Hey guys it's been a while hasn't it? Well here's the next chapter it's a little longer too!

The smell of paint and graphite filled the colorfully decorated classroom and Jaden felt himself relax into the big plushy cushion he was seated in. The art room was the best place in the whole school. Jaden felt instantly at home when he walked in; being surrounded by various art supplies and all other kinds of artsy things made him feel in his element. It also helped that the teacher was nice. It also helped that some of his new friends were with him.

The room wasn't like the other classrooms. Instead of individual desks, the room had several round wooden tables placed around the room. In place of chairs, five dark blue and overly cushy pillows were placed around each table. The walls were decorated with various pieces of art done by the art teacher herself, Ms. Juniper.

Jaden, accompanied by Axel and Jesse, were sitting at the round table furthest from the front. It was Jaden's usual spot and he had gravitated to it without thinking. Axel and Jesse had placed themselves on either side of Jaden who was head deep in a sketch he was working on in his own personal sketchbook.

Ms. Juniper was at the front of the, talking animatedly to the class. "Guys, I absolutely loved the sketches you did the other day!" She jumped in the air and clapped her hands which further expressed her excitement. "So as a treat, I'm going to allow a free draw today! Use any medium you want except paints and you already know where your sketchbooks are. Have fun!"

With that, everyone went along to grab their supplies. Jaden didn't bother getting up, nor did he even twitch when Jesse and Jaden got up to follow everyone else. He was so completely focused on finishing his new drawing that he didn't notice that he had visitor. Ms. Juniper had seated herself directly across from Jaden at the table. She had taken off she shoes and was sitting crossed-legged on the fluffy blue cushion.

"Hey Jaden! How's it going?"

Jaden jumped at the loud voice and his pencil drew over the face of the character on the page he was so focused on finishing. He felt a flash of anger pass through him but he snuffed it out and looked up at his favorite teacher. Ms. Juniper was a very… interesting person. At the age of thirty-two, she acted like a ten-year-old on an everlasting sugar high. That wasn't even the most eccentric thing about her. She always wore white Converse sneakers that she'd decorate with random sayings, drawings in every sharpie color imaginable, and stickers. She wore a paint-splattered white button up shirt over her skinny frame and her long chestnut-colored hair was always put up into a messy bun that was kept together with a neon pink rubber band and an assortment of drawing pens and pencils that she used for class. Her light-gray eyes were shielded behind a pair of aqua blue, square-framed glasses that were attached to a sea foam green eyeglass chain she used to hang her glasses around her neck when her eyes got tired. Despite her wacky appearance, Ms. Juniper was a nice lady and always had a smile for everyone. Her warm personality was one of the reasons why Jaden loved working in the art room.

"Hi, Ms. Juniper." Jaden said. He smiled and was answered with a smile."

"I see your back here by yourself again, huh?" Ms. Juniper leaned onto the table and rested her chin in her hand.

Jaden knew she wasn't being mean. He also knew that she wasn't worried either. She was simply making an observation and it didn't bother Jaden in the slightest. He had become desensitized to Ms. Juniper's presence and her obvious observations. "Actually Ms. Juniper, today I'm sitting with—"

At that moment Axel and Jesse had returned from getting their supplies and had seated themselves back in their seats. They both shifted in their spots and their eyes shot back and forth between Jaden and Ms. Juniper.

"Uh… hi… Ms. J. What's up?" Jesse asked with a nervous wave.

Ms. Juniper's face was set in state of shock, but she quickly squashed it and gave another one of her winning smiles. "Well, well, well Jaden, I see you've made some friends," She looked over at Jesse and saluted him. "He-e-e-e-e-ey Jesse! Since when did you become all buddy-buddy with my star student?"

Jesse smirked and wrapped an arm around Jaden's shoulders to pull him closer until Jaden was almost buried into his chest. "Axel and I have been tight with Jay for a couple of weeks now. I'm surprised you haven't noticed seeing that Jaden is your star student and all."

Jesse tightened his grip on Jaden a bit and the surprised brunette gave a small squeak as he was further pushed in to Jesse's chest. He had never been this close to a person like this before. He tried a small struggle to see if he could escape but Jesse had him kept in place. "He smells… really good…" Jaden thought then blushed that the thought actually passed through his mind. Jaden carefully craned his neck so that he could see Axel from out of the corner of his eye. The dark-skinned teen was focused on his drawing but a small trace of a smirk was on his lips.

"It looks like little Jaden quite enjoys being in your arms Jesse. Maybe you should keep him there."

The sound of his art teacher's voice snapped Jaden back to reality. He ripped himself out of Jesse's grip and stared down at his lap like it was the most interesting thing in the world. His face was so red it could've rivaled the various shades of red that were in the room in different mediums.

Ms. Juniper snickered. She brought her hand to her lips to try to cover it up but it was so obvious that it didn't really matter. "Aw Jaden, there's no need to be shy about it."

Jaden coughed and Jesse looked over at him. He wasn't smirking or smiling but his eyes shone with amusement at the situation. Jaden looked back down at his lap and blushed harder. "S-sorry!" He squeaked out.

Jesse shook his head. "No, no it's okay. You actually looked kind of… cute."

"W-what?!" Jaden screeched embarrassedly.

"Now, now Jesse," Ms. Juniper interrupted, she shook her finger and tutted. "don't tease Jay too much he's shy." She laughed and Jesse joined in with her. Jaden just sat their blushing, embarrassed, and uncertain how to access the situation. All of this was interrupted by Axel who cleared his throat.

