Elven Love (SAA Book 1) ✔

Part Fifteen

As Oren sat in his first class, he found Clayton to be reading throughout the whole period. Never once did he look up to see what was being written on the board. Never once did he even speak to Oren as the other's began to talk. He was silent, eyes fixed to the book as he only moved to flip a page.

On the other hand, Oren took notes in his new notebook, sometimes lagging behind as he scribbled out complicated terms and doodled the sections of the human brain. Between breaks, the elf would shoot Clayton a glance, heart skipping a beat every time he did so. The blond looked too studious for the rest of the class, making Oren feel childish in comparison.

A few minutes stretched on, and during a neuropsychology introduction, a male voice shouted out from the silence of the classroom.

"Hey, albino kid!"

Oren turned to the voice, only to see a badly drawn picture of a sheep. The two girls that sat next to, who Oren supposed was James, giggled as he absurdly mouthed, 'everybody hates sheeps, baaa' with a smirk on his face. The elf turned around and rubbed the back of his neck, shoulders taut as the pencil in his hand stilled. He turned to Clayton, only to see him with his book closed as it now sat at the corner of his desk.

His eyes were on the chalk board for a brief second before he pulled out his notebook and began to doodle. He messily sketched out the base of a head, then two shoulders. A torso and hipbone followed as the figure posed. He drew the base of a pair of arms and hands, and then.. two pointed shapes at the side of the person's head.

With a green flush, Oren quickly jerked his head away from the sketch. He felt the blush spread to his ears as they twitched uncontrollably. The warmth tingled and spread to his neck as a few gasps were heard from behind him. He whirled around to see James with his phone out, the camera lens pointed towards Oren as he snorted out laughter. "Who wears plastic ears to school? What a clown!"

Mrs. Grets looked away from the board slowly and pierced daggers into the brunet with her eyes only. James quickly hid his phone from the elderly woman and apologized profusely before going back to his page of doodles. When she turned back around, he pulled out his phone once again and groaned. "The video didn't even save. Got too much stuff on this piece of trash." he scowled, dark coffee eyes burning into Oren's fearful ones.

The boy's eye twitched. "He's fake anyway."

»»---------««

As lunch break rounded the corner, Oren found himself helpless. He felt prying eyes all around him, boring holes into his body, and specifically aimed at his ears and hair. Sometimes taller students would pinch his ear, to which he would always recoil and swat their hands away. The food there wasn't bad, which was a relief to the elf. He didn't know where Clayton was, so really he just sat in a corner of a side shop on the second floor and ate as chatter enveloped his sensitive ears.

"Oh look, the new kid's with us. The snow boy's got a pair of sticks at the side of his head." Laughter followed as Oren tried to hide away from the attention. His white eyebrows and white eyelashes didn't make it any better.

Why did his hair have to be white?

Why did his ears have to be pointed?

He stayed silent, huddled up in a ball at one of the bar stools. The place had a nice, cozy atmosphere, minus the students insulting him.

"Don't fucking talk about him like that. Of course you got your flaws, don't you?" a brave, louder voice broke the laughter. "Your ego is higher than your IQ, bud. Doesn't feel good does it? Get lost."

It was Clayton's voice. Oren turned his head to the ruckus to see Clayton approaching him with a broad stride and confident smirk. Oren timidly glanced down and turned back to the coffee he was sipping on beforehand. "I don't know why you're here, of all places on campus.. but okay." Clayton chuckled, hopping onto the bar stool next to Oren.

The elf sighed through his nose, silent as the chatter died down now that the nuisance was long gone. "I'm sorry." he blurted, reaching over and placing a warm palm onto Oren's back. "I'm really sorry, Oren." the blond repeated genuinely.

Oren glanced over to the other, heart thumping wildly in his ears. "Why do I have to look so weird? Why the hair..? Why the.. ears..." Oren trailed off, quickly drawing his lip between his teeth. He felt a shiver run down his spine and before he knew it, his eyes were brimmed with tears. Clayton shot forward, worry sparked in his voice as he soothed the shaking boy.

"No no no don't cry, come on. Oren, you gotta be stronger than this, don't listen to them. You don't look weird in the slightest, okay? Oren, your hair is unique, and along with your personality, people just wanna be next to you. You're magnetic." he said thoughtfully, wiping away the tears that pooled over Oren's eyes. His other hand rubbed soft circles over his back.

After a little while, he simply sat at the island inside the shop, occasionally sniffing with sore eyes.

"You give in too easily, Oren. Pull yourself together and let's get to our next class. I'll wait for you to finish up."

»»---------««

In Calculus, Clayton actually paid the class some attention as he shared his notes with Oren. Everything went fine until the professor decided to do an activity with the class. Each person grouped up in two's, like how they always did in middle school. Oren glanced at Clayton only to flinch at the teal eyes already staring back at him. They were all given different equations, including 3.14 and linear problems.

The paper listed twenty different problems and, according to the professor, whichever group finishes first, gets an excuse for skipping or being late to class for two days. Everybody was motivated to get that award. As Clayton calculated the problem, -42x + 7y - 63 = 0 for y in his head, Oren had to write down the problems before solving them.

Oren got one of the easier ones, which was, 4[3 - (7x - 7)] + 9x = 0. He was able to finish that with ease and when he was done, Clayton already wrote the answer on the paper. As the next two minutes passed, they answered five problems, all of which listed below,

18*2 + 39x + 20

9x/x + 6 - 1 = 0

(-5 + 10i(-2 + 10i)

5x2 + 12x = -4

x² + 3x + z = 12

(Author's Note: I know that was unnecessary but I just wanted to include it :D)

Turns out, they were seconds earlier than another group behind them. Oren hopped in excitement as they shouted it out before anyone else. Clayton could just feel the joy radiating from the elf, and from that, the human smiled too.

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Thanks for reading Part Fifteen!