Eric pulled Rosella’s arm to stop her slipping on the empty food wrappers at the top of the stairs before asking her about ‘why he needs a girlfriend when he seems to be surviving just fine already’. They would have the very same conversation every time Rosella mentioned his relationship status, he would complain about not needing anyone while she would argue that he would be happier if he had someone to love.

They turned the corner and walked along until they reached their art class and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall and waiting for the rest of the class and the teacher to arrive. The two of them were always the first to get to the art room, it was the only subject that they actually enjoyed because there was no real work involved except to sit and draw quietly. Rosella sat and watched Eric poking at the mp3 player he took back out of his pocket from earlier. “Did you break it or something?” She asked and moved across to the other side of the hall to sit next to him, dragging her bag with her.

His eyes moved to see the bag drag across the floor before turning his head to look at the girl innocently staring at him. “No, I forgot to recharge the battery before leaving this morning. Anyway, exactly what do you bring in your bag? It seems to get heavier on a daily basis.”

“Just my class books and work and stuff like that.” She told him, and for the next 10 minutes they sat and looked around, having a few random and short conversations every few minutes until the rest of the class arrived.