Intermission - Noelle and Alice.

For the first time in the last year, Noelle Summers didn’t want to get up from bed and go to school. Not that school was that much fun, but she was a responsible girl who did what she had to do. She hadn’t missed a day of school in the last three years, and now she was considering faking a cold or something just to not go.

She fell asleep at 3:00 am, all because of uncomfortable thoughts that wouldn’t let her relax. Now she was tired and would probably have to see people she didn’t feel ready to face.

“I hate being in love…” she grumbled her frustration into her pillow.

Only a single minute later, however, she was up and heading to the bathroom to start the day. Faking a cold felt plain wrong, and skipping school felt even worse.

Once at school, her first stop was the student council office, like always. She almost didn’t want to open the window with how cold the day was, but she needed to let some air in.

They had an electric kettle and a tea set in the room, a small commodity Alice allowed herself since she drank a lot of tea. Noelle turned the kettle on and made sure there were still some of those sugarless cookies Alice liked in the bottom desk drawer. There were.

No paperwork to take care of that morning, at least not yet. Soon they would have to start coordinating with the clubs to prepare things for the talent show. They didn’t have an early morning meeting, either, so there wasn’t any specific reason Noelle had to be in the student council office other than it was routine.

Five minutes later, Alice came in, shivering.

“Gah, the days are getting even colder. Is it me or is this worse than last year?” the blonde asked.

Noelle giggled. “You asked the same thing last year.”

“Well, it only gets worse. I also bet it’s colder in the mornings than at night.”

Alice was wearing green wool mittens, black stockings under her skirt, the school sweater under the blazer and a green scarf wrapped twice around her neck. She really had a bad time with the cold weather.

“There’s hot water in the thermos,” Noelle told her. “Want some tea?”

“Have I ever told you I love you, Noelle?”

Noelle chuckled. Every morning she offered tea, and nearly every morning Alice said the same. Noelle wasn’t as big a fan of the beverage as Alice was, but she loved the smell, so preparing it was a pleasure for herself, too.

As Noelle brewed the tea, however, she felt Alice’s eyes on her.

“Hey, are you feeling well?” Alice asked.

“Hm? W-What do you mean?” The redhead tried to play it cool.

“You’re a little pale today, I think. And you sound… kinda down.”

Noelle pursed her lips. “I… didn’t sleep very well.”

“What happened?”

Noelle’s chest tightened. She wanted to vent, she wanted to say the things that were troubling her, and Alice was always one of the two people who would gladly listen to her troubles and try to help as much as they could. She had already talked to the other person, but it was her who brought all these awkward thoughts to her head. That said, Alice… Right. She was actually really close friends with those three, huh?

“Hey, Alice? Did you know?” Noelle asked softly, even weakly.

“Know what?”

“That… No. Sorry, sorry!” Noelle fervently shook her head. “It’s nothing. I was going to ask you something, but I forgot what.” She **** herself to laugh. It didn’t sound convincing.

Idiot! Idiot! Isabelle told her Oliver’s secret because they trusted her not to tell anyone! And here the first thing she was going to do was ask if Alice knew Oliver was dating her three friends. Idiot! Idiot!

Alice frowned and pursed her lips. She received the teacup Noelle gave her, set it aside on her desk and leaned on it.

“Noelle, there’s something I need to talk to you about, and it’s not pleasant.”

“Eh?”

“Crap, I… Sorry, forget it. I shouldn’t have brought it up now.” Alice took her cup and took a tentative first sip. “Let’s talk about it after school.”

Noelle swallowed. “No. Please tell me now.”

Alice grimaced. She kept quiet for a moment, looking to the side at her cup of tea. Then, with a **** tone, she spoke.

“I… I like Oliver.”

Noelle’s jaw dropped and her entire body tensed. “Oliver?”

Alice nodded.

“Since when?”

The blonde smiled wryly. “Only just realized it a couple of days ago.”

A couple of days ago? And if she was telling her, it meant Alice was ready to do something about it. Unlike Noelle, who was always at a standstill, wavering on what her feelings were, not knowing what to do about them, and only just now daring to admit them to herself, it only took Alice a couple of days to decide she wanted something and move to get it. She was amazing, as always. But…

“H-Hey, but Oliver is…” she stopped herself.

“He’s already seeing other girls.” Alice nodded. “So you knew already.”

Alice knew, then. Of course she did. She was close friends with those three. “Isabelle told me yesterday.”

Alice nodded again in acknowledgement. “Then you know the arrangement they have.”

Noelle swallowed. “Y-Yeah.”

“If Oliver asks me out, if he asks me to join them… I’ll say yes.”

“B-But why!?” Noelle demanded, unconsciously raising her voice. “That’s…”

“It’s hard to explain,” Alice said with a small smile. “I’m not experienced with dating, and I’ve had bad experiences, but… Oliver made something click for me, and I don’t want to miss it. I know it’s a strange situation, but I’ve known those girls for years, I owe them more than I can ever repay and I love them more than I can ever demonstrate. If they can be as happy as they claim with him, then I’m willing to make this bet, too.”

“...Why are you telling me this?”

“Should I not have?” Alice asked. “I’m telling you for two reasons: For once, it’s easy to see you like Oliver, too.”

OH, COME ON. How easy was she to see through? Everybody knew already!

“But even more important than that, I…” Alice grimaced. “I’ve kept a lot of things from you. We may only know each other for about two years, but you’re already someone really important to me. You’ve always trusted me, but I haven’t been able to reciprocate. I’d like to fix that, if possible.” She smiled regretfully. “I almost called you yesterday to talk about this, but I couldn’t. I was too afraid that you’d hate me, but keeping it from you would be even worse, so here we are. I couldn’t blame you if you did hate me now.”

…

Did she? Did Noelle hate Alice?

“I…”

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