Noelle stared at the 20-foot A-frame rope wall; her heart ached to see the height, with a lack of safety down the bottom beside a pool of mud. Coriolanus pulled her to the rope wall, nodding to her as he began climbing which led her to climb, with each step, Noelle would swing and she would have to freeze in her tracks. She clenched her hazel eyes shut, unable to move, her knees were like jelly and as Coriolanus climbed higher up the frame, Noelle stayed in her spot. 

The brunette snapped out of her daze, pushing up to go higher on the frame, her leg slipped and she whimpered as she felt the rope cut her skin. Ignoring the stinging pain, Noelle pushed higher and higher until she met up with Coriolanus who was waiting at the top. 

When it came to swinging her leg over the top to begin the descent downwards, she couldn't manage to do it, Noelle got into her head and wasn't able to commit to her actions. The brunette girl glanced at Coriolanus as he climbed back to the other side. 

"Just take a deep breath." He whispered, resting a hand on her face, Noelle did as he asked and nodded once she felt calmer. Coriolanus gave a proud little smile, nodding softly and rested a hand on the small of her back.

"I'm gonna help you go down the other side. I'm gonna grab your right leg and swing you over. Hold onto here, okay? It might be uncomfortable as you wiggle over. Okay?" The girl nodded, letting Coriolanus grab her right leg and swing it over to the other side. The blonde moved to the other side, he grabbed her other leg and swung her over. Quickly climbing to the other side, grabbing her waist and supporting her as she made a couple of steps downwards, Noelle gave him a grateful look and chuckled as he winked at her. 

"You're doing so well. I'm really proud of you." 

"Thanks, Corio." Descending was easier, Noelle took it one step at a time, being careful to not slip and fall backwards. Noelle yelped, looking worried upon seeing one of the male students slip down the rope wall. She shook her head, ignoring it despite the sickening feeling in her stomach and just made her way down to the bottom. 

Coriolanus helped her off the rope wall, running by her side to the next obstacle, Noelle assessed the situation of how to make the jump to the rope and took some steps backwards before running and jumping. The brunette clung to the net rope, it swinging with her movements, the girl awkwardly wiggled to the opposite side of the rope net, grabbing onto the pole that she had to slide down and ended up going backwards. 

The drop was worse than she thought it would be, the brunette dropped onto the ground, and she missed the ledge, sliding into the mud pool and groaning as her lower ached while the rest of her body stiffened. Being covered in mud was disgusting, Noelle just wanted to shower and be rid of this day. 

After crawling out of the mud, Noelle pushed herself to her feet, taking a few moments to steady herself before moving on. Coriolanus' face contorted into concern upon seeing the cut on her face, he wiped away the blood, grabbing her hand to lead her to the 10ft tall wall. Out of the 24 students, only five were currently waiting. 

Coriolanus grabbed Noelle's hand, wiping away the mud from her face, staring at her confused as a wide smile began forming on her lips. Coriolanus raised an eyebrow, an amused smile forming on his lips to see what could possibly be a cause of her growing happiness. 

"What's got you so happy?" 

"I'm just thinking that you'd look nice as a brunette. The mud has kinda made it look brown." He chuckled hearing her words, watching as she ran her hands through his hair to get some of the mud out, Noelle wiped her hand on his shirt, laughing and squirming as he pulled her against his chest. 

"You are evil." 

"No, I don't think so." Noelle smiled brightly, Coriolanus turned to everyone as the final person came over, and everyone looked at each other unsure of how to work together as a team. First of all, they got two of the guys up on the platform, and then the group began working to get the girls up, once all the girls were up, the boys began creating a human ladder to get everyone else up before having the remaining three latch onto people that were being lowered down to then drag the rest up. 

One by one the students had to journey across the 20-foot distance of swinging by the ring swings, many fell into the safety net, and some lost their momentum in the middle of the course and just hung before dropping to the net. 

"Corio." The boy glanced at his friend, Noelle was preparing to make her move to start going across the death-like drop. 

"Yes?" 

"Could you give me a boost please, then swing me. Like grab me around the waist, pull me back and just launch me. Please and thank you." Coriolanus smiled at the girl, nodded and walked up with her, he picked her up and waited for her to grab onto the ring. The blonde boy pulled her back, pushed her forward and gave Noelle an advantage of skipping at least 4 rings. 

Coriolanus cheered her on, knowing that having someone rooting for her was the motivation she needed to continue moving on. After Noelle got to the halfway point, Coriolanus hopped on next, easily getting his way across and did his best to leave distance between himself and Noelle. 

He smiled as Noelle dropped to the other platform, he quickly made his way over to her, dropped down to the platform and pulled her into his arms. Coriolanus kissed her forehead, not caring about the mud, Noelle grinned at him and brushed away the mud from his face. 

"I cannot wait to shower. I've got mud in my ears, I shouldn't be having mud in my ears." Noelle slid down the slope with Coriolanus, her smile disappearing upon seeing her father, he looked at the two teens and approached his daughter. 

"You both pass. I'm surprised Noelle, who knew you could be good for something? Both of you can go home." Noelle nodded, waiting for the man to walk away, the brunette turned to Coriolanus as he brought a hand to her face and glanced into her pretty hazel eyes. The two grabbed their bags, walking together with Noelle to their homes. 

"I'll come by once I'm done showering, okay? I'll see you later, Noelle." The brunette nodded with a small smile crossing her lips, Coriolanus gave her hand a squeeze before walking off in the opposite direction Noelle made her way home and immediately began showering. Noelle felt like she was showering for ages before all the mud was gone from her body and hair. 

Noelle placed herself in a dress, just dried her hair with the hairdryer and made sure to get moisturiser on her skin. Doing anything else she could do to make herself feel clean and smell pretty. Upon hearing a knock on the door, Noelle walked over, smiling as she saw Coriolanus standing at the door with a rose in his hands. He smiled seeing her appearance, he tucked it behind her ear, butterflies formed in his stomach as she lit up from the gentle action. 

"A white rose. It's gorgeous. Thank you." 

"You're welcome. Well, it is just to compliment your features. You are gorgeous and innocent and pure. What? I'm only stating the truth." Noelle looked down, blushing trying to contain the sudden giddiness, Coriolanus tilted her head up and stared into her eyes. 

"Please don't hide that smile from me. I love seeing you smile. It makes me smile. Do you want to come over?" Noelle nodded, she grabbed a bag, took Coriolanus' hand and walked outside with him.