No one knows...
Anyone who told Julian to rise and shine would be very much disappointed. He didn't shine. He never did. He hated mornings and so instead of waking up and wishing people good morning he was sitting opposite to Ren in the kitchen drinking his coffee while also half-asleep. And this was after he had already taken a shower. How a shower hadn't managed to wake him up no one knew.
His head kept on drooping downwards, touching the table and then pulling back. When Ren finally decided to slap the table to wake Julian up, he was showered with curse words that made Ren's father look up from his newspaper. Ren's dad doesn't look up from the paper until he is done reading it.
"Stop being a miserable fuck, Jule" Ren told him, reaching over to take Julian's black coffee so that he could taste it. Seeing how he immediately gagged and dived for his glass of milk, Ren found it disgusting.
"How do you even drink that shit bro?" he demanded.
"I don't know. Guess I just got used to it" Julian shrugged, lazily standing up and sauntering over to the stove to hug his aunt.
Starla Sanders was his father's brother's wife. The woman who actually understood him better than his mother. That might be because her best friend had come out as gay and she had helped him get through the difficulties he faced in every day life. He was now happily married with the love of his life and they had adopted two little Golden Retrievers.
She patted Julian's cheek lovingly and kissed his head "Get to school before your mother comes over. I'll talk to her. I'll calm her down and make her understand. Okay?"
He nodded and hugged her once again.
"Mom! You never let me hug you like that!" Ren protested, his mouth still full with half chewed toast.
"You always hug me after track practice. Excuse me if I don't want to die of suffocation because my son can't be bothered to take a shower!"
Ren pouted and went back to nibbling on his toast "I don't smell that bad..." he muttered to himself.
Fifteen minutes later Ren and Julian were kissing Starla's cheek in goodbye and bumping fists with Phillip Sanders. Ren's dad.
" Drive safe!" he told them in a stern voice.
" Yes sir" they muttered smiling at him and then hurrying outside to the driveway where Julian's car stood.
He unlocked the doors and they both got in. Ren turned on the radio and then immediately turned it off when a familiar song started playing. Julian burst out laughing " Still haven't gotten over—"
" Hey how would you feel if you're woken up by the same song every morning for ten years straight?" Ren demanded, putting on his seatbelt when Julian drove out onto the street.
" I wouldn't know. I don't have an older brother who plays the same song always" Julian reminded his cousin, glancing briefly at the string of leaves that was tattooed in green alongside his cousin's left collarbone. The same tattoo Ren's brother had gotten. Brendan was scouted by the special forces a few years ago. They hardly ever heard from him. Julian remembered standing at the airport with teary eyes, holding twelve-year old Ren's hand as they both watched Jordan disappear in the crowd.
Jordan had never told anyone what the tattoo meant, except for Ren. Just five leaves attached with a single line. It was simple but it had a deep meaning because Julian had seen Ren's expression whenever someone asked him about it.
" Jule you're impossible"
" Good to know"
" Shut up"
" I can't"
" You will"
" Why?"
" Just because"
" What the fuck does that even mean?"
" I don't know"
Ren stopped arguing with Julian which irked the green eyed boy. Julian nudged Ren's side without looking away from the road, not able to bear the silence.
" Ren?" " Ren" " Warren?" " Renny?" " Did you accidentally slip into a coma?"
" Jule...she texted me. She texted me!" Ren literally squealed as he shoved the phone into Julian's face.
" Dude I'm driving! Chill! What'd she text you?" Julian shoved away the phone, smiling.
" She asked me if I could lend her my History notes"
Julian frowned " Uh okay...? That's great because?"
" I have an excuse to talk to her. Duh. Julian are you going mad? Just yesterday you were giving me a speech about how I should know things about my crush"
" Uh well if I had a crush on someone I wouldn't ask them to lend me history notes"
Ren laughed, patting Julian's head as if he was an innocent child " Girls work in mysterious ways Julian. They're never going to tell you clearly about their feelings until the last moment."
The whole ride, Ren wouldn't stop talking about Ashlynn. His long time crush. His dream girl. His idea of perfection and so on. Julian didn't like Ashlynn, she was rude and racist and always disrespected everyone who was uncool according to her. He only hoped Ren would realise that before getting his heart broken.
And so when he and Ren walked into the school and spotted Ashlynn waiting at Ren's locker, Julian slipped away after squeezing his cousin's shoulder and telling him to not hyperventilate.
Wynter Black walked down the halls, ignoring everyone's looks of curiosity he pulled on his hood and let it cover his hair and forehead. Wynter didn't like attention. He preferred to blend into the crowd. That was not possible seeing how his mother was dead and his father was god knows where gambling away the money he earned from working at no one knows where.
"Wynter!" A voice called out followed by sounds of running.
He turned around, coming face to face with Julian Sanders. Julian was smiling at him and when he didn't smile back Julian pouted a little " Do you never smile at anyone?"
" I don't smile at people who are the reason so many gossip-hungry teenagers are staring at me and observing my every single move." Wynter said, his voice low but irritated.
