To Live Again, For the First Time!

Earlier in the day, somewhere else completely, Noah and Grace were walking side by side on the hallways of their school.

The two of them attracted many gazes due to their conspicuous appearances, but others still walked at an arm\'s length away.

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There was Noah, who had his hair styled up, clearly showing his clean and attractive face which was especially eye-catching with his height, and Grace who couldn\'t be described as anything less than stunning.

There weren\'t that many people in the hallways at this time though, so it was still manageable.

Though their own classmates had seen them a few times before, if not for Noah, who had this memorable appearance, they might have mistaken the two for transfer students.

It wasn\'t that Grace wasn\'t well known enough, just that every time she came around for the testing season, she would have already changed the makeup styles that she was trying out.

Not to mention, everyone was wearing a uniform, so a flashy outfit wouldn\'t be helpful in distinguishing them as it wasn\'t possible in the first place.

Today, Grace was wearing a brunette wig, with her hair tied up, which made her look especially refreshing.

The light makeup didn\'t make her look especially overly powdered, but it also just so happened to mask a whole lot of her most prominent features, with the exception of her eyes.

She looked like a different person.

So much so that if one had an impression of her, they might just think she had some kind of plastic surgery.

It didn\'t really make her look prettier or uglier than usual.

Just different.

A different kind of beauty.

"You know, I don\'t know why you bother," Noah commented, not straying his gaze from just up ahead.

Even so, there was only one person he could possibly be talking to.

"Hm? I don\'t know what you mean," Grace acted ignorant.

Noah scoffed.

"You\'re going to have to wash off the makeup and take off the wig later anyway, so why bother?" Noah asked.

It was true.

Because all quarter exams were monitored strictly at this school, these people even had to bring their IDs to the testing center.

The grades were taken very seriously to prevent cheating.

There was just no way that Grace would get off looking completely different from her ID and sit in on the test.

Some might even complain saying that she had gotten a substitute to do the test for her.

But that was also one of Grace\'s joys, other people being completely unable to recognize her.

This went beyond simple makeup.

"Don\'t you think it would be interesting? I think every time we come to class, your admirers have a heart attack the moment I sit down next to you," Grace said mischievously.

Contrary to comment belief, they did actually go to class sometimes, especially when they had fewer jobs handed to them when they were less experienced.

Back when everyone was somewhat new to the school and many people didn\'t even know the faces of the people of people other than those from their social group.

Even then, people would still recognize Noah. 

There was a reason why he was able to become a model, other than his connections.

As for Grace, she would be much harder to recognize with her efforts.

Grace would go to meet her teachers beforehand to inform them of his job/ hobby and tell them that this was her look for the day, and after the teachers got used to it, they could only sigh helplessly as they could neither complain that this was affecting her studies, nor that it was against the school\'s dress code.

Though Grace often wore wigs of different styles and colors, she never deviated from the natural hair colors when at school.

Not to mention, the dress code said something about not dying your hair, but nothing about wigs.

Either way, there was not much the teachers could do and to have the school dress code changed would take a meeting from the board of directors.

It was just not worth it for just one student who barely came to class enough to meet the required attendance.

Noah smirked a little.

There was a tinge of frustration between his brows.

"Interesting, very interesting!" He agreed in a mocking and sarcastic tone.

"It\'s so interesting that the boss and the regulars at the arcade we went to regularly were asking me just how I got hooked up with so many different girls every other day!"

Noah vented out his life struggles with a low frustrated grunt.

That was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life.

When a middle-aged man behind the counter pulled him in and asked, "Hey, kid, you remind me when I was younger and had all the girls flocking around me. But does that pretty blond from 4 days ago know that you\'re here with this beauty?"

F*ck.

Noah quite literally spat out an affirmative through the gaps of his teeth while glaring at Grace at the time.

She even had the guts to act all innocent and tilt her head all oblivious.

If she didn\'t know, who knew?

Noah would say that Grace knew that blond beauty and where she was at that time the very best.

As for when Noah told the old man that Grace was that blond beauty.

Well, he wasn\'t looked at as anything less than a lunatic.

It was as if the middle-aged man was saying: "It\'s fine if you\'re playing around, but you don\'t have to pretend like you\'re not with such a lame-ass excuse."

Then, when Noah said that Grace really was that person.

He was faced with an even more disbelieving gaze as the man said with his eyes: "Fine, pretend, keep pretending. Kids these days."

Grace had started laughing quietly after she turned around, and from then on out, they never went back there.

Noah refused to.

"Those were the good old days," Grace reminisced in her days of glory.

"Yeah, right," Noah clearly didn\'t share the sentiments, not wanting to talk about it anymore. 

"Whatever, what\'s the first test of the day?" He changed the topic.

"Hm, English?" Grace said in a manner that gave no one confidence in her words.

At that time, someone coming from the other side of the corridor ran up.

He seemed to have heard Grace\'s words as he shouted, "It\'s math!" before running up to Noah.

They did a bro hug mixed with a hand grab thingy that was hard to describe in a sentence and not important enough to take up more.

But just with that, it was clear that the two knew each other quite well.

"Lou, it\'s nice seeing you again," Noah said to one of his school friends.

Louis, who went by Lou on most occasions smiled brightly.

You could tell that he was the sunny type with but a glance.

"Well, yeah, and who\'s fault is that Mr, super busy supermodel?" Lou said without a hint of anger or any other such sentiment.

Just a playful aggrieved face.

"Well, I think we can split the blame, it\'s not like you don\'t have my number, yet I don\'t see you calling me either," Noah pushed the man\'s pitiful face away.

Lou didn\'t seem troubled at all as he casually slung his arm around Noah, who was around his same height.

He gave Grace an acknowledging smile and Grace did the same with a small nod.

All of the sudden, the playful and mischievous Grace turned into any other outgoing good schoolgirl, who kept her head a little lowered in bashfulness as she stood next to two handsome men.

One with the attractiveness of a model and the other of a sunny personality that could be one\'s first love.

"Hey, is that bet with your dad true?" Lou asked, having heard of the matter from who knows where.

It wasn\'t a well-known thing within the entirety of the school or grade, but it wasn\'t hidden in the upper society either.

Noah could only assume that his father had mentioned it to his mother who mentioned it to some friends which got to those friend\'s sons and or daughters who may or may not have been in their school.

"Mm, probably," Noah hummed.

Hopefully, it wasn\'t some other random rumor he was confirming.

"Hells, how do you plan to get into the top 20?" Lou asked in curiosity.

That was rising in over 30 ranks.

It wasn\'t impossible, but it was definitely harder than finding a pot of gold bars lying around.

"No worries, the deal was by the midterms. It would be good if I can show some progress in these exams, but they don\'t determine anything," Noah said, completely unperturbed.

"Good luck man, I\'ll meet you at the top then?" Lou laughed.

He was consistently in the top 10, so this wasn\'t strange for him to say.

"You sure that you don\'t want me to help you guys out? Will you be okay? I know how much you hate spending your time here. But then again, maybe Mr. Super model would spend some more time with us commoners," he laughed joyously.

It wasn\'t the first time Lou had asked if they needed help with tutoring or such, but the thing was, the two were just not that interesting.

"True that but I\'ll pass, I have a good tutor, just wait for me to surpass you in the next exams," Noah smiled, and as did Grace at the thought of their thoughtful tutor.

"Is that a bet?" Lou asked.