Zack who was fumbling his thumbs in silence on the risers. Our eyes meet and he gives me a smile with a wave. I gestured back at him and faced to look at Davey. With curiosity, I asked, "I was wondering, why didn't he want to sing the anthem with us. The fact that you and Ethan are participating and that he has a good voice, why not accept the opportunity?" I said.

Davey tilted his head and chuckled. He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear, "he's shy about his voice, but also in general," he said. I raised an eyebrow at him and had my mouth tightened into a straight line.

"Not what I expected from him," I mumbled, but it would be hypocritical to judge him for being timid.

"Yeah, believe it or not, he may be a big guy, but he can be a little bit conscious sometimes," he said.

"Who, Zack?" Ethan joined in the conversation.

Davey nodded and spoke, "Yeah remember that time when he told us he had a crush on Andrea?" He mentioned.

Ethan sighed and shook his head, "he kept mumbling to himself about things that for some reason related to her. I had it with him so I suggested that he should ask her, and if not, I was going to tell her myself. Then he freaked out and begged me to keep my mouth shut," he recalled. I stared at Ethan with amusement and also with such a surprised look. I shook my head. Once again I told myself that I should stop believing in stereotypes, to believe that jocks have overflowing self-assurance. Though I found it fascinating. "It's a shame though..." I started, "he's a pretty decent singer."

Davey smiled and cupped his hands on his mouth, "Zack!..." Davey yelled out at his older brother's direction, "... Noah says you're a good singer," he said with glee. Zack shrunk inside his hoodie but gave me a bashful smile with a face of pink.

-

Last period, I have advanced art with James, Felix, and Kate. Not the ideal combination of people if you want to focus on something or if you want peace and quiet. "Suck my ass, James!" Felix blurted out with little to no decency nor shame. He must have thought that with the amount of noise in the art room no one else would hear it, but at least five students had their heads turned to us. "You want me to? With pleasure," James mocked him with sarcasm while Felix looked like he had a shiver ran up his spine.

"You're so gay James, at least Noah doesn't act like that," Kate gestured me with her elbow.

"I'm dick deprived," James joked which only made Felix tremble even more.

"Alright, let's quiet down," Mr. Conner, our art instructor, walked to our group with his very temper-less tone, as if he wasn't fazed by the excessive vulgarity.

"It's his fault, he keeps making fun of my masterpiece," he raised his canvas and presented it to the art teacher. Mr. Conner gave it an awkward nod.

"Oh please, a masterpiece? Your artwork couldn't even compare to Hitler's paintings and drawings," James continued to insult him.

Felix glared at him, "What does that even mean?" He said.

"Well... it was said that he was considered to be a 'terrible' artist which is why he was rejected by multiple Jewish fine arts academies..." I started explaining in which I received a tense scowl from Felix. I made a motion and zipped my out.

"It's okay Felix, your prehistoric caveman drawings look phenomenal," Kate added into the degradation.

"Thanks for the support," he pouted and laid his artwork onto the table in front of him. Mr. Conner sighed and tried to give a comforting pat to somewhat help Felix from his mourn. We all let out a small laugh.

-

With the last bell rang, the four of us exited the room and met up at our usual rendezvous spot with Annabel and Ethan in the library. "These ass hats were taking pleasure out of my humiliation because of my drawings," Felix crossed his arms with an over-exaggerated frown.

Annabel let out a small giggle and shook her head, "anyways, are you guys going to be staying after to watch the game?" She asked.

We all looked at each other and had a moment, "Nah it's not my thing," said Felix, while James nodded.

"Zack and Davey are going to be there for a while, so that leaves me to watching along with them," said Ethan.

"Are you staying Anna?" Kate asked. She nods in response. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"You should come with Noah," Annabel invited. I pouted and looked down at my folded hands, "You'll get to see Brad," Annabel said with a teasing tone in her voice almost like Kate's.

I pouted at her and shook my head, "I don't know Annabel, you know who we're up against right? W-what if I see people I recognize from TopStar high?" I said with fear. Her face saddens as she looked at me.