Gold Rush

Chapter Sixteen

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“Don’t hold it crooked, Iris!”

“I’m trying not to! It’s heavy!”

“Try harder!”

I glared at Noah, blowing my bangs out of my face with a huff of exasperated air. “Why don’t you try holding it up then?”

He held up the roll of duck tape that was in his hand. “Because then I won’t be able to tape it. Der.”

            Suppressing an irritated groan, I managed to straighten out my side of the banner. Luke peered at me sympathetically from the other side, doing his best to keep his end steady. Noah went back to putting tape on every inch of the banner to keep it up. The poor boy didn’t realize there was no way any amount of tape could keep up such a heavy sign. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that though… and to be honest I wanted to see his reaction when he finished and it fell down. A tiny smirk slipped onto my face, but I quickly forced it away before anyone could get suspicious.

            “Wow, Rian! You’re such an artist!”

            My eyes snapped beyond Luke, to where Rian was working on painting a mural to decorate one of the gym’s walls for the dance. A bunch of girls were working on it with him, but doing more flirting than painting. “You think so?” he replied, taking a step back to admire his work. “Actually, that’s one awesome tree, if I do say so myself.”

            Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Noah who was just finishing Luke’s end of the banner. Grinning in triumph, he took a step back, gesturing for Luke and I to let go our ends. I dropped my hands and Luke followed in pursuit. The banner instantly fell to the floor with a loud thud.

            Noah stared at it for a moment, the happy smile on his face slowly faltering. Then he swore loudly, kicking the banner off the ground. “Oh come on! I just wasted ten rolls of tape on that!”

            I snickered, earning a glower from him. My hands went up in defense. “Must be bad luck.”

            “I’ll show you bad luck,” he growled, leaning down to grab the banner.

            “Don’t rip it up!” Luke cried, moving forward to stop him. “We need that for tonight!”

            Noah huffed loudly, but dropped the banner. “I don’t see how we are going to use it when it can’t be held up with tape!”

            As if on cue, Cindy walked by with a roll of rope in her hand. Before I could open my mouth to hail her, Noah sprung after her like a cheetah after a gazelle. She screamed in surprise as he knocked her off her feet. Both of them were blushing as he helped her back up. They talked for a moment, Noah gesturing to the rope in her hand. After a second she handed it over to him, smiling widely.

            “Luke, has he asked her to the dance yet?” I inquired, turning to face the brunet.

            He shook his head. “Nah. Noah thinks he can just meet up with her and ask her to dance.”

            “Huh…”

            “Iris,” he started warningly. “Don’t do what I think you’re about to do.”