Noah Ackerman smiled as he tilted his face towards the sun, eyes closed as he basked in the warmth of its rays, allowing the light to shine through his light brown hair, turning it to a more copper looking colour. The boy loved the outdoors (especially plants) and so, it wasn’t a surprise to find the boy often out in a garden of sorts. In fact, at that very moment, Noah was headed towards his school’s greenhouse for Herbology class. The boy detested school and anything to do with it - I mean, could you blame him? School, where you had to interact with others and present publically, was not fun for one with anxiety. Not to mention that he had a hard time focusing and nothing ever seemed to register in his brain - but that was a topic for another day.
Nevertheless, his school’s greenhouse and Herbology program made it all worth it as nothing calmed him down more than the earthy smell and relaxing aura the plants seemed to give off. That was one of the things he liked most about them, after all - besides their sheer beauty, of course. Plants were stagnant; they had no homework, no messed up family life, no drama, no worries - they were free. Free to simply be - a fact that Noah was quite jealous of. Even though he had friends and a loving family, he couldn’t help but feel stuck - trapped in a way, not quite able to live his life the way he wanted. He hoped one day he could, but at least for now, he had the greenhouse and Herbology.
Once Noah had ceased his basking in the sun, he continued his trek towards the greenhouse. His high school rested on top of a hill with the greenhouses at the bottom of it. Therefore, it didn’t take long to get there, however, going back up was a killer - especially for Noah. It only took one glance at his slightly pudgy body to tell he wasn’t a fan of working out. But hey, he tried okay? It wasn’t his fault that he was weak-minded and gave up whenever things got too hard - okay, maybe it was but Noah was sure that there was some type of exercise out there that would actually turn out to be fun for him. And until he found out what that was, he was perfectly content with taking care of plants all day.
Swinging open the clear door, Noah sighed in satisfaction as the warmth from inside spread over him. He paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath of the dewey and earthy scent before he began making his way over to his desk. As his seat was near the front (having been arranged ‘randomly’ by his professor yet Noah was sure she purposely put him upfront as he was her best student and Noah was in no way complaining), he was able to greet his professor who was currently sat at her desk.
“B-B-Bonjour, Mme. B-Burgeon,” Noah greeted quietly before he slid into his seat, his professor offering him a soft smile and a ‘bonjour’ in response. While this specific class wasn’t in French, Noah had been in French immersion all his life and once Mme. Burgeon had found out about it she had been ecstatic - having been born and raised in Quebec, herself. Therefore, they often conversed in the French language when it was just the two of them. She even helped him with his French sometimes and he believed that he had gotten a lot better since he began speaking with a native speaker - it really did wonders for improvement.
Noah absentmindedly chewed on his lip as he surveyed the greenhouse, taking note that most students hadn’t arrived yet. There was just a redhead in the back, conversing quietly with whom Noah assumed to be her friend. He just hoped no one else would arrive until class actually started (what could Noah say - he liked being early), especially his seatmate, as that would limit the amount of social interaction Noah would have to endure. If one couldn’t already tell, Noah Ackerman really wasn’t a social person.
Speaking of his seatmate, Noah began to grow curious. Today was their first day back from spring break and so the seating arrangements had been changed. Noah had easily found his as Professor Burgeon had pointed towards the seat but as he took another look, he realized that there was actually a piece of paper that had his name printed on it. Once he realized this, Noah decided to be nosy and peaked at the paper that was placed on the desk beside him. Orion Holmes.
Now, Noah didn’t normally swear, in fact, he pretty much never did verbally. However, sometimes he would allow his mind to slip and it would come out in his thoughts. And this happened to be one of those times because holy shit for the next couple months he would be sitting next to the Orion Holmes. The snobby rich preppy boy whose family was associated with a gang - and not just any gang, the Dark Lord Gang, otherwise known as the most dangerous gang in their city - maybe even the whole country. This was really not good. What if Noah accidentally did or said something that made Orion mad? It was no secret that the boy had plans to join the gang when he was old enough and as seatmates were always paired for projects, Noah knew this would be a bad idea. He didn’t want a potential gang member having it out for him, after all.
