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Noelle’s eye twitched slightly as she stared at the midterm paper she’d just received back from their English teacher. Akarsha had been watching her expression closely, expecting to see the usual smug look of satisfaction Noelle typically wore when receiving graded work back from an instructor, but far from looking happy, Noelle’s face only contorted deeper and deeper into dismay with every second she scanned further down the document. When she finally reached the bottom, she glanced up again, and her venomous gaze found Akarsha’s curious one staring back at her.

“What are you looking at?” she snapped at her, eyes narrowing even further.

Akarsha blinked. “You,” she said, truthfully. The simplicity and candor of her response seemed to throw Noelle off balance.

“Well... don’t!” Noelle glared back at the offending paper for a second time, and then shoved it unceremoniously into her backpack, before staring moodily out of the window.

A small smile formed on Akarsha’s lips. “What?” she asked, trying and failing to keep any air of mockery out of her tone. “Did you lose a point?”

Noelle’s head remained looking towards the window on the far side of the classroom, watching as raindrops pitter pattered against the pane of glass, but after a second her eyes flicked back over to find Akarsha’s again. She scoffed. “Not nearly as many as you, I’d wager.”

“Oh but that’s not anything new at all,” Akarsha replied, lazing a dismissive hand wave in Noelle’s direction. “My bumblebee brain earns bumbling B’s every time, but not so No-fail No-elle . She only ever gets A’s.”

This response only seemed to further upset Noelle, who ended up looking away from Akarsha again. Akarsha’s eyebrows rose an extra inch above her eyes. “You did... get an A, didn’t you?” Instead of responding, Noelle only turned her whole body even further away from Akarsha. Akarsha’s mouth fell open in a small ‘o’ shape, but before she could ply Noelle with further questions, the final bell rang and all the students around them started noisily rising from their seats and streaming towards the exit, Noelle foremost among them. Akarsha made to follow her, but her progress was suddenly blocked by several other students, and by the time she made it out into the hallway, Noelle was nowhere to be seen.

Akarsha found her again by the front doors, loitering and staring out absentmindedly at the falling rain. She seemed to be slightly less mad.

“Did you see Diya?” she asked, not looking at Akarsha as she approached.

“Ran off to find Min the moment the bell rang, almost as fast as you did.” That had been happening more and more since the pair had started dating a few months ago. “No idea where they could be now.”

Noelle sighed. She had an umbrella folded up in one hand, and her backpack clutched in the other. She set it on the ground and knelt down beside it, rummage around inside for just a second.

“Oh my god,” said Akarsha under her breath, as she watched Noelle produce a pair of bright yellow rain boots from the depths of her pack.

Noelle turned her head around, still crouched in front of her backpack. “What?”

“You’re gonna wear those?” Akarsha asked, not quite daring to believe it.

“It’s raining.”

Akarsha beamed. “Yes, it most certainly is Frenchman.”

Noelle glared at her. “And I suppose you’re just going to keep wearing those ridiculous sandals?”

Akarsha silently raised up one leg, wiggling her toes happily in front of Noelle’s face. Noelle herself stared at Akarsha’s extended foot for a long moment, before grunting dismissively and turning back around to her own boots. She pulled off her shoes and shoved them into her backpack, before yanking the bright yellow boots down onto her feet. Then she stood back up and turned to face Akarsha again.

After a hard-fought moment of attempted resilience, Akarsha found that she quite literally couldn’t help herself a single second longer, and subsequently a small squeal of delight forced its way out between her lips. Immediately following the tiny outburst, Noelle stared at her with open hostility, as if expecting her to speak. Eventually she began to tap her yellow booted foot against the floor impatiently, which really pushed Akarsha over the edge. Finally Akarsha reached up and clapped her hands over her mouth, only to open them ever so slightly to whisper, “I’m so sorry, but you look absolutely adorable in those.”

Noelle’s eyes went wide, and almost instantly her cheeks turned pink. She quickly turned around and grabbed the handle of the school’s front door. “Don’t patronize me,” she hissed back at Akarsha, without looking at her, before shoving the door open and forcing herself out into the lashing of the storm. Akasha followed close behind her, grinning like a madwoman as she watched Noelle stomp away from the school in her bright yellow boots.

Once they were both outside, they opened their umbrellas, and Akarsha immediately felt the wind nearly tug hers right out of her hand. She grasped it tighter, gripping with both hands for more security, and then lengthened her strides to catch up to Noelle.

“Your feet must be so nice and dry right now, Frenchman,” she said loudly, so as to be heard over the rain.

