Sunsets and Constellations | B X B

• F I F T E E N •

A R I U S

Arius was on his way to the dining hall for a quick snack before he would go to the music room for their last detention session.
He was going earlier than everyone else hoping to collect a bite and miss them.

After Viggo's game back in Charlottesville, Madilyn, Koovs and Viggo had struck up a friendship with Jake, Elijah, Ryder and the other bubbly girl. As much as Arius found it uncomfortable, he did make it a point to spend lunch and other breaks with them for Viggo's sake but sometimes it was too overwhelming. Their groups had merged now and everyone was having a great time getting to know each other the past four days or so. Jake and Viggo got along extremely well and Tirzah was the extrovert of the group. She and Madilyn were on the track team together which was another bonus. Not forgetting the fact that Koovs and Madilyn were in the art class with Elijah. Then there was Ryder, the quietest among them all, but everyone knew her because she was a fucking genius and one of the only juniors in the Student Council. Oh, and they had astronomy together.

It was easy because they pretty much knew each other, and they were just taking it a notch up by hanging out as friends.
Arius on the other hand, just really didn't want to become friends with too many people only to have everyone gradually forget each other and move on. Better yet, he'd avoid the entire fucking situation.

He grabbed a cottage cheese sandwich with some greens and a paper cup, jogging all the way to the block. That would warm his body up a little. They were nearing Thanksgiving and it was getting really chilly, what with living practically in the woods surrounded by nothing but a dense fortress of trees for miles and miles. And he wasn't even wearing a jacket, just his black undershirt with a black tee thrown over it and a grey beanie covering his messy hair.

He washed down his sandwich with some latte and swung the huge door open. The room had started to look unlike anything it had looked like earlier and undoubtedly, Arius had done most of the work. The thick carpet was clean and looked the colour it probably was when they'd put it down and the piano was shimmering in the early evening sunlight.
Elijah always came late and just annoyed the shit out of Arius without getting tired of doing it. The boy was an absolute pain in the arse.

But somehow, they always ended up in the same proximity and Elijah had seemed simply delighted to see Arius. He still hadn't returned Arius's blue eraser that he'd borrowed during philosophy class in which they had been assigned to be each other's partners since last week.
If Arius didn't know any better, he'd conclude that the high-spirited basketball player was almost scared of him, but not quite. Not like Arius had wanted him to be. And then sometimes, it almost looked like Elijah was crushing on him. He hadn't missed the nervousness and blushing he caught whenever Arius stepped too close to him.
If he didn't know better, he would believe that the idiot was crushing on him.
Then again, Arius did have that effect on most people, both girls and boys.
But Elijah was as straight as they came. And he was definitely fucking Ryder. The two were always sniggering and laughing at some inside joke or the other during lunch that the others wouldn't understand.

Since he was early to detention, he decided he would try his hand at playing something on the piano. When he'd first worn his prosthetic around seven months ago, he couldn't do anything with it, much less play the piano. But he had gone back to his teacher and insisted that he teach him all over again. And he'd succeeded, somewhat. It wouldn't ever be the same, but it was something and as much as it made Arius bitter, he was grateful that he could play most of the pieces that he'd grown to love over the years. Except for a handful of the toughest ones.