Everything’s okay, Noah chanted to himself in his mind, just relax. I’ll ask Professor Burgeon to change seats and everything will be alright. No big deal, right?
Actually, scratch that, it was a big deal. Because just as Noah stood up, fully prepared to beg Professor Burgeon to let him swap seats with someone else, none other than Orian Holmes himself walked through the door. Any plan Noah had was immediately tossed out the window as he hurriedly sat back down, hoping no one noticed. That, however, wasn’t the case.
“Ca va?” Professor Burgeon questioned in concern, Noah rapidly nodding his head at her in response. His voice was caught in his throat as he nervously watched Orion approach, the boy looking carefully at each desk to see if they held his name. Noah prayed that Orion hadn’t witnessed Noah’s weird behaviour and potentially catch on to the fact that Noah didn’t want to sit near him as that really wouldn’t be good. ‘You’re upfront next to Noah, Mr Holmes,” Professor Burgeon pointed towards the empty seat.
Orion glanced over at Noah, top lip curling up slightly in what Noah only hoped wasn’t disgust. Wouldn’t it be great if Orion already hated Noah - without even knowing him? That would be just his luck too. However, luckily enough, Orion didn’t complain about Noah - in fact, after he slipped into the spot next to the boy, he didn’t say a word, not even bothering to take another glance at the boy. Noah couldn’t exactly pinpoint whether he was happy or disappointed by that (which only annoyed him).
After quickly checking his watch (which had a leafy plant as the background, surprise, surprise), Noah noticed that there was still a few more minutes until class started. Now that he would be sitting next to Orion, Noah would have to start coming to class later to minimize their interaction. The boy took in a deep, yet hopefully quiet, breath as he aimed to control his rapidly beating heart. He glanced at Orion out of the corner of his eye, noticing how calm the boy seemed to appear. That wasn’t exactly an uncommon sight, however, Orion Holmes always walked around with such composure that it surprised people to find out that his brother was Phoenix Holmes, the school’s notorious prankster/troublemaker.
The boy’s dark, sculpted eyebrows were relaxed as his stormy grey eyes lazily glided across the words in the book that was set on the table in front of him. Noah hadn’t noticed Orion take it out and therefore, didn’t know the title but from a quick glance, he knew for sure it wasn’t herbology. And after having the words gang, death, and murder, catch his eye, Noah didn’t want to know more.
He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, hoping that class would just start already. Orion glanced down at him from the movement, stunning Noah enough that he immediately froze in place, making sure he kept his eyes anywhere else but on Orion - he didn’t know how he would react to making eye contact. Orion eventually looked back at his book, allowing Noah to let out a small breath of relief. Orion Holmes by himself held enough of a threatening aura, not to mention that Noah just realized the startling height difference between the two. It wasn’t much of a surprise really, Noah was quite short for a boy, barely passing five foot. Orion, on the other hand, was much taller - at least a foot more than Noah, the height difference being glaringly obvious even while sitting down.
As Noah anxiously waited for class to start already (seriously did time stop when Orion entered the room or something because it shouldn’t be taking this long), he began bouncing his leg up and down. It was a habit he had obtained from his uncle who always did it. Noah had seen it when he was younger and then forced himself to repeat it. In hindsight, it had been quite a stupid decision as now he wasn’t able to stop it, even when his friends got mad at him and tried to force him to stop. The habit was just too strong now to break.
“Could you please stop that incessant shaking?” Orion muttered snappishly, startling Noah so much that his leg actually stopped its movement. “It’s rather annoying.” He hadn’t even bothered to look up from his book, yet Noah still looked away in embarrassment as a deep red blush coated his cheeks.