“Unlike yours,” Noelle replied curtly, not looking at Akarsha.

She was right; Akarsha's feet were already cold and wet, but she didn’t mind. She took a step closer to Noelle, so that their umbrellas were almost touching. “You ought to jump in a puddle, just because you can.”

“No thanks.” Noelle still wasn’t looking at her.

“Here, I’ll show you how it’s done!” Akarsha ran forward and jumped into a nearby puddle. Chilly water flooded into her flip flops and soaked her feet, before splashing up her legs and spraying all around her. Some of it even landed on Noelle’s boots. “Look at that, they work like a charm,” Akarsha said, smiling in Noelle’s direction. “I bet they could help you make an even bigger splash than that one.”

Noelle, who would normally have been enjoying these kinds of antics (behind the false veil of her typical faux disapproval of course) continued staring stolidly ahead, the look on her face remaining profoundly unhappy. Akarsha blinked, wondering what was wrong.

“You’re not still upset about that paper, are you?” she asked after a moment. This, finally, did cause Noelle to look over at her.

“Just drop it, Akarsha” Noelle said, her voice barely audible over the wind and the rain.

Akarsha, who had long since come to terms with losing a few points on all her own assignments, found herself feeling a distinct lack of sympathy for the other girl. “Oh come ONNN,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What, did you lose two whole points?”

Noelle glared at her through the rain.

“Three?” Akarsha continued, smirking, totally undeterred. “Four? Five? Just stop me when I get there. Six?”

Suddenly Noelle’s eyes flashed, and she took a sharp step in Akarsha’s direction. “If you’ve really got nothing to say to me other than jeers and taunts, then I think I’d prefer if you just Left Me Alone!”

Akarsha flinched back in alarm at Noelle’s sudden outburst, but she recovered herself quickly. “Oh c’mon Noelle, you know it didn’t mean it like that-” she started to shoot back, but Noelle had already turned her head sharply and exhaled contemptuously, loud enough for Akarsha to hear over the sound of the rain. And then she was rushing forward, her legs pumping as she darted several yards ahead of Akarsha.

Akarsha stared at her retreating back, feeling a tightness forming in her chest. “Sheesh,” she said under her breath, rubbing at her neck. She was about to shout out an apology through the storm when the wind suddenly tore at her again, and she had to stop walking and grip tight to her umbrella to keep it in her hands. 

Meanwhile, up ahead of her, Noelle was having difficulties. She was still trying to march decidedly away from Akarsha, and so she was caught unprepared when the wind truly reached her. Suddenly she was whipped around in the opposite direction, back towards Akarsha again, clutching wildly to her umbrella’s unruly handle. And then with a Pop! the umbrella was pulled entirely inside out, and yanked violently from her fingertips. It tumbled away, and Noelle herself was pulled forward, landing on her hands and knees in a large, muddy puddle.

Akarsha’s heart skipped a beat, and a moment later she was rushing forward, and holding her umbrella over Noelle as best she could. She bent down and offered a hand to her sodden friend, who was staring at the ground in front of her, eyes downcast towards her own hands, still submerged in mud and water.

“Aw geez, not even the best boots in the world will protect you from that,” Akarsha said, trying her best to keep her tone perfectly straddling the line between joking and sympathetic. “Are you okay? You look so sad and wet. What happened to your life, little Frenchman?”

Finally Noelle looked up at Akarsha. Her eyes and face were both red, and Akarsha could tell at once that not all of the dampness on her cheeks was from the rain.

“H-Hey, wait-” Akarsha said weakly, going cold all over. All at once the rain and wind seemed to cut right through her, and suddenly none of her jokes seemed remotely funny. “It’s... it’s okay.” She knelt down in the muddy water beside Noelle, and used the arm that wasn’t holding her umbrella to help pull the other girl to her feet.

Noelle allowed herself to be helped upright, but once she was standing again, she stared down decidedly at her own feet, at her bright yellow rain boots now spattered with mud, clearly not wanting Akarsha to see the wetness in her eyes. Akarsha averted her own gaze respectfully, even as she put her arm around Noelle’s shoulder to pull her more securely beneath the umbrella’s protective circle.

“C- ...C’mon, my house is only a little further now, let’s... let’s get you out of this rain.” She led a silent Noelle down the street, feeling the rain coming down heavily on her left shoulder, as she moved the umbrella further and further to the right, to make sure that it was squarely over Noelle’s head. 

