Sorry I haven't updated this story in a while; I was dealing with Easter issues (happy belated to all those who celebrate), boyfriend issues, school stuff. Plus, I'm sick and didn't have internet. So I hope the chapter was worth the wait. xxx

Since Cam and I first started attending BP which seemed like forever ago, the art building has always been my favourite. The smooth, pale yellow walls reminded me of home, except these walls were littered with murals depicting different scenes from various plays, well known art pieces, and in some cases, just student made things. It was a surprise that the art building was so colourful and warm to those who didn't know the school well, but for the students and faculty that did know the school, they knew the reason everything was so light and homey was to spark creativity, and make the students feel at home, which I loved. The majority of the murals were painted by professionals, with the few exceptions of staff and students. You had to bean amazing student artist in order to get the privilege of painting on the schools walls, and I had a feeling that I would get to this year, or at least before I graduated; I was that good, not that I'd really admit that to anyone but Cam, Derrick, and Massie; it just wasn't the right thing to do. The air reeked of paint fumes, baking pottery, etc. But it was home. I sighed in content as I strolled into the art room that would be my home this year.

"Ah, how I've missed this class" Derrick said with a smile, glancing around the room.

All the art rooms basically looked the same; big and open, with all glass windows so we could look into the quad. There were several different cupboards containing paint brushes, buckets for water, charcoal, water colours, sketching pencils, and any other art-related thing you could possibly thing of. The ceilings were high with tiny sky lights decorating them so we look up at the sky, or the stars during the night. There was a separate part at the other end of the building for the thing that bakes pottery, that I could never for the life of me remember the name of. I sighed and smiled.

"I know, I have to; this has always been my favourite place" I said, smiling and glancing around the room at the students that were milling around easels, talking and laughing with each other. There weren't that many students in the class, I noticed, it looked around 15-18 students. Not that I really cared; I enjoyed smaller classes when it came to art classes just because there was less you had to worry about.

"Well well. Something wicked this way comes" said Derrick, with a glare. I followed his gaze. Landon Crane. I rolled my eyes. Derrick and Cam have never liked Landon. Never. It all started when Derrick and Cam were small and harmless in elementary school, but as soon as they hit middle school everything changed; Landon always bullied the two, because well, we didn't actually know why. But ever since middle school Derrick and Cam have been the "it" boys of the school; dethroning poor wittle Landon in their wake; I guess he just never got over that. He also never got over the fact that I was Cam's sister, and Massie was our best friend. Massie and I, along with everyone else at school knew that he always had a thing for the both of us, and it doesn't help that we've made ourselves invisible to him. But it doesn't help that we "roll" with the same group, so he was everywhere we were. Including our art class, apparently.

"Well, this should be an interesting semester" I said, a wicked grin pulling itself out of my lips.

"Yeah, well. He better not start anything; I'm not going to let him ruin this fucking class" Derrick said with another glare, plopping into the seat of the easel we've been standing next to for the past five minutes. I lowered myself down next to him, pulling out my brand new sketch book. I ripped of the plastic wrapping and hugged it; it was always my favourite part about art.

"Calm down, D, I'm sure he won't even speak to us. If he's smart, that is" I said with a reassuring smile, he smiled back. But just after that exchange, Landon himself walks up to us.

"C, you're looking as sexy as always" he said, licking his lips and checking me out, not even attempting to be the least bit stealthy about it. I rolled my eyes, and scrunched up my nose like I just tasted something awful.

"Landon, you're a fucking creep. Go away" I said, glaring at him. Derrick had his fists clenched next to me, and I patted them protectively, trying to show him that it was okay and I'm dealing with it.

"But you're just so fit, I can't help it" he said, licking his lips again. I gagged, Landon was too much for the first day of school.

"You're repulsive to her, can you not just leave?" Derrick said, standing in front of him and glaring. Landon opened his mouth to say something, but our teacher walked in. I didn't recognize him, though; new teacher I thought to myself. Landon huffed and went back to his seat, Derrick sat down next to me and moved his stool closer to mine, resting his head on my shoulder. I patted him reassuringly and set my sketchbook on the easel.

"Good afternoon, class. I hope you're having a brilliant first day at school" He said with such a big smile I swear his face was going to burst. He looked quite young; maybe in his late twenties, early thirties. He had brown hair that was pulled into a pony tail at the nape of his neck. He had weird eyes; I couldn't really pinpoint a colour, they were blue, but green, but grey, but hazel, with a splotch of green paint near his left eye. He was wearing a blue polo that made his eyes pop, and a pair of dark wash jeans that had paint splattered over them. He wore a pair of black high top converse, from the looks of it. Something told me that everyone would think he's the cutest teacher in school, but he really didn't do anything for me; he was nothing special.

