Chapter Text
Breaking your arm failing to do the triple tiger sashay wasn’t the best way to start the new school term, but it did mean that Cole didn’t have to go to any dance practices until his arm had healed.
It also meant he got to skip P.E. - which he didn’t really put much effort into anyway, but now he didn’t have to write lines for ‘forgetting’ his P.E. uniform.
Instead he got to draw in his notebook much to Jay’s whiny complaints.
“I wish I could skip P.E.”
“I could break your arm if you wanted, we could match.” Cole grinned, watching as Jay hugged both his limbs against himself.
“I don’t need to skip that badly, Go back to your bench, you brute!”
And for two weeks there was no issue., P.E. ironically became one of his favorite periods
Two wonderful weeks of drawing dragons and ninja and other cool things before he suddenly had an unwanted companion on the benches on an unfortunate Friday evening.
All Cole knew about her was that her name was possibly Ash, but she went by Kai.
By the end of the period, he knew a significant more about the girl who apparently couldn’t take a hint.
“Hey, Cole - right?” The brunette girl greeted, sitting far too close next to Cole on the bench and dropping her crutches on the floor in front of her with a loud CLACK. Startling Cole from the beginning of his artistic flow, the boy simply blinked down at her for a few beats too long before taking his headphones off and nodding slowly.
“Looks like we’re gonna be bench buddies,” She continued easily, seemingly oblivious to the suspicious look Cole was giving him.
“I tore the ligament in my ankle, so I’m benched for like, a month.”
This felt like a trap.
Cole wasn’t into girls, but he wasn’t stupid. Kai was athletic, she was popular. A diet tomboy that seemed to effortlessly wake up in the morning and look like she was ready for a sports magazine shoot.
Hell, he swore he could feel other boys glaring at him from across the gym just because she was talking to him, he was pretty sure even Jay had mentioned Kai a few times in nerdy longing.
Girls like her didn’t talk to guys like him.
“How’d you tear it?” He eventually asked, careful. Testing waters, expecting Kai to turn this around as a cruel joke. The popular girl entertaining herself by making fun of one of the biggest loners in the school.
“Playing basketball, I swear Violet tripped me. Probably jealous that I was picked for captain.”
Cole hummed, a lazy nod as his pencil began to once more sketch. While Kai wasn’t … unpleasant so far, he did hope she would notice his lack of interest and leave him alone.
She did not.
“How’d you break your arm?”
“Dance practice.” The blunt tone Cole used made Kai cackle, obviously in disbelief and earning a few funny looks from the others in the class as she muffled her laughter, waving off the concerned looks of her friends before turning back to Cole.
“Fine, don't tell me. Is that a dragon?” She asked, leaning closer as her eyes trailed the way his pencil formed new shapes. Cole in turn leaning away, again, that feeling of dread as the brunette commented on Cole’s passion.
“It looks really good, I like the detail of the scales.”
Again, Cole’s pencil paused. Kai's tone wasn't mocking or cruel, and the compliment on the scales was so specific, like… like she actually liked his drawing.
A shadow of a smile finally played on his lips as he muttered a soft ‘Thanks.’
“Can I see some more? Only if you want.” Usually Cole would shoot the request down, uninterested in showing off or putting himself in a vulnerable position for mockery but he was almost sickly curious on how long Kai might be running this weird little joke. Or- maybe he was starting to believe Kai might be genuine.
“Sure.”
He was careful, only showing a few other drawings of things he thought wouldn’t be made fun of too bad. More dragons, a few random headshots from photos online and some very loose poses.
“Show me how to draw a dragon,” Kai chirped, Cole raising his eyebrows in surprise.
“I'm not a good teacher,”
“Just try,”
With a pen on some loose leaf paper, Kai did her best to follow the instructions given by Cole, managing a crude copy of the larger boy's dragon.
Its head was wonky and the teeth were crooked, but Kai laughed when she held it up.
“He's so ugly,” She grinned, signing her name in the corner like it was art.
“You did pretty good, considering it's your first time drawing a dragon.
“I wasn't insulting him, he's perfect,”
When the bell rang at the end of the period, Cole was surprised to find he wasn’t as mad as he usually would be to have his drawing time interrupted. Kai had surprisingly nice commentary on his art, actually looking at the details instead of the simple ‘that’s nice’ he often got from others and following his rather vague instructions well.
She was… surprisingly bright, Cole felt kind of bad for the immediate assumption that she would be a total airhead.
“Hey, can I make a request?” Kai asked, reaching down to pick up her crutches before standing up, looking over her shoulder at Cole who was still sitting.
“Maybe.”
Kai laughed, waving her hand loosely to show she meant no harm.
“Nothing bad- I just wanted to ask if you could draw a fire dragon.”
“Fire dragon?”
Motioning to her uninjured foot, Kai tilted it so Cole could see the flame pattern on her sneakers. At least, they looked like they might be flames. The paint was crude and chipped.
“Flames are cool.”
Before Cole could reply, another girl called out Kai’s name, Kai’s head snapping up.
“I’ll be over in a sec!” Kai shouted back to her friends, glancing at Cole and hesitating. Her eyes falling on the mostly blank cast Cole wore.
“Give me a marker.”
Cole held up a black marker in confusion.
“No. A red one.”
A red marker was offered instead.
Leaning down, Kai scribbled quickly on the mostly blank white plaster.
A few signatures, from Jay, Zane and Lloyd.
Now, in bright red;
‘Kai - ### ### ###’
“Text me later, you’re cool.” She added, capping the pen and handing it back.
Then she was off, fast for someone with a busted leg. Leaving Cole stunned at her words, only for Jay’s voice to break his confusion. The last thing Kai hearing as she left being a shrill-
“Did she just call you cool?”