I would like to mention that I wrote this chapter before writing Chapter Eight. This was originally Chapter Nine, and after adding in the chapter about Adrian and Sydney I went back and adjusted this chapter a bit to make it sound like that the two had a thing for each other without actually realising. So sorry if it doesn't make a lot of sense. Anyway, enjoy.

Chapter Ten

The town centre was about an hour away from the school as the boarding school was in the middle of the countryside with the city being in the far distance. This gave the girls plenty of time to do what they did best; gossip.

"What do you girls think of Adrian?" Lissa was the first one to start the discussion. "I like him."

"I think we all do." Rose sat in the back with Lissa while Jill kept Sydney company in the front. Well, she said it was to keep her friend company, but after she split her coke in the passenger seat and got the dashboard sticky she was banned from being in the front of any of Sydney's cars. Ever. "What do you think of him Jill?"

This made Jill turn around to face Rose. When she found out that Jesse and Ralf threatened Adrian that they would hurt her if he didn't follow her, she began to see him differently. Not romantically. But like a big brother. Since then, whenever Jill was upset over anything, the first person she would see was Adrian. Of course she would always end up telling Sydney as she was her room-mate and best friend, but she felt as though Adrian could always offer her the advice that Sydney sometimes was unable to offer.

"I see him…like my older brother." She grinned at the girls in the back. "I love Andre, but I've always felt as though he's more of a friend than a brother. I can talk to Adrian about anything, and he tells me stuff too."

"Like what?"

"I'm not going to tell you Rose!"

"Why not?"

"It's not right!"

"What about you Sydney?" Lissa tried to change the subject before Rose started to raise her voice. Rose loved to find out anything she could about the boys, and use it to get what she wanted.

Even though she had a crush on Dimitri she knew that Mason liked her, and often used this to get him to do stuff. Not the nicest thing to do, but it was because of Mason that Adrian had some first aid done on him. Rose managed to get Mason out of his favourite class and begged him to get the nurse when he instead wanted to go with her in case Jesse and Ralf were still at the PE storage cupboards.

"Actually, I quite like Adrian." The girls stared at her. "For the past two or three weeks we've spoken to each other a lot during Geography as Eddie has had to attend catch-up lessons for his English coursework. And also outside of school. He's been helping me with my science project as I needed an extra hand. He's a really nice guy." Jill and Rose glanced at each other, wondering if there was more to what Sydney had said. This was the girl who hasn't even had her first kiss yet alone have a boyfriend, so maybe the scientist just needed a little push to see if she fancied Adrian or not.

"Well like I said earlier, I like him." Lissa smiled at the others. "We have a lot in common; quite often we stay back in the common room and have conversations way past curfew time."

"Better watch out that Christian doesn't get jealous."

"I know, I know."

While the girls kept talking about Adrian, not far behind Sydney's car, Dimitri kept all his attention on the road while the others were all laughing loudly. Adrian sat in the front next to Dimitri as he managed to call shotgun way before Christian could. And Christian called shotgun to the entire back row of seats so that he could lay across them and stretch his long legs out. So Mason and Eddie had the middle two seats.

Right now, they were listening to music on the radio, singing along and laughing too. It was 80's music, not the first choice of music they would want to listen to. But compared to the other radio channels the car was picking up it was far by the best option they had.

"Hey, Adrian, I wanted to ask you this for a while." Christian sat up for three sets of eyes to look at him. "Do you have anyone that interests you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, girls that you like?" Adrian hadn't thought about that much. At previous schools he was all about the flirting, parties and getting drunk to only wake up the next morning next to a girl whose name he couldn't even remember. But since he came to St. Vladimir he'd been so focused on his friends and art he never even acknowledged any of the other girls around him. "Rumour has it you're rather popular with the ladies."

"Oh yeah?" This perked his interest. "Well, if that's the case I should start giving them my attention. I wouldn't mind having a girl here and there."

"You don't have any right now?" Eddie looked at him.

"No. I mean, the only girls I know are Rose, Lissa, Sydney and Jill. Lissa is completely out of bounds." Adrian glanced at Christian who nodded his head. "And Rose, well, someone here already has his eye on her." Even Dimitri turned his gaze when all eyes fell on Mason, who had gone completely red in the face.

He adored Rose. He knew she didn't feel the same way but that didn't matter to him. As long as he got to be friends with her and get to hang out with her, that was all he needed. He became friends with her, Lissa and Eddie back in Elementary school, and soon fell for her in Middle school when he noticed how beautiful she looked in a dress, then soon realised she was just naturally beautiful.

"Jill is like a little sister to me. And even if I did like her in a different way, Eddie had his sights on her first." This time it was Eddie who went bright red. He did like Jill. Not as much as how Mason liked Rose, but he still liked the model. It was him who encouraged her to start modelling after he realised how pretty she was and how perfect her body was for fashion. "And Sydney…well…"

He didn't know what to think of Sydney. The two talked a lot to each other, as well as throw cheeky comments at inappropriate times. Actually, recently, Adrian realised just how much time they spent together. She was still stressing over her science project so he was still helping her which led to the two spending several nights a week in his room searching online for answers as well as experimenting.

And since Eddie didn't finish his English coursework in time he had to go back to catch-up lessons and complete it in time for half term. This led the pair talking to each other in Geography, a lot, in the past few weeks. Being alone together for the past few weeks in Geography and doing the science project together made Adrian realise how much fun there was being around Sydney. They were always joking around, casually laughing in the science labs or trying hard to keep their giggles in Geography. And she was beautiful. Very beautiful.

It wasn't until the song on the radio was over and a loud bang in an advert was heard when Adrian realised how quiet he went. As the cars were at a red light he looked up to see all four guys staring at him now.

"What?"

"You suddenly went quiet when you mentioned Sydney."

"I was just thinking about our relationship. It's gotten better over the past few weeks because we've been spending a lot of time together. She's a great girl." He finished the conversation by looking out the window, hiding his burning face from his friends.

The lights went green so Dimitri started driving again, focusing his attention back on the road. But while Adrian stared out the window Mason and Eddie looked back at Christian, who like them were concerned about the answer he had given them.

And just like the girls, they were thinking if there was more to what Adrian had said.