Any music recommendations for writing? I've become mildly obsessed with Pascal Pinon, and Marina and the Diamonds.
Cone of Depression Thank you so much for reviewing! The watch will hold some importance, although nothing too big. Also Eddie Poe is going to be important as well ;)
Keep reviewing and following! Also I'll continue Wilted Edelweiss when I've got motivation- my interest in writing is very irregular, and sometimes I want to write pages and pages, and other times nothing at all. Homework's been getting me down nowadays, so uploading's going to be slow, but stay tuned! I'll try to add chapters eventually!
The week passed without much further event. Emil signed himself up for a few clubs, such as Handball, Swimming, and Chess. There was quite a lot of discord over the disappearing fridge, but the staff seemed to conclude that it was the same saboteur as earlier, and everybody was more focused on getting through their large workload. Besides, they bought a new fridge, so the teachers had a place to put their food. The classwork, and certainly the schoolwork, was incredibly difficult. Emil didn't have too much trouble with Triple Science, but Art was providing tricky to master, and although they had free periods occasionally, this wasn't particularly great since they couldn't go to the neighbouring town yet. The worse fact was that the teachers started giving them homework, so these free hours were spent completing essays and drawing graphs. The weekend came eventually, and Emil was prepared to embrace two full days without school.
He woke up on Saturday to find the sun shining through the window, although not in a particularly warm way. The weather was already getting colder, due to the changing seasons, and the days shorter. Shaking his pearly hair out of his eyes, Emil sat up somewhat reluctantly. The watch, which he had taken to buckling neatly over the railings over his bed, showed the time. Twenty past seven. His sleep schedule had formed in a neat order again after summer, and he found it tricky to sleep past half seven, and even more so to sleep before ten in the evening. Rubbing fatigue out of his eyes, Emil picked up his phone. He had recently completed the story about Leon's eyebrows, and it seemed disturbingly popular. Several new comments flashed across the screen, all of them positive, most of them about the eyebrow fic, which he had named 'True Love'. Perhaps Leon would like to hear how popular his facial hair was. Thinking about the boy, Emil glanced across the room.
Leon was curled up, like a baby, beneath the covers, yet his snoring seemed nasal, unnatural. Emil smiled to himself and swiftly climbed down the ladder to the floor, then crossed the bedroom, making sure he didn't wake Seb, who was actually sleeping, and climbed up onto Leon's bed. The chinese boy seemed to twitch slightly upon his friend's arrival, and Emil waited a moment. After Leon seemed to relax, he pounced, throwing the duvet off and tickling him.
"Ahh!" Leon shrieked, with laughter and surprise. Emil chortled, mirth clear on his face as he attacked the boy. Leon gasped, pushing him away. "Stop! We'll wake Seb up!" Tears rolled gently down his cheeks as he laughed, and Emil wiped them with his sleeve before sliding off of the boy. But something wasn't right. Nobody cried that much from laughing, and the bedsheet was scattered with teardrops which didn't seem new. Emil didn't say anything though, and simply sat next to Leon. He glanced across the room quickly, reviewing his Björk poster, and his recently erected photograph of the school. Seb was still, unbelievably, sleeping- he was a heavy sleeper, just like his brothers. Leon snuggled up to his arm. "What are you thinking of doing today, Em?" Emil replied, putting his arm around the boy. "Same as you." "So... doing homework and talking to Luci, then taking an impromptu nap in the library?" "Well, is it impromptu if you tell me you're going to do it?" Leon sighed and leaned backwards. "I don't know." Mr Puffin sighed, making both boys jump.
ooo
"What on earth have you been feeding that puffin?" Cheng asked. It was breakfast time, and Emil and Leon were sitting in the dining hall. Emil had dressed himself in a Marina and the Diamonds t-shirt he had picked up at a music festival, the logo hidden by a scarf. It was still too warm for a jumper, and his jeans were slightly loose, rolled up over brown leather laced boots. Leon wore a similar scarf, and a plain t-shirt, with a jacket over it and skinny black jeans. Mr Puffin was sitting on Emil's head, feathers fluffed up, surveying the scene silently. It was a while before Emil registered Cheng's question. "Oh, well, he fishes in the lake himself." He took a spoonful of porridge, then, grimacing slightly, added sugar. Luca took the sugar from him afterwards. "Where is Seb, anyway?" The boy asked, sprinkling sugar on his toast. It was Leon who answered. "Still asleep. There's no school, so he's under no obligation to wake up early. Have either of you seen the girls?" Cheng shook his head, which made his glasses slip to the side.
