Doodled Hearts

Chapter Five

The whole group huddled by the gate, the sun beaming down onto them. Jane was the closest to the gate and kept a lookout for her dad. Roxy, Jake and Dirk were saying their good byes. They talked about their summer plans. Roxy would go with Jane to Washington and then from there she would meet her mom. She wasn't completely ecstatic for the summer, only because she couldn't spend more time with Dirk and Jake. The boys, on the other hand, were to stay at school. They didn't have anyone to go to. Roxy invited them to go with her to New York but Dirk said no - on his behalf and Jake's.
Roxy, with that smile of hers, gave a hug to the two boys before leaving. Jane just waved at the two, not even a smile on her face. She didn't even give Jake a good bye kiss.
Ah yes, summer was here, and it just started off uncomfortably. The two watched the girls climb into the pristine car and then vanish into the town's traffic, and then they stayed there.
Dirk scratched the back of his neck. That spot wasn't even itchy.
"So... you're staying here too?" He asked. Jake nodded, "Well then we better find something awesome to do."
"We've got the entire summer. I don't see the need to rush into these awesome shenanigans." Jake shrugged. He did have a point.
"Okay." He paused, "You could move into my room." What are you saying, Dirk? Jake chuckled and agreed to the plan. Off they went, toward the Grace Dorms. The entire time Dirk mentally slapped himself, and his stomach turned into one giant knot.

The Grace Gardens and Dormitories were much more pleasant than Ivanka. The students were split into houses - Edmund (Blue), Grace (Green), Ivanka (Red) and Jameson (Purple). Each house came with their respective dorm buildings and gardens. The people in the Ivanka House didn't exactly care for their surroundings. It was only Kankri that attempted to make it look nice, but the mission was a failure.

The Grace area was much cleaner. The gardens were perfectly manicured, and their fountain was actually functional. Up ahead was the male dorm, the Grace House Symbol welcomed the two boys as it was painted onto the door. The lobby didn't smell of weed or tobacco, if anything it smelled of pine. The place was almost empty. Dirk followed English to his room, and when he entered it he saw that only one side of the room was cluttered.
"Wow. Your roommate cleaned up nicely."
"I don't have a roommate." Jake replied as he stuffed his clothing into two big tog bags. He then got his toiletries and then he was ready to go.

When they got to Dirk's room the first thing he did was plomp onto his bed, dropping one of Jake's tog bags onto the floor. Jake sat on his new bed, and his eyes were immediately attracted to Dirk's wall. The wall was abundant in drawings and posters (most of them being horse and anime posters). There were also two shelves above Dirk's bed, on the lower one were some action figures an broken headphones. On the higher platform was a katana. It was magnificent and carried no dust. It looked like Dirk went on a big adventure to get that dashing blade, but that was highly unlikely, Jake thought.
Rufioh still had his posters up. Majority of them were band posters, but the gaps were filled with small A4 anime posters.
Dirk was not going to get used to waking up to his new roommate. He looked at the other.
"So, are you unpacking or not?"
"Nah, not right now." Jake smiled. Dirk looked at the boy's smile.
"Then what do you want to do?"
Jake shrugged, his flannel shirt crumbled. He had that sort of vibrancy to him that made him look unreal. He was too symmetrical, too perfect. That's all Jake was. Too perfect.
"Gosh you are so worried about what activity we must do. Calm down, Strider. Summer isn't going anywhere." Jake chuckled. Dirk took a second to reply.
"I know. I just don't want my guest to be bored." Jake shook his head and got to his feet. He stepped forward and held out his hand. He still had doodles on his fingers from yesterday. Dirk huffed and took his hand.
"Why don't we explore the school? I still need a proper tour." The way Jake said tour made Dirk want to snort. It was hard to resist. Nevertheless Dirk didn't refuse the offer. He knew the school's hotspots; where to get snogged - where he got snogged - where to get drugs, and even where to hide if you decided to ditch class.
The two walked around the other house dorms. They were fairly neat. He took Jake to the metal shop, where he normally hid when school got too hectic. There he would just sit and draw or bring his laptop along to make remixes. In grade eight he and Roxy had a major fight, and at every lunch period he would hide in there. He knew where the teacher kept the key to the back door, so he had private access.