Idle Waiting [Open to 2]

    "Julian, how does this look?"

    After stifling a yawn, the teen looked up from the hardwood floors, smiling at the brunette girl who stood proudly at attention just outside the dressing room door. "It looks nice."

    The red skirt swished around her knees as his cousin marched over to the mirror and gazed critically at her reflection, occasionally tucking a fold here or pulling something there. She kept up this inspection for a solid three minutes. Julian just watched her patiently, already well aware of what her final verdict would be. He'd gone on enough shopping trips with her to know that, half an hour into their search, she'd found nothing that suited her tastes.

    Triny let out a dainty sigh and plucked at the red fabric before turning. "I like the color...but it's not right." Her cheeks puffed out in irritation. "It looks like I have no hips!"

    // You're seven. Of course you don't have hips yet. // Julian bit the comment back, choosing instead to chuckle lightly at her statement. "Alright then. You grabbed a few other things. Why don't you try those?" His silver eyes nearly glittered with mirth as she brightened and skipped back to the changing room, leaving him sitting in a chair outside with just the clothes clerk for company.

    The holidays could be a pain sometimes. While having some of his more rambunctious family members over for the next few months was pretty fun, the preparations in that time were tedious. At least he'd been given an easier task: namely, help his cousin Trinity pick some Christmas clothes. It was a time-intensive job, yeah, but Tracie and he got along well enough, so it wasn't like he minded the time he spent with her. Actually, it was a nice break from the other more energetic relatives now cluttering his house.

    Sighing lightly, Julian leaned back in his chair, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. His long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles, providing some sort of counter balance to his position. He knew full-well that Trinity had at least thirteen other outfits in there with her, and she was going to model them all no matter what. Might as well get comfy now, he supposed.

After her first week at the new school, Mae had planned to go check out San Malarus Island. She had some shopping to do anyway, so why not knock out two birds with one stone by getting some exploration done as well? So, after a quick breakfast, consisting of Flakes and milk, she left the dorms after saying goodbye to the students left there, and headed towards the tram station.

She looked out the window of the cart and saw San Malarus in the distance, with the sun's reflection dancing majestically upon the ocean's waves was truly a sight to behold. Last time she sat on this tram, it was at night, so she never saw this view then. After a short while, the Speakers crackled to life, and the voice of the conductor could be heard. "Next stop, San Malarus Station.". Mae stood up, waiting for the Tram to stop.

"Phew... Alright, where next?" Mae spoke more to herself than anyone else, as she opened up her backpack, and picked up the map she got on her first day at the school. "Ah, there you are!" She put the map back in her bag, and paced her way to the Mall.

After almost getting lost twice, Mae found herself standing outside the entrance to the big mall. She walked through the doors, and made her way to a clothing store nearby. Upon entering, she saw a dark haired guy about her age sitting in a chair, waiting for someone outside the dressing cabinets. Mae had seen him a couple of times at school this past week, but they had never spoken. "Well, now is as good of a time as ever..." She took a deep breath before approaching him, smiling as she did so. "Hey. You're from Zela Academy, right? Class 3-B?" She asked carefully.

    His head lolled forwards as he caught sight of movement in his peripheral vision, his sight immediately filled with that of a teenage girl and the colorful clothes displayed on the racks behind her. For a second, he entertained the thought that the newcomer was there for the sales attendant; that theory was thrown out the window as she fixed her gaze on him and gave a careful greeting. Julian's mouth stretched in a bright, cheerful grin as he straightened slightly in his seat and offered a good-natured, "That I do." For a second, he took in the girl's features, trying to place a name to her face. He was positive he didn't share a class with her; otherwise, he would've remembered her name right away. But he was sure he'd at least glimpsed her somewhere before. Based on what she said, she must go to Zela Academy too. "I take it you go to Zela Academy too?" She was a little on the short side...maybe a Freshman...? He kept up his pleasant expression, awaiting the girl's response.

"Yeah~! The Name's Mae Iharu, Class 3-A. I just got here last week, so I'm still pretty new here." Mae smiled. She was right after all. This would've been so awkward if he hadn't been from Zela Academy. "Mind if I sit here?" She made a small gesture towards the empty seat next to him. "I've seen you a couple of times this past week, but I never really got a chance to talk to you... So, what's up?" She chuckled slightly before sitting down. "I was just on my way to get some new clothes. Good thing I did so."