As if they were summoned, Luci, Michelle, and Lilli entered the dining hall, all giggling. They sat down at the boys' table after picking up some breakfast. Luci was wearing a black bib and brace dress over a white blouse, and there was apparently a pocket in the dress, because she pulled out a box from it as soon as she sat down. "Good morning!" She called cheerily, opening the box. Upon Luca's inquisitive look, she declared "macarons," before taking a few out and passing them around. "Frère gave them to me the other day. How are you?" The question was directed at Emil, who was still eating porridge. "Oh, good. Seb's still sleeping, and Leon-" he turned around to face his friend. "How are you Leon?" Leon grinned, biting into his macaron. "I'm great. A day of not doing anything is exactly what I wanted. I could also ask Kiku for his karaoke machine so we could annoy Yao." His cousin was a Computing teacher. Michelle grinned, her dark hair pulled into bunches, a cardigan over a pretty patterned dress. "Now that sounds like a plan."
ooo
Lilli had a surprising knack for perception. She watched over Emil as he sketched the inside of a cottage, telling him when it looked strange. They were sitting by the edge of the lake, and Luci had taken her shoes off, placing them in the cold water. Seb had finally joined them, after Leon had given Luca and Cheng his room key so that they could wake him up. His curl was even more crooked than ever, his face slightly red from half-sleep, but his hazel eyes were as bright as ever. Leon was sitting next to Luci, holding her discarded tights, and Michelle was playing music. Lilli pointed at the window in Emil's sketch. "It's angled strangely. Maybe you should try to turn it a bit?" Emil nodded, but his eyes were fixed on the opposite bank. Tino was sitting there, with Lukas and Mathias, laughing. He prayed that the men didn't notice him and come over- in fact, he had positioned himself just behind a crop of reeds to avoid being spotted.
But Lilli herself was preoccupied- Raivis Gallante, a boy from their English class- had just walked past. Emil smirked, then remembered the first day when his friends kept laughing about him and Xiaomei, and stopped. Since then, the girl had been acting more normally around the boy, yet she still seemed a little on edge. Overall, Emil preferred it when she wasn't blushing intensely, and she had turned out to be quite cheerful and good at tennis. Putting his sketchbook back into his bag, Emil sat up, then went to sit next to Leon as Lilli chatted to Raivis. Luci smiled upon seeing him, and he spoke up. "Aren't your feet cold?" Leon rolled his eyes. "That's what I've been asking her, but she seems determined to get frostbite. The French girl poked his cheek. "It's not that cold, and besides, my feet have gone numb, it feels nice." She turned to Emil. "How's your art homework going?" "Ok, Lilli's been helping me with perception." The boy put his arm around Leon, who sighed. "She's been helping me too. Thank goodness she's taking art as well, or else I'd have no idea what was going on in the lessons." Luci sniffed, just as Xiaomei walked past.
"Oh, hi Luci! Michelle! Emil! Oh, and baichi." She was smiling, a baseball cap shoved on her head backwards. Leon rolled his eyes again. "Love you too, sis. Want to sit down?" Cheng turned around to face her. "Yeah, meimei. Why the hesitation? We don't bite." The girl nodded and went to sit down next to Michelle, and glanced at Emil briefly before striking up a conversation with her. Emil fixed his eyes determinedly on Mr Puffin, who was catching fish in the lake, ignoring Luci's not-so-innocent smile. Leon exhaled. "She could, I don't know, actually speak to us?" His friend snorted, and pulled his arms away from his shoulders and put them around his waist. Leon leaned his head on Emil's shoulder, before lurching it violently to the right, hitting Luci in the cheek. She yelled and fell to the side, laughing, while Leon gave a triumphant whoop. "That's what you get for making me guard your tights for half an hour!"
