No one was listening.

It was maths class, why would anyone be listening? A few people had been so fatigued by the droning din of Xs and Ys spilling from the teacher's lips that they had their heads on their desks and were soaked in slumber. One pupil's ears were absorbing music through the snaking wires of contraband connected to his mobile phone, hastily stuffed in the inside pocket of his rather ill fitting blazer. He couldn't hear the scratch of pens taking notes, nor Gwen, a slight girl with a heap of brunette curls, whispering frantically at him to pay attention. Finally, he unplugged himself and opened his maths book, but only when his companion tugged on his sleeve, causing the current traveling up the headphones he'd sneakily hidden in his blazer to cut out abruptly.

"So, given that a squared is b squared plus c squared, you will substitute a for seven point nine reoccurring and fourteen point two five eight with c, and get what answer? Anyone?"

A mound of toned muscle, adorned need with a mop of whipped caramel hair, now leaning back and rocking on his chair, raised his hand. "You get the product of b." He stated loudly, but without even a flavor of sarcasm. Lancelot, obviously.

A Mexican wave of murmurs erupted and the speaker blushed. The hubbub subsided when a obnoxious tinny din rang out, followed by the rustling of textbooks and scraping of chairs. Finally, after what seemed to be thousands of teenagers had steamed from room m7, two students tumbled out of the door for it to then be slammed shut behind them.

"I'm hardly surprised that Mr James wasn't impressed with your incompetence, Lancelot," Gwen said briskly, a smirk threatening to break out on her face. Lancelot merely kicked Gwen limply, his Dr Martens skimming her bony ankles. "That'll have grazed."

Evan ignored her, tugging her along to the end of the corridor where there was a set of stairs in front of them and another corridor to their left. "Where's Merlin?"

"He overslept again. I heard his mum shouting at him to get his lazy arse out of bed when I was on the way to the bus stop. And no, before you ask, I didn't bother calling. He was getting enough stick off his mother as well as Giaus, no doubt." The pair followed the snaking path before entering the library.

They sat by the window so they had a full view of both the entrance of the school and the librarian, who sat behind the only computer in the town (at least that's what Lancelot reckoned). It was a boxy cream monster, spilling out onto the whole of the front desk, the faint sound of the monitor whirring in monotone. The librarian was a spindly woman, with bones bending and twisting in ways the pair were sure shouldn't be natural. Her back took a sharp turn about two thirds of the way up, arching over, giving her an unattractive hunch.

And yes, there are attractive hunches. You know what I'm talking about. The attractive posture whereby someone's shoulders slump slightly, as though their hands haven't parted their pockets for a while.

Anyway, her claws had been slamming into the computer keys for a while, and it was mesmerizing Lancelot. Gwen simply rolled her eyes, tapping him slightly on the head.

"Earth to Lancelot? Can you hear me?"

Lancelot glared at Gwen. "I'm not deaf as well as blind," he mumbled, pushing the rim of his glasses carelessly, so that they sat higher that they would naturally, pinching his nose but becoming unmovable.

"Look!" said Gwen suddenly, pointing out the window at a tent of khaki anorak material bumbling into the main entrance. "Looks like Merlin's mum managed to drag him out of bed."

The librarian glared at the pair as they burst out of the door to go and meet their friend. Gwen walked ahead, adjusting the collar on her polar neck sweater whilst juggling a heap of books. Lancelot strutted behind, his school bag empty apart from a can of hairspray and a half eaten Apple. Gwen turned round and glared at Lancelot over the rim of her rounded spectacles, and he stuck his tongue out in return.

It all happened quickly after that. One moment she was chuckling to herself because Lancelot's tongue is unbelievable short, and the next she was sprawled in a heap on the floor, her elbow sunk deep into someone's face.

"Oh my Lord I am so sorry!" said Gwen, taking a tissue she'd tucked down her sleeve and attaching it to the invalid's face. Within moments it was soaked with blood and the moaning figure had found his feet.

"Ids fide," he mumbled under his breath, leaning against the wall. "Don' worry aboud id."

"Let me take you to the nurse," Gwen pleaded, attaching him to her side with the linking of their arms.

"What about Merlin?" said Lancelot.

"You go and get Merlin," Gwen huffed, dragging the bleeding waterfall down the corridor. "I've caused criminal damage here!"

Lancelot bounded off down the corridor, grumbling to himself, whilst Gwen made a sharp turn and headed the other way. He dragged his toes a little, so the rubber soles of his docker boots screamed faintly and echoed off the walls. Lancelot was of average height with a muscular torso, constantly covered by flannel shirts and his prized leather jacket. He had a matte of brown hair that somehow always managed to fall the right way, even when he wasn't trying. Armed with doodling fingers and eyes that often seeped at sad movies, Lancelot was usually a beautiful person.

But not when the mood was wrong and his plans were ruined. Tugging a baseball cap out of his satchel, he stuffed his curls beneath the red material and hurried to the reception where a gangly boy met his gaze and approached him. His eyes shone diamonds, twinkling when he caught his friend's eye.

"What took you so long?" the coal haired boy jeered lightheartedly.

"Don't speak to me," Lancelot growled, clamping an iron fist on his companion's arm and whisking him away.

"Gwen?" Merlin queried.

"I said don't speak to me," he repeated, his grip becoming a little tighter.

"Ok," Merlin's rolled his eyes. "I'll just take all the shit I bought you from the corner shop and burn it, I don't mind."

Lancelot's gaze shot up. "What- what corner shop? What did you buy me, what are you talking about?"

"Colsons' corner shop reopened today, didn't you know? It's called Pendragon and Son now, I don't know. Anyway, they sell comic books so I picked up a couple neither of us have because I'm an amazing friend like that; I also got some fanzines for Gwen because she's into that pretentious shit, and I bought myself a 5p mix."

"Alright," Lancelot muttered, defeated. "I don't need to know your whole life story."

Merlin chuckled as he grabbed Lancelot's wrist and tugged him down the corridor.