*Laurance's POV*

The final school bell rung, and I quickly gathered my belongings. Today, was a strange day.

The whole encounter with Garroth; and meeting this guy. His name's Gene. He seems pretty cool, and so does Garroth. Maybe, I found my friend group. If they don't know each other, perhaps I should introduce them. They look like they could get along.

Is it obvious that I'm desperate for friends? Ever since...

Nevermind. Just forget it.

Suddenly, I bumped into something. Or rather, someone. It was a girl. We both fell backwards, dropping our belongings. I instantly apologized to her, going to help her pick up her stuff.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," I apologized, handing her the books she dropped. "I was kind of...in my own world."

The girl brushed a strand of her orange hair out of her face, giggling a little. "Don't worry about it. I was...lost in thought, as well."

My Irene, she is gorgeous.

"Nah, it's fine...don't blame yourself," I reassured her, helping her to her feet. "My name's Laurance, by the way."

"Lucinda," she replied, holding out a free hand. I accepted it, giving her a small smile. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, please. Pleasure is all mine."

I watched her smile grow, on her bright red lips- that matched the colour of her eyes. Honest to Irene, she was absolutely stunning. Like, no joke.

"Well, Laurance, maybe I'll see you around?" Her voice was alluring. Mesmerizing.

Damn it. Am I growing a crush on her?

...Yup, probably.

We don't even know her!

But she's cute, and we are a desperate, single man. Let us have this.

We're 13!

Almost 14~

Does that even matter?!

Yes...

You know what? I'm done arguing. Peace.

"Yeah, we'll see~" I smirked, winking at Lucinda.

She giggled, holding a hand over her mouth. Lucinda waved to me goodbye, before heading out of school. I waited there for a moment, before heading out myself.

The large crowd of students, had mostly died down. Everyone was packed into buses, or beginning their walk to their homes. Where was I going? Not home. My older sister, Cadenza, is like...sick or something. I'm not going back, to that germ-infested house.

But, where can I-

"Hey, Laurance!" Who could that be?

I turned around, to be faced with a small group of people. One I recognized, in particular- was Dante. The guy assigned to show me around school. Next to him, was a boy, who was a bit shorter than him, with this bright silver hair, and vibrant lime-coloured eyes. Then, there was a third person. I couldn't see their features all too well, since they were standing behind Dante and the white-haired boy.

"Hey, Dante. Great to see you, man," I gave him a fist-bump, looking at the other two. "Who are these?"

"Oh, Laurance...this is my best friend, Travis," Dante gestured to the white-haired boy, who gave me a small wave. "And, the shy one- back here- is my other best friend, Garroth."

Garroth?

The boy stepped out from behind the other two, revealing himself to indeed be the Garroth I met earlier. He merely looked up at me, before giving me a small nod. What was with this kid? Why does he act so weird around me?

Maybe, that's just his personality, Laurance! Don't be so quick to judge!

"Hey, Garroth! Didn't see you back there," I smiled at him, giving a tiny wave.

"H-hey..," Garroth looked down, his gaze trailing to his feet.

"You two met, already?" Dante asked, and I nodded in reply. "Well, then...that saves me a lot of trouble."

"Hi," the white-haired boy, Dante referred to as Travis, waved to me. "I-I'm Travis Valkrum. It's nice to meet you."

"Laurance Zvahl," I held out my hand to him. He hesitantly looked at me, before shaking my hand.

Dante is so charismatic, yet his friends are so damn shy. How odd.

"So, Laurance, have you met anyone else today?" Dante held onto the straps of his bookbag, rocking on his feet.

"Aside from you guys, not really many other people. I met this girl, named Lucinda, and...earlier today, I met this cool-looking guy. I think he said his name was...Gene?"

When I said the guy's name, both Dante and Garroth stared at me wide-eyed. Garroth bit down on his lip, looking away- almost like he wanted to cry. Did I say something wrong?

"Gene?!" Dante exclaimed. "Was he relatively tall, with black hair, blue eyes?"

"Uh...yeah," I rose an eyebrow, as Garroth folded his arms over his chest, biting down harder on his lip.

Dante let out a small laugh, putting his hands upon his hips. "That's my older brother!"

"Really?!" I stared at him in shock. "You two look nothing alike!"

"Yeah! He is! Man, what luck," Dante let out another small chuckle. "Say, Laurance, where are you headed?"

"Um...nowhere in particular. I'm not going home, so...I'm not sure."

"You can come hang out with Garroth, Travis, and I at my place. I can also see if Gene wants to hang out as well?"

Garroth dropped his hands, his face draining of any colour. What was getting him to act this way? Was it me? Am I doing something wrong? Hm...

"D-Dante! I just remembered... I have to go home. Mommy and Father, asked me to watch Vylad and Zane, while they were out. So, sorry. We'll hang out another time. Bye," Garroth waved by to everyone, before running off.

I turned back to Dante and Travis, who had the same puzzled looks on their face. I looked behind me once again, before turning to Dante. He held a finger to his chin, tapping it lightly.

"Is he always like that?" I asked.

"No...strange. Usually he's so giddy and happy. I wonder what happened..."

Maybe it has something to do, with the reason he was crying earlier.

I still want to figure out a way to help him. I feel awful, for him.

We're going to make this right!

~~~