Unfortunately, now that he was sitting right at the water's edge, Emil caught the attention of his brother. Lukas waved at him, then, saying something to Mathias and Tino, walked around the lake and towards the boy, who tried to hide behind Leon fruitlessly- the boy kept elbowing him. Michelle, upon seeing Lukas, waved to him, smiling. Luci pulled her feet out of the water and tied her hair bow tighter, and Xiaomei eyed the man warily, before shuffling over to where Luca, Seb, and Cheng were talking (Lilli was still chatting to Raivis). She whispered something to the boys, who whispered something back- Emil didn't catch it. Leon passed Luci her tights and she put them back on. He pushed Emil away from his back and put his head on his shoulder- the boy remembered the conversation with Lukas previously that week, and felt a strange, childish defiance. He wouldn't let his brother's disapproval prevent him from being friends with Leon- he would act as gay as he wanted, he thought, and as long as he knew he was straight, Lukas couldn't do anything about it.
Mathias grinned at the group. He usually grinned after all- he was such a smiling figure. He nodded at Emil, Leon, Luci, and Michelle. "I know you lot. Everything going fine?" They all nodded in unison; it was more than their education's worth to admit that they hadn't done half of their homework to a teacher. He smiled even wider- large white teeth reaching from cheek to teeth- and walked towards Seb, Cheng, Luca, and Xiaomei. Lukas glanced for a long moment (in fact, it was more of a gaze than a glance) in their direction, smiled, then frowned upon seeing Emil and Leon, but the expression passed, and the man followed Mathias, introducing himself to the other children. Tino, on the other hand, came bounding up to him, an apologetic expression on his face.
"Oh my, Icey! I'm so sorry for not going to see you, I just reckoned you would be too busy to talk to me. Anyway, how are you?" The man beamed down, and for a moment Emil could see why everybody thought they looked alike- he had the same, neatly cut hair, the same colour, although his was straighter, and similar eyes, although his were rounder. Then the moment passed, and Emil blinked up at Tino. "Oh, good, thank you." Even though he was almost as annoyingly patriarchal as Mathias, he didn't take pleasure in shamelessly teasing the boy (or perhaps that was just Mathias' overpositivity). Tino gazed around at the other teenagers, who were staring up at him, slightly bewildered. Leon pushed his face into Emil's neck and shuddered awkwardly.
"Oh, these must be your friends. Nice to meet you, I'm Mr Väinämöinen, but you can call me Tino!" Luci seemed to be the first to unfreeze. "Oh! You're the Design and Technology teacher!" Tino smiled at her. "Oh, and you're Lucielle Bonnefoy, I imagine, and you're one of Katyusha's students... Michelle Azikiwe? And obviously there's a Wang... Leon?" They all nodded, and Michelle gave a small gasp. "Oh! You pronounced my surname right!" He nodded. "With a surname like Väinämöinen, you end up with quite a lot of sympathy for people with trickier names." Leon buried his head even further into Emil's neck, his hair tickling the boy. "Oi! Linny!" he snapped up at the sound of Luci's voice. "Linny...?" She smiled innocently. "Well that seems to have woken you up. Talk to Tino." Leon glanced up at the man, then lowered his gaze a little- he had just sat down- and nodded. "Oh, yo, sir." Yo? "Call me Tino." He smiled, pink-tinged eyes crinkling slightly, then relaxing. Emil pinched Leon's cheek. "Lin." He received a hard pinch back. "Em. Actually, no, Mil."