Julian rolled his eyes at Wynter and turned around in a circle, glancing at everyone who was staring at them " Do I have something stuck on my back? A sticky note maybe?"
"No!" Everyone muttered together and went back to what they were doing.
"See? They're not gossip hungry. Trust me. They don't give a shit. Maybe if you don't sulk around with your hood up all the time they wouldn't find you so scary. And you'll also make friends" Julian said cheerfully.
When Wynter started to walk away, he threw and arm over his shoulder as if they had been best friends since kindergarten.
Wynter shrugged off Julian's arm in irritation "Don't make me unfriend you"
"That's right! We're friends! So that means I can sit with you in lunch?"
"If you want to" Wynter answered indifferently. He didn't care as long as Julian brought along pretentious jerks and fake idiots, which he obviously wouldn't. Wynter secretly thought that Julian didn't really like his supposed friends but he couldn't exactly ask him seeing as how Julian wasn't the most open person. He wouldn't ever share his problems with anyone and certainly never with Wynter. Nevertheless he decided to try.
"Hey Julian?"
"Yeah?"
"How come the only time you talk to your friends is while the lunch break?"
Julian smiled at Wynter and stopped walking. He leaned against a wall and tilted his head at the space next to him. Wynter let himself slouch against the wall next to the green eyed boy. He waited for Julian to start speaking.
"Wynter, they're not my friends. One day they just randomly decided to invade my lunch table—"
"Invade?" Wynter interrupted, smiling at Julian's overdramatic description. Honestly? Wynter didn't even know why he was wasting his time talking to Julian. There was just something inside him telling him that this would be worth it. Getting to know Julian would be worth it.
"Yes! Invade! Duh!"Julian threw up his hands in the air and then poked at Wynter's chest, "Don't interrupt. I'm answering your question. Anyway I'm too nice so I let them. So I guess it kinda just became a routine? Warren hates all of them though"
"Warren...the pep talk to his own reflection Warren?" Wynter asked, making Julian burst out into loud laughter.
"Yeah that one. He's my cousin. He —"
"Julian" Another voice interrupted.
Wynter's slight smile vanished as he looked into the eyes of Brea Darrel. She stood at Julian's side, her arm curled around his bicep possessively. Julian smiled down at her "Hey...what's up?"
"Come over to Jeremy's locker. We're holding a discussion. We're planning to go to the mall this evening—"
"I can't go. I made plans with Wynter. I'm sorry" Julian smiled down at her apologetically.
Wynter on the other hand was rewinding everything he and Julian had talked about, trying to remember if Julian had ever told him that they were going to hang out. He hadn't. So he was lying to Brea. Brea gave Wynter a once-over before deciding to smile at him " Hey Wynter. You can come along with Julian too. It'll be fun—"
" Brea...I told you. I don't want to go. Just...I'm not in the mood okay?" Julian interrupted.
Brea Darrel and company were fake. Fake and rotten on the inside. Everything was amusement to them. A poor kid who couldn't afford a school trip? Brea Darrel was there to make them feel inferior about it.
No one at school knew details about Wynter's life. Just that his mum was dead. Ren knew about the absentee dad because Wynter's father used to work with his dad. And Ren made sure to not tell anyone.
This lack of information was a good thing...and Julian wanted it to stay that way. He didn't want Wynter to be bullied or looked down upon for something or someone he cannot control.
Out of pure and random protectiveness Julian wrapped his fingers around Wynter's wrist " Hey? Did you bring the pen drive? Let's go to the library. I have to edit a few points in the project"
Wynter nodded, clueless as to what was going on and why Julian Sanders was acting like the world was going to end if they didn't edit the points in the presentation. Despite that, he still followed after him doing his best to return Brea's sharp glare although he didn't specialise in them. Wynter preferred looking at people blankly until they walked off awkwardly.
" Wynter...listen to me" Julian said, tugging Wynter into an empty classroom.
" Why are you freaking out like this?"
" Listen...Brea's not a good person. She's...she has that superior feeling and constantly tries to degrade people. Don't let her manipulate you. I'll make her stay away from you."
Wynter scowled reminiscing how she had looked him up and down. He had thought that she was making sure he looked good enough to be seen with them. " But...I thought she was your friend. You both always hangout and stuff"
"Wynter...do you honestly think she'd talk to me for any other reason than to tell me about her life problems? Do you really think someone like her would give a shit about people like us? She's not broken or anything. She just chooses to be a jerk. If you really want to be her friend then I won't stop you"
Wynter's scowl deepened "Julian. You talk too much. I never said anything about wanting to be friends with her? Do you always assume things like this?"
"First time I'm assuming something to be honest. I have no idea why. Also...we're late for literature. Come on"
Even though they were late, no one had even shot them a second glance except for Miss Taylors who called them up to present their project first as a kind of punishment for being late.
" We're screwed" Julian whined lowly so that only Wynter could here him.
" You think?" Wynter smiled.
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