Ch.5 Old Friends

She sat at her desk not looking at anyone and not speaking to anyone. All she could hear was the teacher talking about algebra but she just blankly stared at her textbook until a small piece of paper was thrown onto her desk. Thorn opened it and smiled. It was a life like drawing of herself and she looked over to Lance. He smiled at her and gave her a small wave. She couldn't help but smile back and tucked the drawing into her economics book. The class finally ended and Lance walked over to her. "Thorn? Is everything alright? You're usually always so peppy." "I'm fine. How about you show me around the school so I don't get lost?" "Sure!" His eyes beamed with excitement at the thought of skipping class to hang around Thorn and he quickly went to grab his things. Lance walked back over looking over the moon. "Let's miss the next few classes so I can show you the school! But we have to go check on Ace first." "Ugh. Why can't we just NOT go check on him?" "Nope. The teacher asked if we could and they hardwired this place to the brim with security cameras so he'd know." "Damn. I was hoping to not see that slime ball for the rest of the day." "Well think of it this way. Just two more classes until lunch and then you'll get to see the chaos that is the cafeteria." "Cafeteria? Is that like a dining room?" "Yeah, sure." Lance sighed as they left the classroom and started walking down the packed hallway. "Let's drop by your locker first so you can put your bag up." "Ok." "Can I see your schedule?" "Sure?" She handed her schedule to him and watched him skim over it with his dark eyes. "Your locker is over by the drama class." "Drama class?" "Here I'll show you." Lance led Thorn down a couple of halls to a door with a mask on it. "What's this about?" She examined the mask and peeked threw the window. There was no one inside but her eyes went straight to the costumes. "No way! Is that a Victorian evening gown?!" Thorn opened the door excitedly but a pair of muscular arms wrapped around her and pulled her back. "I'm sorry love. But you can't just bust in and try on the costumes." Her face turned red as she felt something poking her hip. "Um.. Lance?" "Yes love?" "Is that a pencil in your pocket or are you just that excited to grab me?" His mind blew a fuse and he quickly let go. "I'm sorry! It was pressed against your ass and it has a mind of its own!" Lance felt so embarrassed and wanted to just run away. "Do you wanna stop by the bathroom?" "What?! Why?!" "To calm yourself down. Plus I kinda need to use it anyway." "Um. Sure. Let's go." He started walking and jumped when Thorn slid her hand into his. Lance looked down at it and smiled. "Her hand looks so small in mine," he thought still smiling. "So, you still draw. That's good." "Is it?" "Of course! You are a great artist!" "I actually haven't been drawing or anything for a while." "What?!" Thorn made them stop and looked him in the eyes. "Why not?" "My inspiration was gone. So there was no way for me to create anything." "If your inspiration WAS gone then that means it must be back right?" He blushed and looked away from her as he scratched the back of his head. "Well yeah." Her eyes got big and she smiled at him. "That's great! I'm so happy for you!" "Are you still baking and playing with knives?" "Yeah. I guess." They started walking again and went to the restroom. "Umm. I may be a minute." "Take all the time you need, Lance. I'll wait out here after I'm done." "A-alright." His face turned a dark red from the embarrassment of her knowing what he's about to do in the restroom. They went into their separate bathrooms and Thorn came out and sat on a bench that was across the hall. As she waited she grew more and more tired by the second. Lance came out to find Thorn asleep and smiled. He noticed her coat was off her shoulder a bit and was about to put it back on when he felt mangled skin on the back of her shoulder. "What the?" Gently he slid the coat down her arm some more and saw a piece of her back. "Oh god!" He covered it back up and wiped his face on his sleeve. "I'm so sorry love." He gently kissed her head. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "I'm sorry. It seems I dozed off." "No. It's fine. Let's go. I'll show you the economics class next." "Okay!" Thorn took his hand and he lead her to the economics classroom. The back wall was lined with old stoves and a large counter. There were two fridges and rows of desks. "Do you think they'd be mad if I made a snack for us?" "Who knows?" She let go of his hand and walked towards the fridges. "Hmm.. How about some cookies?" "Alright." Thorn took out the ingredients and got to work as she hummed. Lance sat down and listened while he watched her bake. Watching her cook was so mesmerizing to him that he just couldn't tear his eyes away from her. She seemed to float threw the kitchen effortlessly like a specter and mixed tastes together like an artist with his acrylics. A few moments past before she took the tray of cookies out and ate one. "They're done." Lance smiled at her and ate one, almost burning his mouth. They left the room after cleaning the dishes (plus putting the leftover cookies in a baggy for later) and Lance brought her to the cafeteria. Thorn stood there for a second and started giggling. "What are you laughing at?" "We forgot to check on Ace." "That is pretty funny love. Now let's go get some grub!" She nodded and blindly followed him into the fray. As they stood in line Thorn could hear whispering all around them. "That's her!" "What? Her? No way." "Did you hear? She knocked out Ace!" "What!? No way!!!" Her face grew red and Lance looked at her worried. "Is everything okay love?" "Oh! Um.. I'm just not used to being whispered about I guess." "It's fine. Those hens'll find something else to cluck about soon." Thorn smile at him as his Australian accent calmed her. "Alright. I actually have my lunch so I'll go sit down." "Okay. I'll meet 'cha over there." She nodded at him and started looking around until she saw Venus waving to her.