𝖢𝖧𝖤𝖱𝖱𝖸 𝖡𝖮𝖬𝖡 | ✔

Cherry Bomb

‾‾‾‾‾･･❀･･‾‾‾‾‾

Devon always looked amazing mid September. Unbelievably green grass coated with a pristine layer of dew. Small and big trees alike with their leaves thick as ever. Sheep with coats as white as snow frolicking across the grassy hills. And the huge expanse of sky covered with big, fat clouds. It all worked together perfectly.

But all that beauty fades into gray the moment one sets foot in the small high school Remus goes to.

The abundance of tasteless square buildings and the monotone design of everything else in the compound makes it hard to believe something so beautiful could just be over the hedge of thorny bushes that surrounded the property.

Nevertheless, it seems you eventually get used to the shockingly boring appearance of the school because it didn't seem to bother Remus. Or maybe his attention was just elsewhere at the moment.

Remus was currently sitting on a bench next to the football (the kind you play with your feet, for you Americans) field and really getting into his third book of the week (let's ignore the fact that it was only a Tuesday), when he caught a whiff of lavender mixed with a healthy dash of lemon. An unconscious smile came over his face.

He carefully creased the edge of the page and set it beside him, and looked up in time to see Tonks plop next to him on the bench in a blur of pink hair and black ripped jeans.

It still amazed Remus how Tonks' parents were completely okay with the fact that their daughter's hair is now pink because he remembered how nervous Tonks had been when she decided to dye it in ninth grade without asking for her parents' permission. She's come a long way from that now, with more piercings and one or two tattoos . . .

Tonks made herself comfortable on the hard wood bench before she looked Remus up and down once and popped her gum loudly. "Wacha reading?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Good morning to you too. And I'm reading Anna Frank's Diary."

Tonks pursed her lips together. "Didn't your mum teach you it's rude to read other people's diaries? Especially little girls'?"

"Not when it's been translated to seventy languages and sold over thirty billion copies, it's not."

"Always so cheeky." Tonks said and pinched Remus's cheek a little too harshly just to get the message across. "Have I told you how much I love that about you?"

The bell rang at that exact moment and Remus was saved from answering with something that would have sounded stupid the second it came out of his mouth. It's embarrassing how even breathing around Tonks becomes hard when she goes around saying things like these.

Instead, Remus stood up and offered Tonks his hand only to have it slapped away as she got up on her own.

"I'm not eighty yet, you know." she grumbled.

"Sorry. You were just looking extra wrinkly and judge-y today." Remus answered tightly. "Kinda like Mrs. Jenkins."

"Remus! How dare you?" Tonks asked, looking completely horrified. "Mrs. Jenkins is seventy nine and her judgmental once-overs are part of her charm."

They both snorted at that. They hated that woman. She was always telling Remus he was too soft to be a man (books and sweaters and all) and giving Tonks a narrowed stare before muttering that no man would even look at that abomination.

To say Remus disagrees would be a horrifying understatement.

But back to our main story.

The two walked to the main building of the campus in silence mostly, only stopping once to greet Lily and Marlene (who were outside trying to have people sign their petition to increase the Theater Club's budget).