"Hold on, how the hell does the principal knew you would be here?" Ashton asked Julian when, to his surprise, the boy was really in the Art Room like how the principal had told him.
"Maybe it's because I'm pretty much the only student who spends every single day in this room... my uniform can tell you, you know." Julian replied calmly as he continued gliding the thin brush in his left hand on a canvas.
Ashton looked at his uniform and true to his words, his pants and sleeves were splattered with paints, though they were faded in the dark blue and black colours of the uniform.
"Why didn't I noticed that before?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows at the pastel-like paint stains.
"I think that's because your attention is dead set on Delancey Hardy." Julian teased, casting a smirk toward his way.
Ashton glared at him and threw a paint brush that he snatched up from a table near him at the skinny boy which hit Julian directly on the shoulder. "I wasn't."
"But you so were," Julian paused. "And that's okay, my friend... almost every guy who stepped foot for the first time here got charmed by her, to be real... she just had that enchanting pull, you know... there was one boy, who was pretty much obsessed with her to the point Principal Hardy had to expel him... don't know where he is now, though."
"Really?" Ashton questioned, getting interested in the conversation. "What's the guy's name?"
"Matthias... why do you wanna know?" Julian asked back, glancing at Ashton for a while before continuing his painting.
Ashton shrugged in return. "Meh, just curious."
"By the way, it's almost recess... we'll go to the cafeteria and eat then I can send you back to our room and you can just chill while I try to ask the principal if I could start my study sessions earlier than expected... if you don't mind?"
"Absolutely not. Being alone for a while sounds like just what I need... today has been a little bit surprising for me, I guess." Ashton replied, coming to stand behind Julian to see what he was painting, which turned out to be some sort of forest, before he nodded his head to himself and smiled. "You actually have real talent."
Julian, being surprised that someone actually praised him, laughed at this and shrugged. "Thanks... this is basically my escape since I'm all alone here. And I will be alone again tomorrow since my guiding job ends tonight... unless you suddenly get magically possesed and decided to stick around."
"I'm surprised you have no friends." Ashton stated, straight to the point as he crossed his arms while still staring at Julian who kept on painting calmly.
The skinny artist laughed again, but this time it sounded sad.
"Well, not everyone prefer an enthusiastic and skinny boy who always got his hands and clothes covered in paints as a friend," he paused again, finally stopping his painting, leaving it unfinished, and setting down the paint brush. "You wanna know something?"
"Sure," Ashton replied coolly.
"I actually once had a friend... two friends actually... or what I thought could be friends. You see, I'm a guy who have hard times making friends... maybe the reason why I'm actually casually talking to you now is because I think of it as my job while we're still on this crappy guiding session. But anyway, these so-called friends, they pretended to be my friends for about a week and they were also my roommates when I first came here... but then turned out they were faking being nice to me and went on and talked sh*t about me behind my back... they then decided it would be fun to bully me so of course they did just that. They smashed half of my paintings into pieces, tripped me, messed up my things, and even stole my them. This continued to a point where I had trouble eating and sleeping which made me into this skinny boy I am today... I'm still recovering from those traumatic experiences but I'm doing good now. I told about them to the principal and well, they got expelled and that's how I ended up alone... until you came. It's been a while since Wellsworth had another new student except for the freshmen so, yeah."
Hearing about Julian's story somehow turned out to be relatable to him. His friends back in his old school apparently forgotten about his existence after they found out he was going to Wellsworth Academy.
He awkwardly patted Julian's shoulder in an attempt to comfort the boy but he was so unused to the gesture that he had to let his hand fall quickly back down to his side.
"Sorry to hear that... and well, I think you seem like a pretty cool guy," he thought for a while before continuing. "Why didn't anyone... like the prefects, knew about the bullying though?"