After they had gone a short way, Noelle reached up to wipe at her eyes with a mud spattered sleeve.

***

When they reached Akarsha’s front door, she handed Noelle the umbrella for a moment and dug around in her pocket to find the key. Once she had it, she jammed it into the lock and opened the door, before taking the umbrella back from Noelle again and ushering her inside. Then, with some difficulty, she forced the umbrella closed and followed Noelle through the doorway, slamming it closed behind her.

When she turned back around, Noelle was standing in the entryway, shivering slightly, her arms at her side, looking sad and wet and thoroughly out of her element.

“Please come in!” Akarsha said loudly, with decidedly forced cheer. She tossed the umbrella into a corner by the door and then walked over to stand beside Noelle. “Let’s get you out of those wonderful boots and into some dry clothes.” She motioned towards Noelle’s feet with her hands, and after a moment Noelle lifted one tentative foot, looking at Akarsha with a wary curiosity. Akarsha grabbed the boot, and after a second of wiggling Noelle was able to gently slide her foot free.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, a small look of surprise on her face. She lifted the other foot, and Akarsha helped her remove the second boot. Then Akarsha stepped out of her flip flops, and together she led Noelle further into the house, towards the direction of the laundry room.

“My folks are out this afternoon, they won’t be home for a while,” she said, just to fill the silence as the two of them were walking.

“Oh,” said Noelle.

A few seconds later they were in the laundry room, an overhead fluorescent bulb throwing harsh light over hundreds of tiny white tiles. Akarsha grabbed two towels off a shelf against the wall and handed one to Noelle. They both dried themselves off as best they could, and then Akarsha peeled off her dripping windbreaker and hung it on a peg to dry out. Underneath, her black t-shirt had managed to remain mostly dry. Then she turned to face Noelle, and looked her up and down. “We should probably... wash those,” she said, pointing to pretty much Noelle’s whole entire outfit. Her typically pressed and spotless white blouse was spotted and smeared with mud, and her slacks were splattered with even more, all the way up past her knees. Even the flannel around her waist was somehow wet and muddy.

“You don’t need to do that,” Noelle said quickly, raising her hands. “I should probably be going home anyway. I’m fine. It isn’t even raining that hard.” As if on cue, from outside they could hear and feel a clap of thunder that shook the whole house.

“Don’t be stupid,” Akarsha said, shaking her head. “You don’t even have an umbrella anymore. And I mean, I’d lend you mine, but you’d probably just lose that one too!”

Akarsha’s tone had been friendly and playful, but still, for just a second Noelle looked as if she’d been slapped.

“Ahhhhh, I’m only kidding!” Akarsha said quickly, raising her hands in a vague and desperate attempt to be reassuring. “You- you can have my umbrella!”

They both stood around in awkward silence for several more seconds, not quite able to meet each other’s eyes, until Akarsha could no longer stand it. “Look, just stay here for a second, I’ll go get you something to change into.” And before Noelle could protest again, Akarsha turned and sped out of the room.

Akarsha’s heart was beating double-time as she power walked down the hall and up the stairs, and she found that she was not at all prepared mentally for whatever the heck was currently going on. As a result, she resolved to try not to let herself think any thoughts whatsoever as she headed into her bedroom and began rummaging around for Noelle-appropriate garments, lest her imagination be allowed to speed into unsustainable overdrive. Eventually though, as she was still trying to keep her mind perfectly blank, she found that she was having trouble actually picking out anything, so in the end she just scooped up some clean stuff at random and headed quickly back downstairs towards the laundry room.

She found Noelle exactly where she had left her, still looking cold and wet and slightly apprehensive.

Akarsha glanced down at what she had managed to grab from her bedroom. “Uhhh, how about some PJs?” she asked, smiling sheepishly in Noelle’s direction as she held up one of her typical night-time outfits. Noelle’s eyes passed over the black and starry NASA-spoof hoodie and lingered for a few moments longer on the PINK branded short shorts.

“I... won’t wear that,” she said.

Akarsha laughed nervously. “Yeah, I suppose not.” She glanced through some more of her clothing. “Here,” she said finally, tossing Noelle a pair of baggy jeans that had once belonged to her older sister, as well as one of her own t-shirts.

Noelle stared blankly at the design on the shirt. “Do I have to?”

“Yes,” Akarsha said quickly. She walked to the door. “Just toss all your muddy junk into the washer and I’ll get it started on a fast wash.”

Noelle looked like she was about to protest again, but then suddenly all the fight seemed to escape out of her in a woooosh as she let out a long sigh. “Okay. Thanks, Akarsha.”