"My name is Mr. Grey, I'll be your arts teacher this semester" He said with a Chester grin. I rolled my eyes; who did this guy think he was?

"How many of you have taken an art class before?" He said, surveying the room. Every hand went up, aside from Landon's. That's what happens when you're stupid I said, glaring at the side of his head. Mr. Grey nodded at him and cleared his throat.

"Okay, since only Mr…" he paused, looking at Landon to finish his sentence.

"I'm Landon Crane, sir" He said, nodding to an invisible beat.

"Okay, so since Mr. Crane is the only student that has not taken an art class, I'll work one on one with him for a bit. I'd like everyone else to open the mandatory sketch books I trust you all have, and sketch things that mean the most to you. Only three or four things; remember, this is only a starter. Sketch in whatever you'd like" he said, and walked over to Landon, bending over him gesturing wildly. I took out my new pack of charcoals and sketch pencils from my bag and laid them out in front of me. I stroked my chin thoughtfully to think of what I wanted to draw. I pulled out my wallet and produced a picture of Massie, Derrick, Cam, and I. We were all decked out in snowboarding gear, without masks. We were all beaming into the camera, rosy cheeks and all; I smiled at the memory. I took a piece of tape from the desk beside me and taped the picture to the easel. I opened my sketch pencils and skipped the first page of my book, going to the second. I started sketching Derrick first, then Massie, then Cam, and finally myself. I also sketched in a picture of a cat, and three reese cups in their ripped open package.

"Dude, I look so awesome in that picture!" said Derrick, peering over my shoulder at the picture. I giggled and pushed him backwards, sending him toppling towards the ground.

"Hmpf, bitch" he said with a grin. I flipped him off and laughed, turning back to my picture. I signed my name in the right hand corner in my loopy, perfect script and sat back to look at my picture. It really was beautiful, it almost looked identical to the photograph, without colour. I really was talented. I glanced around and looked at Derricks. He had drawn things I thought he would draw anyways: a football, a pint, a rough sketch of Massie and I, and a lit joint. I giggled.

"Typical, Der; draw all the things you simply cannot live without" I said, smirking.

"Where's Cammie boy, though? Is he not special enough?" I said, a playful pout on my lips. He laughed; his laughed sounded like bells of the great hall sounding, it was so relaxing, to be quite frank.

"Of course my mate Cam is important; I just didn't have room to draw him! Plus you know, I could never get his hair just right, though you seem to have mastered it" he said, grinning slyly. I smiled and shrugged.

"What can I say? I'm brill at drawing my own brother" I said, getting up to stretch. Just as sat down, Mr. Grey started making rounds, checking everyone's sketch books to see his "talented new pupils" as he so kindly put it. He walked around, sucking his teeth as he passed Skye Hamilton and several other students. Derrick and I looked at each other and snickered; Derrick also didn't bother erasing the picture of the joint he drew so detailed.

"Ah, Mr. Harrington. I see you have… er… interesting photographs that you have drawn" Mr. Grey said, grimacing as he looked disapprovingly at the joint. I giggled, and covered my face with my palm, trying to mask it.

"Well if you find this so humorous, Ms. Lyons, let's see what you have drawn" He said, snatching up my sketchbook and looking intently at all the pictures. I noticed him mouth came open a bit, as he shut it violent.

"Well, er, yes. Very good work, Ms. Lyons. I'll be pleased to see even better work by end of term" he said, placing my sketchbook in front of me and continuing to make rounds, clucking at several other students' artwork. I looked at Derrick and rolled my eyes, he grinned back at me. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and logged onto Facebook; I had a couple friend request, some party invitations, and messages asking where I was vacationing, or what brand was my favourite, or other stupid things people thought I was actually going to answer. I rolled my eyes and deleted them, stuffing my phone back into my bag. I rolled my eyes and looked up at the front.

I never had a problem with finding friends, or acquaintances that I could manipulate into doing what I wanted them too; I enjoyed it. Especially all the attention from boys; it just made me feel that much better about myself. When I was in grades 1-5 I was always ugly or fat, and then as soon as I hit middle school everything changed... an unhealthy way, sure, but who cares? I'm beautiful, powerful, and popular; the only things a girl needs anymore when living in high school, or boarding school, in our cases.

