Xavier wanted peace and quiet for the rest of the class, not Enya constantly ranting on his ear.
However, it was obvious that it won't be happening. Upon sitting down on the chair beside his friend, he immediately turned to her who looked like she was about to explode. Her cheeks were very red from being embarrassed and furious from her sworn enemy's (or at least on her part) unexpected act. Enya did spend some money and had to lie to the pharmacist to buy the laxative she mixed inside the latte Rei was supposed to drink. It was because she wanted him to end up stuck in the bathroom all day long to keep him from listening to the professors and miss all their classes.
"I hate him!" Enya whispered-yelled from beside the taller boy. "I swear, he makes me so mad!"
Xavier ignores her. He always does, especially when she's having a fit like this. They might be childhood best friends, but he honestly had no idea why she dislikes Rei so much to the point that whenever she sees him she just gets angry.
He slowly loses focus on what their adviser was saying and his eyes drifted to the window, and to the boy who sat there, currently appearing to be deep in his thoughts. Xavier wonders what the boy is thinking of.
".. and look at him just ogle Mr. Wade so shamelessly! I swear, he must be expelled from this school! All he does is show up and end up getting all those high grades, he's obviously cheating-- Xavi, are you even listening to me?"
His eyelashes are really long. Do guys even have eyelashes that long? Xavier thought only girls can have eyelashes that long due to eyelash extensions, just as his best friend does every other month.
"Xavi!" Enya's whisper interrupted the boy's thoughts. He turned to her and she rolled her eyes in annoyance. She obviously caught him not paying attention, but decided not to say anything about it and instead continued her ranting.
"... as I was saying, I definitely need proof that the dork is cheating. Do you think he writes his cheat sheets ahead of time and memorizes them?"
Xavier finds himself looking at the pale-skinned boy again. The boy was still lost in thought. His red lips parted to breathe, but to Xavier, it looked like Rei was about to do something obscene.
What the fuck, he thinks.
The tall boy ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, and this made the girl beside him stop her rant momentarily.
"Are you okay? You don't seem to be yourself today," She placed her hand on his forehead, probably to check if the boy had a fever. Xavier doesn't have one, but with his kinds of thoughts he mind end up having one soon. "You don't have a fever, though. Did you have a fight with your dad again?"
He grimaced upon the mention of his father. The thought of the old man immediately killed the boy's inappropriate thoughts and worsened his mood.
Enya noticed this and she stops her ranting once and for all. Her silence made Xavier focus back on what their professor was talking about.
"... we have a quiz tomorrow, so do prepare. Read chapters one to three. That's all, you are dismissed."
Everyone yelled in dismay. Xavier can't blame them. It was barely their first month as juniors and their professor had already given a quiz.
Enya did a little cheer though. She already studied up to the tenth chapter the night before. Xavier noticed her gaze drift from the rest of their classmates yelling out in dismay to the pale-skinned boy, who was already in the process of grabbing his bag and making his way to the door.
Xavier decided to leave Enya's side. Standing up from his chair, he walked towards Jest, who was saying goodbye to the boys he was talking with during the whole period. He grinned at the sight of Xavier approaching and slung his arm around his friend's neck the moment he was already beside him. "Did Enya talk shit about Rei the entire period?"
Jest noticed his friend's sighing in exhaustion and took that as a yes. He laughed and tugged him towards the door, away from Enya who was about to reach the two boys. "Come on, I don't want to listen to her nag our entire free time," Xavier looked at Enya who was starting to be bombarded by some of their classmates, probably asking where got her newly manicured nails. "Let's go to the library, she hates it there because of Kei--"
"Rei," Xavier corrects him unconsciously that it made the taller boy freeze in his steps.
Jest stopped as well due to his friend's abrupt pause. "Yo, what's up? Is it such a big deal to remember the name of Enya's sworn enemy that it made you stop so suddenly?"
The taller of the two boys shook his head which Jest took as a cue to resume their walk towards the library, which was located on the third floor. True to what Jest said, Rei was indeed there, already reading the source materials for the quiz tomorrow. He sat on the table near the librarian, which was quite far from the others who merely went to the library to doze off or connect their phones to the library's fast WiFi.