“Don’t mention it,” Akarsha replied cheerfully. Then she looked down and smiled, pointing to Noelle’s feet. “Hey, at least you don’t need to change your socks. It looks like your excellent boots did the trick.”

Noelle glanced down. “Oh, yeah.”

There was another awkward pause. “Aaaanyway, I’ll let you get changed.” Akarsha headed out of the laundry room and made to close the door, but Noelle’s quiet voice stopped her at the last second. She pulled the door back open again.

“Umm, did you... did you mean what you said?” Noelle was blushing now, though she was trying desperately to hide it. “About my boots?”

“What, that they did the trick?” Akarsha asked, slightly confused. “I mean, clearly they did, since your socks there are high and dry.”

“No, not that.” Noelle blushed even deeper. “Before, when you said they were-” She stopped, apparently unable to go on. Akarsha’s heart was in her throat, but she waited silently for Noelle to finish what she’d started.

“-cute?”

The leftover garments Akarsha still had in her arms slipped from her fingers to land upon the floor. Even she was blushing now, but her lips split into a grin.

“Uhh, I think the word I used was adorable,” she said after a moment. “And yeah, of course I meant it. You looked great!”

“Oh,” said Noelle. A small smile, the first one since she’d received that paper back from their English teacher earlier that afternoon, appeared on her lips. “It’s just, when you said it before, I thought maybe you were making a joke.”

“I MEANNN,” said Akarsha, her voice cracking slightly. “Maybe a little! But only because you’re so serious all the time, and they look like...  Noelle, they look like lil’ baby’s first rain boots, so it was surprising is all!” She stepped back into the laundry room and gently grabbed Noelle by the arm. “But they looked great on you, super super cute. You were totally rocking them. ”

Noelle was blinking a lot, and kept glancing at where Akarsha’s hand was touching her arm, but eventually she looked back into Akarsha’s eyes again. “Okay,” she said finally.

Suddenly, Akarsha’s hand was too warm to keep touching Noelle, and she pulled back her arm with lightning speed. She found herself blushing again, and hastily stooped to grab up all the clothing she’d dropped to the floor. “Alrighty! I’ll let you change now! Goodbye!” She rushed from the room, closing the door firmly behind her. And Immediately slammed her back against the wall opposite the closed door, sliding slowly down to sit upon the floor, her head buried in her hands. “Goodbye???” she hissed under her breath, scowling to herself. “What, am I leaving??? This is MY house?????? Stupid!!1!”

Sighing, she pushed herself back to her feet after a moment and returned to her room. Once she’d closed her door, she tossed the armful of clothes she’d brought back straight onto the floor, and then looked down at herself. Her own leggings had gotten quite dirty themselves as she’d knelt in the mud beside Noelle, so she pulled them off and tossed them in her hamper. When she glanced around for something to replace them with, her eyes alighted upon the pajama shorts she’d offered Noelle. She snorted to herself. Why not? She pulled them on, and then for good measure, she threw on the NASTY/NASA hoodie over her t-shirt.

For the finishing touch, she rummaged around in a small set of drawers near her bed for a moment, before withdrawing a set of bright, blue socks. There came a knock on her door just as she’d finished slipping them on over her feet. 

“Akarsha? Are you in there?”

Akarsha took one last look at herself in the mirror on her desk, smirking ruefully. She didn’t know if she looked good, but she definitely looked like Akarsha. She walked over and pulled open the door.

“Thanks again for letting me-” Noelle broke off mid-sentence as she noticed Akarsha’s attire. She stared at the hoodie, then the shorts for several long, harrowing seconds, before finally tearing her eyes away to look down at the socks. She blinked. “Must you wear that?”

Akarsha held up her hands defensively. “Hey, it’s my house, I get to be comfortable if I want! And anyway, I already offered them to you, so you don’t get to be jealous now.” Then she smirked. “Besides, I quite like the shirt you’re already wearing. In fact, it’s one of my favorites.”

“Why doesn’t that doesn’t surprise me at all?” Noelle asked, her face completely deadpan as she glanced down at her own chest. A large, smiling picture of Garfield the Cat grinned up at them both, surrounded by the words FML: Feed Me Lasagna. Noelle looked up again, locking eyes with Akarsha. “If you take a picture of me wearing this, I will destroy you.”

Akarsha gave a cry of dismay. “Not even one single one, just for me to have and to treasure always? And to never, ever upload to the internet???”

“Nope.”

