Chapter Seven Noah
Chapter Seven
Noah
If someone had asked Noah how he’d planned on spending his last winter break from school, he would have said something like
“swimming in the Florida Keys” or “skiing in Aspen with Thad.” He definitely wouldn’t have said, “staying in a cabin in the
woods with a bunch of strangers.”
Cabin in the Woods, Noah thought. Now that was a great movie.
Noah smirked as he thought of how Mia would react if he said her show reminded him of the horror-comedy movie. She’d probably
pass out in frustration.
But as he drove his Jeep farther up into the mountains, that spark of amusement slowly died out. Throughout his time at Marlon,
Noah had heard his fraternity brothers talk about going up to ski in the Big Bear Lake area. But they’d all failed to mention
just how remote everything was despite being less than three hours away from LA.
Goose bumps ran down his back. The road was windy, and whichever side wasn’t lined with snow-covered trees had scenic yet humbling views of the surrounding mountains.
He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles went white and glanced at the colorful line of rubber ducks on his dashboard for fortitude.
Maybe he shouldn’t have been thinking about Cabin in the Woods after all. . . .
When their cabin finally came into view, Noah breathed a sigh of relief.
Instead of being a haunted-looking dilapidated shack, their lodging was more of a two-story mansion made of polished wood
that looked like it could be on Selling Sunset. He’d heard through the SPC grapevine that the Cuffing Game team had managed to raise a record-breaking amount for the show. It was nice to see that money being put to good use.
Noah parked in the line of vehicles in front of the lodge and opened his car door. In just a split second, the freezing mountain
wind cut through him, chilling him to his bones. He immediately shut his door again.
Although he was born in Seoul, his last three years in LA had softened him up, chipping away the tough, winter-resistant shell
he’d had back home. He was wearing a heavy black coat and a thick blue scarf, but somehow, it wasn’t enough.
Drawing his clothes tightly around himself, he watched as the people in front of him slowly got out of their cars.
They all had their backs to him and were bundled up in winter wear, so Noah couldn’t make out much.
But he counted six contestants, excluding himself. Which meant they were missing two.
He spotted Mia going from car to car, greeting everyone. When she got to his Jeep, though, she stopped in her tracks. Noah
lifted a hand to give her a small wave, but she only widened her eyes in response, giving him a tight grin before turning
back around toward the lodge.
Okay, he thought. I see how it is.
He guessed her reaction was to be expected. Only a couple days after their surprise phone conversation, he and Mia had gone
back to their usual, comfortable routine of arguing with each other in class. Then finals had hit, and Noah hadn’t seen her
since they’d turned in their exams. Most of their interactions together this past semester had consisted of arguing. What
were he and Mia supposed to do when he arrived at Big Bear, miraculously make peace and engage in friendly conversation? Noah
did have his optimistic moments, but he wasn’t delusional.
He shook his head, reminding himself of why he was here in the first place. He wasn’t here to talk to Mia. The girl who nominated him could be right in front of him, walking to the house this very second.
Noah relaxed his shoulders, gathered up his things, and headed into the lodge.
The interior of the house was surprisingly cozy.
Brown leather couches and a set of incredibly comfortable-looking turquoise lounge chairs faced a brick fireplace that already had a warm, welcoming fire in full swing.
Large windows looked out onto the wooden patio outside and the snowy trees that surrounded the house in all directions.
Everything was perfect, until Noah turned the corner and saw a big grizzly.
He jumped, an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp escaping from his mouth, before he realized the bear was a statue.
Heart still pounding, Noah had placed a hand on his chest when he heard a barely restrained giggle. He turned around.
Three girls stared at him with great amusement by the foot of the winding staircase.
Before they’d left for Big Bear, Mia had sent them all an email with the address of the cabin, the names and basic information
of all the chosen cast members, and the contact information of the crew, in case of emergencies. So technically, Noah knew
the names of these girls. He just didn’t know who was who.
The one who’d giggled, an East Asian girl bundled up in a white Fendi down jacket and pink skirt, still had her hand over
her mouth. She looked familiar, although Noah couldn’t remember how he knew her. The other two girls, clearly friends from
the way they stood together, also smiled at him in recognition. The first was Black and had on red wintry athleisure gear
while the other was Middle Eastern and wore an elegant green coat that accentuated her hazel eyes.
