Just down a few more halls, he thought. He was bolting against the clock, he couldn't be late again. Being sharp on every corner, zooming through every student who didn't get out his way. It wasn't his fault that he never heard the bell, he was so set and focused on entering that room before he was given yet another sanction. He ran in and paused at the door, panting and hunched over whilst his legs shook from exhaustion. He kept the door open with his bag, using the door frame to support himself up or else he was going to fall flat on his reddened face. Despite amusing the class for his tardiness yet again, the noise died down to a small mumble amongst twenty-nine students. He couldn't move from the door frame, frozen in position trying to regain energy and air.

"Good morning Novak, what excuse do you have this time for your tardiness?"

***

The light peered blissfully through the crack of the cream-coloured curtains. The light elegantly danced off the walls, the desk and the door, before landing on the face of the sleeping beauty. Rolled up in his blanket like a burrito, his hair poking out in all directions like a baby hedgehog. He was at peace with the real world and his unconscious world. The house wasn't at all silent in the mornings, the noise normally arose as soon as the sun rose itself, sometimes before that on the rare occasion. Yet, this boy could sleep through the end of the world. But there was one thing he wouldn't be able to sleep through:

Beep! Beep! Beep!

He groaned and turned towards the alerting machine, grabbing it and throwing it across the room, thankfully hitting it off the wall so that the noise would subside. His eyes opened for a brief moment, coming into contact with the sun before retracting his face and burying it into the pillows. He grumbled once more, he was fully aware it was Tuesday morning and that if he didn't get out of bed, his older brother was going to do it himself. Nothing stopped his brother from entering the room, not even a bolted lock and a chair placed under the door handle. Lucifer always seemed to find a way in, whether that was through the door, the window or even the vent big enough for a small rodent to barely pass through.

He kept his eyes closed for what he thought was a simple ten more minutes, letting the noise around him die down and falling back into his dream. A colour dream, full of laughter and smiles an-

"Gabriel Novak, if you do not get out of bed this instant I will burn all your candy supplies and bury it!"

Gabriel jolted up, looking around frantically. Thankfully, his brother wasn't in his room but his quick glance at the time revealed that he only had twenty minutes to get to school. He stumbled out of bed, ignoring the fact that he was only in his boxers and scurried down the wooden steps into the kitchen. He threw everything around to find his bowl and cereal (today he decided to eat some lucky charms). Slamming the bowl on the table, he dashed towards the fridge and ripped out the milk from the holder and darted back to his seat.

"Y'know, you'll get indigestion if you eat like that," Lucifer spoke from behind his morning paper. He was calm, eating his buttered toast that was burnt to a crisp whilst glancing up to check on Gabriel. It's not surprise that Gabriel was wolfing down his cereal like an animal. "Don't forget to take Balthy to class too, we don't want the last situation to happen again,"

"How was I meant to know Balthy was on the roof of my car?" He questioned with a mouth full of milk and crunchies, getting up to continue onwards upstairs; leaving his mess for Lucifer to clean up. He had no time to have a concert in the shower, his singing antics must wait till he returns home. He managed to slip into fresher clothes within the shortest time imaginable but humanely possible, brushing his hair back with his hands to his collar, adjusting it to look semi-presentable. He took one final look in the mirror, scanning himself up and down to insure he had everyone on correctly; double checking his shoes were on the right foot and that his shirt wasn't inside out. He swiped up his bag and car keys, dashing out his bedroom to his little brother's room, Balthazar. He wasn't exactly in the frame of mind to ask his brother nicely to hurry his ass into the car, he simply threw him over his shoulder with his little backpack and continued downstairs. Lucifer didn't bat an eye at the sight, he was quite used to it. He waved his hand at his two younger brothers as they left the house and towards the car.

Gabriel fumbled with the keys to unlock the door, whilst Balthy impatiently pulled on the passenger door handle. Once opened, both boys jumped into their respective seats and zoomed off within a matter of seconds. Thankfully, both boys went to the same school: Gabriel was seventeen years of age and Balthazar was eleven years of age, but both did seem to act like five year olds for most of their day. The drive to the school was pretty smooth, Gabriel knew all the streets so avoiding the traffic was second nature to him. The neighbourhood they lived in was relatively nice; nice neighbours with a nice atmosphere, it was perfect for them. It was only Lucifer, Gabriel and Balthy who lived in their house, and it's been that way for the past nine years.

