"Noah!" Her brother called, knocking on her door. She wasn't fully awake yet, she never was this early in the morning. Her hair was a perfect example of bedhead, and her room was dark with the blackout curtains she'd asked for for Christmas last year.

Jason knocked again, and Noah pulled herself out of bed to open the door.

"What?"

"We just wanted to make sure you were up and ready. Mom is making breakfast, so you might want to come to the kitchen soon," Asher said, his head cocked to the side. He was wearing a thin, almost beige t-shirt, not a colour she'd ever seen in his closet. Asher was a bright colours kind of guy, and if Noah was someone to talk about the colours her brother wore, she might question it.

She shook her head and closed the door in their faces. Noah was still fully in her pyjamas, and despite not really caring, she probably should get properly dressed for school.

Noah pulled on a pair of jeans and a loose silver tank top and deftly tied her hair up into a ponytail. It was still autumn outside, the warm summer sun beating down on the small town. She walked down the stairs, her backpack at the bottom of the steps. She grabbed it, heading into the kitchen to see a strange sight.

Her brothers were sitting at the kitchen island, bowls in front of them full of what looked like oatmeal with raisins in it.

"What's for breakfast, Mom?" Noah asked, and her mother turned around, wearing a long skirt and her hair pulled up into a sharp-looking bun. Noah shrugged the weird feeling off her shoulders and sat down next to Asher, who immediately went to tug on her ponytail.

"Asher," Her mother said sharply before smiling at Noah and placing a bowl of whatever food they were eating in front of her. "Porridge, I found this recipe on one of the Facebook groups, and it seemed like a quick thing to make for breakfast, and everyone in the comments said it was really hearty, so..." She trailed off, but Noah knew there wasn't really much else to say.

It looked strange, but Noah shrugged and took a bite. It was a strange texture, but she didn't mind it. It probably was a fairly hearty thing, though she wasn't entirely sure if she knew what hearty meant.

Noah finished her bowl, tuning out her brother's fighting and general mischief as she usually did. Though she did feel more of a drive to join today the most days. She was probably just feeling left out. She finished her food and grabbed her bag from the stairs, slipping on her boots and turning to the kitchen.

Her brothers were handing their empty bowls to their mother, and thanking her for breakfast, which was strange but not ridiculous, so Noah didn't really pay it much mind.

"Alright, are we leaving or not?" Noah asked, the car keys dangling from her fingers.

Asher laughed slightly but deftly caught the keys as Noah tossed them to him. "Right, your highness wouldn't want to be late."

"No, I wouldn't." She didn't have a real reason to be upset by her brother's teasing, but something in her didn't like this particular nickname. She shook it off. It wasn't anything. None fo the smal things today had been anything, and they certainly didn't mean anything was wrong. Her mind was just playing tricks on her.

~

After flipping Asher off in the parking lot and giggling slightly at the jokingly offended face he made in response, Noah walked into the school building. She looked for Jack, but he was nowhere to be found, not particularly normal, and this time, Noah noted it down.

Between homeroom and her first class, Noah sighed as she walked towards her locker to drop off some books, but paused. Down the hall, on the same side as her, was her mortal enemy. Kane O'nguya. He stood with Javi and Knox Martin.

Now, Knox wasn't someone that Noah knew well. He had a pretty good friend group, and they were often seen together, but right now it was just Kane, Javi and Knox. None of Knox's other friends were in sight. It was strange, and Noah had half a mind to go over there and see exactly what was happening, but she paused, her hand on the combination lock.

Something in Knox's stance said that he was confused, but he could take care of it. He didn't need her to fight his battles right now. She kept an eye on them but opened her locker, muscle memory taking over with the combination of her lock.

Knox seemed confused, maybe even a little worried, but like he was going to play the long game. He was going to stick with whatever strangeness was happening, to ride the wave until it takes him to the eventual end.

Noah nodded; she couldn't say that she understood, but she respected the decision.

A flash of white in her peripheral vision, and she turned quickly. Nothing. No one was there, not even a white t-shirt or skirt. Just one of the science teachers with a big brown moustache and absolutely no other hair on his body. Noah shuddered as she grabbed her books. That guy had always freaked her out.

Turning back to Knox and her two mortal enemies, she didn't see anything different from the last time, just a nod between the three of them as they slowly separated.

