"Just a bit," He agreed playfully. "And I'd say the pencil is the most important part... Colouring should be left to the imagination, if you ask me," The boy said with a shrug, obviously blowing off his inability to colour accurately as an unimportant skill. As she whined about needing help, he laughed and nudged against her, "Whatever you need, princess," He teased and stuck his tongue out. "You know I'm always happy to. Dad always says that the best way to learn is to teach." In all honesty, he was never bothered by her asking for help, not even once. He loved doing it and they always had fun. Besides, why not? It just meant they had an excuse to spend more time together. He would have completely ignored the flyers and commotion as they arrived at the school had Sasha not taken him snooping.

... A dance? This is why everybody was crowding around one sheet of paper? His stomach twisted into a knot as Sasha started talking about it. She really wanted to go and he wasn't going to tell her how nervous it was already making him. He didn't dance and, much like most of the friends he had in his clubs, he wasn't the least bit social on a scale like that. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad; after all, he'd be with her. As she ran off to English, he left for French class, where his attention gradually drifted, snapped back to the teacher, and drifted off again. In fact, it happened all day in every class. His notes for the day, if one looked into his notebook, had gone from diligent and well-taken to completely useless for whatever was studied. Or, at least, for any class that Sasha wasn't in with him they were.

Entire lines were left half-finished and illegible as he forgot what he was writing or began to daydream in the middle of the teacher's lecture. It was debilitating and nigh impossible to tell if the day was going quickly or slowly. In Art, as he labored away at his mediocre drawing, he found himself glancing up and across the room at Sasha. Why was it they could pick their seats in the two most important subjects that the school had, but then in Art class they were assigned? How ludicrous... When the bell rang and he began packing up, he saw her peeking at the work and he shrugged, "Completion grades... The most wonderful and stressful part of this class. Puts the pressure on to do well for yourself and not for the teacher," He pointed out before putting everything he had away.

They began to walk for Gamers' Club and he held his coat over his shoulder, one hand in his pant pocket. It was quiet, but not awkward as she spotted the vending machines ahead. "I'll pass. You look really nice today, y'know," The boy pointed out while she fumbled for cash. One machine had drinks and the other had snacks, so while she put money into one, he pulled out his wallet and paid for her favourite snack from the other, already knowing what she wanted and handing it over with a smile before they started for the meeting again. She could offer it all she liked, but Sasha would know that he would stay with her. James was excellent with money, likely due to his math skills, so he could make money from birthdays and holidays last far longer than most of his friends. High school was just so different and he honestly felt like a different person than he used to be, even if it had only been a couple of months.

Gamers' Club was surprisingly active. A few of the members, most, really, subscribed to the Game Informer Magazine and the new issue had just recently arrived, so for the first part they passed it around and talked about everything from upcoming games to gear and technology in it. The second half of the meeting was rather surprising as the idea of a club-sized paintballing event was brought up. While most of them did not have the materials to play, it was also noted that most paintball places had supplies just for that reason. They discussed how to pay for it and James, being a slight control freak, volunteered to work out the club's financing for it. The club had a very loose set-up for its "leadership." There was little officially decided apart from a President, Vice President, and Secretary. They had to keep track of what they did and the school required the President and Vice President positions. However, the club, if compared to any government, was joked about as being the most Communistic of all the clubs. James often found himself taking a clerk's position and watching the small amount of funds they had. However, typically the group was just friends doing whatever they wanted.

After the meeting, as James pushed his arms into his coat, he spotted, from the corner of his eye one of the club members by Sasha. His stomach did a flip in his stomach. As he passively began to listen in, he sighed exasperatedly. Everybody already knew that Alex, a sophomore, had not joined the club because he had any interest in it. In fact, he only showed up to half of the meetings, but the real question was why. It wasn't that he was a bad guy, but a lot of the others got an aura from him that just said he was in the club for reasons known to him alone.

"Hey, Sasha," He said, leaning against the desk she had been sitting at, his hands helping support him at his sides as he smiled at her. "So... I'm guessing you've heard about the dance that's coming up... I was wondering if you'd do me the honor of letting me take you. Y'know, it'd be your first one and I just... well, it's important, y'know? I wanna help make it special."

James turned around and began placing things in his backpack. He thought he was maintaining his cool, but one of his friends looked at him as if to say [I]what are you doing?[/I] Turns out he was packing up a little bit more aggressively than usual. However, with Sasha distracted, he was able to fix the behavior, he hoped, before she saw him. By the time he turned around again, Alex was gone and he realized that he had stopped listening and had no idea what the outcome was. He dared not ask her what had happened because he didn't want her thinking that he was listening in. So, they departed on their usual walk home.

He felt his heart pounding again... Was he really going to drop the chance yet again? For what excuse? Because Alex had already asked? If anything, that was all the more reason as he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and sighed. "Sasha... Please don't go to the dance with Alex... I'm sorry, I was listening when he came up to you earlier." He looked up at her as he let out a breath, "I uh... Because erm. I'd really like if you went with me, instead," He stated briskly, doing anything he could to not meet her eyes. And, at the last minute, he added, "Y'know, as friends... or something." [I]Nice job... Very well done.[/I] He sarcastically applauded and chastised himself at the same time. "I mean, I understand if you wanna go with him or whatever, I just kinda figured we'd go to our first dance together, y'know?" When they finally returned to their walk, regardless of her answer or the awkwardness of the air, "Oh, my dad's cooking dinner tonight, which is kinda uncommon. We're having crêpes, if you wanna join us... We can study for our tests later this week, if you want."

[HIDER=Alex][URL=http://www.zerochan.net/822711][IMG]http://s3.zerochan.net/Sunohara.Youhei.240.822711.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Click for higher resolution.[/HIDER]