Array
(
[text] =>
The situation between Jayden and Noel was still tense. Five days had passed since the argument and neither side seemed willing to back down. There were a few instances when they were alone together that both wanted to say something but the simple truth was, they didn’t know what to say. They both believed they were in the right, and they were both too stubborn to concede to the other.
This state of affairs had soon become so unbearable that Jayden had taken to sleeping in Paul and Samuel’s dorm to escape it. Of course, this did not happen without a lot of side looks and suggestive smirks from their friends who teased them about it endlessly.
Samuel however was unfazed and seemed to rather enjoy this particular turn of events. As he told Paul one day, ‘I don’t know how I feel about this whole thing to be honest. On one hand, I hate seeing them fight, on the other, I get to snuggle up with Jayden. He’s so soft and cuddly, much better than any of my stuffed animals.’ He paused and glanced guiltily at Paul. ‘Please don’t tell him I called him soft and cuddly, if he finds out he will kick me off the bed and make me sleep on the floor. He has banished me for far less.’
Paul snorted at that. ‘You already sound like a married couple. As if all you two do is just “sleep”.’
‘Get your mind out of the gutter. As if we would do anything with you just a door away.’
Paul nodded solemnly. ‘I see. If that is the case I can move in with Cam and Leo whiles you two get… acquainted with each other.’
A chortle of laughter escaped his lips as he moved to dodge the swift kick Samuel sent his way. He steadied himself and turned back to Samuel with a curious expression on his face. ‘So, are you guys officially together now?’
Samuel shook his head sheepishly. Paul frowned and asked, ‘I thought you were going to ask him to be your boyfriend?’
‘I am but,’ Samuel sighed. ‘I haven’t figured out how to yet?’
‘How difficult can it be? You already know he likes you so just go up to him and ask him.’
Samuel rolled his eyes. ‘Of course, only someone like you who doesn’t date will think like that.’ He shook his head. ‘No. I have to ask him in a very special way because he is a very special person.’
Paul thought about that for a moment. ‘You want to know what I think?’
‘No.’
‘I think,’ he went on regardless. ‘That you are complicating matters unnecessarily. Jayden is not the kind of person who will care about things like that.’
Samuel shook his head at him in disappointment just as the door to their dorm opened. They turned to see Jayden make his way past them and into the room he now shared with Samuel.
Paul stood up. ‘That’s my cue. I will leave you to perform your husbandly duties. If you need me, I will be at Cam and Leo’s.’
He dodged the throw pillow that sailed at his head and with a laugh he was gone. Samuel cursed him in his head before making his way over to his room.
Jayden was lying on the bed with his face looking up at the gold and silver ceiling when he entered. He didn’t look up as Samuel walked over, turning his head only when he felt the bed dip softly beside him.
‘Things are still bad between you two huh?’ Samuel asked with a compassionate tone in his voice.
Jayden nodded silently and turned back to stare up at the ceiling. Samuel reached over to run his hand through his hair comfortingly. ‘It’ll be alright, mi amor. Best friends fight all the time. If I had a penny for every time I had a fight with Paul, I would be richer than Elon Musk. What makes best friends, best friends is that they always make up afterwards.’
Jayden considered what he said for a moment before turning back to him with an amused glint in his eyes. ‘Mi amor?’
Samuel’s eyes widened when he realized what he had said. ‘I meant… I didn’t mean…it just came out.’ He sighed in defeat. ‘I have been spending way too much time with Leo’s crazy Hispanic ass.’
Jayden chuckled and reached out to scratch behind Samuel’s head. ‘It’s alright. There’s nothing wrong with calling your boyfriend that. It’s cute actually.’
Samuel froze. ‘Boyfriend?’
‘Yeah.’ Jayden frowned in confusion. ‘I mean we are dating, aren’t we?’
‘No… I mean yes… wait no,’ Samuel sighed in frustration. ‘I wanted to ask you properly in a special way. With flowers and candles and all that.’
Jayden shook his head in amusement. ‘Silly boy. Who cares about all that? If you want to ask me just go ahead, ask me.’
Samuel smiled sheepishly as looked into Jayden’s dark eyes. ‘Jayden Antoine Pascal Mills, would you do me the honour of being my boyfriend?’
Jayden wrinkled his nose when he heard his middle names but nodded and said with a small smile, ‘Definitely.’