Akarsha sighed unhappily. Then a quiet moment passed, with just the two of them staring at one another’s unusual outfits. Then Akarsha jumped, remembering Noelle’s muddy clothes in the washing machine. “I’ll go get the washer going!” she said quickly, squeezing past Noelle as the other girl stood in the doorway. As she passed by, their bodies came into a brief contact, and as soon as it was over, both of them fought back a small shudder, each trying desperately not to let the other notice.

Akarsha added some soap and set the machine to quickly wash the few pieces of Noelle’s clothing, and slowly they began to spin round and around inside the machine. She watched them go for a few seconds before leaving. From the hallway, she spotted Noelle a little ways off, on the couch in the living room. “It shouldn’t be long,” she said, as she walked into the room to join her. “We can toss them in the dryer in like 15 minutes.”

“Okay.”

There was a tense moment when Akarsha had to fight with herself over deciding where to sit, in which her longing heart won over her anxious mind as she ended up sitting down right next to Noelle on the sofa. She leaned back and put her hands behind her head with exaggerated nonchalance, while beside her Noelle sat up straight and narrow, glancing over at Akarsha from time to time.

“Doooo you... wanna do something?” Akarsha asked eventually.

Noelle blinked. “Not... really.”

“Not even Maaario ?” Akarsha plied, lifting a blue socked foot off the floor to point towards the TV with her big toe.

Noelle gave a little sigh. “I don’t think I’m up to it,” she said finally, shaking her head. “Sorry for being an uncharitable guest.” She sounded miserable.

Suddenly Akarsha was remembering her outburst in the rain, and the look on her face as she’d gazed up at Akarsha from that mud puddle. Something twisted inside Akarsha’s chest, and she forced herself to sit up and look right at Noelle.

“Do you... wanna talk about it?” she asked quietly.

Noelle’s neck snapped around, her eyes wide as they stared into Akarsha’s. Then she blinked. “H-Hey, tell me a joke!” she said suddenly, a strange smile on her lips.

‘Whaa?” Akarsha said, confused. “No, I’m asking if you-”

“C’mon, you’re usually so full of jokes that we can’t stop you from spouting them. Don’t tell me you’ve finally run out?”

Akarsha found herself hesitating. On the one hand, she was now more worried about Noelle than ever, given how clearly desperate she was to change the subject.

On the other hand, she had never asked Akarsha to tell her a joke before. Akarsha found herself shaking her head, and grinning ruefully despite everything. “Hold up,” she said finally. “It’s just that... you’ve put me on the spot is all.”

“Well come on then, think of one already,” Noelle said eagerly. “And you better make it a good one!”

Akarsha laughed, racking her brains for jokes. After a few seconds, she remembered a particularly silly one she’d been working on for a while now, with no real idea when she’d actually have the chance to try it out. Well, it seemed like there was literally no better time than the present.

Noelle was watching her expectantly, and Akarsha surprised her by reaching out and grabbing one of her hands with both of her own. She tried not to think about how soft and warm Noelle’s skin was, and to remain focused only on telling the perfect joke, one so funny that it would actually make Noelle laugh, and somehow solve all of her problems forever. At least she hoped it would make her smile.

Using her own fingers, Akarsha gently raised up three of Noelle’s, and held them right in front of her face. “So, you know the three little pigs, don’t you?”

Noelle blinked, looking incredulously from Akarsha, to her own three outstretched fingers, and back to Akarsha again. Then she shook her head. “I... suppose that yes, I am aware of them.”

“Good! So you know that they were all trying to keep their properties in the community safe from the big bad wolf, right?” Akarsha lowered her voice, conspiratorially. “You know..... because of gentrification.”

The smallest smile appeared on Noelle’s lips for the briefest of moments before vanishing. “I don’t think that particular social concept ever played a part in any of the retellings I heard of that nursery rhyme.”

“Perhaps not!” Akarsha allowed. “But I do know one thing that’s for sure true, and that I’m sure you didn’t know, which is that the big bad wolf was actually... a Frenchman, just like you!”

Noelle raised her eyebrows.

“Skeptical? Of course you are, you’re you! But I can prove it.”

“Go on...” Noelle said slowly, looking mildly intrigued despite herself.

“Alright,” said Akarsha with a smirk. She pulled Noelle’s three raised fingers up in front of her mouth. “It’s because she huffed, and she puffed, and-” Akarsha loudly sucked in a huge lungful of air, and then puffed out both cheeks and blew as hard as she could on Noelle’s outstretched fingers. As soon as all the air had been forced from her lungs, she leaned forward to look Noelle dead in the eyes.

