"Have you finished?" a flat voice spoke out. An obvious tune of impatience accompanied it.
"Not really, give me a second here Sera..." chipping away at the white - paper, the messy black - haired boy started to fidget furiously against the table. He simply couldn't solve the question displayed before him.
"John..." Seraphina slowly exhaled. "You always were terrible at academics. I certainly can't name one single thing you are excellent at."
"I am good at messing up your grades?" John raised into a pointing gesture towards Seraphina as he winked in a grinning fashion. Poked by the comment, Seraphina raised a brow. "But wasn't that mess up because of you? Surely if you weren't on my team during that class assessment I would have received full marks." Throwing his pencil aside, John nodded as he jokingly added, "but that doesn't matter Sera, because without me - your life would be as boring as a rock."
"What a boring comparison." She added with a smile. "I think the correct statement would be, without me YOUR life would be as boring as a rock."
John hummed for a brief moment, a look of concern dragged alongside his joyful expression.
"Sera are you okay? It's been a week after that incident in my house and-" Seraphina immediately reached over the table and pressed her finger against his lip, sealing it tighter than he could breathe.
"Don't remind me of it." A tinge of hurt echoed from her response.
John became hesitant, he realized it wasn't the best idea to ask her that question when the outcome was certainly predictable.
After that incident, Seraphina wasn't her usual self anymore. Everything changed after that single day.
"Doc said he'll find a solution Sera." John began comforting her, "We'll just have to trust him." His breath rushed against her finger as he spoke those words with determination. He just couldn't handle seeing Seraphina with an expression like that. Where was the strong girl he used to know and enjoy having around so much?
"It's been a week John. I can't allow other people to see me like this. I can't disappoint my parents any further, especially since that 'other' incident." Cringing from that thought of disobeying her parents, Seraphina retracted her finger back; a glimpse of doubt surfaced from her expression.
"Come on. Being a cripple isn't THAT bad... is it?" Raising a brow to that statement, Seraphina simply sighed. Adding a delicate smile, she responded quietly.
"Your optimism is what's annoying... but I can't help but find it adorable. Thank you, John."
Her smile eased him, the worries which clouded him slowly disappeared. Settling down onto his chair, the problem at hand was still facing at him; forever undying.
"If you need help, you can always ask me. You know that right?" Seraphina grinned, like a secret jab to his side. Crossing both arms over, John tossed the ridiculous paper aside.
"I don't need this silly paper. Grades don't determine my damn future."
Seraphina tilted her head at his sudden ideology. "But it sure as hell influences it."
"I honestly think I am educated enough, thank you very much," he replied in a sarcastic manner.
"Coming from the person that thought 'LAME' was a French word." A smug expression landed, a critical hit pierced John as he turned away in unadmitted defeat.
The doorbell ringed. Both John and Seraphina sighed.
"Should I really open it?" John asked, that faulty expression continuing on.
"If Arlo is something, then he is extremely consistent," Seraphina replied.
Getting on his feet, John walked towards the door in an unbothered fashion. He simply didn't enjoy Arlo's presence ever since that day, and now for some odd reason, that same Arlo has consistently knocked on his home for the past dragging week.
The feeling of air gushed inside, not only the uninvited wind but the aura of someone who had an unprecedented superiority - complex. Seraphina crossed her ankles, spanning her slightly divided attention to the irritating blonde as she tilts her head; relaxing it slightly against her upright hand.
"You took your time opening this door." Arlo stared directly at John.
"Excuse you, I didn't realize you owned this entire house," John responded sarcastically, additionally waving him off as he paced back to his seat; opposite to Seraphina.
Arlo brushed his blonde hair back, quite lately he finds John increasingly intolerable. It's somewhat like a disease, once there is a favorable temperature, it will start multiplying, and this analogy was extremely accurate for Arlo's personal perspective on John.
"What are you staring at?"
The blonde raised a brow at his blatant question. No one, not even Seraphina had ever spoken to him in that manner; one with disrespect and essence of informality. Ever since that one incident, where Arlo the King of a highly privileged School, a person who ruled the chain of Hierarchy, was suddenly one day defeated by a... cripple.
"John, pipe down." Across the table, Seraphina eyed the evidently annoyed boy. "You two. I feel as though I am missing something here... some sort of drama caused this hate relationship?"
"Sera, why would I interact with a cripple? Especially a cripple that actually managed how to talk."
"Funny aren't you Arlo?! I'll show you-" John paused, eyes expanding as the realization sank in.
"When did you start calling her... Sera."
The blonde smirked, "Since when you ask? Why would you like to know? Excuse you, I didn't realize you had the legal right to harbor ever ounce of information from me."
Seraphina was stuck. Glancing at the blonde haired, then to the messy dark-haired, it honestly couldn't get any worse. What were they even arguing for? This question did a relay lap through Seraphina's brain, trying to comprehend and conclude the basis of their irritating argument.
Unable to relax, Seraphina narrowed her eyes towards the two. "Please for goodness sake, stop arguing. I have still yet to know why you two are even having a heated discussion."
"John became uncomfortable with me referring to you as Sera, instead of Seraphina. Quite childish." Usually, this forward provocation wouldn't nudge John's innate feelings, but this certainly did something.
"So," Arlo carried on, "I realize that John should mature before-" coughing up his words before finishing it completely, Arlo was knocked sideways. John directly speared him across the living room. Seraphina's jaw dropped from John's reckless action. "John!" she shouted, her gaze settled on his back, both fists of the dark haired boy raised above him; shaking uncontrollably.
"You..." almost as a whisper, just low enough that only Arlo could hear it properly. "...have no right to call her Sera." A glint of golden light circulated his iris before ultimately charging his fist down.
