I woke up the next day with a tired groan. Cody was still rolled over on his side completely asleep. I did my best not to disturb him when I got up, but me getting off the bed made him roll over, allegedly disturbing him. We met eye to tired eye, myself in my pajamas groggily sitting up, and him rolled over, not quite fully awake yet.

"God, sorry dude, didn't mean to wake you"

I did my best not to stare at him, but it was hard. His hair in the mornings is always very fluffy and childish, and his eyes are droopy and innocent. As much as I compare him to a child, I realize that's not why I admire him. I admire him because he is gentle, sympathetic, tolerant, and just genuinely beautiful.

Genuine beauty is often taken for granted. People mistake beauty as people like Miss Bubble Boob and Justin who might be more feminine than me. And I'm gay as hell!

But if I had to choose between Cody and Justin, Cody would be the obvious answer because Mr. Male Model can't be deeper than a cereal bowl. Which is honestly quite the turn off.

Speaking of turn off, I had to haul ass to the showers before Cody managed to catch an eye full of my unfortunate boner. I mean, it's his fault really, but not like I'd tell him that. That would be a rather graceless way to tell him how I feel. Just imagine it.

"Noah you have a boner"

"Thanks for sharing Cody, but it's your fault it's there"

"Ex-squeeze me?"

"I mean, uh, I like you Cody"

"Oh"

Yeah, that'd be less than ideal.

By this time Cody had fully waken and sat up in my bed. I grabbed a key off the table in the front and walked down the the showers, erasing most signs of my being aroused. When I got back, Cody was gone, so he must've went back to his room leaving me to clean up his mess. Real kind of him.

After I managed to straighten my room up to my personal liking, I went down for a breakfast smoothie, but upon entering the juice bar, the wafting scent of pancakes filled my nose holes. And to my surprise, there was some sort of breakfast party out on the deck.

These people are total nuts, it's like 8 in the morning. But sure enough, there was music coming from the sound-system by the pool, and Tyler and Justin were dancing it up, one better than the other (poor Tyler kept falling into the pool).

"Noah, welcome to the Breakfast of Losers" Harold said with his hideous face expressing no emotion.

"Do you have to turn everything already uncool into something totally lame?" I spat, walking past him.

Luckily for Harold, Courtney hasn't risen from her chamber of insanity yet, so he can be exposed to daylight without being hunted down. Although it's hard to take sympathy on him when he's constantly flapping his annoying-ass lips and digging himself a deeper hole with everyone he meets.

Anyway, the morning wasn't totally boring because Beth had been grilling pancakes all morning, so I was greeted by a stack of the only edible food I've had since I got here. Which I guess is a pretty good deal with the addition of shirtless guys dancing by the pool and the fact that I spend the whole night with Cody. I guess I really don't have room to be bitter this morning.

Once Cody made his way to the deck, he was immediately shoving pancakes in his mouth.

"Beth these are so good!" He squealed, syrup dripping off his chin. Owen was finishing of his 45th pancakes at that same moment.

"I agree!" He shouted with a mouth full, spraying pancakes bits onto Cody.

"And there goes my appetite" he said, setting his plastic fork down. As nice as this place is, Chris is still too cheap to get us real cutlery. But can I say I'm shocked? Not at all.

After I had my fill of pancakes and modern music, I shimmied my way back up to my room to turn on the trashiest reality show I could find, and cozy myself up on the couch. In my mind I felt like a snobbish princess who didn't care for the outside world, but in reality I am just a lonely loser who would rather watch forced relationships on TV than interact with anyone.

-----------

Knock knock knock.

"Noah!"

Dammit I fell asleep again.

"It's open!" I shouted through the door, knowing it was Cody. He came in with wet, fresh-smelling hair and in a pair of jean shorts I had never seen him wear. He was also wearing a thin polo tee with one of those front pockets. As dorky as his outfit was, it was quite adorable.

"Sorry man, I didn't mean to wake you. I was just bored" he said, sitting down opposite me on the couch. I swung my legs down to make room for him.

"Well what am I supposed to do about it? Anything that can be done at the Playa has been done"

Cody shrugged, making his shirt cling to his bony chest.

"That doesn't mean I can't be entertained"

I rolled my eyes at him, making him wince only slightly before chuckling.

"I'm lucky if something can hold your attention for more than an hour" I snarked. This time he rolled his eyes.

"You're the same way" he accused, picking up one of my books from off of the floor. I took the book out of his likely syrupy hands and placed it in my lap.

"Am not. Give me a book, and it'll entertain me until I've read it, analyzed it, and read it again"

Cody shrugged again.

"I haven't read a book since like 8th grade"

"Don't they make you read books in English class?" I chuckled.

"Doesn't mean I read them" he smirked, trying to come off more bad-ass than it really was.

"Looks like we've got a rebel on our hands" I sneered. He laughed, and to my surprise, he laid down on the couch with me. His legs next to mine and our torsos overlapping, his over mine.

I felt like I shouldn't breathe just to not disturb him, even though he wasn't sleeping or anything.

"Will you read to me?" he asked, handing me the book that was already in my lap. I held up the book to read the title.

"You want me to read you Animal Farm? You were supposed to read this freshman year!"

I was hoping the color in my face wasn't obvious, and it certainly didn't help that he nuzzles his head between my should and the couch cushion to get a better view of the book. Something about it was just really cute.

"Sure!"

"Dude this book is just an allegory for Soviet Russia" I stated, waving my copy of the book in the air in front of him.

