Empire of Vampires ✔️

Chapter Seven

James was trying to push a huge dragon's head through their dorm room door. Bits of green paper mâché was getting stuck to the doorframe as the large body followed its head.

'What's all this then?' Andrew asked in some bemusement.

'Sorry about this, I simply cannot keep it in the art room anymore. There are spies around every corner trying to gather information on our decoration plans for the sports meet.'

'Spies?' Andrew grinned. 'That's a bit dramatic.'

'It's really just Marie; she gets very competitive,' James replied in all seriousness, 'She's determined to win the decorating trophy as well.'

'I didn't see any of the cheetah decorations,' Andrew said as he came over to pull it in from the other side, 'I think the seniors are handling it.'

'They usually do, but the dragon-house seniors asked me to this year.'

The head popped through the door with a squelching sound and landed on Andrew, pushing him to the ground under its weight as he fell right into the hole of its gaping mouth. James pulled it off of him and started laughing at the messy boy lying on the floor, glue sticking up his unruly black hair and bits of wet, green paper stuck around his face and arms.

'I was just trying to help you,' Andrew pouted, peeling sticky pulp off his cheeks.

'Sorry, sorry, thanks for helping,' James snorted, unable to stop the quirk of his lips.

They lay the dragon's body on the floor between their two beds and James brought in cans of glue, paint, and a large roll of paper.

Andrew sat cross legged on his spot on the floor as he watched James carefully dip the paper in the solution and mold it into scales for the dragon's back. His long fingers were working expertly to craft the intricate shapes and the other boy watched in some fascination.

'It looks so realistic.'

'Have you ever seen a dragon?' James asked, feigning nonchalance as he looked up to scrutinize Andrew's reaction.

'Of course, in cartoons... do you need some help?' he asked dubiously, 'The meet is tomorrow; I'm not so good at crafting but I could dip those things and hand them to you.'

'I do need some help with the teeth,' James sighed as he ran a hand through the dark golden-brown locks that flopped over his eyes, 'But I was planning to ask some house mates.'

Andrew peeked inside the dragon's mouth and started rolling bits of paper into a conical shape when he saw that the guy was completely toothless.

'You don't have to do that,' James said, a flash of guilt momentarily passing over his features, 'I can manage it on my own.'

'You just said you were planning to ask for help,' Andrew pointed out, 'It's easier if I do it; I'm already here and I doubt you can fit anyone else into the room.'

James looked down at the large dragon taking up all the floor space and blocking the door, 'I really am sorry about this. It must be a terrible inconvenience.'

'I don't mind.'

James hesitated for a moment, his hands holding up the dragon's jaw as Andrew crept inside to fix the teeth, 'I thought you didn't like me much. I was terribly rude to you when you first arrived.'

'Oh....' Andrew's voice sounded muffled from within the head, 'That's alright. You must've been disappointed to lose your solitary dorm.'

'No, it's not that,' James shook his head sadly as Andrew popped his out from the dragon's mouth, 'It's just that... I wasn't really planning on making any friends here.'