“She sacré bleu their fucking house down.”

Noelle stared at Akarsha for a full five seconds in an absolute silence, juuust long enough for Akarsha to start sweating. Then she suddenly made a completely undignified sound, something halfway between a snort and racking cough. And then she was laughing, laughing so hard she had to clutch at her stomach with her free hand, the one Akarsha wasn’t still holding on to.

Akarsha let out a sigh of relief. She’d passed the test. She could diminish, and go into the West, and remain Akarsha. But still, despite all the absolutely beautiful laughter surrounding her, when Noelle had recovered herself enough to look at Akarsha again, Akarsha noticed that there was still a darkness behind her eyes, one that Akarsha thought that she might recognize. Suddenly she found herself shifting gears, somehow resolved.

“Wait,” she added quickly, and Noelle gave a little expectant nod, a small smirk still playing on her lips. “I haven’t even gotten to the funniest part yet.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! Do you know why the Frenchman wolf blew down their house?”

Noelle shrugged. “I assume it had something to do with the wolf’s innate predatory nature?”

“Nope,” said Akarsha, shaking her head. Tentatively, she reached out with one hand, and pressed it to Noelle’s chest, right above her heart. “It’s because she was sad, and her heart was hurting.”

Noelle blinked, staring down at Akarsha’s hand as it rested on her borrowed shirt, right over Garfield’s left eye.

“And do you know why the Frenchman’s heart was hurting?” Akarsha went on quietly. Noelle gave her head the tiniest of shakes. 

“It’s because... she lost a point on her English midterm!”

Noelle’s tentative smile was almost instantly replaced with a scowl, but before she could say anything Akarsha continued speaking.

“And that’s the funniest part of all, isn’t it? Because it has to be just about the silliest thing imaginable! The Frenchman wolf already has like a billion points! Why, with her extra credit, I’ll bet she probably still has more than a hundred percent in her English class. What does she even have to be upset about?”

“Akarsha...” Noelle said slowly, but Akarsha barreled on, heedless.

“At least, I think that’s why she’s upset, but I guess I don’t actually know for sure, because she won’t even talk to me about it!”

“Akarsha!” Noelle said again, louder this time, but Akarsha only shook her head violently.

“No, Noelle!” She took her hand off Noelle’s chest and clasped it tightly around Noelle’s hand, the one she’d been holding onto ever since the very start of her original joke. “Look,” she said, shaking Noelle’s captured hand between both of her own. “I’ve got you. You’re got. Ya got got. And I won’t let you go until you talk about your feelings!”

Noelle looked like she desperately wanted to wrestle her hand free of Akarsha’s grip, but knew better than to try. She just didn’t have the muscle mass.

“C’mon,” Akarsha said quietly, almost pleading now. “I’m your friend, aren’t I?” She hesitated for a moment. “I just, I can’t stop thinking about how sad you looked down in that puddle! But you don’t have to look that way, because I’m here! Your silly little clown! I want to make you feel better! I’m... supposed to make you feel better.”

It seemed as though Noelle’s rational thought was beginning to go out the window, because she had begun feebly shaking her hand in a vain attempt to loose it from Akarsha’s grip. But after a few futile seconds, she gave it up for a bad job, and finally looked back up into Akarsha’s eyes. 

Akarsha recognized fear, and anger, and hope, and sadness all battling desperately behind Noelle’s dark eyes, as well as several other, more complex emotions that she definitely couldn’t be sure about.

Then, as though she could no longer withstand the heartfelt care coming through Akarsha’s piercing gaze, Noelle lowered her head. “It wasn’t one point,” she said in a small voice, and Akarsha could hardly believe that she’d actually gotten through to the other girl. She waited patiently for Noelle to continue.

“It was two points.”

Akarsha made an involuntary sound as she forced herself not to laugh in utter incredulity. In response, Noelle continued, her voice desperate as she tried to better explain herself.

“But it’s not about the points! It’s... I studied for that test for hours. Hours and hours! I should have been able to ace it. I should have known the right answers.”

Noelle paused, and Akarsha frowned sympathetically, before giving Noelle’s hand a firm but gentle squeeze, which seemed to force more words out of her like water from a squished sponge.

“Ugh, this is so stupid! I’m supposed to know the right things, but I don’t!” Noelle glanced up, and her eyes met Akarsha’s for a brief moment. “I’m supposed to... to want the right things, but I can’t do that either!” She shook her head emotionally. “I just keep messing up the plan!”