Meanwhile, Lukas and Mathias had practically dragged the other four towards them. "Icey, you sure have some cool friends!" Mathias remarked. Xiaomei looked just as embarrassed as Emil felt, and Cheng had rushed over to Luci, as if the presence of the girl would shield him from the irritating adults. Luca sat next to Michelle, and the two conversed quietly, while Seb started chatting to Tino as if they'd known each other their whole lives. Lukas sat down next to Emil, and the boy could practically sense his eyes narrowing at the sight of Leon. Emil felt his friend turning to face his brother, then pull away slightly. He leaned towards Leon, lips against his ear, and whispered, "it's okay, Leon." The boy placed his head back on Emil's shoulder, although with relative unease. Then Lukas' eyes were off of Emil, and onto Mr Puffin, who was flying back towards show. A group of Year 7s were pointing at the bird, awe on their faces, and Mathias laughed again as he landed on Emil's head.
"Ah, Mr Puffin, followed Icey here to school, huh?" He asked. Emil shivered. Icey. Luci laughed airily at some joke that Seb told her, although her eyes were fixed on Lukas. Mr Puffin replied gruffly. "Well, what did ya expect me to do? Leave this urchin alone and unaccompanied with a bunch of teenagers?" "He's not necessarily unaccompanied," Lukas spoke, fiddling with his hair clip like he always did when deep in thought. It was Leon who shivered this time, and his voice was lowered slightly as he turned to speak to Xiaomei, his eyes flitting occasionally towards Lukas, even though he tried to disguise it. Mr Puffin ruffled his feathers; this was especially uncomfortable for Emil. "Well, 'course he's not, with you around." The boy recalled that it was Mr Puffin who warned him of Lukas' watchfulness, then recalled that it was slightly weird to be given advice by your pet puffin, then recalled that he was less of a pet than a friend.
Mathias sat down next to Lukas and slipped an arm around him; the man seemed too preoccupied to notice. Emil realised that he was sneaking occasional glances at Leon, and since Leon was sneaking glances back, their eyes met for a moment, and both of them simply stared. Luci whispered in Emil's ear suddenly, "a cold-guy exchange," and then the moment passed, Lukas was fiddling with his hair clip again, Leon was talking to Xiaomei again, and Luci was poking Seb for being a dork. Emil stared across the water silently, ignoring the buzz of chatter, barely noticing Lilli returning to talk to them with Raivis. Only when Lukas, Tino, and Mathias started leaving did he regain his senses. Lukas leaned over to talk to him. "Emil..." Emil turned away. "No." His older brother frowned, but then Mathias called him, and he loped away.
ooo
"I didn't know your brother's friends called you Icey, Em." Leon mentioned as they sat underneath the apple tree, eating their lunch. Emil placed his back flat on the tree bark. The strange table was there, and although it was a far more adequate surface than their knees, Luci seemed adamant that they didn't sit there. She was perched on the roots of the old tree, chatting to Lilli and Raivis. The latter, a short Latvian boy, was nice, if not oddly nervous. Lilli kept glancing at him with her wide green eyes, and Michelle kept hiccoughing unusually every time she did so. "Oh, it's because I'm Icelandic." At this, Luci turned in his direction. "Are you serious? But I come from Monaco, so would I be called Mona?" Emil shrugged. "Mathias managed to surround himself in Nordics. It's pretty awful, really." Leon frowned. "But your brother's Norwegian, you said so yourself, so..?" Lilli cocked her head. "But you have different surnames, and you don't call him 'older brother' either. What happened?"
Emil shivered. "We just... aren't that close." Leon shook his head, choppy brown locks sweeping over amber eyes. "No. You barely look like Lukas, you're both from different countries, you don't address him as an older brother, you don't even have the same surname." Emil looked down at his feet. "Miss Braginskaya has a younger sister with a different surname, and she says they look nothing alike. You heard her in form, it's just one of those situations..." Leon looked him in the eye, and as his chestnut gaze met the boy's mulberry one, he seemed to plead. "Be honest with us, Emil." His friend sighed. "My mother died giving birth to me, and my father was already dead. Our paternal grandparents offered to take us in, unfortunately, they mixed me up with an Italian called Emilia Bondeviguo, another orphan." Emil's voice became quiet upon mentioning her, but nevertheless, he persisted.
