“So yeah, he stood up for me, showed genuine concern for my well-being when he could have just ignored me… Now you may think it wasn’t anything special, that it was just the bare minimum or something but, he was the first person to make me feel like I was an actual human being in a long time, that my pain actually mattered.” David said, averting his gaze with his hands in his pockets “Also I just clicked with him and stuff. As for why he clicked with me... I’m not really certain myself, guess he just thought it would just be awkward to not hang out with me after all that jazz.” he said with a casual tone and a forced smile, after realizing that the atmosphere was getting awkwardly emotional.

Cassie stared at him.

“What? I said it was a sappy story.” He said, trying to avoid eye contact.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but…” She stopped herself with an awkward smile and looked around “Ah… Forget it.”

“No, we’re not dating,” he said drily, rolling his eyes.

“I was actually about to ask you if you were all right. But I mean… New kid, new city, dead parents… You obviously were going through a rough patch.” She said awkwardly.

“Yeah. I guess I was…” his whole goddam life had been a rough patch.

“But… are you alright? Like, right now?”

“I'm hanging in there lol.”

The bell rang, and the students slowly walked to their classrooms, but Adam was nowhere to be seen.

“Weird… Ah… You go ahead. I have to check up on something.” David said, starting to walk away.

“Are you going to look for him? I’m going with you,” she volunteered.

“Sure.” He stopped walking, seeing Adam coming around the corner “Oh, there you are, I was about to go look for you!”

“Sorry…” Adam looked bummed out, and his face was slightly red.

“What happened?” David asked, concerned.

Adam opened his bag and took out a ruined sketchbook. Some bits of paper slowly fell onto the floor, along with some bits of the thin cardboard cape.

“Mark arrived earlier today and caught him outside the bathroom. At least he didn’t took you to the back and hosed you down this time. He’s definitely losing his touch…” Spice commented.

“Son of a bitch,” David said through gritted teeth, taking the sketchbook from Adam’s hands and flipping through the torn pages. “Well, some of these seem salvageable…” he said, trying to give his friend a semblance of hope.

“Just forget it--” His heart stopped when he noticed that Cassie had picked a torn drawing off the floor and was now looking at it “Ah…”

“Pity, these were pretty nice… How long have you been drawing for?” she asked.

“For six… seven years?” he said shyly.

“You’re really good.” She complimented examining the ruined sketchbook “Well, some of these are still intact, just a bit crumpled… Maybe I could get you a binder, and that way you could keep them,” she suggested with a kind smile.

“Thank you...” he stuttered, looking away and blushing a little. He wasn’t really used to hearing someone compliment his art or art skills... “And that would be nice, but there’s really no need...” he muttered, looking at his feet.

“Seems like she also has an eye for the fine arts. Maybe you should draw har as one of your french girls?” Spice teased.

“Please just shut up.” Adam thought. 

“What are you three doing here? You’re supposed to be in class! Go on, don’t make me write you up!” said the teacher's pet looking hall monitor.

“Oh fuck off! No one likes a narc!” David thought, side-eyeing the kid.

“Pathetic bitch.” Adam thought while picking up the pieces of torn paper.

“Your chase for approval would have gotten you killed on the battlefield while praising the people that sealed your fate,” Cassie thought, rage running through her veins.

“If I was as pitiful as you, I would kill myself!” Spice yelled.