A rare occurrence, Ethan, waking up after a good night's sleep, refreshed. It's 7:15, the perfect time to head to Miss Jackson. He slips into his Nirvana hoodie and makes his way to school. He heads straight towards Miss Jackson with a bounce in his step, he’s smiling, but as he gets closer he hears a sound, a sound that wipes the grin straight off his face. He hears sniffling, a low wail, he slows down, he pulls the rushes back and sees Miss Jackson, and a sad girl curled up against it. Her head is buried in her hands, he could spot her from a silhouette if he had to, he knows exactly who it is, but something different, her pale arms are covered in scratch marks, how has he not noticed this before? Her hoodie, she’s not wearing her hoodie. Ethan walks towards her, “Trudy?”, he says calmly. She looks up, there’s tears streaming down her face, she’s quiet, but the tears seem indefinite, non-stop. She crosses her arms desperately. Ethan sits on the ground in front of her, maintaining a safe distance. She sniffles, "I spilled coffee on my hoodie this morning, my plan was to just stay under Miss Jackson all day but I got a text saying attendance was mandatory today because of the the A.P.T’s and…” her mouth widens at the sight of Ethan's briefly exposed midriff, he holds his hoodie out in front of her. “I…I cant take it” she says, “yeah you can” he responds nonchalantly. She slowly reaches out for the hoodie, she flinches at the briefest contact with it, she takes it into her arms and hugs it against her chest. She carefully pulls it over her head, she’s almost lost in it. The hoodie outsizes her to the point it looks like someone surrounded her in a bedsheet. She stands up and the hem of the hoodie stops short of her knees, her finger tips barely peek out of the sleeves, she rubs at her face with the sleeves, wiping off all the tears. “Thanks guts”, she says timidly, “it's just without the hoodie I feel…” Ethan cuts her off mid sentence, “you don't need to explain yourself to me”. Trudy beams, her face lights up, she chuckles, “thank you guts…truly”

Trudy takes two steps towards Ethan, she’s still, she’s quiet, but most importantly she’s right in front of him. She smiles at him, purposefully, he smiles back, “that smile”, she thinks to herself, “I want to be the reason he smiles”. “Theres still another hour until school starts”, she says, “any ideas on how to pass the time”. Ethan blushes, and looks down,”I know you aren’t much of a music person…but there’s this one album, I want you to hear it”, Trudy sits down by the tree, “what’s it called”,Ethan sits next to her,but leaves about 3 feet between them, “enter the wu-tang”. “Sure”, Trudy says with a smile, “play it”. “If we skip remixes, skits and interludes it will only take about forty-five minutes give or take”, Ethan says excitedly, pulling out his phone. A few clicks later bring da ruckus starts playing. “Bring the motherfucking ruckus?”, Trudy asks with a chuckle, “this is a bit violent isn’t it?”. “Nah Wu-Tang is for the children”, Ethan responds, “just keep listening you’ll get it”.

The pair sit quietly, the only noise being the shaolin beats coming from Ethan’s phone, Trudy legs shake slightly against the ground. Trudy listens intently, but ultimately looks bored. About half way through the second song she pulls out her notebook and starts sketching, a disappointed look enters Ethan's face as he reaches for his phone to pause it, but she gently slaps his hand, he lets it play. She keeps sketching as the songs play out, from Clan in da Front to Da Mystery of Chessboxing to C.R.E.A.M to Tearz, then the album ends. “You didn't like it did you?” Ethan asks pessimistically, “I didn’t at first” she responds,turning her notebook towards Ethan to show him what she was drawing, the sketch depicts eight shaolin monks stood in front of a shaolin temple, some holding sai, some holding nunchucks, some holding katanas, some just assuming a martial arts stance, Ethan gasps slightly, “but then it clicked with me, it's like a movie, every rapper is a character, they come from shaolin lands”, Ethan’s face lights up, “why did you only draw eight?”, “theres only eight of them…right?” Trudy responds “there’s only eight verses on that watch your step kid song”, Ethan chuckles “oh right, masta killah didnt have a verse on Protect Ya Neck, but there are nine of them…its a nice drawing though”. “Thanks” Trudy says blushing, “is there more like this?”. “More like this?” Ethan exclaims excitedly, “after this they all did solo albums, then they came back and made more wu tang albums, they picked up a group of similar rappers called the Killah Beez, not to mention Czarface, Meth and Red, Cappadonna, Nas has a bit that's like this, oh my god there’s so much more…” he calms down a bit, “would you be interested in listening to stuff that’s similar?”. “I guess…but you need to watch guardians of the galaxy, I think you’d love it” she says excitedly, “sounds good” Ethan responds.

