Completing Homework

The lush forest filtered the light over the path, making the sun spotty and irregular on the floor. Tiny bugs moved along a plant, trying to find food of sorts in berries and other insects, but scurried away as a boy loomed over it.
Oliver studied the plant, and nodded, crossing off a checkbox on a white piece of paper. His science class' homework had them going out into the forest and searching for a few different kinds of plants, writing about their appearances and various other things. After a half an hour of searching, Oliver had found all four, and the sun was still very much out.

The boy sighed, running a hand through his dull brown hair. He wanted to go to his dorm and take a shower. He'd have to sneak by Evelyn's room to do that, though, and wondered if he should wait until nightfall to shower. They did not need any more awkward encounters. Oliver's thoughts wandered back to Wren. He had been thinking about that girl a lot, and he felt weird about doing such a thing. They had held hands on their way back to the stables. It was warm--

"Uuugh, I am weird!" the boy suddenly shouted, thinking no one was around to hear. True, it was a weird thought, and he felt his brain was playing tricks on him. He slipped the paper into his bag, kneeling over it and not paying attention to his surroundings.

It was the same science homework that had sent Wren into the confinement of the forest. Only, much unlike Oliver, the blonde had forgotten all about the homework and found herself switing between doodling in her journal and snapping pictures. Sure, it might've been seen as slacking and careless, but Wren prefered to think of it as doing something much more fun. It was the weekend afterall and Wren was going to have fun.

Hearing a familiar voice the blonde felt herself grin and slinked out from behind an old oak tree. "You're very weird," The Brit mused, sneaking around to stand beside her friend. "What are you doing here... weirdo?" Letting out a small, musical laugh the girl nudged him friendly-ly with her elbow.

In all honesty Wren had also given that night a lot of thinking. For one, her shoes had been ruined and while it was a selfish reason to be so upset that wasn't the only thing that came to her mind. The girl remembered him too. She remembered the way he had comforted her after the horse's freak out and much like Oliver, she remembered the way he had held her hand as they raced to the dorm rooms. He was a really great friend and in times like this, she really appriciated his friendship.

"Gah!"
Oliver, whom was once kneeling, fell over onto his butt, he hands on either side of him on the ground and looking up at Wren. She had scared him, and though embarrassing, he gave a light laugh. "Don't sneak up on me like that." said the boy, dusting off his pants and standing up. He hauled his bookbag over his shoulder, which was still on the ground. "Hey, we haven't talked since the stables. How has Beata been treating you?" asked the boy with a nervous laugh. Second confrontations were always the hardest. First confrontations always let you establish yourself with your name, personality, power, etcetera. On second confrontations, you had to back up this personality and you didn't have the safeties of a greeting. It was kind of like a second date...
Dammit, Oliver! his smile faded as he thought this. It was random and creepy. He pushed the thought out of his mind and listened to her answer.

Wren's eyes grew wide as Oliver fell before her eyes, because of her. But as the boy exclaimed out loud, she felt herself release her pint up amusement in the form of a giggle. "I'm sorry, I-" She started, but clamped her mouth shut. Feeling bad, she extended a hand to help him up and blushed slightly that this had happened because she had snuck up on him.

The girl looked down at her dusty shoes and kicked a small rock back and forth between her feet. Looking up at him as he started talk, the girl shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, it's been pretty dull. Not many people are in the Summer house, so I have to entertain myself instead." She said with a slight hint of disapointment lingering on each word.

Unaware of this "second confrentation" rule, Wren was as carefreee and happy as ever. "What about you? How has your time been?" She questioned back, looking slightly hurt as his smile suddenly disappeared. Had she done something wrong? If Wren had done anything wrong she felt sorry about it. Sure, she didn't know it wasnt her fault, but until she realised it, she remained quiet and stared at him with curiosity.

The smile returned though, as Oliver started to explain. He left out his time with Evelyn, not wanting to let the girl know about something of the sort.
"Yeah, it has been fun. I've made a lot of new friends and my grades have been satisfactory." he explained. "I got into the Winter Dorm. Everyone there is really nice so far."
He left out specifics. Oh, the cute girl that has her dorm next door has become my biggest friend in the place! We had dinner together. She kept blushing at me!
That would be wonderful. He looked at the sun, way past the center of the sky. How had it become sunset so quickly? "We should head back." he suggested, putting a gloved hand in his pocket. It wouldn't take so long to arrive at the campus.

Wren nodded, taking note of his smile returning and flashing him a smile himself. "Well atleast one of us is having fun." She said. "My dorm is pretty quiet so far, but I'm sure they'll all lighten up... I hope so atleast."

As she continued to go on about the quietness of the dorm, she devolped a dreamy-farr-off stare. Her smile slowly started to fade and the color drained from her face. She really, and in all honesty, absolutely hated it here. The only good thing about this school was possible the great photo opportunities, Oliver, and possibly even Jason.