It was a nice suprise finding someone from school to talk to. Normally, she would just go here, buy some clothes, and go back to the dorms, but now she might have something else to do while she was here. From what Mae could tell by him sitting in front of the Changing booths, he was waiting for someone who were changing inside... // A girlfriend perhaps? //
Honestly, Mae wouldn't be very suprised if that was the case. He was quite handsome, and very nice.

    Ah, that explained it. Different class and just transferred in; a reasonable excuse not to know who she was. "Last week? Yikes. Sorry you had to transfer in so late in the year." That must be rough. It was pretty late in December right now; in just a few days, they'd be off for break, and then the next semester would start. Transferring in right when finals were wrapping up? She must be pretty bored in all of her classes. What would the teachers have her do, anyway?

    "Be my guest." Julian offered a little half-shrug and sat up properly this time, nodding slightly towards the chair next to him. It wouldn't hurt to have a little company. Actually, he sorely needed it; now he'd have something to occupy him while Triny did her clothes thing. His grin took on a semblance of a smirk for a second as Mae spoke some more. She'd seen him around? Well, that wasn't hard, he supposed. He stuck out like a sore thumb from most of the student body with his height alone. Still was nice to hear he'd caught her interest, though. "Nothing much, really. You?" He angled himself slightly towards her once she'd taken a seat, preferring to look at her while she spoke. Most people weren't big on eye-contact, he'd discovered, but he preferred it; it made reading people so much easier, not to mention he was more likely to remember something if he had a visual to link it to. "Yeah, it's slow today, so you came at a good time. I was expecting more people with the Christmas rush."

    Before he could say much more, a flurry of green and red entered his vision, paired with a very familiar pair of pigtails. Focusing his silver eyed gaze on the little girl approaching the two, Julian gave Triny a smile. "Well?"

    The girl looked over at Mae for a moment before focusing back on the male a few feet in front of her. "Do you think this dress works for my figure?" she asked, resting her hands on her hips and twirling neatly. The skirt flared out just slightly in a bell shape, causing the girl to giggle lightly.

    "Oh definitely." Julian nodded, chuckling slightly. The girl didn't really have a figure yet. Why was she so hung up on it now? "How many others do you have left to try on?"

    "Seven." the girl replied promptly. She then turned to Mae, face suddenly quite serious as she peered closely at the teen girl's features. "Who are you?" she asked, tilting her head slightly and raising an eyebrow.

"Right now? Not much. I was gonna get some new clothes." Mae gave him a small smile. "Really now? Hehe, alright! I don't think I got your nam-" She was rudely interrupted by a small girl with pigtails, donned in an outfit of christmas-y Greens and Reds.
// Figure? Why was she concerned over that? // If Mae had to guess, this girl couldn't be older than 10. Mae was a little bit confused.

Mae noticed the girl was inspecting her from top to bottom, which caused Mae to blush slightly. "W-what? Why are you looking at me like that?" This girl made Mae feel a little bit uncomfortable. // Why is she staring at me like that? Don't tell me she's jealous... // Mae thought to herself, before answering the kid's question. "Uh... I'm Mae Iharu. I'm a student going to the same school as him." She made a small gesture towards her fellow schoolmate. "And who are you?" She would ask this as she crossed her arms.

    The little girl relaxed considerably at Mae's response. Her features softened and a terse little smile came across her face as she clipped out, "Trinity Remming." She looked between the two tens for a second before turning and walking back to the dressing room. "See you in a moment."

    Julian watched his cousin walk off, shaking his head slightly and letting out an inaudible sigh. That girl...sometimes, he didn't understand her. He had to wonder if that would be a constant for the rest of his life or if her growing up would take care of that. "Sorry. She comes off as a little strong sometimes." he'd comment. His smile took on an apologetic twinge for a moment before perking right back up again. She was asking for his name a second ago, if he was hearing her correctly. It'd be kind of rude to go on without divulging that, right? "Anyway, I'm Julian. Nice to meet you, Mae." He'd hold out his hand in order to shake hers in greeting. "So what do you think about Azores so far?"

"What's with her?" Mae's gaze followed Trinny as the girl skipped over to the changing booths gleefully. "There's no need to apologize!" She looked back at him, waving off his apology like it was a paticularly annoying fly. "I take it the two of you are related? Siblings? or is it something more remote than that?" She gestured towards Trinny's Changing booth.

