Snippet #2291811

Wasalu closed his eyes. He could almost feel the rain he had been wishing for all day. Dante had started a garden and whenever Wasalu went to his brother's home, Dante had him water the plants. His dad was off to something in the city, a book exposition with tons of authors who might fund the library, so Wasalu was living with his brothers at the moment. He disliked having to garden, though. He wished it would rain just for that alone. But then we wouldn't get to play soccer, would we? He thought, smiling to himself.

He had stayed after school because his brothers were both too busy to pick him up today. He could've walked home, but he was too lazy to do that. So instead he had told himself he'd go to soccer practice-- and instead ended up daydreaming under a tree by the field. The coach normally found him slacking off when the team had to jog around the field, but today he'd been held up by his English teacher. It was always annoying to get held up-- he hated having to talk about how he was no good at school things. There were only so many times he could talk about how difficult it was for him to read before he wanted to knock someone out. Some of his teachers still called his home to ask his father about ways to help Wasalu learn to like reading. It made school a pain in the ass. The only upside to having to listen to all of this was that Diego would always get just as upset as Wasalu did, which was especially funny if Diego was the one to come pick Wasalu up while one of the more brave teachers felt the need to approach someone in the Armando family.

The shouts from the field let him know that the soccer team was still practicing. He hadn't gone yet, but he could go still. He needed to attend at least one soccer practice this week. Maybe kick the ball around, joke around with the other guys... But he felt like painting. He didn't always have his easel and canvas-- today being one of the days that Dante had caught him trying to leave the house with his painting supplies and had taken them away so that Wasalu wouldn't ditch class-- and as such, he couldn't just start painting what he saw. He supposed he could sketch, though. When he opened his bag, he found he didn't have his sketch book.

Well, this is slightly annoying. He thought after his search. Zipping up his bag, he sighed and thought, I guess it's in my locker? Getting up, he slung his bookbag over his shoulder and started towards the school.

He hadn't gotten far before he saw someone walking around the school. It kind of seemed as though the person was frustrated with something or... trying to hide from someone? Wasalu frowned slightly. It wasn't just anyone. Gawain! He realized. The way he was walking was far too fast to be a normal romp around school. Is he being bullied again? Wasalu quickly scanned the area. Wait, wait... Gawain's not dumb. He'd come get me if he needed me. And he'd probably be less relaxed if he was being chased. Wasalu thought. Still, he surveyed the area for someone following him. There was no one around looking like they particularly cared about the scrawny boy's current antics. Okay... maybe he managed to lose them? Wasalu thought. But Michael wasn't walking around like he was relaxed and happy... Maybe he was still in trouble. In any case, people normally didn't bother Michael if he was with Wasalu, so he figured he'd help Michael hide for a bit before Diego showed up to pick Wasalu up from soccer practice. So he jogged over to Michael, who looked like he was going to the parking lot.

...Doesn't he have a car...? Wasalu thought. What's Gawain doing wandering around the school if he's got a car? I wouldn't even be in school if I had a car. He paused to think about it, but then assumed he was too stupid to figure out what his genius friend was doing. Michael was too smart, it made Wasalu worry that his friend disliked how absolutely stupid Wasalu could be every now and then. He did, however, note Michael's headphones and decided not to approach Michael from behind. He caught up to Michael easily since the boy really wasn't doing a good job hiding himself.

"Gawain...?" He asked, hoping his friend didn't jump out of his skin. "You busy? Wanna go with me to grab my sketch book?"