Fine Line

Chapter 4

☆☆☆

Clover chuckled to himself as he jogged down the hallway on the way to his next class. He can't get me now, I don't have class with him for the next three periods! I've got at least 5 hours of torment-free time! As he opened the door to the math classroom, his eyes landed on two people laughing to themselves. Clover sighed. Nevermind.

Taj and Mika stopped giggling and looked directly at him, matching mischievous smiles curling on their lips. Clover walked over to his desk, accepting his fate as he felt two tall bodies come behind him.

"Heyyyy buddy," Taj said cheerily, placing a hand on Clover's shoulder. "How's it going today?"

Clover gazed up at them. He learned that with these two, you can't say anything. They'd twist your words or make a joke out of you, so it's better give no reaction and say nothing at all. He stared at them with a blank look, his lips firmly pressed shut.

"Silent and stoic as ever, huh? You're really no fun." Taj sighed, leaning their arm on Clover as if he were a headrest. "You're always so mouthy with Ares, but never with us."

"Speaking of which, we heard about you two yesterday!" Mika piped up. "You guys were alone in the classroom, huh? How was it? Did you two do anything?"

"I'm sure they did," Taj snickered. "I heard that some kids heard moaning noises coming from inside. Is that right?"

Clover stared down at his desk, his face glowing bright red. He felt like he was about to pop a vein, and he could feel the steam coming out of his ears. He balled his hands into fist at his side, it was all he could do to not completely lose control.

"You're so quiet, does that mean we're right or-"

The bell rang, signaling the beginning of 3rd period. The two idiots went back to their desks as the teacher took attendance, and the lesson began.

Clover took out his notebook and busily began scribbling in it. He'd been stupid to not remember that Ares' friends were in some of his classes, of course he wasn't going to get any peace. Between how much Ares belittled him and how much his stupid friends teased to living hell out of him, it took all his mental strength to not smash his own head onto the desk in frustration. And he didn't have much mental strength in the first place, since his oddity took up a lot of his mental and emotional energy, so the Trouble Trio really weren't making his life any better.

He glided his pen across the lined paper, carefully drawing out a head and body. He didn't usually do drawings of people, but this wasn't an ordinary person. Not at all. Once the outline was finished, he slowly started adding details; nicely toned arms and legs, fluffy hair that was cut just above the neckline, strong hands with long, defined fingers, a sharp nose, ears pointed just slightly to the point where they looked almost elf-like. He gave the handsome boy some clothes; white sneakers, a black shirt that was just a bit too tight so it showed off a defined six-pack, and some loose shorts that went all the way down to the knees. He gave the boy some bandages all over his body, as he always seemed to have them. Finally, he drew the face, giving the beautiful boy some sharp eyes and a lopsided scowl.

He sighed as he stared at his drawing. From a regular person's view, the drawing looked rugged and unhappy, like its day had just been ruined. But to Clover, there was a glow about it, something shined through despite being shrouded in dark clouds of negativity.

"Mr. Kyero!" the teacher called.

"Yes sir?"

"Can you tell me the answer to the equation on the board?"

Clover looked up at the whiteboard. He hadn't been paying attention, but thankfully it was something he knew, and he quickly came up with the answer.

"It's 5x to the fourth power, square root 9, sir."