"That's not good," Noah murmured. "That's not good at all."
The two faced one of the campus security guards, their faces fighting not to show guilt. The guard was a short, portly man, with a shiny mustache and a frown.
"What're you two doing? Why aren't you at the dance?" he demanded.
"We took a walk," Noah said, gesturing to their clothes. Hazel was insanely glad that they hadn't changed out of their dance clothes yet.
"Yep," Hazel said. "Wanted some fresh air. There's a lot of kids in there."
The guard eyed them distrustfully. "Alright, well, as long as you two head back to the dance pronto."
"Thanks," Hazel said, relieved. In her relief, though, she managed to accidentally rustle the brown paper bag that held the wine. The guard's eyes immediately snapped to behind her back, where she was holding it.
"What's that?"
"Coke!" Hazel yelped right as Noah calmly said "Pasta." They shot glares at each other.
"Coke and pasta," Hazel corrected. "From the dance."
"You mind if I look at it then?" the guard said, inching closer to them.
We're so screwed, Hazel mouthed to Noah. Noah just shook his head despairingly.
"Yeah, su–"
"Hey, Reese!"
Sebastian Reid jogged over to them, still with an infuriating expression of calm on his face. Noah and Hazel glanced at each other in confusion, but before they could say anything, Reid had already come to stand next to them.
"There's a scuffle going on. Other side of the common room, some guys got into a fight over one of their dates," Reid said, completely at ease. "They're getting kind of bloody."
Reese glanced between Hazel, Noah, and Reid, obviously a little uncertain about letting them go.
"It's okay, I can vouch for them," Reid said, lying so smoothly that Hazel wasn't surprised when Reese the guard bought it. "Thanks, Reese," he called after the retreating guard. Once Reese was gone and he was sure that he couldn't hear them, Reid turned back to them.
"You're welcome," Reid said.
"Yeah, thanks," Hazel murmured, a little reluctantly. She swung the brown paper bag of wine a little bit, uncomfortable with the situation.
"Sneaking in alcohol on your first day?" Reid raised his eyebrows. "Not very classy."
"We're having a picnic," Noah said. "We wanted wine. Are you going to rat on us or something?"
"Please," he snorted. "I just helped you out with Reese. Why would I go through that trouble just to turn you in afterwards?"
"He knew we had wine, though," Hazel said. "And he still left."
"Because I was there," Reid said, as if that explained everything.
"Okay," Hazel said, deciding not to get into an entire argument right at that moment on how douche-y that sounded. "What were you doing here anyways?"
"Getting some fresh air," he said nonchalantly. "Is that a crime?"
"No one said it was," Noah rolled his eyes. "We were just wondering. And now we're going."
Reid spread his arms. "I'm not keeping you from here. Go ahead."
"Yeah, we will," Hazel grabbed Noah's arm and they brushed past him. She could feel his gaze, boring into her back like tiny holes.
"I thought he's never even talked to you guys before," Hazel murmured. "Why is he helping us?"
Noah shrugged. "Guess you caught his eye."
Hazel scoffed. "Ugh, as if."
Hazel had no disillusions about herself. She had been told that she was attractive but she could never think for a second that anyone could actually be attracted to her, especially someone like Reid, and especially after she opened her mouth and spewed our whatever dumb statement that had been resting inside.
"I just want a peaceful senior year," Hazel sighed. "Something sweet and memorable, but not too memorable. You know what I mean?"
Noah laughed. "Here's to a peaceful senior year."
They met Alex at the edge of the dorms, carrying a bunch of thick blankets and her laptop. Their pasta was still precariously balanced on her arms—it was a miracle that they hadn't fallen all this time.
"Hey guys! Didn't get caught, I see," Alex greeted them, trotting next to them as they made their way to the side of the grassy field near the trees. The moon shone brightly down on them, illuminating their shadows as they walked.
"We did, actually," Noah said. At Alex's confused expression, he elaborated. "Reese found us, but Reid managed to get us off."
Alex gaped, setting her blankets and food down on the ground. "This is way too weird. We haven't talked to this guy in all three years of the academy and suddenly he's talking to us twice in one day?"
The trio started setting up the blankets and wine and laptop in a comfortable position.