Noelle lapsed into silence again. Akarsha wasn’t sure exactly what Noelle was referring to, but the answer seemed simple enough to her.

“What plan?” she asked quietly, after a moment.

Noelle sighed. “You know, the plan. Succeed at everything all the time so I can live a normal, happy life. Just the usual stuff.”

Akarsha couldn’t help laughing. “Well there’s your problem!” she said, grinning. “It sounds like you just have a bad plan! A terrible one, really. I mean, who even wants to live a normal life?” Noelle blinked, and narrowed her eyes in confusion, so Akarsha continued. “If this plan or whatever is making you so miserable, if it’s not aligning with what you... what you want, well then, it just sounds to me like you just need to make a new one.” She squeezed Noelle’s hand again.

“Whatever you want, no matter what it is, I’m sure that it’s not wrong, I’m sure it’s the perfect thing for you. And as for not knowing the right things, Noelle, you know too many things! You’re the smartest person in our school, the smartest person I know. You know everything!”

Noelle gave a dry and humorless chuckle. “I do not know everything.”

“You know enough!” Akarsha insisted hotly. “More than enough to make any plan you want, and then make it come true. I’m sure of it. Noelle, whatever it is that you want, I’m sure that you’ll get it.”

Noelle looked right at her. Then she laughed quietly, and genuinely this time. “Whatever I want, huh? You really think so?”

“I know so,” Akarsha insisted, smiling.

“You know so...” Noelle sighed. “Sounds to me like you’re the one who knows everything.” She tilted her head to one side, grinning. “When did you become so smart?”

Akarsha laughed aloud. “Never! I’m not smart at all!” She winked at Noelle. “I’m just your silly little clown, remember?”

“My silly little clown,” Noelle repeated under her breath, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “Where on earth did you even hear that?”

Akarsha rubbed at her neck, embarrassed. “Diya mentioned it a while back. She said that you’d called me that once. She didn’t say why though.” She blushed pink. “I always thought it sounded cute.”

Noelle stared up at the ceiling, unable to stop herself from smiling, her own cheeks pink as well. “Well if it sounds cute, that must be because it is.” They were both quiet for a moment. “Anyway, the job’s yours, if you want it.”

Akarsha blinked, eyes wide. “Are you kidding? Are you joking me? Of course I want it!” She gave as big of a sweeping bow as she possibly could, with both of them still seated together on the couch. “My liege, I shall be your loyal jester, your most jingly fool.” She pointed the top of her head in Noelle’s direction and bumped it gently against her, shaking it as if jingling invisible bells on an invisible jester’s cap.

“You’re terrible,” Noelle said, smiling and laughing. After a few moments she placed her arms on Akarsha’s shoulders and gently pushed her off. “Okay, that’s enough.”

“Of course my liege, whatever you say my liege!” Akarsha backed off, but Noelle’s arms remained firmly on her shoulders, even after a few seconds had passed. Why, it was almost a hug, Akarsha found herself thinking.

Both of them jumped slightly as the washing machine in the other room beeped loudly, signaling the completion of the wash cycle. Then Akarsha laughed. “I shall set my liege’s clothes to dry at once!” she said, making to stand up, but Noelle used her hands on her shoulders to stop her.

“Hey,” she said quietly, and Akarsha looked at her curiously. “I want you to know, I’m sorry I yelled at you, out there in the rain.”

“Oh!” said Akarsha. “No, I’m sorry I pestered you, when you so clearly weren’t in the mood.”

Noelle shook her head. “It’s not your fault. I often appear not to be in the mood for your shenanigans, even when I actually am. How could you possibly have known this time was different?”

“Heh, I guess so.” Akarsha smiled a reassuring smile. “Still, I’ll try better to tell the difference next time.” She made to stand up and go put Noelle’s clothes in the dryer, but again Noelle’s hands on her shoulders held her in place.

“You know,” she said quietly, not quite looking into Akarsha’s eyes. “When you were telling me that joke, and... you were holding my hand... and you blew on my fingers...”

“Yeah...?” Akarsha said softly, her heart hammering in her chest. Noelle looked her right in the eyes. 

“You had really bad breath.”

***

A few minutes later, Noelle was banging her fist on the bathroom door, half laughing and half crying as she pleaded with Akarsha to come out.

“Akarsha!” she said, her voice extremely high pitched, from humor and desperation both. “Please, I was only teasing, I promise your breath was fine, really!”

