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“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but everything Duncan’s saying is true.”
Gwen dropped into her chair next to Cody in French. It was a typical Wednesday, and Cody and Gwen just came from their History class.
Gwen didn’t like Cody at first. At all. Cody knew that. But he persevered (he didn’t leave her alone) and eventually she grew to tolerate him. And then be kind-of friends with him. Now Cody got to listen to her complaints about… everyone.
“Courtney has a major stick up her butt.”
Yup, there it was.
“Why do you say that?” Cody asked.
“She’s just so controlling about, well, everything! I can’t stand being her history partner. It’s all ‘Gwen we have to do our project on Jacques Cartier’, ‘Gwen, you have to indent exactly 1.25 centimeters so we’re all on the same page’, ‘Gwen, you have terrible handwriting’. Ugh, everything is her way or the highway.”
Cody and Gwen had the same History class, but seats were assigned. Their teacher promised to change them every quarter, and thankfully, it was close to ending. Cody was a social guy, but Ezekiel was impossible to talk to. And impossible to work with. His denial of everything related to prejudice of the early settlers meant they couldn’t do reports on 75% of events. And also, he had an eye on a classmate of his that he was hoping to sit next to.
“Settle down students,” the teacher called.
Gwen lowered her voice. “And the worst part? She complains about how stuck up Noah is.”
Cody perked up. “Yeah?”
“She apparently shares every club with him. Model UN, Debate, Student Government, National Honors Society. I think that’s too many clubs, but whatever. Anyways, she’s always saying that he’s prudish about fucking like… I don’t know nerd stuff. And she celebrates whenever he skips out on Student Gov. for Book Club.”
“What day is Book Club?”
“Uh, Wednesdays, why?”
“Do you think they’ll let me join?”
“Why wouldn’t they?”
“I mean if they’re halfway through the book.”
“Right. Well, I’m in Book Club and we’re not. You’re welcome to join, but since when did you read?”
“I like reading,” Cody dragged his eyes from the board to Gwen. “Always have.”
“...Right. I just joined for something to put on my college applications.”
“So mind if I join?”
“I guess not.”
“Sweet!” Cody exclaimed, a little loudly.
The teacher whipped her head around to face Cody, with a stern frown on her face.
Cody grinned sheepishly. “Désolé.”
That afternoon, Cody entered an English classroom where the Book Club met. There were probably 7 people in the room, not including the teacher. Cody took his seat next to Gwen. No sign of Noah.
After he sat down, the club began to discuss the first chapter of the book they started reading. The teacher had given Cody a copy to catch him up to speed, and Cody read the first three pages before he got bored. How did people read this boring junk for fun? Once he hit the fourth page, he blankly stared at the words and counted down the minutes until he would leave. He probably wouldn’t come back. Noah didn’t even show up.
Cody took a glance at the clock- 3:29.
Then the door creaked open.
Cody turned his gaze towards the door to see Noah slipping in. He sat himself in an empty chair next to some Grade 9 kid that Cody didn’t know.
Noah didn’t say much for the last 30 minutes. But at least he was there! Next week, Cody was going to talk with him.
But that did mean he had to read the book.
~~~
Noah wasn’t there next week.
Cody had read up to chapter seven, just for Noah to not show up. He felt annoyed, betrayed even. By a boy he didn’t even know.
He had spent his entire week thinking about what he would say and his strategies on how he would talk to Noah specifically. Well he didn’t actually know much about Noah. He knew that he was friends with Owen, and that he liked books, and that he was sarcastic. Cody had been working on his humor. It was going… well, maybe it was good that Noah didn’t show up.
Cody walked out to meet Tyler, his ride to the mall. He pulled out his phone- as expected, no texts or calls.
“Hey, Cody!”
Cody looked up to see Owen running straight at him.
“Oh, hey Owen!” Cody waved as Owen approached. “It’s been too long man.”
Owen gave Cody a fist bump. “Yeah! We should totally hang out sometime. I don’t think we’ve properly hung out since summer.”
“Sure! I’m free-”
“Move it along, Lunchbox.”
Cody shot his head up. Next to Owen was the one, the only, Noah.
“Noah! What do you think about Cody taking a ride with us?”
Noah cupped a hand around his ear. “Huh?”
“Would you mind-”
“I actually already have a ride,” Cody told Owen. But really, he wished he didn’t. “And I’m going to the mall, I have work today.”
“Oh, Noah too! He works at that bookstore on the third floor on weekdays, except for Thursday. I was going to drop him off and then go home. You can tell whoever’s driving you that you don’t need a ride.”
“I’m going with Tyler and he’s going to the same place, so I can’t tell him no now. I’ll see you later Owen.”
“Totally! Text me when you get off work, we can make plans.”
“Sounds good. See you man!”
Owen waved Cody as he walked over to Noah and away.
He works at that bookstore on the third floor on weekdays, except for Thursday.
New plan.
~~~
Cody decided he would stay at Book Club one more time before quitting for good. He couldn’t keep up with the reading anymore. And Noah wasn’t even there most of the time. He thinks.
And maybe Noah would show up if he stayed one more time.
Lucky for Cody, he was right.
This time, Cody made sure to make a few comments on the book. He got too nervous to make any jokes, but Noah nodded in agreement to one of his opinions.
That counted as a win.
That Friday, Cody was ready. He knew Noah had work that afternoon. He was going to go straight up to him and start a conversation. About books. Because Noah liked books.
In History, Cody gazed from his seat in the middle to Noah in the front. He had nice hair. It looked soft and sleek. He took really good care of it. In STEM, he took occasional glances backwards to see Noah staring boredly at the screen, eyes blinking slowly. And in English (where he sat next to Noah) he actually got to talk to him! It was rare that anyone was allowed to say a word in English, but peer review came in handy. He got to comment on Noah’s work, but it was kind of hard to find anything to comment on. It was too good.
Noah handed Cody his essay, margins filled with edits and suggestions. “Cool topic. But you have syntax issues.”
Cody’s eyes glanced over Noah’s edits and chuckled. But he did make the essay more readable.
Oh, to be an English person.
Before he knew it, school was over, and Cody was yet again bumming a ride with Tyler to the mall. He took a quick trip to visit Trent at his job at the record store, and after a while left to the bookstore.
He first stepped in, and scanned the cash register. Noah was behind the counter. He quickly averted his vision and decided to browse the selection.
First of all, he decided that he needed a nice book. One that would impress Noah. But one that he would still enjoy.
Then he was reminded that he didn’t like to read.
He moved from the Thriller section to the Non-Fiction section, and picked up a book on the history of Physics. He wanted to get a headstart since he planned on taking Physics for his last year. Plus, it would make him seem smart. He really needed that after what happened in English.
He went to the counter and placed the book down. Noah scanned it.
“Oh, hey Noah!” Cody said, acting like he hadn’t seen him earlier. “I didn’t know you worked here.”
Noah glanced up. “Yeah, hey. That’ll be $20.99.”
“Do you take Physics this year?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Cool, cool, I take Chemistry. I’m just trying to get a headstart for next year.”
“Good for you.”
Cody chuckled awkwardly. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you later Noah.”
“See you…” Noah snapped his finger in silence for a moment, “dude.”
Cody waved and left.
Well that was awkward.
It now hit Cody- Noah didn’t even know his name.
However, Cody was dedicated. Maybe going straight up to Noah wasn’t his greatest plan. He was going to find another way, and it was going to be through Owen.