Samuel beamed brightly at him before suddenly cursing under his breath. ‘Dammit, that eunuch bastard of a prince was right.’
Jayden gave his boyfriend a puzzled look. Samuel shook his head at him. ‘Nevermind, just… do me a favour. If Paul asks how I asked you out tell him that I gave you flowers, fireworks, etc. else I’ll never be able to live down his smug I told you so look.’
Jayden chuckled. ‘Anything for you, mi amor.’
Samuel’s smile brightened when he heard that term of endearment. He took of his shoes and lay down beside Jayden, pulling his boyfriend closer to him. Jayden placed his head on Samuel’s chest and listened to his heartbeat for a while before asking.
‘Where is Paul though?’
‘He’s at Cam and Leo’s,’ Samuel muttered tiredly into Jayden’s hair, his tired eyes already drooping close.
Jayden shifted to look at him. ‘Why?’
‘Because he is a prick.’
Jayden was about to ask another question, but Samuel had already fallen asleep. He watched Samuel’s peaceful face for a moment before placing his head back against his chest, letting the soft rhythmic thumping of his heart lull him into a peaceful slumber.
The following morning, he was on his way to class when he caught sight of Charles slipping away from the equipment room. A few minutes later, Noel also walked out and darted down the hallway with his head down.
A dark look came over Jayden’s face and he suddenly decided he wasn’t in the mood to sit in class anymore. He turned and walked in the opposite direction as the bell went off to signal the beginning of lessons.
He was deep in thought as he walked and paid no attention to where we he was going, before long he looked up to find himself standing before the administration building. He contemplated the imposing structure for a while before making his way in.
The cool air-conditioned air hit his face as he entered and walked up to the reception desk. ‘Is the headmistress around?’
The receptionist looked up from her manicured nails which were painted a horrifying pink and gave him a once over.
‘Aren’t you supposed to be in class?’ she asked with a contemptuous sneer in her voice.
Jayden flashed her a fake smile and responded innocently, ‘Aren’t you supposed to be doing your job?’
The receptionist hmphed loudly and glared at him before turning back to her nails. ‘She is not here and even if she was, she’s a busy woman and wouldn’t have time for someone like you. I suggest you run along now little boy.’
‘Very well,’ Jayden replied unfazed. He bent down and whispered in a silky voice. ‘I’m sure you’ve heard this a hundred times already, but pink is a truly horrible colour on you.’
He flashed her another smile as she gaped in indignation, before walking away. He waited until he was sure her attention was away from him before slipping behind one of the massive pillars that lined the lobby.
He moved through the shadows behind the pillars till he was directly beside the reception desk. After a while a group of people walked up to the desk, occupying the receptionist and he took that opportunity to dart behind them and up the grand marble staircase.
He walked through the corridors before finally coming to a long-carpeted hallway, lined with portraits of the past heads of the school. The imposing and austere faces seemed to frown down in disapproval at him as he walked through the hall, as if silently objurgating him for breaking the school rules.
He soon arrived before a large double door where the muffled sounds of voices could be heard seeping through. He smiled to himself before slipping in. Years of living with his mother, who was like a living lie detector, had taught him to know exactly when someone was lying to him.
He passed through the antechamber and a smaller set of double doors before finding himself standing in the office of the headmistress.
Francesca Fontaine was sitting behind her desk and surrounded by a team of secretaries who were taking down notes as she dictated instructions to them. She looked up as he entered, and her eyes seemed to twinkle from behind her half-moon spectacles.
‘That would be all everyone, you are dismissed.’
The secretaries nodded and turned to leave but one hovered uncertainly by the desk. ‘Headmistress, you have a meeting with the…’ she trailed off as Francesca glanced at her. She nodded quickly. ‘Yes, headmistress.’
Then it was just the two of them in the large office.
‘Tea?’ Francesca offered as she poured herself a cup.
Jayden shook his head and continued to study her carefully.
‘I doubt I make a pleasing sight but if you did come here to stare at me, I suggest it would be more comfortable from a chair.’
Jayden hesitated before taking a seat before the large mahogany desk. ‘You have a meeting?’
‘I no longer do, my students always come first.’ Francesca folded her hands on her desk and looked squarely at him. ‘So saying, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company Mr Mills?’
Jayden returned her gaze before shrugging. ‘I have no idea really.’
Francesca stood up. ‘Well then, if it’s not too much trouble, how about you entertain me with a game of chess?’