"I'm finished." He said simply but made no move to reveal what he had drawn.

Ms. Juniper clapped her hands once and excitedly. "Good job Axel! Now let's see what you did."

Axel grunted and turned the sketchbook around so that the drawing could be in view to his companions seated with him. Everyone's eyes widened in shock.

"Uh…" Jesse started out but the words caught in this throat.

"I-it's very…" Jaden tried to say but he was at a loss for words.

"It's very abstract." Ms. Juniper tried to encourage but it had the opposite effect.

Axel gave another grunt and snatched his book of the table. You could tell that his feelings had been hurt.

"Aw Axel I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it that way!" Ms. Juniper said. She knew it didn't feel good to have your art criticized. That was something that she had experienced first-hand and she could relate whole-heartedly. She walked over and wrapped an arm around Axel shoulders as a gesture of comfort. "It's a very nice piece and you should be proud of it. I just have one question… what did you want it to be?"

With a straight face, Axel looked up at his flamboyantly dressed teacher and said, "A puppy."

Jesse lost it. He busted out laughing, leaning over the table face down with one hand balled into a fist and slamming the table while the other was occupied clutching his stomach like he was afraid his gut was going to fall out. His laughing, however, was halted when a smack was administered to the back of Jesse's head. Jesse cringed at the painful contact and raised his hand to the abused and slightly stinging area of skin to soothe it. He looked over at Jaden who was—surprisingly—the one who had hit him. "Ow, what was that for jay?" He whined out.

Jaden tried to give his most stern face but the blush that was creeping up on him didn't help him look intimidating. "I-it's not nice to make fun of other people's art... now apologize."

Laughing, Ms. Juniper looked over at Jesse. "You ought to do what he says Jesse. Jaden's not fucking around this time." She broke into a fit of giggles.

Jaden pouted at Ms. Juniper's words and Jesse couldn't help but stare at Jaden's lips. He shook his head to come back into focus and looked over at his silent friend. "Sorry Axel, I wasn't trying to be mean or anything, honest."

Axel gave a small nod and went back to examining his drawing. The table fell into a comfortable silence after that. Ms. Juniper had left momentarily and returned with her own personal sketchbook to work in. The only sounds that could be heard were the faint scratching of pencil tips against paper and the quiet chattering of conversations from other tables. By the end of the period, the sketchbooks and mediums were put away. Axel had already left (Ms. Juniper still thought his feelings were hurt a little bit). Jesse told Jaden he would see him later, gave him a pat on the shoulder, and left with a quick wave onto his next period. Jaden was just about leave to when Ms. Juniper grabbed his arm and told him she wanted to talk real quick.

"You know, I really proud of you Jaden." She said while walking over to her desk. She moved aside the sketches that were placed there from the class and hopped up onto the desktop and sat there.

Jaden's brow rose in total confusion as he crossed his arms and leaned his weight on his right foot. "Uh… thank you but… what exactly did I do?"

The art teacher sighed. She leaned out closer to Jaden while supporting her weight with her hands. "From the beginning of the year, you've been sitting at that back table, sketching away in that book of yours all alone. At first I thought you were one of those annoying moody kids that say they prefer to be alone in one breath but bitch and moan about being alone in another. But it turns out that you were just a little shy and that you are a really sweet kid." She smiled at him and Jaden couldn't help but blush and look away. No one except his mother had ever said those kinds of things about him.

"But," She suddenly said and Jaden looked back at her. "I was still worried that you wouldn't make any friends of your own. I didn't want you to graduate high school with your only friend being some lady with funky shoes and glasses. But today I see you sitting with boys your age—very nice boys at that— and actually talking and joking with them. It made me really happy to see that."

Jaden really didn't know how to respond. How were you supposed to say to a teacher that just said they were proud of you for making friends? "Uh… um… thank you?" Jaden stuttered out.

Ms. Juniper laughed out loud and walked over to her favorite student and gave him a clap on the shoulder. "No problem at all Jaden. And I also wanted to congratulate you on snagging that Jesse fellow." She winked at him and gave him a thumbs up.

"What?" Jaden was confused. What did she mean by "snagging"?

"Yeah he's quite the looker! Good job! And I can see he really likes you to."

Wait… what? "Quite the looker?" Good job?" "Snagging him?" "Jesse likes him too?!" Did Ms. Juniper think that he and Jesse were—?

Oh. OH!

"WHAT?!" Jaden screamed.

Ms. Juniper laughed and praised herself internally on a job well done. She watched as her star student began to babble incoherent bits of sentences and flail his arms around wildly. She sighed happily as she began to write on a sticky note that was on her desk. Once she was done she handed it to a now blushing—and thoroughly embarrassed—Jaden. "Here use this to get into your next class because you're late. "

Jaden silently took the pass and walked out of the room listlessly like his soul had slipped out of his body. Ms. Juniper sighed and leaned back onto the desk she was sitting on. A large grin broke out on her face. Jaden was so cute.

'Stupid crazy teacher!' Jaden screamed in his head.

Where had Ms. Juniper even come from with that? There was no way that Jesse and he looked even remotely close to looking like a couple! Jaden shook his head in frustration. He concluded that Ms. Juniper was just messing with him like she always did.

Jaden would've been surprised to know that Ms. Juniper was actually quite serious. She could see how the two interacted and Jaden she could tell that Jesse actions were a little too obvious. She was surprised that Jaden didn't seem to notice. Ms. Juniper found herself sighing light-heartedly again. Kids these days were really weird.