ruby // johndave

four

john pov

After we had shown Dave to his class, we sat in our usual corner in the back of the top set classroom.

Jade huffed. "Is it me, or did everything suddenly get really awkward?" I nodded in agreement, and Rose frowned slightly. "I think he heard you two talking about him in the practice room. I did, so it's safe to assume he did as well."

Jade face palmed. "You guys heard that? I thought we were being so sneaky as well." "He could be annoyed that we were talking about him behind his back. Or that you have a crush on him. I don't understand why he'd be upset about that though," I said.

Rose tapped on the table with her pen. "He could be gay." Jade nudged me in the ribs and wiggled her eyebrows. "Oooh, John, sounds like you might have a chance after all!"

I rolled my eyes. "Shame I'm not gay though," I smirked. "That's what I said before I met Kanaya." Rose winked at me. As if on cue, Kanaya walked in alongside Karkat.

"Speak of the devil and she doth appear," Jade whispered in my ear, making me burst out laughing. Rose shushed me and waved them over.

Kanaya said hello politely and sat next to Rose, but Karkat slammed his hands on the table. "Hey shit heads, have you seen that guy in red? With the shades? Because he is just charming," he said sarcastically in his loud raspy voice.

"Yeah, we met him in music," Jade grinned. "But John met him at the playground this morning and-"

Karkat cut her off. "Look, I don't care where you met him. What's his name?" Me and Jade simultaneously raised our eyebrows. "Why do you want to know?"

"So I can carve his name on his grave when I kill him later," he scowled, sitting opposite us. "Woah, what happened?" Jade asked, wide eyed. "He knocked some shit off a shelf onto me, and then denied it after, like he was totally innocent."

Kanaya sighed. "For the last time, Karkat, I would have been impossible for him to have done that. He was not anywhere near the shelf. It must have been an accident."

"Yeah, that doesn't really sound like something Dave would do. He's a nice guy." Thinking about it though, he had seemed sort of angry when he had come back from reception. Maybe he'd done it because of that? I hoped not.

"Whatever. I'm still going to kick Dave's ass." Karkat hissed.

The teacher shushed us, having finished whatever he was doing, and started the register. However, a muffled explosion from another room interrupted us. The class erupted into giggles and whispers.

The door swung open, an exasperated teacher with a slightly charred Dave by her side. She went over to our teacher and started whispering things, and I waved at Dave.

He strode over, smiling slightly. "I guess I'm in this class now." I grinned. "You've got a little something all over you." I gestured to his front.

"Huh. Odd." He brushed off his shirt and removed his shades to clean them. He kept his head low as he did so, and didn't bother wiping his face.

Dave took a seat next to me. Him and Karkat made eye contact and they both went tense. "What are you doing here?" Karkat snapped. "Did a test, got bored blew some shit up. Now I'm in top set," Dave scowled.

Me and Jade shared a look of confusion and slight dread. "You blew something up?"

Dave turned to Jade, seeming to relax slightly. "Yeah. I was doing a test to see what set I should go in, but the teacher kept ignoring me when I said I was done, so I got bored and made a mini bomb. I blew it up because I was fed up of being ignored."

Karkat frowned in disgust. "Sounds like you're a bit of an crybaby attention whore to me."

I ignored him and asked Dave something instead. "Where did you get the stuff to make a bomb? I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be any in that class." He drummed his fingers on table thoughtfully. "I don't know. I just found it I guess."

Karkat scoffed. "Who the fuck just 'finds' explosive materials? Are you sure you didn't sneak it into school?"

"Oh for gods sakes you two!" Rose snapped suddenly. "Stop bickering! Whatever you've got against each other, sort it out."

Dave and Karkat glared at each other, although Karkat's glare was significantly angrier. "Why did you knock those books onto me?" "It wasn't me. If it was, then it was an accident, and I'm sorry, but I'm not going to take the blame if you don't have an proof it was me." There was a pause. Karkat sighed. "Fine. Okay. I'll forget it."

Dave stuck out his hand. "Great. Name's Dave Strider. Yours?" Karkat grasped his hand tightly. "Karkat Vantas. That's Kanaya Maryam by the way," he added, pointing to Kanaya. She waved. "It is a pleasure to meet you Dave Strider."

Rose snorted. "What's with the surnames?" "It's called being professional Rose." Karkat retorted. "You should know all about that."

The teachers finally stopped talking and the female one left, leaving us to continue the lesson.

Many people were still staring at Dave and giggling, due to his face having black smudges all over it. I nudged him in the ribs and whispered to him. "You might want to wipe your face." He shrugged, smiling slightly. "People are staring," I added.

Immediately Dave swung his arm up so he could wipe his face. He kept repeating "shit" under his breath; this time he didn't bother dipping his head, and I could see that his freckled face had paled noticeably. He also kept his eyes shut tight, which I thought was pretty odd.

I wondered what could have caused him to panic so much. Maybe he had social anxiety or something? Or maybe he just didn't like people staring at him.

Dave put his shades back on and sighed. "Ha ha, sorry for freaking out so much. I don't really like people staring at me, it kinda reminds me of... Where I used to live. Yeah." The end of his statement sounded like he was trying to convince himself it was the right answer.

My breath hitched in my throat before I asked him a question. "Were you... Popular in your old school?" I gave a small sigh of relief when instead of being offended, he seemed amused by the question. "I've been to two schools before this one; the most recent one I wasn't paid any more attention to than the others, but the one before that, I wasn't really that popular until..."

Dave's voice trailed off at the end. "It's okay, you don't have to say," I reassured him.

The teacher sighed in exasperation. "John, Dave, I know that Dave's new and all, but you need to pay attention to the lesson, okay?"

I whispered one last thing to Dave. "We'll talk at lunch, yeah?" He rested his head on his hand. "Yeah."

oh god I just realised that this story will probably have loads of continuity errors

I'm so sorry

but oooh what happened at Dave's old school??

I actually really like this chapter as well wow

thanks for reading and stuff!!

bye!! <3