"Julian, huh? That's a good name. It has a nice ring to it. Are you from Azores or somewhere else?" She leaned forward slightly as she said this, not breaking eye contact, as she grabbed Julian's outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you too!" She said in a cheerful tone. "I'm from Japan, in case you couldn't tell. Luckily, I'm a quick study when it comes to languages, so I get by rather easily here." Which was something Mae was grateful for. If it hadn't been for that, her life here would've been much harder. "I was the go-to-girl when it came to English. I used to help my classmates all the time with their english homework at my old school!" Mae stared off into space, reminiscing about her time back at Seishu Academy. "I was also gonna buy a postcard to send back to my friends today. I wonder how they are doing...?".

She looked back at Julian when he asked about her thoughts on Azores. "I really like it here. The locales are really beautiful, and the school's much larger than Seishu Academy. I've met some really nice people here too, like you!" Mae winked with her left eye. "I was a little worried at first. I thought I wasn't gonna fit in due to me being Japanese. But it looks like the vast majority of students here are Transfer Students." Zela Academy was an international school, so of course a large portion of it's students were not natives to Azores, but she didn't expect the amount of transfer students to be of THIS magnitude...

Mae suddenly thought of something. "Oh, do you live at the dorms by any chance?". If he did, they must've missed eachother everytime they went to school. She raised one of her eyebrows, as she asked Julian about it.

    Well, she wasn't too far off, he supposed. At least she got the "related" part hands down. "Bit more remote." he squinted slightly and held up his thumb and forefinger just millimeters apart, "Cousins, actually." Though with the way Trinity acted, you'd think they were closer than that. She really was a clingy little kid sometimes. At least for the moment she was distracted by all those clothes; no doubt when she was done she'd been grabbing onto his arm or his clothes like a leech and refuse to let go.

    "I was born in the states, actually. All the way out in Ohio." Which...wasn't all that impressive, actually. Ohio was never really one of the star states of America. It probably would've sounded cooler if he said something like "oh I just moved here from California." (Which he did, actually) Ah well. She probably wouldn't be too interested in any of that anyways. After all, she came all the way from freaking Japan. Japan. Seriously. "Oh yeah?" he quipped just before she elaborated on her comfort with the English language. If he didn't know better, eh would've said English was her first language. After all, she spoke it pretty much perfectly. No slip ups or awkward phrasing so far. Kudos to her for that. "Postcards?" he mused for a moment before grinning at the girl. "There's a shop around here that sells souvenirs and stuff like that. I could show you to it later, if you don't mind waiting until she gets done." The teen nodded in the direction of the changing room, indicating the little girl who had flounced in there earlier. He couldn't very well leave her behind, no matter how capable he knew Trinity to be. That just wouldn't sit right with him in the end.

    He couldn't help but chuckle lightly at her amazement of the student body. "Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I didn't even know about this place until my dad got an offer to work out here. Finding out that it's such a popular place for schooling and tourism is kind of a shock." Honestly, who would've thought a place as remote as this would be such a hub for all that stuff? At least he couldn't say he was ever bored, especially what with the most recent development in his life.

    "Nope." Julian shook his head slightly at her question. "I live here. ...Well, in San Malarus I mean, not the store. That'd be kind of weird." he laughed softly before sparing a glance at the dressing room door. No doubt a certain someone wouldn't object to living in a place like this, of course. That kid would practically be in heaven if she was surrounded by all this stuff every day. Focusing his silver gaze back on Mae, he smiled at her. "I guess you live in the dorms yourself?"

"She's your cousin, huh?". Mae glanced at the changing booths. "So you're helping her pick new clothes?" She looked back at Julian. Judging by how Trinny acted, the girl was quite picky when it came to clothes. Mae felt a little bad for Julian being dragged here by a girl to try out clothing. Sure, Mae had a good fashion sense, and she did enjoy go shopping from time to time, but she'd never drag someone else along for it. She knew perfectly well that guys weren't normally into that sort of stuff. Especially when it came to clothing that they would never wear themselves.

"Ah, so you're american!" Mae clapped her hands together. "I've never been to the US before, so I have no idea what it's like, but I'd love to go there sometime." She giggled happily. "There's something special about  'The land of free men.'" So far, Mae had met two students she knew to be american. Both of them were Juniors, just like her.

"Hehe, sure, I wouldn't mind staying here, keeping you company! I bet Trinny's gonna take a while to find something she likes." She smiled at Julian. To be honest, even if it wasn't considered rude to just leave him now and go about finding clothes for herself, Mae was truly enjoying Julian's company. She wanted to get to know him better.