You know, Oliver could've told her about this girl. It's not like they were dating, so why would Wren care? Other than the fact the more she was near him, the closer she felt to him and almost to the point where maybe that would've made her jealous. But now she was okay with him liking this girl, everyone deserved to be happy, right? Wrong. Wren knew secretly, deep, deep, deep down inside she wouldn't be that happy and her happiness had to be important too.

"Back so soon?" Wren asked, poking out her lip slightly. "Your right though, we should start heading back. I don't trust this place at night." She whispered quietly, almost as though the bugs would hear her and come eat her. Yikes, that wouldn't be fun.

"Alright. Let's go."
Olive began to walk down the past as light started to fade through the trees, getting a little darker orange. The sky, showing through the leaves, was also getting more colorful, though Oliver would have preferred the light blue in a place like that. Still, he could see the lights of the lampposts in the distance. Wow, it seemed like Wren and Oliver constantly met during the nightime. Oliver glanced over at the girl walking next to him, hoping not to find her looking at him too. That would surely be awkward.

Following him Wren remained quiet, shuffling her feet and kicking out small pebbles that remained in her way. Her eyes remained foccussed on a certain pebble as she keeped kicking it forward with each step. Only, she felt Oliver's eyes catching a glimpse of her and when she looked up at him, their eyes met and she felt her cheeks heat up and she looked away, back to the pebble that was being kicked further and further along the dirt path.

She remained quiet until they reached a small clearing with a few benches placed side by side with tall lamp posts and small flowerpots. Wren looked over at Oliver and said, "Come sit with me." And the girl plopped down on the seat, patting an open spot beside her. Her gray eyes looked up at the stars and she grinned over at the boy. "I love the stars." She said with a smile, staring up at the milyway. "What about you? Do you ever think about space? About the possibilities of another world out there." She said, the far away, dreamy look creeping up onto her face. She exhaled with a smile and rested her hand on the bench slightly.

Oliver sat next to the girl, and when she mentioned the stars, he looked up as well. Minneapolis wasn't the biggest city, but it was a city nevertheless. Stars were a rare sight to see. When he looked up, he was surprised to find the infinite beauty in them. He couldn't help but gasp a little, a small sound escaping his lips. "I didn't until now." he breathed, examining every dot in the cosmos above.

When he found himself entranced, he blinked, and looked back down at her. "Erm...sorry." murmured the boy, and before she could answer, started laughing, the sound rising out of his throat before he even though about it.

Wren laughed at his answer, but stared up at the stars, her face was entranced and her eyes had a far-away dreamy stare. The swirl of stars, that looked as though someone splattered them on the sky with a can of sparkly white paint and an old paintbrush, reflected in her eyes as she got lost in every twist and turn of the milkyway. Slowly, holding the camera up to her face and snapping a few pictures, but even her glorious camera didn't do the sky justice.

While Oliver had snapped back into reality, Wren was still floating around in space. "Huh..?" Wren said, jumping with a wild, wide eyed stare. "Oh, yeah don't worry about it." The girl said with a laugh. "I do it too." She looked over at Oliver and met his eye, bursting out into more giggles at the start of his own.

As Oliver finished laughing, he reached into his backpack and took a drink from a water bottle that he had revealed. With parchness came hunger, and Oliver's stomach suddenly growled.

"Hey, you hungry?" asked the boy after the sound erupted, a small blush forming on his face. He placed the water bottle down next to him on the bench, deep in the slant so that it would not spill. There had been enough embarrassing things that day, and water spilling on him would not be one of them.

Wren's gazed remained on the swirly splashes of stars in the sky until she was forced to come back to earth once more. "Uhh... I already ate." The brit lied quickly, forcing her gaze away from Oliver with a small cough. "But if you're hungry I'll tag along!" She quickly covered up, looking at him with a false happiness and grinning.
While Oliver was nervous about being embarressed by a water spill, Wren was nervous about how Oliver would react if he knew... Ah, nonetheless, that was over and gone... right?

"Nah. I am not that hungry. I'll get something later, if you want to stay here." said the boy in a friendly tone. It was peaceful in the area, in which Oliver thought was the Courtyard. He didn't get a good look at the space in which they decided to sit in, but he did not care too much. He continued to watch the stars.

Wren was glad he didn't pick up on her slight lie and looked up at him with a smile. "Are you sure you aren't hungry? I don't mind going. I really don't bu-" Yet as she went to continue, she stopped and pointed up to the sky. "Oliver-- did you just see that?" The Brit exclaimed with wide eyes and a wide grin. Up in the darkness of the sky was a shooting star, it's tail stretching across the big dipper and weaving through the sky. Without thinking, the girl clamped her eyes closed and made a wish. It was actually an embarressing wish and she hoped she wouldn't have to repeat it.

Oliver watched the star shoot across the sky. How rare was such a thing? Shooting stars were scarce enough that they were associated with wishes, so this must have been a rare sight! Olive saw Wren close her eyes, and after putting two and two together, did the same thing. He didn't know what to wish for himself, and ended up wishing that his power would be fixed. He longed to have...well...hands he could use without treating them like they were radioactive.