School Days: Anthology

Dan Grayson the mathlete was having a pretty good day so far. There was no fights, and no one in class was all too annoying today other than Abraham and Ian being themselves, but thankfully Patricia kept both of them occupied by playing a game of jenga with them. He likes the girl as she seems be friendly, and does her best to spend time with others despite being busy doing her artsy stuff along with her creative writing. Even the foul mouthed Marcoh seems to start enjoying her company despite him being an ass to her at the start of the semester. In the past couple weeks he didn't need to be the peacekeeper between some of his classmates, and that's thanks to Patricia.

Although like every other day he is somewhat disturbed by the person sitting next to him: James Gunther, his neighbour in class. He doesn’t hate the guy or anything, but he is bothered by how unnaturally silent the guy is. He’s not the only antisocial guy in class, but he rarely speaks at all. Sebastian, Kyle, Matthew and Valerian are also quiet individuals, but at least they socialize in their own ways. Heck even Ian and the green haired girl are quiet at times, but at least they’re alive and loud whenever they get comfortable with the people around them!

Dan stopped, blinked, and then shook his head. He didn’t want to think about his classmates at the moment. He’s on break, and all he wants to do is get away from his friends and relax; he sought out for his much needed alone time. But right now one of his fellow classmates seems to be needing of some attention.

Dan Grayson let out a breath as he looked at the girl on the ground in front of him. He could tell that she was short even while she was recovering from being knocked over. Her long green hair was about waist length; sticking out in multiple directions at the bottom and at her bangs, and her eyes were also green just like her hair, but a tad bit darker. She’s also wearing her trademark black cap with a white front face. Maybe in a different situation he'd have appreciated them more, however...

"Watch where you're going!" She snapped, her face switching between sadness and frustration. She had quite obviously been crying before he had bumped into her judging from the still fresh tear streaks that were on her face. She’s having a bad day, and this whole ordeal between the two probably made her day worse.

"Sorry about that.. uh...“ What’s wrong with him? How can he forget her name? What kind of a friend is he to forget something so essential? “Kat? This will not happen again." Dan stated, silently cursing himself for not knowing her name, but he instead chose to call her what Matthew tends to address her as. He doesn’t entirely know why Patricia’s attack dog does that, but from what he heard from others it has to do with Matthew having trouble remembering other people’s names. After he quickly processed his thoughts he then proceeding to hold his hand out to the girl. "Need a hand?" The girls' eyes slowly to narrowed at him, he could guess why. And he doesn’t hold it against her, she should be annoyed how he couldn’t recall her name.

"We’re in the same class, how can you not know my name? Not very gentlemanly of you." She called him out with a scoff after rolling her eyes at him. He doesn’t allow her words and tone bother him.

"Are you going to accept the hand I'm offering you, or not?" Dan may have sounded a little pushy, and he does, but only because he doesn’t want to stay in this particular area of the school for long. The Italians and French are not fans of the Glorious Faggots. Dan grimaced at the name of their group, but is pleased that the girl grabbed his hand. He then pulled her up and she let out a low 'oof'.

"Now then Kat, care to tell me why you were crying?" Dan asked while absently used her nickname, and he noticed that she glared at him for a moment, but he didn’t let it bother him too much as he continued. “It's fairly obvious that you were.” He may not be entirely close to her like he is to Tyro, Anthony, Classy and Rowan, but he still views all of his fellow classmates as family and is very protective of them… Yes, he even admits that he views James as his friend despite him startling him every other day by sneaking up on him, but he does like to think that even the antisocial mute see’s him as a friend. He's starting to think that the guy get's amusement from his frightened reactions.

The girl let out a breath, mumbling something before she turned away from him. "It's...kind of a stupid reason, so you don't need to worry about it." she stated softly as she played with the bill of her hat..