She walked over the cabinet and pulled out an ancient looking chess board. She returned to her desk and set it down before him. ‘I have a feeling you would be much more challenging than my last opponent.’
Jayden studied the headmistress for a while before nodding.
‘Excellent,’ the headmistress exclaimed. She set up the pieces on the board and it wasn’t long before the game was underway. Despite the old age of the chess set, it was in surprisingly good condition with the colours still vivid as if it was given a fresh coat of paint just yesterday.
A few minutes later, the headmistress tapped her chin as she considered the pieces before her. ‘Interesting, very interesting. I was right Mr. Mills, you really do make a formidable opponent.’
Jayden glanced up from the board. ‘You can call me Jayden you know. Mr. Mills makes me feel old.’
‘I’m afraid not, Mr. Mills. As headmistress, I cannot address a student by their first name. It’s a personal set of principles I live by. What I can do however, is offer you a deal.’
Jayden gave her a suspicious look. ‘A deal?’
‘Yes. If you win this game, I will not give you detention for skipping class. However, if the victory is mine, you will interest me in a cup of hot chocolate. Does that sound fair?’
Jayden blinked in surprise. ‘Is that all?’
The headmistress hummed. ‘Young people these days underestimate the importance of a good cup of hot chocolate. I would treat myself but I’m an old woman, so I don’t have as much money as I used to.’
Jayden contemplated the deal for a moment and looked down to study the pieces on the board. He had lost two bishops and a knight, but his defence was airtight. The headmistress on the other hand, had lost her queen, her knights, a bishop and a rook. Her strategy was superb, but he had noticed a slight chink her defence.
He looked up and countered, ‘Very well, but in addition to getting out detention today I also want a limitless blank check on all future detentions.’
The headmistress tapped her chin in thought. ‘You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Mills. In that case then I also request that you inform me of what’s bothering you in addition to my cup of hot chocolate.’
Jayden was thrown a little by this request, but he quickly recovered and nodded. ‘You have a deal.’
The headmistress beamed. ‘Excellent.’
The game continued in silence after. Jayden couldn’t help but smirk to himself as he watched his trap circle closer and closer around his opponent. He just needed one more move to secure his victory.
‘Checkmate,’ the headmistress announced pleasantly.
Jayden blinked. He couldn’t believe it, he had lost. ‘How?’
‘It’s actually simple really,’ the headmistress answered. ‘The strategy is so outrageously simple that when you finally learn it the absurdity of how you never saw through it before would drive you insane.’
Jayden studied the board carefully but try as he might, he couldn’t figure it out.
The headmistress watched him closely. ‘I had the same reaction when my grandfather first used it against me in this very office. It’s rather maddening, isn’t it?’
Jayden nodded. ‘It is. Can you teach me?’
‘First things first,’ the headmistress steepled her fingers on her desk. ‘What’s bothering you?’
Jayden hesitated but a deal was a deal. He sat back with a sigh. ‘What do you do when your friend is doing something that you know for a fact would only end in disaster, but you have no way to get him to listen to you? You just have to sit and watch as he jumps headfirst into catastrophe.’
‘Then you have to let him and be there to catch him when he falls, as difficult as that may be.’
‘That’s also what Samuel said,’ Jayden muttered to himself.
‘He is right. In the end it is your friend’s life to live and ultimately, his choice. I have taught for a few decades now and I have to realize that the best teacher in life is experience. If you tell a child that fire is dangerous, he would never fully appreciate that danger until he gets burnt. It is a sad truth of life.’
‘That doesn’t make me feel any better,’ Jayden mumbled.
The headmistress gave him an amused smile. ‘Congratulations, you now know what it means to be a parent.’
Jayden chuckled despite himself. ‘That also sounds like something Samuel said.’
He stood up. ‘I need to head back now. Thanks for the game.’
‘Don’t forget, you have detention. I’m also looking forward to my hot chocolate. And Jayden,’ she called as Jayden reached door. ‘Your boyfriend sounds like a wise person; you should listen to him more often.’
Jayden’s eyes widened in surprise but before he could say anything, the flock of secretaries had swarmed back in and surrounded the headmistress. As he stepped out and took one last look inside before the door swung shut, he could have sworn that Francesca Fontaine winked at him from behind the body of secretaries, but it disappeared soon after he decided he must have imagined it.
[text_hash] => 45d93dd7
)