Animal Farm is one of my favorite novellas from high school so far. I cared less for Fahrenheit 451, but To Kill A Mockingbird has been my favorite so far. Unfortunately, I couldn't find that one while I was packing, so I didn't bring it.

"I just want you to read to me while I nap" he said, doing the nuzzle thing again.

"You're such a kid" I muttered as I cracked open the cover of my worn book. About twenty minutes into the book, he had fallen asleep, his head wedged between me and the sofa.

Instead of moving and letting him sleep, I kept reading out loud, for more my own entertainment than anything else really. But between the familiar words of the book and the warmth of Cody's body, I realized that for the first time since I started dedicating myself to school, that I am in my happy place.

----------------

"I can't believe DJ got kicked off" Tyler murmured from the pool. I narrowed my eyes over my book and shot a Noah-patented glare towards him.

"It was his fault for being a pussy" I spat, earning myself nasty looks from several other losers who were playing a severely interesting game of water tag.

"Don't get me wrong," I defended casually, "the guy's great, but he brought it on himself"

Cody was laying in a lounge chair trying way too hard to get a tan. Laying in the chairs next to him were Lindsay and Tyler. Lindsay had an admiration for Cody ever since he saved her and Trent from the quick sand, but she only gave attention to him when her lips weren't locked to Tyler's.

But this time Lindsay was sleeping in the sunshine, wearing her skimpy red bikini. And Tyler was in the chair next to her, but it was hard to say whether he was sleeping or unconscious again.

"Yo Noah, how's the book?"

I turned my head to meet the glittering eyes of Trent. After Trent got kicked off the show, he and Cody have done this awkward avoiding each other thing, so I was safe from his small talk whenever I was with Cody. Unfortunately, now is not one of those times.

"Fantastic" I replied sarcastically, but Guitar Hero didn't pick up on my tone.

"Awesome!" he replied, leaning back against the counter, earning him my trademark eye-roll. I didn't say anything to him in return, so our conversation ended there.

Unfortunately, the more Cody tanned, Trent talked, and everyone else arguing in some way or another, my frustration levels had reached the top. I went far enough to open my mouth, ready to scream, but I was interrupted by a roar erupting from the volcano that most people call Eva.

"You guys are a bunch of weak-ass wusses! Don't you have anything better to do than sit around a pool and play water frisbee?!"

The pool went completely silent and still. Everyone looked around and made sure they were a safe distance from Eva, who was standing at the edge of the pool.

"Looks like the boredom is finally getting to us..." I heard someone, probably Courtney, murmur. As insane as she is, what she said made sense to me. It's not like there's much to do here at the Playa, and being a loser really put a damper on things.

Courtney had gone over to Eva to try and calm her down, but she wasn't convinced and started yelling at Courtney for being a traitor.

"You all need to chill out. Seriously" I protested. I waded through the water to get to the pool deck and head up to my room. My room where the only sane person lives. And if that wasn't clear enough, it's me! I'm the only sane one in this whole competition!

As I stormed off I could hear several others following me, so I know I'm not the only one being a drama queen.

I marched my scrawny legs up the tile stairs and made my way down to my own room. To put the icing on this cake of a day, when I reached in my pocket to get my key, it wasn't flipping there.

"Good grief!" I yelled at the door, slamming my shoulder into it.

"Yo Noah, having some trouble?" I heard Harold say from down the hall.

"Good observation. Do you want a treat?" I spat, still knocking on my own door.

"Chill out man, I was gonna offer to pick the lock for you. I went to Criminal Steve's Escape Artist Camp last summer so I'm an expert in picking locks"

I swear if I rolled my eyes back any more I could see my own brain kill itself.

"Whatever, go ahead" I sighed, stepping away from the door. He pulled a hair pin and some sort of magnifying glass out of his pocket and started going to town on my door knob. Oh god that came out wrong!

Anyway, the dork actually opened my door, but made a run for it after he heard Courtney coming up the stairs.

As soon as I got in my room, I put my key into my pocket so I wouldn't have to resort to Harold again. Admittedly, I was having way more fun down at the pool than I would up here. But I'm petty so I had to make a scene and stick to my decision.

After considering the few options I had that could entertain me, I resorted to turning on the TV and burning myself out on this week's trash reality shows.

About thirty minutes later I was interrupted by a knock on my door. By this time, I had come familiar to the sound of Cody's knock, so I know it was him.

"Come in!" I yelled, too lazy to get off the couch. As expected, Cody came through the door carrying my book that I unknowingly left at the pool.

"You forgot this" he said quietly, setting the book on top of one of my stacks. He put it in the wrong pile, but I decided not to tell him that.

He looked especially pale and solemn, opposed to his usual optimism.

"Dude, what's wrong?" I asked him, hoping I was coming off with genuine concern rather than a sarcastic tone.

"It's just, Trent and Gwen.. and I know I set them up and all, and I want them to be happy, but..." he trailed off, and I worried he was about to cry.

"I'm a nice guy, I deserve a happy ending, don't I?" he finished. I looked at him, his head drooping and his posture slouchy.

"You'll get a happy ending. It just won't be Gwen" I said after a pause. Cody looked down and took a seat next to me on the couch. He sat close, but not too close.

"You'll get it when you aren't looking for it" I added calmly. And against my better judgment, I reached my arm up to put it around him. He probably wasn't thinking too much about me though, so I'm probably safe.

"You're right" he muttered, and he stood up. He walked towards my door muttering something like 'see you later', and slammed the door behind him.