"Well," Hazel winced. "Thrice, for me."
"What?!"
"Well, I saw him after going to the dean's office. I held the door open for him and he mocked me about the entire adopting thing and said 'see you around.' It wasn't a big deal." Hazel flopped down on the blankets, pulling Alex's laptop closer to her and starting a search through Netflix to find a good lovie.
"Well, it's not a small deal either," Alex spluttered, throwing a blanket over their legs. "He, like, likes you!"
"Please," Hazel scoffed. "Both of you are crazy. I think he's just bored of whatever he's doing around here and wants to have a new experience. It's nothing to do with me." She pretended not to notice the glance that Alex and Noah shared behind her back, focusing instead on the list of horror movies.
"Horror?" she asked.
"Ugh," Alex wrinkled her nose. "I hate them, but whatever. Pick a good one. A super scary one."
Hazel grinned and chose the goriest one she could see. The movie started, beginning with an extremely graphic scene of a girl's eyeballs being ripped out while the trio groaned and took turns drinking straight out of the bottle. A few minutes into the movie, Hazel turned to look at Alex and Noah, who were sharing a blanket.
"Thanks," she said, suddenly feeling the need to show her gratitude for finding the most amazing people on day one. "Thanks for being my friend, and like, well, not hating me or whatever. And for showing me the dance and the gym and telling me everything about everyone. Thanks."
The trio exchanged a smile, and Alex rolled her eyes, reaching out to squeeze Hazel's hand under the covers.
"What else are friends for?"
oOo
"Art is not just on the canvas. Art is everywhere! Art is around you, around your classmates, around your house, around this school! Anything can be art and anyone can create art! So today, I urge you all to unleash your creativity and paint your own soul onto the canvas!"
Hazel stifled a groan as she stared at the blank canvas in front of her. She hadn't even wanted to take art class in the first place, but she needed a creative elective and the choir was already full. So she was stuck in Art 1 with Mr. Gonzales, a kind but eccentric man, outfitted in overalls with hundreds of splashes of paint on them and paintbrushes sticking haphazardly out of his pockets. He really committed to his craft, Hazel noted, idly swishing her paintbrush in the water.
"Hey Mr. G," a voice that was becoming all too familiar burst into the classroom. "Sorry I'm late."
Hazel looked up and again, stifled the urge to groan. It was just her luck that Sebastian Reid was in her art class. She had thankfully had no classes with him the entire day, only once catching a glance at him during the lunch period, but they hadn't interacted. But now—Hazel stoke a glance around the room, realizing that indeed, the canvas next to her was the only one without an artist in front of it—now, there was no chance of avoiding interaction.
She scowled as Reid dropped into the seat next to her, Mr. Gonzales letting him off with a small warning. She bet that if it were any other student, he would have given them detention. But of course, the son of the dean meant special treatment.
She had no idea why she felt so hostile towards the guy, besides the blatant favoritism he got from the teachers and authority on campus. Perhaps it was the fact that not only did he actively make sure he benefited from the favoritism, he did his best to rub it into everyone else's noses as well. And the fact that she had embarrassed herself yesterday in front of him didn't do any favors to their relationship either.
"Hey," Reid said. "Nice to see you again, Hazel."
"Yeah, hi Reid," Hazel said, focusing on her painting. Painting her own soul, what did that even mean? What the heck was she supposed to draw on the canvas?
"You know, you can call me Sebastian," Reid suggested, starting on his own painting. "What're you painting for the soul prompt?"
"Sebastian's way longer. Reid is simple," Hazel defended. She had only started calling him Reid by habit, because that was what Noah and Alex called him. "And I have no idea."
"Well," Reid hummed. "If you need to paint something, just do a bunch of abstract shapes and refer it back to your emotions or something. Mr. G's a sucker for that sort of stuff."
Hazel snuck a glance at him, trying to see if he was joking or not, but he was calmly focused on his painting, making bold strokes like he knew exactly what he was doing.
"Okay," she said uncertainly. "Thank you."
Reid nodded, humming softly as he continued his painting. Hazel shrugged and started painting her canvas a deep red, then splattering lighter red onto it.
The two worked in silence, painting their souls, both of them oblivious to the fact that the other was thinking about them.