“Don’t worry,” said the third girl. “Grizzlies were eradicated from the area a hundred years ago. You’ll still find black bears around, though. I looked it up.”
“Or worry, because poaching sucks,” her friend added. “It’s a matter of perspective.”
“Truly,” Noah agreed.
Running a hand through his hair, he gave them what he liked to call his “social media smile.” It was more of a mischievous,
Flynn Rider smirk, but “social media smile” had a better ring to it. He’d learned through trial and error that most people
liked this smile more than his real one.
The first two girls’ faces lit up, while the third narrowed her eyes.
“Hi, Noah!” said the first girl. “I’m Celine. It’s so nice to finally meet you in person!”
Her words and tone implied they’d interacted with each other online before, but Noah wasn’t sure when or how.
Maybe we DMed each other? he wondered. Exchanged a few words in the comments section?
Admittedly, he interacted with a lot of people online. You had to, to boost reach for the algorithms. The girls he’d learned
to flirt with, while with the guys, he tended to spam the fire emoji or send short, encouraging phrases like “Let’s go!!!”
Many of these interactions blurred together at the end of the day, even more so when people used random, anonymous usernames
like they often did on social media.
“Hey,” he said breezily. “Nice to finally meet you in person, too.”
“I love your content!” said the second girl. “I’m Tiana. Nice to meet you!”
“And I’m Shirin,” the third one said. “She always sends me your videos. They’re okay.”
“Haha, thanks. Nice to meet you ladies, too.”
Noah waved goodbye at them as they went up the stairs to their rooms. When they were out of sight, he replayed the brief interactions
he had with each of them in his head. Shirin didn’t seem to like him very much, so she was probably not the girl who had a
crush on him. But maybe Celine or Tiana.
Before he headed upstairs himself, Noah looked up and found two small cameras attached to the ceiling. One was pointed directly
at him and the staircase, while the other looked toward the adjacent kitchen area.
Along with the address to the cabin, Mia had included in her informational emails a consent form that gave the crew permission
to film the contestants all week. They were going to be recorded doing everything from going on dates to doing completely
mundane things like getting up from bed or eating breakfast. Mia had also mentioned that there would be cameras throughout
the house.
We probably won’t use most of the footage from these other cameras, her email had said.
In fact, our editor is going to wipe them whenever they finish editing an episode since they have limited storage.
Since our crew only has two main cameras, and we can’t always catch everything that happens in a single moment, we’ll have the smaller ones around the house in case we miss something.
Noah waved at the camera overhead before going up the stairs.
There were seven bedrooms, all labeled according to the first seven letters of the alphabet. Noah had been assigned to Bedroom
D with Matías Cisneros, a second year. The door to the room was closed, but when Noah turned the knob, it swung open easily.
“Wait!” a voice yelled when he entered the room. Noah froze. “Oh, wow. It’s really you! You’re Noah Jang, right?”
A long-limbed, brown-skinned boy with curly black hair and glasses was reading a thick fantasy book in one of the beds. His
suitcase lay haphazardly unpacked in the middle of the room, with clothes and toiletries taking up nearly the entire floor.
Noah raised his eyebrows at the mess. He hadn’t shared a bedroom with anyone since he was a first year living in an on-campus
dorm. This was going to be interesting.
He stepped around the boy’s stuff to shake hands with his new roommate. “Hey, nice to meet you. Matías, right?”
“Yup, nice to meet you too! It’s wild how we’re here, isn’t it?”
At first, Noah had thought Matías was yelling, albeit in a cheerful, not angry way. But now he realized the boy was just naturally loud, perpetually speaking like his statements all ended with exclamation marks. Noah’s lips twitched. It took some getting used to, but it was quite fun.
“Yeah,” Noah replied. “Who knows what’ll happen this week . . .”
Noah gingerly maneuvered his bag to his side of the room and was about to lie down on his bed when he got a feeling that he
was being watched. He looked around.
“The camera’s on the dresser across the room,” Matías said, before reopening his book.
“Ah,” Noah said. Sure enough, on the dresser, with the red recording light on, was a small camera.
Matías kept his eyes on his book as he replied, “Luckily, we can just cover it up with something if we need privacy. I think