'It has to be done.' Jack thought to himself. 'You won't get another chance like this. He's always so focused and diligent you won't get to sneak up on him again.' Jack suppressed a snicker before leaping out and tackling his friend to the ground.

"What the hell Jack!? Get off of me!" Aster growled, attempting to get up only for Jack to pin him down.

"Nope." He smirked. "Not unless you admit I won this time" He laughed. They'd been at this game ever since school started two weeks ago. Aster usually won but there were rare occasions where Jack caught him off guard.

"Fine you win. Let me go!" He pouted. Jack let him go and he stood, straightening out his blue-gray hair.

"One more point to me. Leaving the score at... 8-4. I'll catch up sooner or later. You can't always see me coming." Jack said.

"Are you two at that nonsense again?" Came a voice from behind them. "I'll never understand you guys."

"You're just jealous of our bromance Tia." Jack said, sticking his tongue out at her. "Love the hair. Very teal." He smiled.

"Yeah I'm adding yellow tips tonight. I would have done it yesterday but didn't have the time." She said, smiling back at him. "But seriously if you two keep this game up you'll end up getting someone hurt."

"We'll be fine. We've been sure to keep an eye out and make sure to avoid collateral damage as long as we've been doing this." Aster said. They both knew better and didn't want to get anyone hurt. Tia just rolled her eyes and the subject changed on its own. Mostly about how classes were going, which teachers they seemed to like best and which ones they had to be careful around. As well as how weird it was to be going to a school where, of all things, art seemed to be a mandatory class. But Jack would defend it forever, North was the best teacher he'd ever had. It was easy to get lost in the debate and the bell rang a lot sooner than they thought it would.

"Oh by the way did you two hear about the new guy that starts today?" Tia asked as they headed to their first class. The only one all three of them had together. "Sandy saw him earlier apparently. Said the guy was kind of scary looking." Aster and Jack shrugged, they hadn't heard anything. But it also wasn't like a new student was really all that interesting. So they had one more body in the school to help slow traffic down even more, who cared? Tia sighed, wondering why she even bothered telling them these things. "Well I guess we'll find out. One of us has to have a class with him." She said as they went into their English class and got to their seats. "You two will tell me about him if you meet him right?" She asked. They boys agreed and got out their books just as the bell rang.

Their teacher rushed in and she started collecting their work from over the weekend. Jack scribbled in a few last minute answers before handing it in. Aster chuckled, for as long as they've known each other Jack always had a problem with deadlines. Once their work was collected Ms. Katherine got them started on the lesson for the day. The class could tell she was excited which must mean they were going to be starting on a new book. Her energy was definitely contagious. And the class felt hopeful that the unit would be a lot of fun. As class was drawing to a close Ms. Katherine got books assigned and gave out homework packets. Just after she gave them the reading assignment for the night the bell rang and Jack lept up, eager to get to his next class. And knowing his favorite teacher would be excited to see him.

-Hey guys. I know its been FOREVER since I've uploaded a story. I promise I really do intend to get back into it. I never meant to be gone this long. I hope you all can forgive me and I hope you look forward to this new story. 3