Adrian knows where this is going from a single glance. Laughter flickers in his orbs.
Being picked to lead in the flag ceremony is a normal occurrence. Annoying but one cannot reject once assigned to.
"He's gonna lead the flag ceremony." Adrian comments.
"Right." Kristoff replies in agreement.
Obviously, like their routine in the previous campus.
Good thing, Mr. Evans, their homeroom teacher, is doing his work well. Facilitating them in this bizarre merging.
No formal announcement. No preparations. Letting them be caught off guard. What the hell is the school management thinking?
Mr. Evans' out of place clothes, hair sticking out in other directions as he tries to smoothen them down. Trickle of sweat sliding down on his forehead as he adjusted his eyeglasses on top of his nose.
Poor him.
Adrian concentrates on hearing the soft voice of Lucas from the speaker. Loud enough for everyone to hear.
His voice is nice. Adrian compliments internally and then zones out. Relishing what he hears at the moment. Although, this setup is disturbing. He could still endure the different environment.
He still is being surrounded with familiarity. Like his classmates, schoolmates and teachers.
As the ceremony continued, Adrian glanced up in time to lock eyes with Lucas.
He quirks his lip upwards.
Unintentionally, Lucas swept his glance on the crowd just to collide with Adrian.
His stature is conspicuous. One look, Adrian can capture the crowd's attention.
Lucas is not gonna lie. This type of man is destined for glory. He carries himself with confidence and dignity. Such a man is rare.
Might be because of the atmosphere he had grown up to.
Anyone in his position being caught staring will be embarrassed. But not him, backing down from a stare will display weakness. Inferiority.
Not included in Lucas' dictionary. Instead of dodging, he returns the smile.
The same smile plastered on Adrian.
Lucas finishes his part, gaze latched on Adrian.
Adrian, unable to stand the unofficial staring contest he had started, looks away.
Lucas mentally takes note that he had won and gained one point from this battle round. Calm, he backs away, letting the school's principal be on stage.
He reduces his presence. Try to. However, his brilliance cannot be overshadowed. Though the principal stands in front of the crowd, stray rubbernecks can be seen on Lucas.
A fine specimen. More finer than the principal. Comparison inevitability occurs in the crowd's mind.
The principal used in this set up did not mind quite a bit. Pride even swells inside him.
Their attention glued on Lucas was pulled away when the principal cleared his throat. Successfully gaining the awareness of the students.
"Goodmorning. I would just like to announce something short this morning." The principal scans the crowd.
He continues, "I with the staff welcomes the other school in X university. This has been sudden however, I hope you could still feel the warm ambience surrounding you. It will take some time to adjust but we will get there. Just hold on. I officially declare that from this moment onwards, the rivalry between the opposing schools merge."
Lucas, getting the signal from one of his teachers nodded in a positive manner. He calmly claps and the others begin to clap as they follow Lucas' lead. However, the other students did not do so.
They preen over, awaiting one student to clap. Adrian did not get the memo. He scratches the back of his neck, rubbing because of the itchy feeling.
He blinks his eyes when a hand holds his shoulders. He looks over, in time to see Mr. Evans squeezes out a smile.
Confuse evident in his eyes, Mr. Evans sighs. This silly child. He internally thought.
He makes sure to tone down his voice and says, ''Adrian, child. You should clap.''
''Huh?'' Bewildered sound came out from Adrian.
Isn't his freedom if he wanted to clap or not? Is that really required? Adrian squinted his eyes, surrendering because right, he shoulda been happy with this occasion. He begins to clap and his surroundings students also. The thunderous clapping echoes in the field.
The principal smiles. He waits for them to finish and then beckons the other principal to come up. The rival principal.
This time, when the other came up on the platform, the enthusiastic clap resounded. Wolf whistling and multiple shouts of 'ey, that's our bald old man', 'sir, you're the best, and the likes which received eyebrows raising.
Seems like the students really like this principal of theirs unlike their X University's principal.
They shake hands. Normally, the students will not make a big deal about this. However, not for Lucas. He scrutinized that when the two shook their hands. The other principal gripped the palm. Might be out of blue yet Lucas thinks this was a sign of power or some sort like that?
He is not the only one observing. Adrian was one too. Thinking that the two principals will be competing with each other for the position. One will be the principal and the other as an assistant principal.
The two boys think at the same line of thought.
Another rivalry happening in the school management and another one to the students. Mr Evans pulls out a handkerchief from his pockets. Dabbing the sweat on his forehead, he follows the line of sight. His student, Adrian, who had always been disinterested with a lot of things, has been paying attention today. A lot of attention on the platform.
Weird. Adrian does look so alive. Pump up with something that Mr. Evans does not know. Though, in an instant, seeing who he was gazing up, outrageously sweat dropped. Temples aching to the unforeseen event that might crop in the future.
Seems like he would be going on a trip towards the principal more frequently than before. These two giant lords are not meant to mess up. Mr. Evans shakes his head, throwing his thoughts at the back of his mind.
He consoles him thinking that he was overthinking things because of the mountain of paper works he needed to accomplish.
Although, he was not wrong in that sense.