BUDDY SYSTEM ! ruel van dijk

september third

ruel:
BUDDY SYSTEM! was typed in thick black bubble writing on the front the the mustard coloured leaflet. the breeze from the window was blowing the front cover up a little bit, and i could see two crisp white stickers shaped like rectangles peeking out of the side. underneath was a three page contract that i'd skimmed through, something about agreeing to the code of conduct and never smoking weed or drinking while wearing school uniform. apparently it's a bad representation of the school. the headmaster cleared his throat, snatching me out of my daze. "alright mr van dijk just sign here and here, and then we can get you off to period one." he said, pointing to two blank boxes on the open contract. i picked up a pen from the dark wooden desk and scribbled my signature down on the paper, lingering for a moment afterwards. it kind of reminded me of signing autographs for fans and that thought sent me down a spiral of regretting how much of an idiot i was.
just; let me take you back a little bit.

august twenty third
"come on ruel! it'll be funnn." he insisted, trying to convince me to go to a random party. to be honest, i really wanted to go but i knew it was a bad idea. "you know i want to dylan but i just can't risk it," i grumbled, "what if i got really drunk or did something stupid? my family would actually kill me."
"it'll be fine man, don't sweat it," dylan said, already slurring from the pre drinks he'd dug into at his friends house he was calling me from, "i promise i won't let you do anything stupid."
however hard i found that to believe, for some reason i agreed to go to the party. about an hour, one lemonade, two shots and a couple of beers later i met a girl. i'm ashamed to say that i can't even remember her name. i'd accidentally almost sat on her on the couch and that got us talking. she just seemed really cool i guess. we'd been talking about all manner of things. music, movies, clothes and all stuff like that. she seemed like a really great girl but after talking for about two hours she kept looking at her phone and she seemed quite anxious so i asked her what was wrong and she said that she'd lied to her mum saying she was at study group. unfortunately, her mum was in the area and wanted to pick the girl up but she couldn't be picked up from somewhere that was obviously a party. at the time i was staying in a hotel because i was on tour in perth and dylan had some friends there so that's how we ended up at the party. i said to the girl that she could lie to her mum and say that her friend who was holding study group had super rich parents so she booked a hotel room just for study group. that way the girl could get picked up from my hotel without getting in trouble and i could get to know her for longer. once she'd called her mum and explained the story, which she obviously fell for, we left and went back to my hotel. her mum said she would be about twenty minutes so me and the girl went to my hotel room just laughing and joking the whole time. even though i was a little bit tipsy i had no intentions of anything but getting to know the girl, but when my older sister burst in my room to show me a meme on her phone with my mother on her arm it didn't look anything of the sort. it looked like me lying in my bed with a random stranger despite the fact that my one rule on tour was no taking girls back to the hotel or letting them sleep in my room. what had actually happened is that she was super tired and napping and i was watching some netflix. however, that didn't matter. the girls phone started ringing so i took her down to the lobby and then she went but i never got her name OR number. i assumed she just used me which is kind of shitty but it's no biggie.

but when i got back to my room i had the longest lecture of my life from my team, family and some of my friends. at first i thought i had it easy and went to bed relaxed, but then i woke up to a lengthy text from my mum. it was explaining that they felt the only way for me to learn my lesson was to not tour anymore. luckily, i'd finished all the painkiller tour dates at that time and was on a break but they were being so harsh i couldn't not stand up or try to negotiate. so, it was decided by them that i was not allowed to tour, step foot in a studio, or release any new music for a YEAR. and she was gonna change my instagram password. not only all that, but they were making me go to school in england for the year in ilseworth, where i lived when i was younger. yes it was harsh, and yes it's going to be hell but i've most definitely learned my lesson already.

the headmaster coughed and snapped me out of my daze. he was now holding the mustard leaflet i'd been studying and motioned to the cover. "now this, ruel," pronouncing it ruelle, "is our buddy system! whenever we have a new student it is our highest priority to make them feel as welcome as possible and that's why you took a little quiz after your application," he explained, "it was so we could match you up with the best buddy possible and make sure you got along." he then smiled far to happily for a monday morning. a slim woman in a suit skipped through the door and stopped next to me. "hello mr van dijk!!," she pronounced it like dick. damn, what is it with people here and pronouncing my name wrong. i decided not to be an ass and make a good impression though so i plastered the biggest smile i could on my face and looked up at her, "hey miss! are you here about the great buddy system i've heard about?" i said politely; standing up from the armchair to shake her hand. "yes it is actually! i'm mrs myers and i'm going to take you on a tour of the school and then we'll pick up your buddy from her form room." she smiled and motioned for me to follow her out the door. i slipped my hands into my pockets and walked next to her in the corridor. she motioned at different corridors, staircases and walkways telling me which subject block or hall or dining area they were. eventually, we arrived at a classroom door which mrs myers politely knocked on and waited for an answer. a couple of seconds a short and angry looking man answered and grumbled a few words before turning and shouting out to the students behind him. "juniper langley?" a grinning girl with her hands covering her face in laughter's head snaps up and looks over to the teacher in confusion but then smiles and starts to get up once she sees mrs myers. she bids a quick wave to the friends she was sat with and then slings her bag over her shoulder as she walks towards us. once the door closes behind her mrs myers takes a step back and then continues to introduce us. "juniper this is ruel, ruel, juniper." she smiled. juniper lifted her hand to shake mine and i saw she was trying to hold in a laugh. i flashed a quick smile and then turned to carry on following mrs myers. i guess, maybe this buddy system bullshit won't be too bad after all.