"None of Emilia's relatives had wanted her back, so I was put up for adoption in her place. I dare say she lived quite a good few weeks..." Michelle piped up. "A few weeks? What happened to her afterwards?" Emil replied, yet quieter. "She died. She was always weak, then she caught the flu, then she died before they could treat it." Nobody said any more. "I was adopted by a young Icelandic couple, the Steilssons, and I grew up in Iceland, living quite a normal existence, unaware that my brother was mourning the death of a sister that wasn't his. We took a DNA test which confirmed that we were related a few years ago, and I left the Steilssons to go and meet him in Norway. I stayed at school in Iceland, visiting him during the holidays, then he offered to take me in a few months ago, and to take me to school here." Emil felt Leon clasp his hand, the group silent. Michelle laughed nervously, and Luci kept fumbling with a twig. Eventually Raivis dropped his pasta and the silence was broken, but he could still feel the other teenagers' eyes on him even as they went back inside.
ooo
An hour later, they were all almost back to normal, despite the glances some of the group gave Emil, which he feigned ignorance of. Since they weren't allowed to go to the town yet, all they had to do was homework. Emil had finished his cottage sketch, and so had Leon, so the two of them decided to go to the library with Luci. Michelle had gone with Xiaomei, and Lilli was getting to know some of the younger students, so they were quite alone. As they sat amongst the bookshelves, pretending to read books, and actually reading them, a strange sort of sombreness hung over the three, broken suddenly by a conversation amongst some of the teachers nearby. Luci looked up from 'Wuthering Heights' on the first syllable.
"Gilbert, what on Earth are you going to do with those books?" It was Mr Beilschmidt, the German teacher. He never seemed to be angry usually, or show much emotion at all, so it was strange to hear him raise his voice. A higher, rougher voice replied.
"I'm going to read them, of course! What are you getting all paranoid about, West? Do I not seem clever enough for you?" He sounded oddly hurt. Emil had, by now, torn his eyes off of a copy of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' to stare through the gaps in between the books on the bookshelf next to him, where the voices were coming from. Leon kept shifting his head around for a clue to what the other voice looked like, while Luci seemed quite unaffected by the presence of the other man.
"No, no!" Mr Beilschmidt replied hastily. "I'm just... I mean, are you sure you can finish four books?" Emil winced- surely the other man would take offence, but the raspy voice simply laughed with a sound like an oddly melodic cheese-grater.
"Oh, West, of course I can! What do you think I've been doing all day, freeloading at your house, unemployed because my younger brother usurped my teaching position?" He didn't even sound bitter. "Besides, now that I'm going to resume my job, it would be awesome if I could expand my knowledge!" Mr Beilschmidt shuffled oddly and said nothing, whilst Luci frowned, Emil glanced at Leon, and Leon shrugged in response. Eventually he replied.
"Oh, I was just.. I need this space for a study meeting, you know, to get help marking students' work." He sounded oddly rushed, and Emil could practically sense him glancing at his watch, and seemingly so could his friends, for both of them looked a mixture of enlightened and even more confused. Perhaps the Icelander had the same expression on his face.
The other man's voice became colder. "Oh? Who are you meeting?" Mr Beilschmidt made the same odd shuffling motion. His phone beeped suddenly, and the sound of something- his phone, most likely- being taken from his pocket, combined with the snatching motion and a little gasp from the German teacher alerted Emil to the fact that he had just taken his phone out, only for it to be snatched away by the other man. He spoke in a quiet voice.
"Feli... you were planning to meet Feli? In the discarded books section? How... tasteless." The man's voice was frosty. "I see... what kind of 'work' were you planning to do?" "Marking. Our pupils' work, you know, we could reference from texts here-" "So you need to go into the most deserted part of the library for help marking, ignoring the fact that the same books could be found elsewhere? And instead of just telling me, you need to make up a story? Insult my ability to read?" Mr Beilschmidt shuffled again, and Luci shivered slightly, as if she could feel the chill in the man's voice.