“Well we should probably go to class, you go first”, Trudy says. Ethan stands up and starts walking, after about forty seconds she starts walking too, enveloped in his nirvana hoodie.

Ethan walks through the school hallways with a sense of pride he’s never been seen with since joining the school, but just as he’s about to enter the classroom he hears something, something that boils his blood, something he never wanted to hear. “Gertrude stole Ethan's hoodie”, one of Kyle's goons shouts bringing everyone's attention to Trudy, “Ethan, the devil girl stole that nirvana hoodie you always wear”. A group is gathered around Trudy, berating her, she’s got her hands wrapped around her head, she’s blink profusely, her teeth are cutting through the outer layer of her lip. 

The sirens start in Ethan’s head, but he overpowers them, “fuck off”, he shouts, “I gave her my hoodie”. A big guy from the crowd turns to Ethan and grabs him by the scruff of the neck and pins him to a locker,his back making a loud,metallic bang as it hits the locker, “why the fuck are you siding with her, she’s the fucking devil”. Kyle strolls up and asks “what's going on?”, somebody whispers something to him and a look of melancholic disappointment enters his face, the big kid throws Ethan across the hall, right in Trudy’s eyeline, Trudy drops to the ground on her knees, tears dripping from her eyes, her hold on her head tightens before she lets go and starts repeatedly punching the ground, its automatic, she can’t help it. As she witnesses Ethan getting a kick into the head she notices the blood drips down his face, landing on his smile. He’s smiling. He takes a few kicks to the stomach, he’s still smiling. Everyone filters into the classroom, Kyle stops as he’s walking past Ethan’s beat up form,his eyes slightly welled up, "I let you into my home you bastard, we fed you…and this is how you repay me, don't speak to me again you traitor, after I stood up for you”, Kyle walks away. The tears drip down Trudy’s face at the same rate the blood flows down Ethan's. “Guts” she calls out softly through tears, she scrambles over to him, wiping the blood from his face with her sleeves, reddening the material of his nirvana hoodie. He starts getting up, “we can't miss this A.P.T”, he says grainily, but with a smile, “come on”. Trudy sits in shock as she watches him limp into the classroom as if nothing happened, she eventually walks in after him and takes a seat next to him.

She gets handed her test, but she’s too shook to answer properly. “A, b, a, c, a, d, a yep that looks right” she thinks to herself, "that's probably a, I don't know I didnt look at the questions, who cares its an A.P.T it means nothing”. Ethan answers easily, occasionally stopping to wipe blood from his forehead, but he answers like a weight’s been lifted off of him, speedily. He even hands his test up early and heads back down to Miss Jackson. Trudy hands up her exam fifteen minutes later, the question sheet not even looked at, just the answer sheet with guessed answers. As she approaches Miss Jackson she hears the sound of limp bizkit music loudening. “Guts?”, she asks sympathetically, “oh whats up Trudy” he responds casually, “I was waiting for you, just wanted to tell you im gonna head home”. “Oh” she says, as Ethan begins to walk away, “ask if he’s ok, why am i not asking if he’s ok what the fucks wrong with me”, she thinks to herself.

About ten minutes after he left she also starts walking home, the dam holding back her tears close to bursting again.