"Back in the days, before Delancey was elected to be the Head Prefect... things were so horrible back then. Kids were out of control, bullying was everywhere. The former Head Prefect didn't even do anything about it. Delancey was always the student who showed a true leader character, you know, even at fourteen. So when we turned sixteen and the former Head Prefect got fired for not doing his job resoponsibly, Principal Hardy made Delancey the Head Prefect because surprisingly, she was the one who volunteered... everyone seemed to laugh at the idea of that at first but when the rules were becoming more stricted and the number of prefects and security guards were increased plus her and the prefects always walking around this academy to "clear the area", we all know she was dead serious. Funny how one girl could change all that... of course, it doesn't mean that bullying doesn't happen anymore, you should see the boys' dorm at night, it's pretty much chaotic, but at least now things are better."
As Julian talked, Ashton listened silently and realized he had actually sat on one of the chairs while listening to the art boy.
Delancey Hardy, even though he had just met her today, somehow intrigued him a lot.
"Now that you know about a lot of things today, let's go and eat because I am really starving." Julian said as he got off his chair just as the bell rang. "By the way, I trust you enough to not spread around what I had just told you so I hope you can keep it quiet... I have a feeling you're a good guy, that bad boy appearance is just a facade."
As they walked out of the art room, Ashton nodded slowly. "Actually, you're right... I admit was a pretty bad boy before... but I actually wanted to change, until some mad teacher decided it was best to get on my nerves so now here I am."
"Well, that's okay... you have plenty of time to change here... now, welcome to the cafeteria, where the food sometimes taste like papers but most times taste edible!" Julian joked and at this, they both laughed together, earning a lot of glances from the people around as they were heading to the cafeteria doors.
"Hey, Dee, did you hear about the new guy coming to our school today? I haven't seen him but apparently, people are already talking about him... I heard he's hot too." the blonde haired girl blabbered excitedly while sliding her food tray beside her best friend, the Head Prefect herself, who was glaring at her while she chewed on her sandwich.
The blonde girl, finally realizing what she had practically just said, smiled sheepishly and laughed. "Ohhhhhh, I forgot. Of course you knew! Have you seen him, though?"
Delancey nodded her head and then took another bite from her sandwich. "Seemed like a pretty decent guy... gave off a good impression on dad."
"Oohhhh, he might just have found his future son-in-law! Is he hot like the girls were all gossiping about?"
"Firstly, he looks human. Secondly, do you need me to murder you in your sleep?"
The blonde girl laughed. "Chill, bestie... I was just excited about this school actually having new student around our age instead of the usual kids."
Delancey only hummed in reply before talking again. "So are you thinking of setting your eyes on this new boy, Piper?"
"Nah, I had my eyes on another guy."
"Really? And you didn't care enough to tell this to your best friend?"
"Well, you wouldn't approve and laugh if I tell you!"
Delancey only looked at her incredulously at this. Piper giggled in return.
"I forgot, you hardly laugh because you're a cold hearted chick... I don't know how to say it, but his name is—"
She didn't even finish her sentence when Ashton Sawyer and Julian Kenneth entered the cafeteria, sending everyone's attentions to focus on them, while Delancey just continued with her lunch.
Piper turned to Delancey after she watched the two sitting at a table near the doors. "Did your dad seriously assigned Julian Kenneth, the anti-social dude, to be the new boy's guide?" she asked with a look.
Delancey shrugged. "I was the one who suggested him actually... and I assigned the new boy, Ashton, to become his new roommate too... it's time to let the "anti-social" boy socialize again. See? He's doing perfectly well."
Piper looked back at the two boys and then started on her food. "Well, whatever. I'm just gonna eat now."
"I totally forgot, your crush?" Delancey nudged her.
"I actually don't like anyone, I was just joking."
After they finished their food, they stood up, where a few people nodded at Delancey as a form of greeting, threw their trash away, and then head for the doors.
When they reached the door, Delancey made eye contact with Ashton Sawyer, who stared right back and almost caught her off guard with his hazel eyes, before she gave him a curt nod and then walked out.
Also, sorryyyyy for the late update. Hope you enjoy this chappie and could be generous enough to press that star and share this book around. Thanks, sugars!