"Yes. Marking. That's it." The other man laughed, the melody in his scratchy voice gone. "I never knew people called kissing 'marking' nowadays. Well, I'll be off. No need to mention me!" He strode away, and Emil caught a glance of pale skin, with paler hair, and a flash of scarlet; his eyes, presumably. Then he was gone from view. The three stared at each other, before Leon spoke again. "You can keep the books in the discarded section, you know. Like, no need to borrow them." Luci nodded, standing up. Emil packed his stuff away, plus his newly appropriated book, and, slipping an arm around Leon's, left the library.
ooo
"What was all that about?" Emil asked Luci as they strode down the corridors. Leon had snuggled up to his shoulder, and Luci seemed to be finding something mildly amusing as she kept sniffing in an unusual manner. Upon being addressed, the girl gazed up at him, an eyebrow raised. "Didn't you know? That was Mr Beilschmidt and his brother, Gilbert." Emil tilted his head. "Okay. But who's Feli? Wait, that's the nickname for your RE teacher, right? But that still doesn't clear it up." Leon snorted. "Mr Beilschmidt decided to meet up in the library with Mr Vargas, planning to do some romantic stuff, and this Gilbert guy is jealous. Is that right?" He asked Luci. She nodded. "Yes, that's the gist of it- Emil, dear, why are you shaking your head?" He replied quickly. "I figured that out already. What I'm asking is; why is Gilbert so jealous? Why meet in the library?" Luci responded almost as quickly. "That part of the library, the discarded books section, is practically empty most of the time, and Ludwig- oh Leon!" She gave and exasperated sigh at Leon's wince, "You can refer to your teachers by their first names in this school, you know! Anyway, Ludwig probably thought it would be a clever idea, except Gilbert was cleverer. Also, frère told me that Gilbert's always been quite fond of Feliciano, so that explains it." She poked Leon in the cheek, and little more was said on the subject.
They were on their way to the dining hall, which was a lot further away from the library than the trio anticipated. Just as they saw the dining hall, they were interrupted by a commotion in the staffroom, which was in the same part of the building. Emil turned around quickly, staring at the wooden door, and Leon and Luci did the same, the latter almost falling over as she did so. The door burst open, and Mr Bonnefoy leaned out of the doorway, an elated expression on his face. "Lovi! Feli! Lud! Come over here! Gil's back!" 'Gil', which was apparently short for Gilbert, waved out of the doorway, grinning, an arm around Mr Carriedo, who taught Spanish, and was also smiling. The majority of the staff seemed happy to have him back- Miss Hedervary was laughing, Mr Braginsky's eyes were glowing, Mr Edelstein was smiling slightly, and even Mr Kirkland I (Arthur) looked more positive. The only people who weren't amused were Mr Łukasiewicz, who was staring at the floor, Mr Laurinaitis, who had an arm around Mr Łukasiewicz, and was also staring at the floor, and Mr Kirkland III (Alistair), who was sleeping.
Mr Vargas II, who was apparently called some variation of 'Lovi', turned the corner, Miss and Mr Van Dijk following. He scowled upon seeing Gilbert, but hugged him nevertheless, muttering, "damn it, the potato bastard's older brother's back." Mr Carriedo hugged Mr Vargas as well, and his scowl deepened. Mr Van Dijk gave Gilbert a nod of acknowledgement, and his sister smiled at him, before both of them entered the staffroom. Mr Vargas I and Mr Beilschmidt I were yet to appear, and Mr Bonnefoy gave a huff. "Oh, it's not like his older brother's come back from two years of sick leave or anything. Ludwig! Gilbert's back! Say hello to your only sibling!" He shouted the last part down the corridors, and turned around quickly, spotting the three teenagers, as 'Lovi' wriggled free from Mr Carriedo's grasp. "Oh, Luci, and these must be Emil and Leon?" Luci beamed. "So you finally remembered some names?" Mr Bonnefoy rolled his eyes. "Of course I did, I mean, you've been going on about them for the entire week! Come in boys, we can be late for dinner today; I mean," he glanced fondly at Gilbert, "it's under special circumstances."
