The rest of the weekend passed in a blur, bringing a chilly but clear morning to his front door no matter his foot dragging. An approved shruggy sweater covered that stupid blouse, the jar of pomade and a change of clothes taking up the majority of his backpack. They didn’t meet up until the school doors usually, but when he turned the corner, a surprise awaited him. Not only did he find Ethan loitering long before the gates to the school, but the other two had joined him.

Mal was the first to notice him, sharp eyes flicking over his outfit before a large meaty palm encompassed the crown of his head in a rough ruffle. “You’re gonna be lucky today if you don't get stopped by a teacher thinking you’re a crossdresser.” Despite the anxiety that being pulled aside by a teacher brought, Ren couldn’t help the flush of happiness at the obvious try for levity and compliment.

“Maybe, but then they’re gonna immediately get flustered and find a way to exit stage left.” Ethan chimed in, shoving his phone in his jacket pocket and nodding towards the gates. “We’re gonna be late if we don’t head in now, I don’t wanna be caught in more of a rush than now.”

Seamlessly as he turned to walk with Ren following after, El and Mal took either side of him, creating almost a barrier while they walked. Usually their morning walk was interrupted by fawning classmates, anyone that thought they could gain a good light by buttering up to the distant ‘prince of the school’. People were almost too absorbed in greetings and whispering about the sudden addition of the upperclassmen, they mostly failed to notice the blond in the middle.

When they did, most of them got quiet, leaning back to whisper even more fervently than previous. Ren’s grip on his backpack tightened, head drooping down in an effort to hide his face, jerking up again when Mal gently nudged him in his shoulder. A glance over dragged an encouraging smile from the stubbly older teen, sending a surge of confidence through his flagging spirit. They made it all the way to their lockers. Ethan’s was across the hall, hidden by the gaggle of teens that usually vied for his attention and crooned their morning hopes for his good day.

“This is where we leave you.” Elliott said, a tad regretfully. They offered goodbyes, leaving Ethan and him alone to finish and head to homeroom. At least with Ethan he had a friend through most of the day, save a couple of his advanced classes Ethan was not a part of. It was a plus one was right before lunch, meaning he could look forward to their shared lunches. They’d been given a wide berth on the side that noticed Mal, another plus to hopefully being left alone.

“Fall asleep with gum in your mouth? What a tragedy. The hair was the only thing that made you look anything like feminine.” Ah, the beautiful song of their star socialite. Closing his locker, Ren got a full view of the obnoxious blonde in all her smug glory. Somehow Nevaeh got it into her head that Ren was competition from day one of his and Ethan’s friendship, always popping in with some false positive of a compliment once Ethan was turned away or out of earshot. She’d yet to catch sight of the crowd parting for Ethan to make his way across, or the thunderous look that settled on his brow, after catching that last bit.

Thunderous for him, anyways. To anyone else, it was more like a slight crease in his knitted brows, just enough to show those that paid attention like Ren that something was gonna happen. Backup was there, so his skinny shoulders pressed up and back, meeting her in those overly made up eyes that only decreased the natural beauty of her bright blues. “Not that it’s any of your business, but maybe I’m not angling to look good for someone else. You wanna get outta the way? You’re blocking our way to homeroom.”

It took several seconds for her to compute the use of ‘we’ before looking around, outright flinching at the sight of Ethan standing right behind her before flouncing over with a hurriedly bright smile. “Aw, but it’s right next to mine! We can just walk together, right Ethan?”

“No.” Ethan waited until Ren’s locker was locked before brushing past her with the last words trailing after him. “We have stuff to discuss.” Her sputter was music to Ren’s ears, waiting until they passed a corner to snort out his laughter.

“Jesus man, no wonder they call you the Ice King. That was like, hardcore slam down.”

“She hurt your feelings. I heard it this time.” It was the entirely wrong statement, they both knew that. There was almost a compliment in there, if she had known what Ren really was. He’d almost said it too, but his plans weren’t going to be going down that easy. Tentatively he wanted to talk to his parents over the holiday, and hopefully come back wearing the slacks he dreamed of. But that involved talking to them. Ugh.

“Not more than I’m used to, I got thick skin, you know that!” To prove the point, he smacked a hand against the other, wincing when his ring caught a knuckle. It brought a mild chuckle from the other teen, the levity taking them all the way into the classroom. Their teacher was already there, handing back grades from the weekend and allowing time for assignments to find their way back into his tray.

He tended to be a talker, so any change that was quiet seemed a godsend, especially since he had that type of drone voice guaranteed to put people to sleep. Likely another reason that they picked the far back for ample nap time. It was home room, nothing there as an assignment really counted for much aside from a study hall of sorts to finish assignments in a panic before the next classes, or carryover from.

His next class was in the same room, so when the bell rang, he and Ethan remained where they were as more students filled in and the mind numbing monotony of history slowly bored them to tears. By mid class Ethan was drooling on his desk, only jerking awake when Ren kicked his desk as the teacher moved to hand out feedback on their graded tests. Grumpy and shooting him the finger, Ethan winced as the paper landed on his desk, hastily covering up the red mark and drooping in a chastised manner at the look the teacher sent him. “Perhaps a bit more attention and a little less sleep, Mr. Townsend.”

“Yes sir.” The teen muttered, shoving it into his backpack and waiting for him to pass. “This is the class Dad’s mad about. I need to bring it up more than I have been. It’s just so boring!” Another rant sized batch of words issued as soon as the man was a few seats away, pulling Ren’s thoughts away from his own fairly good mark.

“Like I said man, I read the night before what he’s going to have us read and discuss in class, you’d be surprised what you pick up that way. That and I actually like history, I don’t think I can teach you that trick though. But this is good. Since I like history, it’ll be easier to help you bring the grade up. How come you didn’t say anything before?”

“Didn’t feel like it.”

“Yeah well I don't care if you don’t feel like me coming over this weekend, we’re gonna catch you up on material and see if we can convince him to throw some extra credit your way. Shouldn’t be hard. Maybe go to the museum and write a few essay question answers on some of the same period displays.” Ren wondered allowed, watching various triumphant faces and inward groans as he dropped the marked papers on every desk.

By the end he had a good idea of what areas Ethan was lacking on, jotting down a list for later on. “Could probably even stop over after school Wednesday. Free up more time this weekend for the arcade if you want.” The bell rang, signalling them like literal clockwork to pick up and head out.

“Sure. Maybe I can bother the guys into coming out tomorrow night to the arcade. I like that.”

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Anyone that had issues with him either didn’t mention anything, or were polite enough to keep it to whispers. At lunch, they all met up and Mal brought out a tray of simple sandwiches for them to graze on while Elliott scolded Ethan about his floundering grade and listened to the tale of their first encounter. “I wouldn’t put too much thought into it, Ren. In two or three days the whispers will die down, as it will be commonplace to see you in such a state. The new norm.”

It perked him up enough that it carried him all the way through the rest of the day, ignoring the looks as though they were through tinted glass. By the last bell he was itching to change, sliding out of the stall to do his hair and all but strutting through the last hall to meet up with Ethan. This time the looks had him standing up straighter, head high and pleased he’d watched Mal prod his hair so keenly. The teen laughed when he spotted the style after Ren caught up, reaching over to tweak a few more this way. “You look like a cockatiel man, is that the style you want?”

A pout formed on his face, reaching up to twist a few back to normal, but leaving most the way Mal had pushed them. “Hey, I like the spiky look, and it’s my own way now. I’m not about to try and copy Ethan’s look. That’s too much spike even for me.” A sputter of indignation set off a round of laughter, following them along until they broke apart in separate directions for home.