C h a p t e r 2
s p r a y c a n
____☆____

BLAZE'S POV

I got out of the taxi with my duffel bag loosely hung over my shoulder. The taxi driver quickly took out my luggage, placing it on the pavement.

I didn't really have much to pack anyway, besides the three bags that I was carrying—one for my clothes, the other for my essentials, and the last one hanging on my back carrying important stuff.

A lean guy wearing grey trousers, maroon vest, and a dark coat paired with a matching navy blue tie, came running towards me as soon as the taxi took off.

That's the uniform? Great. Now I would have to wear old businessman clothes. Where the fuck did I get myself into?

He tried to introduce himself, but I cut him off by throwing my clothes bag in his face. "Here you go! And make sure not to damage the other bag. Precious cargo and all." I winked at him.

As a second thought, I took out a $5 bill and shoved it in his coat pocket, then headed off towards the big, fancy-looking wooden entrance door.

"I'm not a valet; I am the Prefect." The guy called out to me, sounding baffled.

"Good for you!" I threw back. Why he thought I would give a damn about his achievements was beyond me.

The door opened up to a huge ground with football nets placed on the left side. To me, the campus merely looked like a big mansion, though. I was looking for a church, which I am sure must compliment such a building.

I glanced to my right, and, sure enough, there was a church behind the huge-ass building, with a simple "St. Joseph High" sign written on it.

Kicking dirt, I head off in search of the headmaster's office. It had been ages since I had last seen my uncle, the last being when I was eight.

It was going to be "family reunion of the year", I imagine.

Just outside the office door, I dug out my red devil-horned hairband, especially bought for this very moment. Then I knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a muffled male voice then asked.

"Jesus Christ," I said with a proud smile and opened the door.

He took one look at me and dropped the pen he was holding. What could I say? I did look devilishly handsome wearing this hairband.

"Should I applaud your theatrics?" he muttered and composed himself, flattening the creases on his long-sleeved shirt, getting back to his work.

I took a seat without waiting for his permission, hoisting up my legs on his desk near the tag saying "headmaster".

"And here I thought you might enjoy the humor, Father." I gave him an innocent smile, flinging the hairband carelessly across the room, knowing well that it would instantly place me on his naughty list. Judging by his wrinkled skin, it was obvious that all the fretting over running a prestigious school hadn't done wonders to his age.

"This is the second school you've been rusticated from." The headmaster now spoke with a grave voice—a voice that dripped with disappointment.

His eyes gave me a once-over, judging me, it seemed. Their stroll paused at my feet that were leisurely placed on his desk right beside the tag. His attentive eyes narrowed. "I will not tolerate any kind of indiscipline from my students, especially from my own nephew," he warned in a rather calm tone, which might have made any other guy in my position nervous. Unfortunately for him, I was not just some guy.

"Noted. Anything else, Father?" I quirked up a brow in question and waited for his next move, but he only shook his head and picked up a stick to smack my leg with, making me pull them back.

"No. Now go find Mr. George; he will sort you in one of the houses."

I got up in an instant, shouldering my bag and ready to spare myself the boring lecture on rules and regulations that he might start spitting in my face if I stayed a minute longer.

"Blaze, for the love of my mother..." he sighed, making me stop dead in my track. "Don't let her down," he finished.

Without reacting I pushed the door open, and I walked out of his prim office, not bothering to look back. I crossed the threshold and made my way through the maze of hallways, until I found the staff room. I strolled into the room without knocking and looked about.

A fit and tall man stood up from behind the desk, a register in hand. He walked towards me after he spotted me hovering.

He took in my lazy, leaning frame, quizzically opening his register.

"Blaze Warner, I am placing you in...Arthur House." He scribbled my name down in one column, then gestured me towards the other side of the wing, where another man stood up to take my measurements.

"Your House Uniform will be ready by Sunday, along with your school uniform. Please collect them later from Mr. Karp." He recited the instructions in a monotonous way; he must have said the exact same phrases to every damn miserable student in this school.

It had been barely half an hour since I got here and I already wanted to kill myself.

Mr. George then handed me a piece of paper which had the directions to my commune quarters, which I would be sharing with four other boys of the same house.

How lame was this place? I couldn't even have privacy now? Awesome.

On my way, I stopped for a moment to catch a glimpse of the towering hills that surrounded the left side of the campus, providing a beautiful view to this otherwise drab place.

Despite my growing hatred for this place, I had to agree that Honey Top was a beautiful place, and so was this school, with its old Victorian era architecture.

Only downside: it still felt like yet another prison to me, a little fancier, but a prison nonetheless.

The biggest problem was, this prison was run by my own uncle, and if there was something I was certain about him, it was the fact that he was a very disciplined man who held great pride in his values. Whereas I stood on the opposite end of the spectrum—a rebel without a cause. Only trouble could become of this mix.

I walked past the assembly hall decorated with posters and paused to look at the list of rules and duties. The poster was stuck on the door, and I read it with a smirk. This place could really use some rules breaking, and I'd be more than glad in taking it up as a job.

I cast a quick glance around to check if there were any standby witnesses. Finding none, I brought out my spraying can from the bag and started drawing a big dick on the door. Satisfied with my detailed artwork, I took a step back and bumped into a guy.

"Do you have a death wish?" asked a guy who was a little shorter in height and looked about my age. He had shaggy hair painfully styled back with what looked like a full bottle of gel.

"What's your name?" I asked him, carelessly shaking the can.

"Oh— Hi! Where are my manners— I am Div Patel." He extended his hands for me to shake.

I ignored him and turned back to the door, then threw an evil smile at him from behind my shoulder. "Deev with double E or an I?" I was already spraying the letter D under the dick that I drew.

