The faint scent of smoke fluttered past ignorant nostrils as a hushed hum was released in a daze, and an exclamation fell on deaf ears. Blaine jumped from his chair and dashed an extinguishing solution on the small puff of fire that had grown too much from under Claude’s neglected bunsen burner.

Droplets spattered Claude’s lab coat before he realized what was happening.

“What the hell is with you man!?” Blaine snapped before dragging Claude from his stool with tight fists balled into his coat. His brother’s eyes widened, and he looked around lost then saw the mess of his chemistry experiment.

“Shit.” Having his luck, it caught the teacher’s attention and she pointed towards the door.

“Principal, now young man.” Ms. Potter said, pointing towards the door.

Claude pushed away his angry reflection as Blaine stared daggers after him and shed himself of his lab coat before he grabbed his bag and marched out of the class, heading towards the principal’s office. Well damn, this one was very much his own undoing. He sighed, walking down the hall to receive his punishment. Claude flopped down in one of the white chairs that lined the right wall of the waiting room where the secretaries sat in the main office. There were three women that managed the office of administration. They assisted with students, schedules, events and other miscellaneous tasks. Ms. Herben, with her long ginger curls twisted into a bun, her rosy freckled cheeks dusted in a pink blush. Her sharp hazel eyes glanced his way, and she clicked her tongue.

“The principal will see you in a moment, Mr. Mason. Your teacher called ahead about the incident.” Ms. Herben said.

He nodded, reflecting on how he got himself in trouble so recklessly. At least Blaine didn’t get pulled down with him. Someone dropped down next to him, and he spied a short glance without realizing who sat there. Claude snapped back, twisting fully in the chair and could not help the grin that spread across his face. “August?” she glanced at him, half her face and most of her clothes were covered in a mixture of bright paint.

August blew a blue loc out of her unpainted right eye and chuckled. “So, what are you in for?”

Claude covered his mouth to stifle is laughter. “I, umm, I nearly burnt down my chemistry experiment.”

“Cool, at least you didn't, right?” August said, in a rhetorical manner as she gestured to his clothing.

Claude chuckled nervously at the small stains from the solution Blaine had used to save him and the lab. “Why are you covered paint, now?”

August stretched out her legs and leaned back, looking up at the white panel of lights. “I threw a tray of paint at Bucky Rogers for being a jerk, then that kickstarted a paint fight when it hit Peter Stark, and Cory Shaw instead. Once Cory got involved, it got a lot more colorful. And here I am,” she said gesturing towards herself with her outfit stained in yellow and orange, then her black and blue, and yellow painted hands.

His smile widened. “Damn, August. Did you truly hit Cory?”

She snickered, “Oh yes, right in that charming face, unfortunately,” they laughed in silence at the image of Cory Shaw and his perfect hair and perfect face getting a face full of paint.

Footfall closed in on them and Cory, Bucky, Peter, and Brook Cassidy sat opposite of Claude and August.

Claude’s jaw dropped in slow motion as he took in their condition. Cory had blue paint on his face and auburn hair, and there was a bright yellow splat on his crotch, his deep frown creased his face, and his brows were knitted in upset. Bucky was covered in orange paint as if it were poured on top of him with traces of black paint on his arms while Peter looked like he was in a bloody battle because he had red sloshes of paint all over his clothing... And new brand name shoes were painted yellow and blue. Brook was the funniest, she was splattered in black paint, which overpowered her pink top and shorts, a black handprint covered most of her face and Claude nearly doubled over trying not to scream with laughter. He would not have believed this sight if he hadn’t witnessed this amazing painting in real time. Seeing the school most popular students painted in a state of disarray was pure gold

August leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Brook and Cory were my doing,” she then wiggled her left hand.

Claude couldn’t hold back anymore, he burst out laughing.

Ms. Herben, Mrs. Calico and Ms. Michaels snapped their attention towards the teen. “Claude Mason, keep it down!” Ms. Michaels ordered. The teen gasped, then went quiet at once as snickering came from the adjacent foursome.

Claude spied a glimpse at Ms. Michael’s, the rim of her green glasses low as she glared his way. Her perfectly manicured finger pointed at him, then she pressed it to her her full lips and went back to work after brushing her long braids over her shoulder. Her heels clicked against the tile then stopped suddenly. Everyone whipped towards the right and saw the principal, whose green glare silenced any remaining noise and then aimed at Claude as she moved towards them.

“Young man, do you know where you are right now?” Mrs. Provost asked.