The nicely dressed boy frowned, not entirely pleased with how she is at the moment. "Now come on. I wouldn't feel right if I walked away from a friend without doing what I could to make her smile." He stated, and she looked back at him after he spoke. She looked a little surprised, but kept silent as he continued.  “Besides; this is the side of the school you really shouldn't be in.” Truly the Track and Field area is filled with people who have it out against the Glorious Faggots; the Italians really want to get back at us for some reason, and the French would probably target Kat and Matthew after the attack dog brought an onslaught of pain to them to save the green haired girl. This is the last place she should be right now.

The girl looked at him; searching his face to see whether he was serious or not, she then let out a breath. Wiped away her tear stains. ".. You should know of him, but there’s this boy who’s being painfully oblivious. I'll get over it." She said, smiling. So she’s talking about her crush on Matthew? Of course she would, and she probably is just frustrated how the Metis boy is completely ignorant to her feelings. Everyone in class can see that she has a crush on him, but surprisingly her crush seems to either not notice her feelings or doesn’t care. “And I can handle myself. You don't need to worry about me.” He truly pities her, but isn’t going to interfere with them. This is something she probably feels the need to figure out on her own.

She gave him a good look, then looked around and let out a giggle despite a few rough looking people giving them the stink eye. "Hey, do you want to get some lunch? My treat." Dan blinked; looking at the shorter girl in slight surprise before quickly recovering and smiling.

"Who am I to turn down an invitation from you? Lead the way, Kat." He said with a smile on his face. He doesn’t see anything wrong spending time with a friend of his, and besides they both have another 20 minutes before afternoon classes begun. The girl let out another giggle before she stuck out her hand to him.

"My name's not Kat; it's Katrina Zeng." Dan eyes lit up at hearing her name as he shook her hand. He repeats her name in his thoughts quite a few times in an attempt to not forget it again.

"Call me Dan Grayson."

Katrina's face brightened, and he was relieved to see her not so depressed any longer. He would’ve felt awful for leaving her like that. "Well, Mr. Grayson, I've found out that the college snack bar has some items I know you’ll enjoy." She stated, before turning around and starting to walk in the same direction that she was walking before. Dan then began following her glad that they don’t have to stay in disputed territory between the Italians and French. He reminded himself to tell her sometime today to avoid this area as much as she can so she wouldn’t have to be bothered by both gangs. He shivered at the thought of her getting ambushed by either gang. He internally thanked Matthew for rescuing this girl from the bastards’ clutches.

"So, how often do you eat at the college cafeteria?" He asked as they finally got back into safer part of campus, although that is to be debatable seeing how many people from different gangs walk through the cobbled paths, but at least the Institute’s security frequently makes rounds on the paths.

Katrina shrugged. "It's one of my favorite places in this school, because it has a more relaxed environment than the high school cafeteria." She said happily.

"Really?"

Katrina nodded. "It's not like it's an active battle ground between gangs, and even if it was do you think I would go there to eat?" He gave her an amused look as she spoke of her preferred eating area.

"So it’s not an area under perpetual war?" Dan asked, she let out a giggle.

"Yup! I really do think you’ll like it! The food there is waaaay better than the stuff back the high school cafeteria! I could totally tell which section of the Institute get’s a bigger budget from the Headmaster! Sometimes they even let you have a free cookie or brownie! Ah! The staff there is also nicer than the ones back the cafeteria! Probably because the environment over there is much more relaxed than back the high school! The staff even knows me by name, probably because I'ma frequent customer there! Although the place can be a little overcrowded during lunch time, because those college kids need to eat too! But I don't mind, as the staff work pretty fast to give the students their food! Oh, how I wished the high school-" Dan blinked. This girl...is a motormouth, she is also very loud, and tends to ramble on about things. To him it looks to be a good sign as she’s speaking with excitement in her voice rather than shyness or with hesitation. He never had seen her like this before, probably because they don’t really hang out too often outside of class. Even then she spends most of her time trying to talk to Matthew in class.

Although he feels a little awkward on how she attempted to hold his hand several times as they walked towards the College building.