"I'm vaguely impressed with your attempts, students" said Mr. Grey, finally stopping at the front of the class and glancing from face to face. He made it clear that he wasn't impressed, and that everyone was pathetic.

"Though I don't understand why of some of you would draw such absurd and useless things, he said, glaring at everyone else in the room. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Landon rolled his eyes and put his hand up. Mr. Grey nodded at him, signalling that it was okay to speak, though Derrick and I wished he really, really wouldn't speak.

"I don't get it; you basically tell us what we've drawn is rubbish, though you specifically told us to draw what was most important in our lives" said Landon, with a smug grin on his face. Mr. Grey was fuming; maybe it wasn't the best thing for Landon to mess with Mr. Grey so early in the semester, and so late in the class. It looked like his head was going to pop off and that he could practically have steam coming from his ears in annoyance and anger.

"Mr. Crane, I know exactly what I said. I thought that teaching at a boarding school would ensure that you teens had something bloody well important that you enjoyed!" He fumed, turning the darkest shade of red I have ever seen on a human being before in my life. Oh shit, I mouthed at Derrick, he looked at me with wide eyes and nodded back, then turned back to Mr. Grey.

"Well, sir, if our work is so rubbish than why don't you show us some of yours?" said Landon. That was a biiiiig mistake; you never asked a teacher to show you something they have done, unless they showed you on their own freewill; everyone knew that, it was only polite. But apparently Landon was anything but polite, much to Mr. Grey's horror.

"MR. CRANE, YOU DON'T DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT" he said, screeching at the top of his lungs. I rolled my eyes; Landon didn't say anything that bad; he was merely stating a fact. Not that I was all of a sudden buddy buddy with Landon, or anything. He was just… stating a point that I agreed with. I rolled my eyes and sighed; this teacher was so overdramatic, and I was already sick of it.

"I'm just stating a fact, bro; chill out" Landon said with a roll of his eyes, and a huff. That's when Mr. Grey completely lost it, and kicked Landon out of the class, threatening that he'd "be out in a minute to deal with your arrogant behaviour." Derrick and I looked at each other, than around at the rest of the class; people were staring with wide eyes at Landon muttering under his breath and collecting his things, throwing them in his overflowing bag. He stormed out of the classroom with Mr. Grey following right behind him.

"What a bloody wanker" said Derrick with a shake of his head.

"I know, right? Landon didn't even do anything wrong. Even if he is a vile cockroach" I said with a sneer in the direction of the classroom door.

"Bloody hell, what a nut job" said some random kid on the other side of the class, everyone looked at him with raised eyebrows, and he looked down immediately starting to sketch something random, a Star Wars logo no doubt. I didn't recognize this kid, maybe he was new? He had on corduroy pants with a polo tucked into it, and the biggest glasses I've ever seen on anyone in my entire life. He had bushy black hair and braces, and tapped his foot almost every second. It was rather annoying, really. But if he had a makeover, he might have been slightly attractive. I shrugged away the thought and turned to Derrick.

"What do you think is going to happen to Landon?" I said with a grin; this was one of our favourite games.

"No clue, C. Maybe expelled from the class? Maybe just detention?" He said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"I think it's going to be more hard core than that… maybe he'll have to shave his head and run around in the rain?" I said with another grin. Derrick laughed out loud for a couple seconds, everyone else turning to look enviously in our direction.

"Or maybe he'll have to clean the loo with his tongue" he said, both of us peeling over with laughter. The bell sounded and everyone began gathering their books, pencils, and cell phones off the various items around the room. Derrick stood, tapping his toes as I messily put all my stuff in my bag, plucking out my cigs and my phone. I strung the bag over my shoulder as Derrick and I walked out of the classroom door, Landon now here in sight. Derrick raised his eyebrows at me, and I shrugged as a response. We walked out of the front doors and down the steps when I rooted around in my bag for my lighter, pulling it out and lighting up a cig. I inhaled the deep rich feeling, and exhaled in o's up into the sky; smoking was truly a bad habit, but when you wanted to stay thin, and it could calm you down you didn't really care how bad it was for you. Just that you had them at all times. I opened my pack again and noticed I only had two cigs left, I sighed. I looked to the sky and squinted up, trying to find the sun, or a bird, or something else that would have been in the sky.

"What do you have again, Claire?" said Derrick, whipping me out of my trance. I yawned and looked at him ,and took another drag of my cigarette.

"Um…" I said, not actually remember what I had. I pulled out my schedule and squinted at it, trying to see past the light. I blew a puff of smoke into the air before replying.

