Thirty Days ✔

32 | IRENIC

irenic (adjective)

aiming or aimed at peace.

-

day twelve.

Chase was seated in his first class for the day. Thankfully, the seat next to Zero hadn't been occupied - even though he had shown up to class ten minutes late. Occasionally, him and Zero would whisper senseless jokes to each other and burst out into a fit of giggles, earning themselves a glare from their teacher. 

They had been assigned a worksheet which they had to complete before the end of the lesson. Zero had originally been trying to solve the worksheet. Chase, however, wasn't bothered and decided that he had better things to do. 

Having said that; when Zero noticed that Chase hadn't been working on his worksheet, he decided to give up as well. And so, the boys spent the next few minutes chatting away contently. 

Around fifteen minutes after they had received their worksheets, the teacher clasped her hands together, resulting in a loud noise that sent the entire class into a state of silence. 

"Oh shit, she's going to ask us for the answers, isn't she?" Zero whispered to Chase. 

Chase nodded, "It looks like it."

"I didn't get a single answer," Zero whined. "I hope she won't ask me."

Right after Zero had said that, the teacher called on him. He let out a groan of frustration that was only audible to him and Chase, and stood up in his place. 

"What is your answer for the first question?" 

Chase looked up at Zero who stood there with a blank expression on his face. He also noticed how Zero was repeatedly shifting his weight - something he had learned that Zero only did when he was nervous or under stress. 

Chase felt somewhat responsible for having distracted Zero. He had been doing a perfect job in solving his worksheet - but Chase just had to ruin that, hadn't he?

He decided that he couldn't bear the sight of seeing Zero look so anxious, and so he stood up and answered the question in his place. 

Zero shot Chase a look of surprise, and so did the teacher. 

"I.. wasn't really asking you, but that's correct. Please sit down. Zero, focus in class next time," she spoke. 

"It was actually my fault, Ms.," Chase began. "He was doing his work and I distracted him."

Zero opened his mouth to say something - perhaps to protest, however the teacher excused the both of them and requested them to take their seats once again - which, they did. When she called on someone else to answer the next few questions, Zero glanced over at Chase. 

"You didn't have to do that," he said with a subtle grin. 

"I wanted to," Chase spoke. "It's the least I could do for you."

-