Claude nodded slowly, watching as she unfolded her arms and adjusted her navy-blue blazer that matched her long slender trousers. Her black heels clicked against the tiled floor, and she stopped before August and Claude.

“I had both your teachers call about you two. Go ahead, explain yourselves?”

August side-glanced at Claude then went first when she saw that he shrank back in the chair. “I, uh, I was being bothered by Bucky, and got angered by what he said and threw a paint tray after him. I missed and it hit Peter and Cory instead then that’s when a paint fight broke out. I’m sorry Mrs. Prevost?” She looked down at her hands and awaited her punishment.

“What was Bucky saying?” Mrs. Provost asked, it was odd hearing about the school’s star football player acting like a fool. August’s bright eyes met hers as she sighed, as if not wanting to respond.

“H—umm, he called me a tree humping slut.” August whispered.

Mrs. Provost’s pupils grew, and she turned towards the regretful Orange Bucky Rogers and glared at him. “Young man, such vile language is not welcomed within my school walls. I think four days in detention for slandering Ms. Chandler with suffice. And the four of you will stay back after school today to clean up the art room that you’ve made a mess out of.” The teens gasped, about to respond when she arched a brow. “Your parents can get involved if you think I’m being unfair.” No one replied. “I thought so.” She turned back to the other two. “August because you were also involved and initiated the fight you get two days of detention. Claude, you’re next. Why are you here?”

Claude gulped and scratched his neck. “I…I almost caused a fire in the chemistry lab because I was… Daydreaming. My brother put the fire out, then I got sent here?” She tsked and sighed.

Mrs. Provost sighed, at least one twin had sense. “Please focus on schoolwork and not girls during class hours,” she said eyeing August beside him, “Two days of detention. You five, go get, cleaned up, if you need spare clothes ask Mrs. Calico. I will be checking in to make sure you four are cleaning up the classroom after school.” She turned on her heels only to be halted by Brook’s words.

“I wasn't even involved!” Brook cried, why did she need to be punished for that stupid’s girl’s actions?!

Mrs. Provost looked her right in her blue eyes. “I said what I said?” She matched off and shut her office door leaving Brook’s jaw on the floor.

August and Claude stood and began walking off.

Bucky stood, his teeth gritting. “Go ahead, run off with your—.” He stopped short and narrowed his gaze. “You'll see,” Peter and Cory stood and followed him with Brook in tow as they passed them by

“You'll pay for this, August,” Brook warned.

August shivered at that threat. “Should I be wary of those two?” She asked.

Claude shrugged. “Probably not, but we’ll watch out for them just in case,”

August paused, then smiled. “We will?” She asked.

He chuckled softly and nodded as a heat crawled up his back, “y—yeah, we’re kind of a package deal now, aren’t we?” His brows frowned together in question. August simply smiled and started walking. “August?” he asked, still standing unmoved. He bit the inside of his mouth, but smiled as he jogged up to match her footsteps.

》》》》》

August left Claude to go take a shower and went off to the school garden, which was in the greenhouse behind the school. She walked to the far end of the garden to the left, where the sun always seemed to shine the brightest and saw what she came for. She picked eight big sunflowers—the ones she planted when she was in the Ecology club last year and took a hair band from her pocket and tied them together, she walked over to the supply closet and took out gardening shears and cut the stems down to a reasonable length. She cleaned up the mess she made then placed the shears back where she found them and left the garden. She went back to her art class and knocked on the door, where she found her teacher Ms. Aniko.

The door was opened, and a calm Ms. Aniko waited for her to speak. “I wanted to apologize for the mess that I made. It was inconsiderate of me. I’m very sorry.”

Ms. Aniko sighed. August was a model student and one that she could not be mad at when she found out the reason for her sending her paint tray after Bucky. “Don't worry about it, you weren’t the only one at fault. But I heard you got off since you were being picked on. I’m sorry I didn’t get involved in time.”

August was rather shocked at her apology. “Oh, no. Don’t, I should have responded better. Um, these are for you.” She stretched out her hand to show her the flowers that she had picked for her.

Ms. Aniko blushed.

“I saw them hiding behind you. Thank you, August, they’re my favorite. How did you know?”

August smiled. “You always wear the color, and you have a flower crown with sunflowers like I do.”

“Hmm, how very astute of you August. Well, I have to get to my other class, good luck in detention?” She gave her a small tip of the lips and turned away from August to walk back into her classroom for.