THE JOCK JUST WANTS THE PREP [ 1 ]

41 - DIAMOND RINGS AND CANNED FISH

||NOAH||

A few students have arrived and Thiago insisted that he'd assist even though I found it weird. From what I remember, he wasn't that type to do manual labor, he'd enjoy watching others work with amusement, but yet here he is helping me lift the risers and putting them together with me. "Don't you prefer looking down at us from afar?" I eyed him while beginning to assemble the legs of the risers.

Thiago grimaced, he shook his head slowly as if he was ashamed, "look Noah... I- I know my reputation before has marked itself in the past, but I've changed," he looked at me with pitiful eyes. I stopped what I was doing and looked at him with eyes twinging with a bit of uncertainty and surprise. "Please do believe me, but I understand if you can't. Everyone here acts a certain way, mostly horrible, and I'm trying to better myself," he looks at me with a small smile. I didn't know what to say. From the past few minutes with him, he has been acting nice and placed that ego from the past aside. I nodded slowly and kept on with my task, "what about the others?" I murmured.

"Hm?" Thiago blinked at me.

"What about Damien... or Ari?" I frowned.

"Tch," Thiago rolled his eyes, "Damien? You saw that he's still an ass a while ago, and as for Ari, not so sure...," he sighed. That's a shame, deep down I was hoping that either of them could have a change of heart, but another part of me felt like it wouldn't matter anyway, we're in the senior year about to graduate in about five months. I glanced over at Thiago who was lifting up the risers and unfolding things, curiously I asked, "Thiago..." I began, his head faced at me, "how does the school know about my... relationship?" My bottom lip quivered.

"You know how social media is. This school loves to gossip and drama. When you think about it, despite being rival school, kids are friends with other kids in the outside world. We're all connected in someway. First, the information gets sent here and it starts spreading even though it isn't really our business," he said nonchalantly as he wiped away his moist forehead with a huff. I was expecting him to laugh at me or make rude gestures as soon as the news got to him, but to my surprise, he seems quite chill about it. "Y-you don't hate me for it?"

Thiago stared at me, "no offense, but I really don't care about your love life," he says. Well, at least he doesn't seem bothered about my orientation. The familiar school bell had rung causing the other students in the room with us to take a break. I checked my phone to see that it is around lunchtime. Thiago stood up straight and gave himself a stretch. He looks at me with both hands on his hips and chest puffed outwards, "wanna head out for lunch?" He gestured.

"No thanks," I shook my head, "I brought my own in my bag," I said.

He grins, "of course you do. You and your top quality meals," he chuckles, "well, I'll be coming back with food from outside later, see ya," he waves goodbye and starts walking towards the exit. I watched as he fully made his way out leaving me alone in the stage with silence. I took a breath as I went to grab my bag from one of the theater chairs and slung it on my shoulder. I wandered around the halls and watched as students from both Wolverine and Topstar high roamed the area; A few from my school gave me friendly waves with smiles while the latter school kids never bat an eye on me. As I finally reached the surprisingly near to empty cafeteria, I sat at the nostalgic table at the far corner of this place. Plopping myself down, I pulled out my lunchbox and popped open the lid, smelling the delicious aroma as it entices my nose. Never thought I'd be back here, sitting down eating and stuff. I heard my phone sound out and pulled it from my pocket to check my notification wall without actually opening the app itself. Brad had texted me again. I guess he seems desperately lonely right now. I lightly giggled as I was about to reply to him when I noticed a girl walking towards me. I felt a shiver when I realized that it was Ari strutting with a borderline casual/formal outfit. I stared at her in silence as she stood in front of me with her hand on hip, most students looking at us in curiosity. "Looks like Damian's right, you're back," she flashed her teeth, her cheeks pulling up to her eyes.

I gulped as I placed my spoon down onto my food, "hello Ari... long time no see..." I barely spoke.

She looked around her surroundings for a moment before taking her spot at the direct opposite of me, "it really is a surprise," she leaned on her hand exposing a few sets of jewelry on her fingers. I glanced at them and noticed the expensive brands of Chanel, Dior, and others.

"I uhh... like your rings," I gave her a small timid smile.

She raises a brow and grins, "oh these?" She says, wriggling her fingers making them sparkle, "why thank you for noticing, they really are expensive, but no biggy," her accessories glimmered, the tiny gems twinkled. I frowned with a breath as I took a spoonful of my food to try and occupy myself. "That certainly looks tasty," she leaned closer with curiosity to check what I was eating. Her eyes shined, "you know, I really enjoyed European cuisine when I came back from summer," she smirked.

"Oh really? Where'd you go and what were your favorites?" I questioned.

"Oh you know, the very valuable ones, except for Caviar, I don't like many kinds of seafood that much. We tried traveling to as many countries as we could. Some rando introduced me to this canned 'food' that had some gross fish inside that smelled like the literal worst thing ever. As I said, I hate seafoods," she cringed in disgust.

I tilted my head at her, "what?"

"I don't know what it's called, but I thought of bringing home a few as a prank. I slid some into Damien's backpack during the game when he was busy playing. I could almost imagine how funny it would be to see him screaming out loud when the can leaks or something," she giggles maliciously.

"H-have you heard of what happened to the cans of surstromming?" I said with dread.

"Is that what they're called? no, why?"