"With an I. Yeah, a lot of people spell my name wrong. Thanks for asking, man... So you new here, huh? Where'd you come from and what house 're you in? You gotta stop that; you could get in serious trouble. Love your haircut, by the way— Oh, and..." He continued blabbering, but I tuned him out and simply nodded along without really listening.

My focus was solely on positioning my body to conceal what I was doing. When I was done writing Div in an elegant calligraphy style, I turned around to face him.

He was still firing away questions at me and hadn't even bothered looking behind my back.

This guy really needed a lesson in watching his back. So, in a way, I was doing him a favour, really, educating him even.

Through my peripheral vision, I spotted Mr. George making his way towards the hallway we were standing in.  I immediately lifted my bag from the floor.

"Hey, Div, think fast." I threw the can at Div, which he caught with the aid of reflex while giving me a confused look.

I didn't wait around for him to ask questions. Dashing across the hall, I ran in the other direction of the hallway, but I still paused before turning around the corner. I almost grinned at the mortified expression on Div's face.

He was trying to rub his name off the door in a panicked state, only to be caught by Mr. George with a spray can in his hand.

I threw my head back and laughed, then resumed making my way towards my shared room.

Four guys wearing red jumpers turned their attention on me when I literally kicked the door open. Two out of them looked downright scared at my behaviour. Without giving a shit about it, I threw my bag on the empty fifth bed, satisfied to see the other two already placed on the drawer near the bed. I stripped out of my t-shirt and headed to the bathroom to indulge myself with a nice hot shower.

My intentions for taking a long shower was cut short by loud banging on the bathroom door. I ignored it at first, but then someone from the other side called out that the headmaster and the ward wanted to see me.

Drying my wet hair, I walked out the room to see everyone gathered around my uncle and Mr. Lorace, who, in my short conversation with one of the boys, I found out was the one in charge of keeping us boys in line after school.

Yet another lame factor of this place—a permanent babysitter that wasn't even cute. I mean, if it was a must, could they not have hired some hot lady in a pencil skirt at the least? Instead of some dude in his late forties with a bald patch.

I couldn't help but wonder how pathetic his life must be that he spends most hours of his days watching over 200 or so boys.

My uncle's eyes suddenly snapped to mine. "Blaze, I'm quite happy to know that on your very first day of being in St. Joseph's, you have started actively taking part in the extracurricular activities," he sarcastically said.
I flashed him a toothy smile. "If that's what you wanna call it, sure! In fact, I would be happy to demonstrate more of my artistic abilities." I folded my hands back like the others but continued giving my uncle a smug look.

"You do realize that you have vandalized the school property, Mr. Warner," he stated after he took a step towards me. "Which is why as a punishment, you are to sleep on an empty stomach tonight, as you are hereby forbidden to join other students for dinner at 8:00. Also you are going to spend tomorrow cleaning up the mess. Is that understood?" He looked all serious and shit, but I only found the whole situation funny.

Forbidden. Really, who the hell even talks like that anymore?

I raised my hand to my forehead and gave him a salute, then confidently walked past him towards the dinner, where the kitchen staff were busy preparing food. I laughed further when all those who had followed me to see what I was up to had on a confused expression etched on their faces.

I borrowed a giant bowl and started filling it with fruits and whatever else on the menu that was already cooked and ready to be served.

I walked past Mr. Lorace and shrugged when he questioned, "What are you doing?"

"Well, you see, Father Joseph said that I could not eat with other students during dinner time but it's only 7 o'clock right now and he didn't say anything about not eating alone, either before or after dinner. Oh, and plus, I have a fast digestive system so I usually sleep on an empty stomach, anyway. So unless I am breaking any rule, do you mind? You are blocking my way." I threw him a challenging smile.

He was taken aback from it, but when he failed to give a comeback for a reply against my logic, I left him and the others standing around with their mouths hanging open. Then I nonchalantly walked back to my room.

At midnight, I waited for all the other guys to fall asleep so I could sneak out the door with my blanket and go up to the terrace.

Once there, I stood and regarded the view with cold winds running through my hair. City lights twinkled far away in the distance. Finally feeling a bit tired from the long travel, I made a pillow of my jacket and tried to fall asleep on the cold ground with the blanket up to my face.

Tomorrow would be another big day. I hope everyone else wouldn't be such a bore.

_______☆_______

NATASHA'S POV

FML! My day couldn't have been any worse. I had to take the three-hour long flight with a sweaty old beer-bellied dude who kept on farting and laughing obnoxiously to whatever stupid movie he was watching.

Getting tired from being tormented from his farts and sweaty arms rubbing on me, I got pissed enough and decided to get rid of him.

I purposely spilled water on his crotch and started screaming 'Eww! Eww!' and got other people's attention, along with a few laughing at his embarrassment.

Although if I'd be honest, it was entirely funny and sorta the fun part of the flight. The old man, dare I say, was wise enough to find a seat far away from me for the rest of the flight.

It was already getting dark when I reached Honey Top, smelling like that foul man. My parents had already booked a hotel for me to stay in for the night. So after checking into Hotel Hilldon, I ran straight to the bathroom and took a nice, long cold shower.

I also called back mom and dad to let them know I was fine and had safely reached my destination of prison. I had prepped myself to listen to an earful of lectures regarding my ill behaviour but was instead surprised to hear them say nothing except, "We love you, dear. It'll turn out to be a good experience for you."

"Yeah; fine. I'll call if need be." After reassuring them further, I literally jumped on my soft pillow-stocked bed and let my tired body fall asleep like a dead fish.

____☆____

First impression of blaze?

peace out bitches 💋