"Yeah, tell me about it!" Mae chuckled. "I'm actually not sticking out like a sore thumb in my class." It honestly had taken her by complete suprise. And Mae was doubtful she was the only one who had been shocked by this on the first day.

"Ah, so you live in San Malarus. That's pretty close by, unlike some of my other friends who live in Penecia." Mae chuckled along with Julian. "Yeah, I do live in the dorms. Feel free to swing by sometime if you're bored." She gave Julian a welcoming smile. "I-if you want to, that is..." Mae was fidgeting abit in her seat. She had started blushing abit too, she noticed. // It's completely normal... right? I mean, the guy is pretty handsome... // She thought to herself. Flirting wasn't exactly her strong suite, and she barely knew the guy. Mae almost immediatley regretted saying what she had said. Hopefully Julian didn't take it the wrong way. Mae liked him, and she wanted to know more...

    The teen nodded shortly, trying not to roll his eyes at the thought. Helping Trinny pick clothes was trying to give advice to certain members of his family; in the end, your opinion didn't really matter. He could say the skirt she chose was ugly or a pair of socks had an awful pattern, but no matter what he said, she'd end up choosing only the things she liked regardless of what people said. Basically, he came along as a chaperon and a sounding board. "Yup. The holidays are pretty close, after all."

    He couldn't help but chuckle lightly at her nickname for America. "Land of the free man", huh? That was a new one. Now he could see some of the Japanese in her. "I wouldn't suggest Ohio unless you like really cold places. But California is pretty nice. A little crowded, but nice." Plenty of stores, the beach, lots of museums and interesting places to visit...yeah, California was pretty nice. In retrospect, it was a little like Azores. Maybe that's why settling in here hadn't been that hard?

    "Oh you have no idea." His eyes lit up and a laugh bubbled out of him. That girl could take ages to find something. He'd been on enough forced shopping trips to know that. Of course, there was the possibility she could find all the outfits she wanted on this dressing room run, but the odds of that happening were slim to none. After his chuckles subsided, he gave the girl a smile. "Thanks. It's nice to have someone to talk to." Otherwise, he might have died from boredom. Sitting around staring at a sales associate wasn't exactly the most fun thing, after all.

    Stop by the dorms? A girl's dorm? ...Was that allowed? Wasn't there some kind of...rule against that or something? Judging by Mae's flustered face, Julian figured she had just thought about that too. For a moment he merely sat there, trying to figure out how to respond. Well, there was that one time Hyde let Rita in his room and no one said a thing. They had all marched past a bunch of people in the common room too, yet not even some of the older looking members spoke up against it. Maybe this was one dorm that allowed things like that? ...Ah well, why not? Giving the girl a smile and a nod, Julian responded with a, "Sure." He'd only visited the dorms once before; maybe it'd be fun in the end to poke around some of the other floors?

    There was the soft but echoing click of one of the dressing room doors opening before a voice called out "Psy, what do you think?"

    Julian perked at the nickname and looked around Mae, glancing the little girl up and down in order to take in her outfit.



    "You look nice, Trinny." he told the girl with a grin. The child beamed back, turning excitedly to the other teen and tilting her head. "And you, Miss Mae? What do you think of it?" She tugged lightly at the skirt of her dress, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles as she awaited a response.

"Yeah. I can't believe it's almost christmas. They have already started decorating the dorms for the occasion. I really don't have much if anything planned for christmas. I think my mom is coming over to visit on Christmas eve, but nothing is set in stone yet. What about you? Any plans for the holiday?" Mae looked at Julian. Christmas time was indeed coming up. She needed to do some christmas shopping for gifts next week. That was going to rip a hole in her wallet, as it usually did every year, which was something Mae was NOT looking forward to. Getting the right gifts to the right people on time was exhausting and not to mention stressful. But seeing the recipients smiling face when they open their gifts was well worth the time and money.

"W-what?" Mae raised an eyebrow at Julian's small chuckle, placing her hands on her hips. "That's what america is right? 'Land of the free and Home of the brave'?" She scratched the back of her head. "S-see. I don't know much at all about america. I can only speak your language very well, but the rest..." Mae pouted slightly. How was she supposed to...? At least Julian was having fun, which was more than enough for her.

