Academy's Assassin

{3}

I fidgeted with my tips as I glanced back to Gabriel, my eyebrows furrowed. Did it look bad? Nathan and Kota shot Gabriel a look while Luke just scoffed behind me, a small chuckle escaping his lips. "Good going Gabe."

Gabriel's eyes went wide as he shook his head and hands at the same time, glancing at the other three for help. "No! I didn't mean it as a bad thing! It's just, is it colored?"

He leaned forward to pick up a piece, causing me to unconsciously flinch back. I downcast my eyes almost immediately, not really looking forward to their looks of pity. You would think after being away from my parents for eight years I would be over that habit, but it seems like fear of touching stuck with me. Almost like my fear of closets, and distaste for rice.

"Shit, fuck, I'm sorry." Gabriel murmured, my eyes flickering up to watch him settle in his seat with a crushed face as the teacher walked to the board.

I ignored her lesson, mainly because I had already learned this and graduated high school by fifteen, and took out a sheet of paper. My pen glided across it effortlessly, which I was happy for since I had to put up with a scolding from Phil for snagging this.

I'm sorry, I'm just not used to people touching me. No, my hair isn't dyed, it's just naturally dirty blonde.

- S
I folded it up quickly before flicking it onto Gabriel's table, casting my eyes away and feigning innocence when he looked up. I heard a huff, as well as pencil scratching the same piece of paper before I found it dead center on my own.

I'm sorry, I don't know the meaning of personal space sometimes. But if you wanted a compliment, all you had to do was ask.

- Gabe

I furrowed my eyebrows slightly, glancing to him with a confused face.

Why would I want a compliment? It's just blonde?

- S
I giggled under my hand as I heard him huff even louder, his pencil scratched growing more erratic as he wrote. I glanced over to Kota to see him paying rapt attention to the teacher, and writing down every single thing she said. Nathan would write here and there, but for the most part he just watched her speak, and would fidget often. I glanced over my shoulder to find Luke in a far off daydream, his eyes glazed over as he stared out the single window in the room.

Dirty blonde?? DIRTY BLONDE!?! It is more than fucking dirty blonde! It's a chameleon, shades of brown, red, blonde, fucking DIRTY BLONDE. HAHA

-  Gabe

I giggled even harder, thanking something above that the bell rang at that exact moment and shielded my outburst. I stood as I heard Gabriel muttering "Dirty blonde," under his breath all the while shaking his head.

"What class do you have next Sugar?" I looked behind me to Luke, before glancing back to my handwritten schedule.

"I have –"

"Why's your schedule handwritten?" Kota cut in, his eyes trained on my Manila notepad.

"Oh, they uh, they didn't put me in any of the classes I wanted, or needed, and said I couldn't have more than two AP classes. So I uh, I changed it myself." I felt my cheeks heat up and I fidgeted under their gaze, knowing full well that it wasn't normal to hack into the school system to simply change your schedule.

"You, you changed your schedule? By yourself? On a computer?" Nathan so eloquently asked.

I smiled sheepishly as I nodded, picking up the last of my things. "Yeah, but I have math next."