"I have a spare period" I said, looking up at him smiling, my cigarette dangling from my lips. He took the cigarette out of my mouth, took a drag, and passed it back to me nodding.

"Sweet, so do I. I think Cam and Massie do too, do they not?" He said, clearly trying to remember if we all did have a spare period or not. I grinned at him as he shook his moppy hair out of his eyes and grinned at me.

"Dunno, I'll text Cam and see" I said, reaching in my bag and pulling out my phone. I blew out another ring of smoke and threw my cig down, stopping it out and continue walking.

C,

Derr and I have a spare period right now, but we don't remember if you
and Massie do… do you?

-C xxx

I hit send and waited for an answering, walking back to my dorm room with Derrick. Seconds later my phone pinged, signalling that someone was texting me. It was Cam.

C,

Oi, I have a spare period but Massie does… she said something about
extra calculus? Dunno. I'll meet you and D at your dorm.

-C x

I didn't reply to his text message, I didn't really think I needed to. I smiled and slid my phone back into my bag, and pulled out my wallet.

"Derr, can we stop at the tea stand? I'm craving some vanilla tea" I said, giving him the puppy dog face I knew he wasn't able to resist. It's how I always got my way when I was with Derrick.

"Oi, stop making that face at me! You know I can't say no to that" He said, shaking his head and grinning at me from under the mop. I giggled and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards a tiny shop in the middle of the quad. I opened the door and it dinged, signalling whoever was working that there were people around. If you were a student you were able to work at the shop, or one of the shops, but most students did. Since everything was so sports and arts orientated, and the fact that the majority of the students were rich, no one really chose to apply for jobs at any of the stands. I walked up to the counter where no other but Skye Hamilton was working.

"Hey, what can I get for you?" She said, looking chipper as ever. I glared at her from under my blonde lashes.

"Large vanilla tea. Two sugars, no milk." I said, opening my wallet and taking a five out. She nodded and made my tea, mixing the sugar in once it was in a large paper cup, with "Tea Shoppe" written in cursive along the side in the schools colours.

"That'll be 3:56" she said, handing me my paper cup. I gave her the five and waited for my change, then turning around abruptly and leaving.

"Have a nice day!" she called from behind me, but I was already out the door. I sighed heavily and looked at Derrick, shaking my head.

"She's such a fucking wanker" I said, taking a sip of my tea. The vanilla and the hot was soothing, and it calmed me down more than I thought tea should be able to do.

"Yeah, I know. Why the fuck is she working at the tea shop? You'd think she had something better to do" he said, rolling his eyes and taking a cig out of his own crushed pack from his pocket. We began walking across campus to my dorm and saw Cam leaning against the wall, cigarette dangling from his lips, and his shiny new iPhone out. Cam was the more calm one of us, though we were both "dangerous" and not forces to be messed with. Cam didn't see us approach, but he heard Derrick blow out a puff of smoke.

"Hey D" he said, giving him broprops and that stupid little hug that followed after. I rolled my eyes and tapped my toes, taking sips of my tea.

"Commereee, Clairebear" he said, kissing me on the cheek and pulling me in for a hug.

"Way to completely neglect your twin" I said, pulling away and pouting. He shook his head and grinned at me, plucking my tea easily from my hands and taking a sip.

"Mmm, vanilla" he said, drinking more of my tea.

"Hey! Go get your own tea you wanker" I said, standing on my tippytoes trying to get my cup back. Derrick and Cam laughed, and passed around my tea so I was unable to reach it.

"Hmpf" I said, folding my hands across my chest and looking up at both boys with an expression that could only be read as you both suck, give me my tea you dumb boys. Derrick had my tea, and he laughed, kissing the tip of my nose, and giving me my tea back. I stuck my tongue out at him, and took another sip of it.

"Shall we go in?" Cam said, yawning and leaning back onto the railing. Derrick and I nodded and started up the steps. I opened the door and a warm rush of air was all around me.

"Should we stay here, or should we go up to my room?" I said, looking at both boys from under my lashes.

"I say we just stay here; I don't feel like getting in shit from your damn dorm mistress right now. Plus, you and Massie still have to decorate, so it's not like there's really anything up there yet." Cam nodded and walked into the kitchenette, making himself at home. He grabbed a box of biscuits from the cupboard and opened them, nibbling on them.

"Yeah, that's true, and we do still have to decorate. Hence our outing tonight" I said winking at him and laughing. He ruffled my hair and went to sit with Cam, who was still eating biscuits out of the package.

"Boys" I muttered, and went to join them.