Marcus and Chloe weren't what most people would consider friends, they didn't coddle each other with false words, they didn't share secrets or every little detail of their day, and yet for Marcus none of that mattered. He had long held a certain amount of respect for the girl. While she had a few... quirks and her general behaviour might have been somewhat louder than Marcus', he couldn't deny that he loved seeing her giving the 'do-gooders' hell. She didn't parade around trying to be someone she was not. He didn't have many friends. Acquantinces, sure, he had a few. Enemies, he had plenty, but friends were rare.
"Was that a smile, Marcus?" She teased before pushing herself onto her feet. Marcus shrugged, not about to deny to small show of emotion. Although his face seemed to usually be set to an emotionless default, smiles weren't rare when he actually found something amusing. "But was there really that many people? God damn it..." Chloe continued, before the sound of a small collection of explosives cut her off. Sniggering followed shortly after and Marcus could only assume it was some set of pranksters, starting off the year with a literal bang. He mentally went through the possibilities, coming up with too many faces without names. The likely culprits would have been the twins, although like many other students he didn't care for, he couldn't remember their names or even what house they were in. Whatever their names Marcus couldn't say that he was impressed. There was absolutely no need to make such a show of yourself in such a public place.
Chloe seemed to share his general disdain for the occurrence, as he caught her muttering darkly, "How immature can you get?" before turning back to face him.
"Gaol Academy is unfortunately littered with immature idiots." He replied, giving a slightly exasperated sigh, "At least now we only have one more year to suffer through their juvenile pranks." He was already looking forward to finishing Gaol. He assumed he would pass all his exams with exemplary grades, he held himself to a high standard and wouldn't be happy with anything else. Then, once he had graduated from Gaol, he could travel the world researching magical animals and chasing dragons. His fingers curled around the packaged book that he had just purchased, his eagerness to read it sparking as his mind drifted to his future career.
"There weren't too many people." Marcus said a moment later, responding to Chloe's earlier question that had been interrupted by the small explosion, "I just happened to be passing and caught the end of the argument."