Josh

The next morning, I was awoken when my brain managed to register the terrible, terrible emo death metal coming from the bathroom. A moment later, Ezra came out, bringing his phone with him and making the music even louder.

I glared at him from my bed, and he gave me a smile that was oddly gentle for someone I was being angry at.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he said. "You slept through your nonexistent alarm. Breakfast is in half an hour."

I bolted out of bed and got my teeth brushed in record time-- though I probably could've done it more thoroughly-- then headed back out into the main room and got into my uniform. Ezra was buttoning his shirt as I pulled my socks on, but even though he was faster than I was about getting ready, he waited for me to leave the room before him.

I was about halfway to the staircase I needed to take when one of the senior hall monitors stopped me. I recognised him as Oliver, who was known to be kind of a tight-ass about demerits.

"Yes?" I asked carefully.

He sighed and looked me up and down. "Where is your tie, Mr. Preston? You're better than this."

"It's right--" I felt at my chest, where my tie should've been hanging, but wasn't there.

"It's right here." Ezra came up beside me and handed to me. "I'm sorry. I rushed him, 'cause he slept through his alarm. It's really my fault."

Oliver sighed heavily. "Since it's the first day, I'll let you both off with a warning and not put anything on your demerit cards. But, Josh, you need to be wearing your full uniform tomorrow morning or I'll give you a demerit for real."

"Of course, Oliver," I replied, nodding at him and fumbling to get my tie done. I grumbled as my collar flipped down again.

Ezra took my tie from me again as Oliver walked away, tying it himself and giving me a 'you're so hopeless' look. He flipped the collar of my button-up back down and pulled my blazer over it, smoothing down the lapels with his careful fingers.

He gripped my lapels, pulling me down to his level so that we were really face-to-face. "You're welcome," he spat, mocking me from the night before with a smug smile on his face.

He let go of my blazer and walked away, leaving me very confused in the middle of the hallway until I gained half the mind to run after him and try not to be late to breakfast.

He was already in his seat from dinner the evening before, though he wasn't chatting with Kieran-- which, for some reason, made me feel a little bit better. When he saw me coming over, he gave me a somewhat apologetic look. As I sat down, he mumbled, "I'm sorry if I made a fool of you in the hallway. Or... if you didn't like me in your space..."

I growled at him. "Shut up. We're not friends, okay, so I don't care. You can do whatever you want to make a fool of me. I know I'll take advantage of every opportunity to make a fool of you." I knew it was a bullshit threat. I also knew that Ezra didn't know me well enough to know that, and so I shot Kieran a well-deserved 'don't tell him anything' look.

He nodded, then sort-of shrugged. An 'I won't, but he'll find out anyway' response.

I nodded back at him to say, 'good enough'.

Ezra was almost scarily quiet. He ate his waffles in small bites.