The Fragrance Of Flowers And The Ringing Of Bells.

~*~

Hiro sat in the office holding an ice pack on his lower cheek where Peters' fist had landed. The other boy was also sitting across from him while Mr. Liao was standing by the window.

Hiro looked at the entirety of the office and paid no mind on the eyes that were trying to kill him from the other side then wondered. I had never seen the principal ever before. When he made speeches I would just be dozing off or ditching out the gym. And this is the first time I was sent in the principals office. Hiro scoffed.

"Oi! What's so funny Garette?" Peter snapped from the other side. Hiro rolled his eyes before his vision landed on Peter with a cold stare. If it were an anime, sparks of lightning bolt could be seen on the way these two looked at each other.

"Stop it Mr. Nolan. Haven't you had enough?" Mr. Liao intervened.

Hiro is Hiro. And he wouldn't be labeled as the beautiful nightmare with just his beauty alone, his vile mouth was top notch in provoking someone's temper. With a smile, Hiro leaned back on the sofa, sporting a carefree posture.

"The funny thing Peter is, you'll get more punishment than I am. You were the one who started it. And I had the proof right... here." Hiro pointed at his face with a playful smile.

Peter was already growling in anger. His fist tightly held together as he slowly stood up from his seat to strangle the living daylights out from Hiro. Upon seeing this scene, Mr. Liao quickly walked to Peter's direction to stop him.

"Hey! Mr. Garette and Mr. Norlan! Shut it!" Mr. Liao yelled.

The door to the office suddenly opened and a man around mid forties wearing a suit came in, dispersing the tension and the brewing war between this two youths.

Hiro scanned the man who was entitled as the Principal. His hair was slick back nicely and has a pair of golden rimmed spectacles over his brown eyes. The man had few white strands and wrinkles but still looked vigor and strict.

So this is the new principal? Mr. Bern Cole.

He sat down on his leather seat behind the table and pulled the papers that were laying on the table. He looked through it while nodding his head and looked at Hiro with a knowing look.

"Mr. Hiro Nicholas Garette." He called Hiro's full name and looked at him with a nod. "Your records are clean from any violations and warnings." He stated.

Then he turned to Peter. "Mr. Peter Norlan, your records are really something. And you started a new fight just now. Then... I will give you three days of suspension."

Shoot! Three days of suspension? That's equal to the three days suspension if you were caught with drugs in school!

Peter immediately shot up from the sofa. Anger painted on his face. "What the fuck! That arrogant asshole over there started it!"

The Principal just looked at Peter with a 'as If I care' look which made Peter shut his mouth.

"The evidence is clear on his face Mr. Norlan. And I'll make four days of suspension for cursing in my office. Now get out!"

Shoot! Totally worse than bringing drugs to school! Is this my lucky day today? Was Virgo the Virgin struck with a lucky card today?

"This is bullshit!" Peter cursed again and stormed out of the office, slamming the door with a loud bang. The room fell silent for awhile before Mr. Cole coughed and looked at Hiro with a sigh.

"We are sorry for the inconvinience Mr. Garette." Mr. Cole assessed.

Hiro shooked his head while both of his hands extended forward and stood up to leave. "No no, thank you Mr. Cole, Mr. Liao. I guess I should get back to class."

Without hearing another reply, Hiro quickly trotted out the office with an awkward face. When he managed to slip outside of the office was he able to breath a sigh of relief.

--

Lunch came around and the students started to crowd the hallways to get to the cafeteria. Since Hiro was not fond of eating lunch, he packed up his things and went to the library to hang around.

The place had less numbers of people inside considering that most of them went to the cafeteria to have lunch. Hiro took out something from his pants back pocket, it was his ID. He registered his identification card on the scanner and quickly head in to find a good seat.

The size of the library should be around half the size of the schools gymnasium. And during exams, this place would be full of students who studies from morning till night, only having break during lunch. It has two floors and has a garden outside where students could eat or take a break from studying.

Hiro found an empty seat by the windows and put his bag down then headed for the isle where literary works could be found. He, himself didn't even know why he loved reading these things, the only thing he knew of is that it makes him nostalgic just from reading some literature works. I guess it reminds me of my mom?

He pulled one book off from the shelves and was startled when a face greeted him from the other side. This person sported a huge grin and wide eyes which made Hiro think that it was some evil ghost.

"Oh fuck!" Hiro clutch his chest, the book had long gone fell to the floor. "You scared me! Could you just approach me in a good way?!" He angrily whisper yell to the other person who was clutching his stomach from the pain of laughing too much.