Once within the school parking lot, the boys ran to their respective classes before the bell could catch them.

***

"Let me guess Novak, another late start to the morning?" The teacher commented, earning a few chuckles from the back of the class. Gabriel was too out of breath to even respond, a simple head nod was all he could do, but even then he barely had the energy to complete that simple task. He slid his way to his chair at the back, dragging his bag behind him. As he pasted each chair, every person gave a glance back at him in humoured disappointment. Tardiness was pretty common for Gabriel, the Novak family is famous for their tardy shenanigans.

Class begin like normal after that little episode. Math wasn't Gabriel's favourite subject, it never has been. Him and numbers had a bad relationship together, it just never would work. Therefore, he slumped in his chair and refused to participate with daily activities for that hour, occasionally playing with his phone, but mostly doodling in his sketchbook. His sketchbook was his honour, he took pride with everything he drew, the book allowed him to escape from the current reality he was stuck in and into his own creations. The book contained all his deepest thoughts, all his favourite memories and just his place of happiness. He sat there and doodled for a while, enjoying his time within his little bubble.

"Novak," his head jolted up to see the teacher glaring at him from the other side of the room, her arms crossed in an angered manner. All the students were looking back at him.

"Umm... the limit does not exist?" He replied with, in a low, unconfident mumble. It earned him a few chuckles from across the room, mainly from the girls who understood what he was saying. However, the more academically wise students rolled their eyes in annoyance at the comment, including the teacher.

"Novak. You are failing my class, and most likely your other academic classes," she began to more forward, towards Gabriel's seat but agonisingly slow. "You have never scored higher than a thirty percent on any exam, including those who were open book. You sit there in my class and doodle in that pathetic little book," she had reached his desk, quickly swiping the book away from him to glance at. "This doesn't humour me Novak, I suggest you buckle your ideas together and start to pay attention or risk your entire life by failing my class," she turned on her heel and began to make her way back to the desk, tossing the book onto the floor.

Gabriel wasn't angry about what the teacher had said, it didn't really phase him to begin with. However, that book was his safe space to him, and seeing the teacher so immaturely toss it to the floor, that made Gabriel angry. He stood from his chair immediately, the loud squeak on the floor silencing the entire class. "What gives you the right to treat me like scum in this class? You don't know half the things I've been through, yet you have the audacity to pretend you know it all! That is my property, and you have no right to speak to me like that!" He began to lose his patience, edging closer and closer towards the teacher. He was boiling over with fury, coming up to the face of the professor; only an inch away. "Why don't you buckle your ideas up, because scum like you are the reason most of us fail." He swiped up his book and made no hesitation when leaving the classroom.

He was too focused on leaving than even hearing the dim voice in the back calling out after him. His stormed past every classroom, barging through every rogue student until he got back to his car. He got in, and simply locked himself in. He sat there for a while, closing his eyes to lose himself in his thoughts. He could feel his heart pounding from out of his chest, getting stronger with each second.

Tap

He jerked his head towards the window to see a boy his age standing there. He had long-ish brown hair, gorgeous doe eyes with a curved smile that was picture perfect. Gabriel wasn't exactly very amused that this strange boy was so close to his car, but he did seem familiar. He didn't seem like an art boy, nor a drama student, he looked like a boy who excelled in the academics. He seemed, studious. That thought made Gabriel shiver, the thought of studying made his bones feel weird.

"Hey, I know we don't know each other, but I just saw what Ms. Smith did to you," he paused for a moment, staring deep into Gabriel's golden eyes. "I wanted to check on you, and offer any help," what the boy said made sense, and it was a sweet gesture. Gabriel didn't even know this kid, how could he trust him. He rolled down his window enough to hear the boy properly. He leaned closer towards the gap and looked the boy up and down:

"Do you mind not touching my car please?"

Both boys chuckled, exchanging an everlasting moment that they wouldn't realise that would change their worlds.