(Ch 54)Faithless Mask, Maskless Faith II

"Angels don't just fall, most of the time they're pushed"

Hallways in school, especially ones in Noah's area always tended to be packed, full of hopeful youths making connections and spreading both good and bad with others.

'Vexing' Noah thought, making his stride through it.

The cafeteria was his goal and having memorised the school's layout and room numbers Noah would have no trouble finding it but first, he had to stow away his bag and belonging. Carrying around books was annoying for all people and Noah was no exception to this rule.

After a few minutes of searching and navigating his way through the crowd, he found his locker… right next to possibly the brightest sight he'd ever seen.

'Who even owns this much colour?' Noah wondered, starring at the locker with a full-on mural and a pink sun with a giant E through the middle.

'Give Vincent a run for his money with a watermark like that'

Noah did his best to ignore the skittle vomit that was the locker next to him and just undid the lock to his own, the code provided by the school but the smell of makeup was so thick it distracted him. He was halfway through putting the contents of his bag in the safety of that locker when the slam of a locker to his side sealed Noah's fate.

'Shi-'

"Guess we're locker buddies" came a rather high voice from behind his locker door, a hand reaching over the top to emphasise the presence of its owner.

"Yep," Noah replied, hoping to keep interaction a minimum.

"You shouldn't blow a person off without even seeing them." The voice replied, shutting his locker door so Noah could have a good sight of its owner.

A girl, same age as himself with platinum blonde hair and crystal blue eyes that shined like a sea reflecting the sun itself. Her curves were generous too say the least but to her surprise, the apathetic locker buddy she'd tried to tease wasn't phased in the least.

'He's not staring at any part he shouldn't… no it's more like he doesn't care at all' She noted, finding a rare teenage boy who didn't ogle at her natural but slightly annoying gifts.

While he understood it was perfectly natural for humans and especially young ones to be attracted to members of the opposite with features and assets that looked "Nice" Noah didn't give the slightest fuck.

'It's all the same… her eyes are rather bright but that's about it' Noah concluded.

"I'm Emma, nice to meet you," She said, extending her hand seeking a shake of approval.

"Cool" Noah replied, speeding up his storage of books and other objects that would impede his travel to food-filled freedom from this.

"I can't tell if you just think you're better than me, or if your one of those "loner" types who really just want friends but don't know how to interact with others" Emma stated, interested in the blue-eyed, brown-haired boy who she couldn't figure out.

"Neither" Noah replied, almost done unpacking his stuff.

He had no idea why this girl named Emma had seemed to take a vested interest in him out of everyone on their first day but Noah had every intention of burning that bridge immediately.

"Hey, Miss Evergreen?" Emma suddenly called, signalling to someone behind Noah.

"Oh, Emma how are you. The art room should be back open by this afternoon… Noah?" A teacher Noah recognised from his last class asked, seemingly friendly with this locker lass that just wouldn't leave him alone.

"Oh, so it's Noah then? Kinda bland don't ya think?" Emma said, giggling to herself a little.

"Coming from the girl with the second most popular name on google" Noah replied, without meeting a beat.

"Are you two friends?" Noah's teacher chimed in.

"No"

"Yes"

"No"

"Yes, we are!" Emma replied, pulling a pen and adding a giant N next to the E on her watermark.

"See there! You're on my locker so we're friends whether you like it or not."

"No, you just forget what comes after "En" while spelling enigma" Noah reasoned, slamming his locker shut and pulling up his left sock again before making his way to the cafeteria.

"Hey wai-" Emma spouted, trying to follow Noah and failing spectacularly as he weaved his way through the crowd like a social pro.

'That was annoying' Noah thought.

He moved through the crowd of people with relative, their faces blurring while their voices faded into white noise. Noah was talented, to an almost unnatural degree at everything and anything he did. That tied with the lack of emotion and innate understanding of people would've made him a brilliant sociopath but there was a problem.

He lacked their will, their idea of self-importance and most of all their desire to strive for something and manipulate those around them. Noah could do so easily, he just felt no desire to.

The cafeteria was just as packed as the hallways if not more but Noah still managed to buy his food. He found an empty table and sat down, putting on a rendition "Final reckoning" That fit neither the food nor himself.

"Don't push me Daniel!!" A voice screamed loud enough to break through Noah's headphones.

Looking up he saw a shorter boy surrounded by a group of taller ones, the leader of which was smiling ear to ear in a sickening grin.

"Or what?" He asked while pushing the boy even harder.

The smaller boy was knocked into a nearby girls tray of food, falling over and spilling soft drink and humiliation onto himself. A roar of laughter from the audience of students sent the smaller boy into tears. Noah watched but did nothing to help.

'They're all the same' He thought.

'Humans are awful, greedy cruel things. Every last one of them'

Noah didn't hate people, just the idea that they were innately good. No one was born good, that was earned. To be alive meant to be selfish, to value yourself over any other was a natural and perfectly normal thing, just the result of a living being's innate desire for preservation.

"Daniel, stop it." Emma's voice echoed from the other side of the hall.

A divide was created with her entrance, boys looking on with lust and awe while girls seemed to be mixed between those that would bad mouth her out of jealously and those who didn't simply to profit off her looks.

'it's a cruel world for everyone, if you're too great you'll be hated by the lesser and used by your peers and if your lesser you'll be pushed down even further for not trying hard enough. The only peace is in mediocrity.' Noah thought.

"Why would I stop Emma, it's so fun to push shits like this around" The boy named Daniel replied kicking the smaller boy down even further.

"Because it's wrong, you weren't like this before, you're better than this" Emma said.

"Better? No, you're just optimistic" He replied. "Can't you see people enjoy this, a good show of the strong beating the weak? What's even better is that his dad works for mine's company, so the weak little fuck can't say shit or I'll send him into poverty"

Sneering so manically it would make one question his mental stability Daniel pulled the boys head up from the ground, his eyes leaking with tears at the embarrassment of it all.

"See, he knows this is his place. Don't ya Liam?" Daniel asked, shaking him a little.

"Y-yeah" the kid named Liam answered reluctantly.

"Liam is it? Don't listen to Daniel, he's just a bully" Emma pleaded, but Liam's broken eyes and the laughter of her peers burned Emma's heart.

"See the-"

"Excuse me," Noah said, trying his best to pass through the two of them without causing a fuss.

Having finished his food and song quickly, Noah planned to get to his next class before it started. It just so happened that he found himself between Daniel and Emma since they stood between him and the quickest exit.

"Noah?" Emma asked, surprised to him.

"Who the fuck are you?" Daniel asked, finding a new target for his antics.

"Just a passerby" Noah answered to both of them, trying to squeeze through.

'This fucking guy' Daniel thought, grinning like he'd found a new toy.

A carton of milk dumped onto him, followed by laughter alerted Noah that he'd apparently flipped some kind of switch in Daniel. Turning around dripping wet with milk Noah stared at Daniel, those manic eyes meeting his own apathetic ones. Daniel's heart froze for a second as he felt like there was some kind of grip on his neck even though Noah hadn't moved an inch.

'W-what is this?' Daniel wondered, even angrier at the little shit that interrupted his fun.

"meh, whatever" Noah muttered, making his way to the next classroom after sizing up Daniel for a little.

'He's a little fucked in the head but that's about it' Noah concluded.

Having met legitimately dangerous people in his life Noah didn't think much of Daniel, finding him far more bark than bite.