"You go get to your class already, I'll follow when the bell rings," Johannes said, Royce looking at him, confusion filling his face.
"You don't need help carrying these to your locker?" Royce asked Johannes, who motionly insisted on carrying Royce's books instead, as well as his.
"I don't need help from other people, and that counts you," Johannes responded, in a rather annoyed tone, as he started to head in the opposite direction of Royce's next class, when Johannes got the books in Royce's hands.
Royce didn't understand that midget. Why is he always grumpy? Does he think that he's better than anyone else just because he's smarter and richer? Well, being intelligent and having money does make you better than everyone else... Or does it?
Royce could only sigh, though as he started to lead to his next class, Royce felt uncomfortable due to the fact that he got used to people guiding him when he first got into this school.
And he was sure that some students were staring at him.
~~~
Royce entered his next class, and yet again, Cameroon was sitting in the front row along with two empty seats next to him. "Wassup, my man! Had fun with your 'alone time' with that little midget? Come on, sit down and let's talk about the exciting things that happened with you two," Cameroon joked as he laughed, luckily not loud enough to not draw attention.
"The first time when I was alone with that guy, I had to lock myself up in my room and question life," Cameroon added as he stopped laughing. Seriousness crawled into the eerie silence.
Royce certainly did not want to know the details of what happened during that time, as it must be some serious conversation they had.
"He just taught me a few things while waiting for the next class, nothing interesting," Royce said, pertly to just break the silence. To Cameroons' concern, nothing interesting happened with him and Johannes, but he did learn some things about him.
Royce sat down in one of the two empty seats that Cameroon had reserved. "Since you're Johannes's best friend—from what I have heard—can I ask a question about him?"
Cameroon froze and stared at Royce dead in the eyes. "Oh ho ho, I know everything about him. I'm no stalker, but Johannes was the easiest person I could read!" he said proudly, triumph filling in his voice.
"Well then, that means I can ask you a question about him, right—"
"Royce's favourite colour is blue or yellow, anything in between. His music taste is classical. His hobbies are writing and imagining things, and boy is it not fun when you have a friend who likes to imagine many fictional things to get out of reality. His favourite food is anything sweet, he and Jonathan both have a sweet tooth. Did you know that Johannes has godly cooking? I was surprised when he was the one that started cooking dinner when I had my first sleepover at his house. Johannes doesn't like anyone cooking for him except for Jonathan. Johannes never eats the lunch that was prepared for him at school by his father, no matter how good his father's cooking is, Johannes will never eat his cooking. Johannes prefers longer sleep, he personally believes that long sleep will make him taller, and, boy I have some bad news, it's been years and nothing has changed. Johannes' comfort drink is tea—tea runs in his veins, he drinks tea day and night, it's like water for him at this point."
Cameroon simply revealed all the things he knew about Johannes, and it was oddly scary that he knows these things and remembers them so clearly.
"That's only a quarter of, what I call, 'The Johannes Facts,' would you like for me to continue?" Cameroon asked. Royce shook his head immediately when the question fluttered to his ears.
"...You're creepy. "
Cameroon grinned. "One of my many traits, as well as being very manly and strong."
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"I just wanted to ask if Johannes is always grumpy around people," Royce asked, his brows lighting up, still with sudden shock.
"That's it? God, you could've said that at the beginning," Cameroon chuckled.
Royce could only facepalm internally.
Is this how it feels like to have a rather stupid friend that takes nothing seriously?
"Johannes is rather... secretive. He doesn't show his true self much in public, he's nicer than you think, but you just have to make him open up to you for him to show his true self. He's a young actor, he's been acting out ever since he started his acting career, he's really good playing out "the perfect role" he wants to be. Actually, he's being strict sometimes rather than the grumpy one. Because of his pretending, Johannes sometimes even forgets who he is. He often changes his emotions at the speed of light. He'd be mad and suddenly cry out of nowhere; he's rather sensitive actually, that's why I never fight back when Johannes legit shoved me on the canteen's floor, just deal with it and move on. I mean, it was my fault anyway, I have a heavy habit of making fun of people as I have a habit of teasing." Cameroon finally answered, chuckling nervously at the last part, though his tone had a hint of worry in it.
Royce finally understood one major detail about Johannes, the sudden change in his mood when he talked about himself finally made sense: Johannes was showing his real side to him, and not only that, Johannes doesn't even know him truly.
Cameroon sighed as he continued, "Mr James Brahms, his father, cares a lot about a "perfect" reputation, and so Johannes is publicly known because his skills and traits are what James wants to show to the public: a perfect child that he created, loyal to his parents and honours them a lot."
"Tell me, have you seen Jonathan on live TV?" Cameroon stopped and asked Royce a question.
Royce got into deep thoughts; he didn't even know that Johannes has an older brother until Richard introduced Jonathan. Royce also did notice something fishy about Johannes' father on TV; he's weirdly odd and in Royce's opinion.
"I never heard or seen him on TV, or on social media," Royce answered. For some reason, he got interested in knowing more about Jonathan and Johannes, even though he knew he shouldn't know their secrets...but he's a much of a curious person.
"Jonathan didn't meet Mr James' expectations. Do you think Jonathan is lucky to be born into a rich and luxurious family? In my opinion, he's not, he's rather... unlucky. Jonathan doesn't speak a lot because no one will usually listen to him, and it's been like that ever since he was young; well, that's until he met Richard, a rather people-pleaser and a father figure for everyone. Jonathan got really attached to him, just like a dog that follows his owner everywhere and enjoys his company. Actually, if you want to know more, ask Richard instead about Jonathan, there are no secrets between them." Cameroon continued on, "—That's only based on what I have learned, plus, most of it came from Johannes, but some of it is also based on what I observed."
Suddenly, the bell rang meaning the next class could start any minute. "Ugh, the next class is math. Numbers make me dizzy. It makes me want to bang my head against a wall." Cameroon whined
Cameroon looked at the open door of the room, a particular blond male with a grumpy face. "There he is, grumpy as usual," Cameroon chuckled, and Royce copied his movements, looking at the same spot and same figure.
Johannes, heading to the room, with a really pissed face. Something bad must have happened. Royce got worried about it just by seeing his expression.
When Johannes got in the room and sat on the seat in between the two mates, he finally admitted what's been bugging him.
"You're not going to believe what on earth Mr Colton and my father messaged me!" He scoffed as he gave his phone to Cameroon, an app open.
Cameroon started snickering when he saw the message on Johannes' phone. "Babysitting? And you're babysitting Hellebore and Graham? What an absolute pain. Hellebore freaks me out, and babysitting him would be the last thing I want to do. I have no problem with Graham, but Hellebore? Good luck with that, mate." Cameroon said as he gave back Johannes his phone.
Johannes facepalmed from his response.
"That's not what I'm having a problem with! I'm tutoring Royce too, how do I focus on tutoring if I have to take care of two people too?" Johannes grumbled.
Royce realised that Johannes is stressing about him, and if only he could cheer him up, but he decided to leave it to Cameroon instead, considering he knows just about practically everything about Johannes.
Johannes suddenly changed, his facial expressions relieved. "Right... Jonathan can just take care of them." He sighed as he put down his head on top of his table. "Can we buy ice cream later after school?"
"Sure, I'll bring the others too." Cameroon responded while he eyed Royce.
"You can come too, Royce. Johannes surely wouldn't mind, right?" Cameroon invited Royce/
Royce was surprised by the invitation. Was he really part of the friend group now? Or were they just being nice towards him? Honestly, Royce doesn't know.
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