Dorian ran his gel-slathered fingers through his hair, trying to push parts of it out as he preferred. Even though most people assumed it was random, but if he was honest he at least tried to make it look how he wanted. He ran his hands under the water as he heard his doorbell ring, grabbing the comb at the edge of his vanity to go and answer it. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Dorian opened the door to see Reina standing there, smiling.
“Good morning, Dorian,” she smiled.
“Morning,” he answered. “Wasn’t really expecting you right now….” He raised the comb. “Not saying that I couldn’t do this on the way to school, but it’s the point of the thing, right?”
“The better question is why is that like a sixties comb?” she asked. “If you walk into school with that, you’re going to look like a greaser or something.” Dorian chuckled as they started to walk, Dorian trying to do something with his hair and trying not to get his hands slimy again. “I admire your commitment to your look….”
“It’s a massive pain in the arse,” he admitted.
“Then why do you do it?” He stopped to look at her with a raised eyebrow, his hands still at his hair. “What?”
“I can tell you don’t wear much make up,” he began, “but why do some people spend an unreasonable amount of time each day to put it on even when most of those people will agree it’s also a pain in the arse?” He continued to try to get his hair appropriately messed-up as Reina seemed to think.
“How you tell I don’t wear much make-up?” Reina asked. Once again, Dorian’s arms stopped as his eyes grew, thinking about what he’d just said. Even if he wasn’t an expert at make-up, just wasn’t something he had mastered as a cosplayer, but he had felt he knew what he was talking about. He could make not a lot look good but wasn’t anywhere near confident enough to let her know that.
“My…sister wears it kinda like you do,” he said, hopefully with enough confidence. It was mostly true, but it wasn’t the complete truth either. He just didn’t think that the stigma around cosplaying would help him out in this situation.
“Hmm,” Reina answered, looking at him suspiciously. Her silence only made him slightly more paranoid as he tucked the comb into an inside pocket of his blazer. The silence continued when they got to the campus, but Dorian was more focused on the looks that he was getting from people they walked by. It was to be expected since he was walking with Reina, and he was definitely not happy with either look. Most of the guys were probably miffed at least that he, the new kid, was already so close to the school beauty and had made more progress with her in a day than they had in the years they’ve known her. “I’ll see you in gym.”
295Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzfHaAbBo3
Dorian was on a bit of an alert in the locker room, occasionally looking to the side to see if anyone was coming up on him for any reason or talking about him. This paranoia almost reached a head as someone spoke while he was pulling on his shirt.
“Hey.” Dorian turned around, determined to do whatever he had to to defend himself, to be met with a muscular guy with scraggly blond hair.
“What d’you want?” he said, flatly. “If it’s about Reina, I’d just save your breath and leave me alone….”
“A bit paranoid, aren’t you?” he asked. Dorian looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Not saying you don’t have a point, though. I was actually about to give you a heads up about that….”
“I appreciate that,” Dorian admitted. “It was just a bit obvious that I wasn’t the most popular guy around….” He knelt down to tie the laces on his trainers, still keeping an eye on the blond. “So…you got a name?”
“Wolfgang. I'm a friend of Reina's.” Dorian looked at him again with a curious expression. “Yeah, I get that look a lot. Not exactly a common name, is it?”
“Far from it,” Dorian replied, walking out onto the gym floor. “But I guess I can’t really talk too much with how uncommon my own name is….” They didn’t have the chance to continue their conversation as the teacher started them on laps which was a tad hard to decipher through his thick Scottish accent. While Dorian was thankful for the distraction, it was short lived as Reina jogged up beside him.
“What do you think of Coach Baran?” she huffed.
“Seems like and alright guy,” Dorian shrugged. “Not sure what to make of him yet, but I can’t help but think that he’s about to give us a pep talk about how no one can take our freedom, though.” Reina broke into a huffing laugh and Baran gave him a knowing look. By the end of their laps, Reina was bent over and breathing heavily while Dorian had put his hands behind his head and breathing deeply.
“How…the hell,” she gasped, looking up at him, “are you still fine?” He looked down at her.
“Stand up and put your hands like mine,” he told her. “Kinda forces your breathing to go back to normal.” She did as he suggested and, after a while, her breathing became more regular. “Feel better?”
“Lots,” she said. “Probably should’ve done this from the start really….” As the last few stragglers finished the laps, Banar took a place beside a long rope that went up to a bell attached to the ceiling. Bits of colored tape were put haphazardly at different heights along the rope and looked really strange.
“Since we’ve got a few new students to the Academy, I’d like to explain this,” Banar began, gesturing to the bell. “This’s a little challenge I was allowed to set up so all of you can have a little competition between you and your mates. Just see how far up you can climb until you feel you can’t go anymore and mark your spot….”
“That blue one up there’s mine,” Reina whispered, pointing at a spot on the bell. It was one of about five.
“You can attempt this at any time during the term, you just have to come an’ find me,” Banar continued. “Now…anyone want to give it a go?” No one really moved forward, Reina obviously having no reason to do so since she’d already completed it, but someone eventually spoke up.
“Croxton looks like he wants to.” The boy who’d spoken up had short brown hair, a lop-sided smirk on his face as he looked at Dorian. His friends laughed, but Banar didn’t seem to think it was funny.
“You know my rule on offering someone else to go, McDonna,” he stated, flatly. “So why don’t you see if you can get higher than….”
“I’ll go,” Dorian interrupted. The laughter stopped as he walked forward, Baran giving him a look of surprised interest.
“You sure, lad?” When Dorian gave a determined nod, Banar reached into a pouch on his belt, pulled out a length of black electrical tape and handed it to Dorian who put it on his sleeve.
“Anything special for making it to the top?”
“Bragging rights,” Banar explained. “Now then…let’s see what you’ve got, lad.” He backed away as Dorian jumped up onto the rope and started pulling himself up. The room was completely silent save for his grunts as he climbed higher save for a slight gasp as he almost fell a time or two, but he kept going. After a few minutes of anxious waiting from those on the ground, Dorian ripped the tape from his sleeve and slapped it onto the bell beside Reina’s, making a dull bong as he slowly began to climb down, listening to the applause from his classmates.
Before he reached the ground, he decided to show off and prove a bit of a point that didn’t need to be made. Legs tight around the rope, Dorian bent backwards, firmly planted his hands on the ground and flipped back onto his feet. “There’s more to ya than meets the eye, ay lad?” Dorian gave a small smile before shrugging and heading back to where Reina was stood. They watched as McDonna was brought forward so that he could serve his punishment from Banar.
“Show off,” Reina muttered.
“Don’t like not you’re not impressed,” he whispered back. She lightly punched his arm, earning a pained groan from him.
“What was that for?” she demanded. He didn’t answer. “Did you…?”
“Work through the pain to prove a point?” he finished. “Yes…yes I did…and I’m one hundred percent going to regret this later.” She shook her head in disbelief, but he could see a smile. “You think I’m stupid?”
“Definitely,” she said. “But at least you’ve got the effort to finish what you start. McDonna’s definitely gonna try to match you, but it won’t be much…never is.” They stood together, watching as McDonna, who was much more muscular than Dorian, make it about two thirds of the way up before giving up. “Yeah, that’s about right. All talk as usual….”
“Evidently,” Dorian agreed, but he wasn’t stupid. McDonna was probably someone who didn’t like to be shown up, so Dorian would have to expect something.
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