This guy could be seen laughing so hard that if a cold person sees him, they would also laughed! But the most funny thing was, there was no sound that emitted from his mouth while laughing. Only labored breaths HA... HA... HA...

"Dude, sorry okay." He chuckled. Wiping the tears that had formed on the corner of his eyes.

Chester Green is one of Hiro's few friends in school. Although they were in separate classes, they still hang out together with their other two friends they had who are in different class too.

His black curls were tucked inside a beanie, making Hiro see his clear and acne free skin and black eyes.

"You really love literature don't you?" The guy stated while running his fingers on the pile of books on the shelf as he walked towards Hiro's direction.

"Yup..." Hiro replied and crouch down to retrieve the book that had fallen on the floor.

The two sat down on the chairs where Hiro left his bag. He opened his preferred book and started reading through it. Moments later, two of Hiro's friends sat down with them. James Forelle was a red dyed head teen with tan skin while Maycee Chang is an asian boy.

"Heeey..." James greeted as he sat down beside Chester. Maycee followed suit, sitting himself beside Hiro.

"Hey guys? Are you free this weekend?" Maycee excitedly asked as he tap the table in front of them to get their attentions. Hiro tore his focus away from the book he was reading and looked at Maycee sitting on his side with a confuse look.

Everyone around the table looked at each other first before they shook their head, indicating that they were free this coming weekends. With a smile, Maycee announced.

"Its my mom's birthday! And you're all invited!" Maycee chirped happily. "We'll be going to our villa by the beach so make sure to bring with you your swimming trunks buddies!"

'The idea sounds good. But the problem is Darius. Again. I don't know if he will let me go with these guys. When I was still in elementary, I went to a camping trip with these guys. Darius secretly dispatched some men to look out for me. I couldn't even perform my task right in that camp when tons of eyes were looking at me like a hungry beast ready to devour its prey. After that, I never went to any other trips until I reached high school.'

'Hmph! I will just have to sneak out then!'

"So... Are you coming?"

A chorus of agreement sounded. Maycee settled back down on his chair, beaming happily to himself.

Boy am I excited for this little trip. But something deep within me, I felt nervous. Hiro thought.

--

The class resumed in the afternoon. Hiro was with Chester in this class that talks about compounds and chemicals, in short Chemistry.

Whenever Hiro's eyes landed on the various chemicals laid out on the table he can't help thinking that he hated this subject and wished that he could just splashed the chemical to Ms. Dee so that class would be cancelled.

Chester sat beside Hiro, chattering with the rest of their classmates. Hiro held a book in his hands and was looking at it seriously. He was reading his daily horoscope!

'I especially bought this one in the book center to see what would be my readings for today since I missed the program this morning. So far, my horoscope for today is good. And for my bad luck, I have to stay from people who has a bad temper.'

'So that explains why I was sent to the office with Peter! That ill tempered jerk!' With a loud slap on the table, the room became quiet. All eyes fixed to Hiro who was smiling awkwardly. 'Hehe'

After reading his own horoscope, he kept the book back to his bag. Chester faced him with a smug look. His hand propped under his chin as he looked at Hiro with one of his eyebrow rose and asked.

"You were sent to the principals office with Peter Norlan?" Hiro scratched his head and smiled indecently.

"Wow! News just reached you now?" Hiro mocked while pulling his pen and notebook from his bag. Chester's face turned dark and slammed his hands on the table, causing the chemicals inside the test tubes to splash.

"Fuck! If that guy was bullying you, you should've told me so I can kick his ass!" He stated angrily. Hiro laughed and looked at him with a sideway glance.

"He would have your ass kicked first before he lets you kick his own." He teased.

"What the fuck! Just because I'm shorter than him doesn't mean I can't get even with him? I may be small but I'm agile! Agile as a cat!" He declared with justice as he kept on slamming the table. The chemicals had already started to spill on the table as it bounced up and down.

"Settle down class. I will start our lesson so please listen." Ms. Dee entered, making the whole class settle back down on their respective chair.

Chester had also behaved on his seat, still muttering profanities and curses towards Peter. Hiro rested his chin under the back of his palm as he looked at Ms. Dee standing at the small podium in front. And since the lectures didn't matter to him, he decided to doze off for awhile.

When darkness started to enveloped his vision, Hiro could feel a strong gust of wind blew past him carrying the fragrance of flowers. The sound of bells tingling could be heard somewhere but he couldn't point out which direction since everything was dark and the sound would echo from diffefent directions simultaneously.

This feeling seemed familliar but he couldn't remember where he had experienced such feeling.