“S-Sorry-Sorry. I-m s--s-sorry,” Noah stuttered as he wrung his hands in his lap nervously. He really hoped he hadn’t already gotten on Orion’s bad side. He still had a few more months of being Orion’s seatmate, he just needed to control all his negative habits and hopefully survive until then.
Orion sighed heavily yet didn’t respond while Noah sat on his hands in hopes of stopping any movement he may unknowingly make. Not even a moment later, Professor Burgeon was making her way up to the front of the class, a small smile making its way to Noah’s face as he anticipated the start of his most favourite class.
“Good afternoon, class,” she greeted in her usual loud tone. When Noah had first begun taking classes from Professor Burgeon, her loudness had frightened him, yet over time he had gotten used to it as his mind finally processed that she wasn’t a threat but merely an overly cheerful person.
Orion put his book away in his bag that was hanging on the chair he was currently seated on, while some (less than half) of the students mumbled a tired ‘good afternoon’ back to her. Noah, unsurprisingly, responded back quietly, just in case anyone were to hear him - which was the opposite of his objective. He did, however, wish that they had welcomed their teacher in a more energetic way, simply out of respect. On the other hand, he couldn’t exactly blame them for being so tired - it was their first day back from a two week break and they all most likely wished they could’ve been in bed (despite how late it was in the day) recovering from the aftermath of Noah didn’t even want to know what.
Taking a peek at Orion out of the corner of his eye, Noah had noticed that the boy had responded to their teacher in quite a respectful way, and seemed to not be as dead as the other students. Noah briefly wondered what Orion had gotten up to on the break, however, he quickly shook the question out of his mind. It hasn’t any of his business what Orion Holmes did.
Their teacher huffed at the lack of enthusiasm coming from her students and Noah could agree. Herbology was simply the best class and those that didn’t think so were absolutely crazy in Noah’s mind. He just couldn’t imagine someone not enjoying plants the way he did. She loudly clapped her hands in the hopes of garnering more attention from her students although the only thing she managed to do was startle Noah so much that he nearly fell out of his seat in shock. Sending the boy an apologetic smile, she decided to just start up the lesson as Noah re-situated himself in his seat, ignoring Orion’s piercing gaze on him.
“Okay, class, so as you all know, the school year is almost over -” Professor Burgeon couldn’t even finish her sentence as she was interrupted by a few students' cheers. It seemed that just the mere mention of a break from school had them more awake. Their teacher attempted to look mad but couldn’t help but laugh at her students. Even Noah was smiling softly at his classmates' outburst (but he made sure to hide it discreetly behind his hand as their Professor gave him a pointed look - him being her best student and all). As a quiet scoff was heard to his side, Noah could imagine that Orion didn’t care too much for the cheers and maybe even rolled his eyes but Noah didn’t know him well enough to know whether he was the eye-rolling type. Not that he wanted to know Orion more, it was just a passing thought that came and went faster than his classmates' attention spans.
“Settle down, settle down.” Professor Burgeon stated with another clap of her hands, garnering the students’ attention for real this time. “As I was saying, and you’ll be having exams soon,” some students interrupted her to groan at the reminder of dreaded exams. Noah didn’t blame them as he wasn’t looking forward to them either. While he did well enough on assignments, whenever he had to do tests he just completely blanked, forgetting absolutely everything he had ever known. Basically, Noah wasn’t good when it came to being put on the spot.
“And I’ve noticed that while some of you are doing well,” the teacher continued, sending a pointed look Noah’s way at her statement, causing many of the students to look over at him in surprise. Noah ducked his head in embarrassment as a bright red blush crawled its way up his neck to his cheeks, even reaching up to the top of ears. He could easily imagine what his classmates were thinking, after all, Noah wasn’t known for excelling academically.
“But the rest of you aren’t doing as well as you should. That’s why I’ve come up with an idea that will hopefully be helpful to you all. As you may have noticed, the seating arrangements have been changed and while it will still be the same that your seatmate will also be your partner in projects, I’d recommend that you all start getting closer because your seatmate will now be your tutoring partner!”
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