The Classroom of Youth

Bonus Chapter

(Leo's pov)

This is awkward... I thought as I was looking around the room on the sofa.

A huge, fancy room all to ourselves. That's great, but...

I looked to my left, where Noah was sitting timidly beside me, looking down and fidgeting his hands. I hadn't been able to talk to him since ten minutes ago when we were transported here. The only certain thing I did say though, was when I sat down, Noah was just nervously standing in the corner of the room, so I asked if he wanted to sit too.

Without saying a word, he quickly nodded and sat down.

But that's not called chatting, or talking, is it? I grumbled in my mind.

Yes, I was glaring at him when he came to Merveilland, that's true, but that was only because I couldn't see his face very clearly. I am wearing glasses but my eyesight is not the best.

Should I tell him that..?

"Um... Noah?" I opened my mouth.

Alarmed, Noah jumped up. He looked at me with wide eyes.

"Sorry, I um...just wanted to tell you that...I wasn't glaring at you when you came here. I...have bad eyesight, you see, so I... couldn't see you very well."

Noah's eyes became wider.

"I'm really sorry..." I apologized, bowing my head down.

I expected Noah to say something, but all he did was laugh, very quietly.

I moved my head up, thinking it was just a misunderstanding, but it wasn't.

Noah was laughing like nuts. He was holding his stomach and for the first time, I saw his happy face. But his laugh wasn't loud, or crazy. It was simple and hushed, hard to hear but clearly filled with joy.

Now it was my turn to be wide eyed.

"What?" I asked, dumbstruck.

Noah smiled. "Sorry I laughed even though you were serious about apologizing to me. I couldn't help it!"

"Uhh... what?"

"I was a little bit scared of your face at that time, but now that I think about it," he looked at me and continued, "your face looked really funny, Leo."

"Seriously...?" I groaned.

"Your eyes were just so thin, and the way you frowned was so... oh my god, you're doing it again!" Noah broke into hysterics.

I couldn't help but laugh too.

"You always make that face, don't you?" Noah said after calming down from his laughter and hiccups.

"Really?" I asked.

"Like, when you were arguing with Aeri."

"Oh, well for that I had a reason. A good one!" I growled.

"She's amazing, isn't she? Her confidence is on another level..."

"If that's what you call confidence and not being noisy, then sure," I rolled my eyes.

"I think she's really smart."

"She just SOUNDS smart!"

"Oh, are you going to say that to the ace of debate club?" Noah grinned.

"Being good at debate and being good at studying are different! Leana studies 8 hours a day!! I don't understand why she doesn't have confidence. No one can study for that long..."

"True. She is very kind though. And definitely energetic."

"Just like an immature, annoying dog."

"How about the other girl? The girl with black short hair? Yuna...was it?"

I turned quiet. She stayed mostly quiet when the 4 of us were messing around in the classroom.

I thought of her smooth black hair, golden specks of freckles dotted on her nose and bright cheeks. There must be a lot of things going on behind her brown eyes, but doesn't show it in words. I wondered what was happening inside her mind. I also noticed I hadn't seen her smile since I met her...

How would it look if she smiled?

"She's pretty mysterious," I replied after a few seconds of thinking, "and I feel like I've met her before..."