"I usually don't have a difficult time finding something I like. As long as it's white, red and/or fluffy, I'll wear it. I just don't think any other colors suit me very well, mostly because of my pink hair. Blacks work sometimes. My friends used to help me find something else i could wear besides the red and white, but after countless visits to the mall, we all came to the conclusion that I can't wear anything else but those colors." She looked at Julian, giggling. "But yeah, I can see why you don't like sitting here, waiting for her to make up her mind. How long does it usually take?" Mae asked. Her own shopping trips usually took anything between 15 minutes to an hour depending on what she was looking for. Because of her narrow selection of colors, finding clothes that she liked usually didn't take very long.

// Wait, he actually said 'sure'...? // Mae looked down on her lap. She was red as a tomato. She sat silent like that for a few moments. The silence was shortly broken by Trinny skipping over to them, wearing a cat-eared hoodie. It looked like something straight out of an anime.

Mae was taken a bit aback by the sudden use of "Miss" in front of her name. "Well, it does suit you. I'm by no means an expert, but yeah, it looks good on you!" She smiled warmly at Julian's Cousin. Mae had to admit, the girl looked cute in it. Why she had to pick the cat hoodie though, Mae would never know.

    His Christmas? Hoo boy. "I've got relatives and a really good friend visiting. The house is kind of crazy right now." Just thinking about what Trinny's brothers were probably doing to his Xbox right now sent chills down his spine. At least his dad was around to keep them and his uncle in line. Suddenly Julian felt extremely fortunate to be stuck with the most level-headed family member he had next to his father. "But yeah, I don't do much on Christmas. Mostly just hang around with family and do a lot of wacky traditions." He shook his head in amusement at the thought, a smile playing his lips as thoughts of Christmases past surfaced in his mind. "I'm sure there's tons of stuff to do around town then, though. The amusement park in Penecia is sure to hold a parade or something for Christmas." Heck, Disney did it. Why wouldn't such a big tourist-y place do the same?

   "Sorry, sorry." Julian waved one hand in an apologetic manner as he tried to stifle his giggles. // Rude to laugh, rude to laugh... // But it just sounded so childlike that he couldn't help himself. Finally regaining some control, he managed to speak in a calm tone, although his grin stayed. "Tell you what, you fill me in on Japan and I'll tell you about the places in America that I know. It'll be a cultural exhange."

    He listened patiently to Mae fill him in on her fashion woes, tilting his head slightly as he gave her a once-over. Only red and white...? Yeah, he understood that her hair could serve as an issue for all of that clashing colors stuff, but wasn't wearing red and pink clashing too...? ...Geez, he was glad to be a guy and look the way he did. Pretty much any color worked well for him, and the only issue was finding things long enough to fit his tall frame but small enough to where they wouldn't look baggy. "Really? I would've thought yellow would look nice on you." he commented mildly. Yellow was a pretty cheerful color, right? Well, ae seemed enrgetic enough that it fit her personality. Besides, he saw yellow and pink together all the time during spring and Easter. Those shouldn't clash, right? "Oh dear God, you don't want to know." the teen laughed again, running a hand through his bangs. "Normally it's anywhere from two to six hours. I got dragged around to different stores for around ten hours once, though. That was the last time I decided to give her a shopping trip for her birthday." That had been an all-day, painful affair. But in the end, it was kind of worth it to see the satisfied look on her little face. It was moments like that that made him agree to still go out with his cousin like this.

    After Mae gave her opinion, Trinny's cheeks flared pink with pleasure. "I was worried it may be too whimsical for me. I don't usually wear things like this."

    "Thinking about changing styles, Trinny?" the teen wondered, resting his elbows on his knees and propping his chin up in one hand.

    "...Maybe. I do kind of find it cute." Walking over to a mirror propped up against the wall, Trinity gazed into it, adjusting the cat ears stitched to the hood. "It even has places for me to pull my hair through!" she ran her fingers over the two holes just in front of the cat ears which she'd pulled her pigtails through. It was certainly an interesting design, and one that seemed to please the girl very much. "It may be hard to find something that tops this. I'll be back out if I need your opinions again." With that she hurried back into the dressing room, leaving the two teens by themselves once again.

    Julian sighed softly and shook his head, staring at the spot where the little girl had just been. "I'll never understand that kid." Looking back at the pinkette beside him, he sat up straight and gave her a smile. "Thanks. Hearing you say that seemed to make her pretty happy." Whether it was the compliment itself or the fact that it was an older girl who gave it that made Trinny happy, he wasn't quite sure. Btu it was still nice to see her so pleased.