"Let's sit next to Audrey," Jest pulls Xavier towards a table where a black-haired girl was currently reading a book. Upon the arrival of the two boys at her table, she waved and urged them to sit down. Apparently, she had a quiz this week as well so she decided to study in advance.
The girl ignored Jest's blatant flirting with her and Xavier laughs at how hopeless the situation was. Suddenly, his eyes once again drifted towards Rei. The pale-skinned boy was wearing glasses while writing notes from the source materials. Again, his almost red-like lips caught Xavier's attention. He wondered the boy's lips would look good wrapped around his c--
"Xavier!"
Everyone inside the library turned towards the door. There was Enya, her hands on her hips. The librarian glared at Xavier, obviously knowing that he was the owner of the name that the girl called, and obviously wanted him to go towards her immediately.
Xavier turned to Jest, silently implying his friend to help. However, the other boy shakes his head, stuck out his tongue, and returned to flirting with Audrey who continued to ignore him. Xavier could only sigh in exasperation for the lack of help he received, and he remembers how much Jest hated dealing with Enya, which started when they were still kids when Enya complained and cried over every single thing.
Between the librarian's harsh glare on him and Enya's fuming state, Xavier stole a glance at Rei. The boy did not even look up from his studying state, but Xavier did notice how he looked a bit annoyed with Enya's sudden appearance.
He decided to wave goodbye to Jest who only supported him by showing him a thumbs up and Audrey who smiles at him with sympathy on her face. He walked towards Enya, who smiled when Xavier was near enough for her to loop her arm around his. "Let's go to the cafeteria? I want fries,"
It's not like he could refuse. It was always hard to do so.
They walked towards the cafeteria, with Enya worrying about her grades as usual. She apparently got a text from Brie, a classmate of theirs, that they had another upcoming quiz this week. Enya didn't study on that subject yet, and her work on the council started piling up due to some of the student council members being unhelpful.
"I did tell you to not run for president." Xavier scolded her.
She pouts. "Rei would've! He only didn't because he knew he would lose to me!"
The boy fought the urge to roll his eyes. Of course, it was his friend's own assumption. Xavier clearly remembered how the pale-skinned boy did not even show interest in the student council when the elections started last year despite his friend Medea convincing him to run.
"I'm so stressed with it all! Mandy's the secretary and yet she's always absent during our meetings! I'm doing everyone's jobs and I can't even Ma'am Chi about it since she'll reprimand them and they'll end up getting angry at me for snitching!"
Xavier's eyes scanned across the cafeteria for a familiar face. He saw Medea with her friends, eating junk food. Now he knows why Rei was alone back at the library. Medea noticed his stare and her eyes drifted to Enya, which resulted in her saluting him mockingly.
She and Xavier weren't friends, but he always found her interesting. Unlike him, Enya hated her guts. But Enya hates everyone who's connected to Rei somehow, so it's not Medea's fault.
Enya continued ranting about how incompetent were the rest of the council members when Xavier noticed that Rei entered the cafeteria. As usual, he went directly to the vending machine. Unlike the majority, he genuinely liked the vending machine's coffee.
Upon noticing that Medea was with her friends, he changed directions and walked towards a far table. Xavier realized that the single coffee that the shorter boy was about to drink was what he bought for his recess. Without warning, he felt himself leave Enya's side and made his way towards the pale-skinned boy.
He heard Enya's words of disapproval but Xavier was already about to sit down beside his friend's sworn enemy.
Rei flinched upon realizing that the tall boy sat next to him out of nowhere. It was a normal reaction for someone who suddenly had a seatmate, Xavier thinks to himself. Definitely wasn't because he looked scary or like a creep.
Xavier tried to raise the corners of his lips to form a reassuring smile as a way to greet the other boy but it backfired for he's quite sure that it either turned creepy or weird due to how Rei laughed out loud, even holding on to the table for dear life.
He had a nice laugh, Xavier thinks. He internally laughed at himself as he realized how much Rei, the same Rei he never even noticed before Enya suddenly started dissing him, made his heart pound loud inside his chest.