Emil was about to answer, but Luci had already grabbed him and Leon by the wrist and dragged them into the staffroom. Mr Bonnefoy gave one last shout across the corridors before he followed them, and Gilbert and Mr Carriedo sat down on a sofa in the middle of the room. Mr Bonnefoy sat down with them. Mr Kirkland I frowned deeply when Francis sat next to him, and he resumed his needlework with particular scrutiny. Luci sat in between Emil and Leon, and tugged both of their hair, grinning. Emil slipped an arm around her. She was a friend as well, so why not? Yet she pulled away and glanced at him, smiling, then moved to sit on the other side of him. Emil was confused, but didn't comment, and placed an arm around Leon, who didn't pull away.
Mr Bonnefoy turned towards them, and Gilbert fixed his eyes on Luci, before exclaiming. "Luci! You've grown, wait, actually.." he looked her up and down and frowned. "You're the same height as before, I swear..." Mr Carriedo winced. "Oh, I'm sure she's taller, don't be so blunt, uh..." Luci narrowed her eyes. "So, I haven't become taller since I was fourteen? I've grown quite a bit..." Mr Bonnefoy looked flustured. "Oh, there's nothing to worry about, you're still taller than Zwingli's little sister-" "Lilli's taller than me, actually." Luci tilted her head, and the atmosphere grew even more uncomfortable. Leon cleared his throat. "You're not that short, Luci, you just have to grow a few- wait," Emil interjected. "Luci, when did you hit your growth spurt?" She gazed down at her knees. "When I was ten. So..." "You would've finished growing by now." She glanced up. "Wait, so I'll stay a dwarf for the rest of my life? Are you serious?" Emil nodded, and Leon coughed again.
"Look, short girls have a better time than short guys. It could be worse." Emil nodded to this as well, and Luci huffed and leaned back on her chair. Mr Bonnefoy nodded frantically, his long blond hair flopping across his eyes. "Let's go to dinner now, we can continue talking later." But as he sat up, Mr Kirkland I pulled back his hair, and quickly, before anyone could comment, redid his hair bow. "It's flopping everywhere. If you can't tie it properly, don't wear it, okay?" Before storming off, leaving the other man standing in bemusement. "What on- never mind. Let's go." Gilbert grinned, and so did Mr Carriedo, and the three men walked out of the room, the Spaniard beckoning the children towards them. Mr Van Dijk gave a nod of acknowledgement to Emil, and he recalled that he was a good friend of Mathias' before heading out, an arm around Leon and one around Luci, who was still apparently shaken at the realisation that she wouldn't grow any taller.
Dinner passed remarkably quickly, and Emil was just finishing his yoghurt when Mr Kirkland III stepped up onto the platform. He cleared his throat, and it was magnified several times since his mouth was so close to the microphone. Luca winced. Mr Kirkland frowned, then began to speak. "Quiet, everybody, and look this way. We have some important news. By quiet, that does include you, Im Yong Soo." He looked pointedly at the boy with the strange curl from Triple Science. "So, as some of you may know, one of our staff members has returned from sick leave. This is, of course, Mr Beilschmidt- the OTHER Mr Beilschmidt- who will be teaching German. If you would like to say something, Gilbert?" Mr Kirkland stepped down, and Mr Beilschmidt, who had been eating at the staff table amidst laughter, took his place. He began to speak in his rough voice.