"Oh, that sounds hectic. Your entire family coming over, and a friend on top of that? Yikes!" Mae chuckled slightly. Considering that he lived in San Malarus, it was most likely an apartment complex of some sort. "And here I am, having my mother and potentially the rest of her band coming here. I was going to give her a call tonight to see if she can't arrange a concert in Penecia on Christmas Eve. I guess that's something I want as a sort of Christmas gift, and it would be perfect. Hearing her sing live is something else, let me tell you!" The girl's eyes were glowing with admiration for her adoptive mother. Mae really looked up to Kinaku. It was thanks to her that Mae got a home in the first place, and Mae had started singing, in hopes of one day singing alongside her mom on the stage in front of a large crowd.

"Well, sure. Why don't I start with what I consider to be the best time of the year! During the last days of January, Me and my mom always go to Okinawa for the Yaedake Sakura Festival. In Japan, we have a long celebration for the blossoming of the Cherry Blossom. It's quite a beautiful sight to behold really. There are tonnes of food-stalls and the like can be found at parks and such places. Lanterns are a common decoration used to light up those festivals at night. The reason we pick Okinawa of all places is because that my grand-parents live there, so we visit them during this time as well, which is quite fun, considering I only get to see them once every year, and it's during Yaedake." It was coming up in just a little bit more than a month. How she would go about visiting Okinawa then, she had no idea.

"R-really? Y-you think so...?" Mae could feel her face heat up. ""W-well, If you say so... T-then I should try out something..." She said faintly, her gaze fixated on her own lap. She couldn't look him in the eye while blushing like she did.

"Two to six HOURS?!" Mae sat there slack-jawed for a second. That little girl? 6 Hours? The longest time Mae had spent looking for clothes was just the week before her first day at Zela. She had been scouting for something new to wear during her first day at the new school. She had been looking for an hour and a half at most. 6 hours... Mae couldn't help but chuckle alongside Julian.

"No problem. It did suit her quite well. I wasn't really lying. But, why is she so concerned about all this? Is there some guy at her school which she want to impress or something?" Not that it seemed very likely for a seven-year old like her to have a crush on someone else, but, then again, some kids started early.

   A concert? So her mother was a musician; a vocalist, to be exact. She must have been pretty lucky to make it in that business; that and extremely talented. Julian's interest--not to mention his curiosity--was sparked. "So your mom's a singer? That must make life interesting for you." Now, how popular her parent actually was was another story; he somewhat doubted the woman was front-page tabloid news famous, so paparazzi and all the other annoying bits like that might not be an issue. Scheduling, on the other hand, might be, along with crowd control depending on how many people were in that band of hers.

    Honestly, he hadn't expected her to go quite as in-depth about Japan as that. Granted, it was one holiday, but she described it pretty thoroughly, in his opinion. Listening attentively to her every word, he noded his head every once in a while to show he was paying attention, a little grin playing his lips the more animated she got. It wasn't hard to see that she had a love for her home country. That wasn't bad at all, in his opinion; everyone needed something to care for, be it a place or a person or even a thing. He couldn't help but feel a little sheepish in comparison, though; in all honesty, the places he'd lived in never really mattered to him. Here's hoping he could make America sound as exciting as a Cherry Blossom festival. "Wow, sounds like a pretty exciting time. How long do you usually stay there to visit?" She said the festival lasted a few days, but maybe there were other things she liked to do there as well?

    He tried. He really did. But her expression was just too funny not to chuckle at. Who knew eyes could get that big? "Yup. As you can imagine, it was just excruciatingly painful for me." Laying a hand over his heart, he acted as if wounded or traumatized by the ordeal, despite the obviously playful tone in his voice and mirthful expression that seemed permanently fixed on his face.

    "Heh, I don't think so." to emphasize his opinion, the teen shook his head slightly, smiling wryly at the thought. Trinny was home schooled, and the only boys to impress there were her brothers and her dad. While her father always loved to see his daughter looking cute (although, knowing the man, Trinity could wear a burlap sack and he'd still say she was adorable), Julian doubted she'd dress up for him. The same went for her siblings as well. ...Minus the believing her to be adorable part, though. "She's always been concerned with how she looks. I think that's just who she is." Maybe she'd outgrow it when she got older. Or maybe there really was some deep, dark, hidden reason as to why she adored clothes shopping so much? ...Nah. It was just the girl's little not so guilty pleasure.

    "So, having fun in your classes so far?" Julian questioned. "I heard the Junior teacher was pretty good. If anything, I bet he's less uptight than Mr. Rhodes."