Finally Akarsha opened the door, a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth, a white foam of toothpaste on her lips. “I don belief you” she said, her voice muffled by the brush moving between her teeth.

After that, they walked together to the laundry room to put Noelle’s clothing in the dryer, Akarsha with the toothbrush still in her mouth, brushing vigorously all the while. Then they went back to the living room again, to wait some more, Akarsha still brushing away. Her gums were beginning to hurt from all the vigorous brush strokes, but she was determined.

“Look!” she said suddenly, taking the brush out from between her teeth to point with it out the window. Outside, the sun was just beginning to poke through the clouds, the rain finally dissipating. 

They both walked over to the window to stare out in wonder. The huge rolling thunderheads were dissipating, but the clouds still held some of their intimidating majesty. And the bright, glowing sun shining through illuminated the wet world all around them, making everything shimmer and sparkle in the sunlight. 

These April showers might be stormy, Akarsha reflected, but they can also be beautiful. And they bring May flowers!

She thought maybe she’d give some to Noelle, when the time came.

Finally, feeling that her gums might begin to bleed if she brushed them any more, she walked back to the bathroom to spit and rinse her mouth with water from the sink, before returning her toothbrush to the cabinet. When she got back to the living room again, Noelle was still staring out the window.

“It’s really pretty,” she said, turning towards Akarsha.

Akarsha nodded. “It really is.”

A little while later, the dryer dinged, and the pair walked back to retrieve Noelle’s garments.

“You can change back into these,” Akarsha said, as she handed the warm clothes to Noelle. “Or you can just keep borrowing what you’ve got on.”

Noelle looked down at what she was wearing. She reached up and rubbed the material that formed Garfield's tail between her fingers. “I’ll just hold on to this for a little while, if you really can bear to be parted from it?”

“There’s only one person I’d lend my most prized shirt, and it’s you Frenchman.”

“I’m honored,” Noelle laughed.

Akarsha walked Noelle back to the front door. “I suppose you should be going...” she said, sounding slightly regretful.

“I suppose so...” Noelle agreed, sounding equally regretful. She crouched down and placed her clean clothes into her backpack.

“Time to put your amazing boots back on,” Akarsha said, smiling.

“But it’s not raining anymore?” Noelle said, staring down at her brown Oxfords inside her backpack.

“But just think of all those dangerous puddles you’ll be walking back home through,” Akarsha reasoned, nodding wisely.

“I guess you have a point,” Noelle allowed. She zipped up her backpack with her shoes still inside it, and slung it over her back. Then she stepped into her bright yellow rain boots again.

“Get home safely, my liege,” Akarsha said, with a little bow.

Noelle shook her head, grinning ruefully. “I'll do my best. And thank you for sheltering me from the storm... and for talking with me, and making me laugh.” Then she sighed, and rolled her eyes. “My silly little clown.”

Akarsha beamed.

She held the door open for Noelle, who walked through it back into the outside world.

“Goodbye!” called Akarsha as Noelle walked out to the street.

“Goodbye!” Noelle called back, waving.

Finally Akarsha shut the door, and leaned against it, hugging herself tightly, smiling. Then one final, perfect thought appeared fully formed inside her head, and suddenly she was racing down the hallway and up the stairs towards her bedroom window, which overlooked the street in front of her house. But as she threw it open and stuck her head out to shout, a small pool of water that had accumulated on top of the sill spilled down directly on top of her head.

“Hey! Noell-AAHHHH!” Her shout became a yelp of dismay as the cold water trickled down her face and the back of her neck simultaneously. 

At Akarsha’s shout, Noelle glanced up to her as she walked away down the street. She covered her mouth as she grinned and giggled in amusement, and pointed at Akarsha's newly wet form. “What?” she called up to her, curious.

Akarsha brushed the water from her hair as best she could, and then turned her attention to the ground around Noelle. Almost instantly she spotted what she was looking for, a huge puddle on the side of the road, the bright reflected sunlight shimmering off its surface like a pool of sparkling, metallic liquid.

“There!” she said, leaning out of her window and pointing to the puddle. “Jump in it!”

Noelle blinked, confused.

“It’s the perfect puddle, and you have the perfect boots. You’re perfect! Now jump in that puddle!”

Noelle looked embarrassed, flushing red as she glanced nervously around the quite deserted street.

Akarsha waved her hands in exasperated impatience. “Just jump in it already! C’mahn!”

Finally Noelle seemed to accept her fate. She grinned up at Akarsha. And a second later, she jumped.