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—…and lastly, that’s the janitor’s room where a pair of students was caught reproducing so stay away from it! —the redhead joked as he finished the little tour of the school.
betty seemed like a very nice girl but also a little shy, guessing from her body language, so brick made sure that she was comfortable at all times. being the new girl at school can get a little lonely so he even introduced her to some of his friends from art class.
—thanks brick… —the girl flicked a strand of hair to the back of her ear— i hope i see you around!
brick had started giving new students personal tours ever since 8th grade but he had been unable to stop ever since; not because he liked it but because the principal would call him through the speakers or send someone to fetch him up so he could give those new students a warming welcome and so the principal could sit in his chair all day and not do his job.
he sighed, but kept the little smile on his face that he found himself unconsciously drawing in his lips at this point. It was a little sacrifice to boost his popularity and have some power; he knew those kids would be useful later for little favors.
—me too, betty! —he chose to ignore the pink on her face.
that was just another uneventful day for brick jojo until he remembered he had a test in less than half an hour and his heart sinked; he had barely reviewed the lesson even with his meticulous scheduling and managing of his own time. he started to panic a little as he rushed to his locker leaving betty with a little messy hair because of the speed he had taken off with.
he took out his biology book from his locker before entering the respective classroom that was still empty. he walked to the back of the class and curled onto himself as he tried to memorize everything he could about the lesson. He had paid lots of attention in class and he made sure to use all of his memorizing methods when taking notes which was very helpful, but the small beads of swear still ran down his forehead.
at least the room was empty…
—who would’ve thought i’d find you here soooooo early~
a certain girl in a white leather jacket popped out of nowhere. brick jumped on his seat and let out a squeak of surprise.
—fuck off blossom! i am not in the mood for your shit today… —brick spat a little too frantically for his liking (but the damage was done), eyes fixated on the paper.
—woah, those are some big boy curses you got there! —blossom laughed— what’s the matter, didn’t study?
—i was busy okay! —his voice was starting to shake and she sighed, holding both of the boy’s shoulders and leaning into the side of his face from behind his chair, giving the textbook a quick read.
—hmmm… don’t sweat it too much, —the girl whispered near his ear— i know you’ll do just fine, cherry.
brick wasn’t even sure if the hammering in his chest was because the teacher had just entered with a thick stack of white paper, because of the redhead that kept teasing him, or because of the damned nickname she had assigned him a few years ago after they agreed to cut out the fights before townsville turned into dust. he felt his earns burn and he tried to hide it with his cap.
what’s worse is that he was sure blossom was going to score an equal if not higher grade than him, because she managed to have half of the school wrapped around her fingers but also score all A’s on all her classes. maybe it was because he just didn’t rejoice in the attention as much as blossom did. attention as in people trying to sneak love notes on the holes of his locker and into his backpack instead of chanting their love to his fucking face because that meant he would have the chance to tell them off kindly and not carry the guilt of burning all those love letters the night before.
but again, it wasn’t that much better because he also dreaded having to reject another girl that week and it was just tuesday. he prayed that betty found another individual and that her body language was just out of her apparent shyness and nothing else because she seemed like such a nice friend.
he hit the brakes quickly on his spiraling mind as soon as he realized he was zoning out on mindless thoughts that were definitely not as important as getting a decent grade on the test. he took a deep breath of relief when he noticed blossom was back on her own seat playing with her bright magenta nails with the word relaxed basically written all over her.
brick was starting to get ready to have blossom shove her a+ on his b+ face when the teacher delivered the tests back because there was no way he was going to memorize all the paths the blood takes and all the individual purposes of each and every single blood cell type with its subtypes… the redhead cursed to himself not noticing how he was starting to hyperventilate and the little smoke that was coming out of the corner of his mouth…
until a chilling breeze blew his hair softly and he unconsciously closed his eyes enjoying the sudden but enjoyable cool down, that is until his brain yelled at him that this suspicious breeze had to belong to none other than…
blossom utonium, who met his gaze as soon as he opened his seemingly heavy eyelids.
—holly cow, man, you looked like a tomato there? come on, breathe with me. —blossom started to exaggerate the movement of her chest so brick could follow her lead and even out his breath.
his face was still so fucking embarrassingly red for no reason…
—i know your pride won’t let you, but i am sure if you ask the teacher and explain what happened he’ll let you take the test later… you have a good record with him.
brick almost wasn’t processing whatever she was saying because the cheap light of the classroom was highlighting her orangey hair and the white leather of her jacket almost seemed to glow and her eyes were just deep pools of pink nebulas and her lips were a beautiful shade of pink with glitter and her voice was the most gentle and genuine it had ever been for as long as he could remember as she wasn’t for once taunting him… if he was a tomato then he probably looked like a chili pepper now. a melting chili pepper to be precise.
—oh my gosh, boy, i am sorry for bothering you and everything but you don’t have to ignore me that badly —blossom crossed her arms and the little eyes of worry were quickly replaced with that usual cockiness when she realized brick was back to earth… kind of.
brick couldn’t believe he was staring at blossom out of all the jerks in the school.
—i-i don’t accept your apology —he quickly replied fanning his face with his notebook, she grumbled in response— but thanks for the air conditioner.
blossom furrowed her eyes for a milisecond and he swore he could almost tell she was cooking up a response that would obliterate him, but she finally rolled her eyes.
—whatever. —she went back to her seat. again. and she started to play with her nails. again. only this time she stole a quick glance brick’s way only to see his whole body sink into the seat and sigh heavily, as if he had been holding his breath for a while.
this whole ordeal had actually taken up most of the time he had left before the time for the test began so he had to shamefully ask the teacher if he could take the test later or some other day to which the latter agreed calmly just as blossom said he would. he hated the little smirk on blossom’s face when he turned back from the teacher’s desk because she knew she was right and she knew he had something to tease him for the rest of the month.
—…brick? you weren’t listening, were you? —betty sat by him with a paintbrush in her right hand and the other on her hip with slight furrowed brows.
brick let go of the strings of his hoodie which he had been holding a little too tight. he shared art class with the girl he had give a tour to earlier but it seemed he just couldn’t think about anything else other than the view of blossom standing so gorgeous and mighty from below in his seat or her stupid silky voice that she used to lure all the boys in the school.
—sorry i… got a lot on my mind lately… —brick sighed with his face flushed; he hadn’t even realized he had been painting a silhouette with long, orange hair on the canvas right in front of him with pink cherry trees in the background.
—yeah. a lot on your mind, huh? —betty smirked when she saw the canvas and the tomato face her friend was styling.