"Hello, it's me, Mr Beilschmidt. Some of you know me already, since I taught German a few years ago, but I had to leave due to health issues. Since they've fortunately cleared up, I am back, and I promise our lessons together will be awesome!" He nodded and smiled, and Emil felt a sense of admiration for his positivity. He then sat back down at the table, and the other Mr Beilschmidt gave him a high five. Apparently they had reconciled. After a few minutes, Emil put his plate and cutlery on the rack, then sat back down and prodded Leon. "Hey." Leon looked up, his amber eyes narrowed. "So on the first day you blew on my neck, and now you're prodding me? Could you just say my name or something?" Emil shook his head. "Sorry, I can't do that. The only way I can get your attention is by mildly inconveniencing you." He grinned, and lay his head on the table. "Just hurry up eating, won't you? I'm not going to wait forever." Leon rolled his eyes, but smiled at this. Michelle made a noise somewhere between a cough, a sneeze, and a giggle, and Luci laughed at her.
"So, Seb," Emil called across the table once Leon had finished eating. "Me and Leon are going to have a shower, so don't go into the bathroom unless you're sure that there's nobody in there. Is that okay?" Seb nodded. "Okay! I'll be in the common room if you're wondering." Emil nodded and stood up, placing his earmuffs on, then waited for Leon to clear away his plates. The two boys left the main school building and headed towards the Cicada Block. Leon was silent, but Emil noticed that his eyes twinkled slightly, and that he kept glancing at his earmuffs, until the boy pulled out a pair of headphones, and fitted them over his head. Emil put his earphones in beneath his earmuffs, and the two walked in silence, their breath warm in the cool twilight air. Leon took Emil's, and they revelled in the beauty of the sight for a moment, the thick ivy and red bricks in contrast, and then they were indoors, and the night seemed to dispel. They climbed the many stairs to the twelfth floor, and through the corridor to Room 12(80), at the very end. The door swung open easily.
Leon flung himself onto the sofa, pulling his headphones off. "Just give me a moment, Em." He responded to Emil's questioning. The Icelander nodded and hang a newly-washed school-brand towel on a hook by the shower, before taking his earmuffs and earphones off and splashing his face with water. Leon entered swiftly, holding his pyjamas and a pair of underwear, nodded at Emil, smiled, then ushered him out. Several minutes passed, which Emil spent trying to let Mr Puffin in through the window. "My, boy," he spoke, ruffling his feathers in annoyance. "I've been trying to get in for hours. Keep the window open, will ya?" Emil nodded and apologised. "Sorry, Mr Puffin, I will." The bird sniffed and flew into the makeshift nest the boys had built for him in a corner of the room. Leon reentered the bedroom immediately after the exchange, wearing a polo and checked trousers. "You're free to go in, Em." "Right, Le," was the response, and Emil picked up his pyjamas and went to shower.
He left the bathroom, having just brushed his teeth, to see Leon staring at his violin case. Emil felt uneasy. His friend glanced up at him. "Hey, Em, can you play this?" The boy nodded slowly. "Could you..?" And Emil would've sooner said no, but was there really any harm in playing the violin once? So he opened the case, which was covered in stickers from various music festivals, bands, and odd events. The violin lay there, maple-wood and ebony, and Emil picked it up as he had done so many times before. He tucked it under his chin, held his bow in one hand, and glanced at Leon for confirmation. The boy nodded and smiled, and Emil began to play.
A sweet sound issued from the instrument, a folk song that he had played infinite times before, but soon Emil ended it, and packed the violin away. Not today. But as short as the symphony was, Leon still seemed astounded. "Em, that's.. that's beautiful!" Emil shrugged and sat down next to him on the sofa, fatigue rippling off his skin. The two boys lay, on the sofa, somewhat awkwardly, and Emil felt a strange reassurance in the other's presence. This is really, really stupid, he thought, but he was so tired, and his eyelids were drooping... the boy shook himself awake, and, realising that Leon was asleep, picked him up, and, with a lot of difficulty, threw him into his bed. Emil pulled the covers around his best friend, and wished him good night, despite knowing that the words would go unheard. He turned the light off, wondering when Seb would return, then climbed into his own bed, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Perhaps school isn't as bad as I thought it would be.