Noah had to get to class, so she put the moment out of her mind for now and headed to the music room.

~

Lunch came faster than she'd have thought it would. Usually, time at school feels slower, but today, it felt speedier than it ever had before.

She grabbed an apple and a sandwich from the cafeteria and then walked to her and Jack's usual table. Jack was sitting there, but his legs were bouncing and his hands wouldn't stop fidgeting.

"Did something happen?" Noah asked him, cocking her head. She didn't know him well, but she knew that he was normally fairly energetic, but less so twitchy. He usually channelled his energy into something, and if he hadn't been able to, then something must have happened.

Jack shook his head and took a sip of his water. "I don't know what's happening, Noah. I just..." he trailed off, and Noah sat down across from him. Her brows knit together as she tried to figure out what could possibly have him this frazzled.

"Hey, whatever it is, I can probably help–"

"No," Jack said quickly. Almost too quick. "Look, I don't know how to explain it, but... It's like the act of being seen by people is absolutely terrible right now."

This was the antithesis of who Jack was, at least as far as she'd known him thus far. He loves to be looked at and laughed with, and even sometimes laughed at. It all brought him joy. But right now, with the pinched expression on his face and the way he kept looking around at everyone in the room, flinching anytime someone got too close to him, it didn't even seem like she was looking at Jack Anderson anymore.

"Then don't be seen," Noah said. She didn't know what else to say. Jack looked at her and smiled, the first real smile she'd seen from him that day. He stood up and slinked out of the room, flashing a bright smile back at her from over his shoulder.

He'd never needed permission from her before, and she really hoped he would never ask it again. It wasn't something Noah liked having to give to someone.

Something was going on here, and as she took a bite of her sandwich, she thought she knew exactly who to talk to about it. The one person whom she had so far felt like would have all the answers. The one person who had caught her eye multiple times that day and still wouldn't leave her mind.

~

"So that's pretty much it," Noah said, leaning up against the wall of the hallway. Knox Martin stood in front of her, still in his gym clothes. "It's not like it's been one big thing, just a bunch of strange small things."

"And you think I'll be able to help?"

Noah shrugged, "I don't think your input can hurt."

Knox raised an eyebrow and then smiled slightly, "So what would the first thing we do about this be?"

Noah... didn't know. It wasn't unusual, but at the same time, it wasn't something she particularly liked. She liked having the answers, and she liked being able to take charge in a situation. But she came to Knox for him to have some sort of idea, and so far, it seemed that wasn't a great idea. "I thought you might have something in mind."

"Well," Knox said. "It's weird, but I kind of do. Apparently, there's this party this weekend, maybe we can get more information from Kane and Javi if they're... You know..."

"Drunk." Noah finished his sentence for him as it seemed like he wasn't going to commit to saying the word. "That's not a bad idea. The only downside would be that I really would rather not hang out with any of them."

"You don't have to," Knox said, his back straightening up a slight bit. He looked like he was in his element as he started to speak. "I can deal with figuring out what's up with Kane and Javi while you focus on your friend, Jack. As long as we keep each other updated on everything, it should still be beneficial to both of us."

"That makes sense."

Knox nodded, "So I can hang out with Kane and Javi until the party–"

Noah interrupted him swiftly, imagining the horror that that idea might hold for Knox. "It's only a few days, you don't have to put yourself through all of that."

"No, it's fine, really. I can do it. And you work with your friend, and we can text everything we figure out to each other."

That was smart. She wouldn't say it, but it seemed a little too simple. She would prefer something with secret messages and codes, but Noah guesses this was probably okay. Nodding, Noah pushed off the wall and rolled the tense feeling out of her shoulder. "Well, we should probably get back to our classes. I was just supposed to be using the bathroom."

"Oh, yeah, right," Knox said. He turned back to his classroom as she watched him walk back towards the double doors to the gym.

He looked back at her for a moment, his dark hair and dark eyes piercing. She felt like saluting him or something. It was strange. "We've got this," Knox said, before he disappeared back into the gym.

What the fuck. Things had definitely changed. Maybe Knox hadn't though, which was kind of nice. There was something solid about him. There was something solid about the only person in her life who hadn't changed from what she'd known them to be.

Noah exhaled and turned to walk back to her class. She had a lot of work to do to figure out what was going on with Jack, and it was probably best to start now.