guys like you [ prinxiety ]

[ 26 ]

"then away roman strolled, probably to find virgil and start formulating a plan."

explanation of british school system:

secondary school (or high school) covers the ages of 11-17
it starts with year 7 (age 11-12), then year 8 (12-13), year 9 (13-14), year 10 (14-15), year 11 (15-16) and then sixth form, which not all secondary schools have, since there are separate schools called sixth form colleges, which is year 12-13 (age 16-18). at year 11, we take examinations called GCSEs which essentially determine our entire future, you start studying/preparing for GCSEs basically at birth. at the end of year 13 you take A-Levels, which are super important qualifications and determine what you'll do at university. all UK schools, with the exception of special needs schools, require students to wear uniform. at the beginning of this fic roman was wearing his own clothes, because i was trying to appease my american readers, but wearing whatever you want to school is not familiar to me, so we're changing to uniform, whoot whoot.

roman's pov

roman had thirty minutes until the end of lunch, and he STILL hadn't found that cowardly bastard virgil. he had been scouring the school for about, twenty minutes? he had walked into not one, but TWO sixth form lessons on accident as he opened the door to every single bloody classroom in the GOD forsaken school. he had called virgil about ten times, and roman had even gone to the extent of checking the inside of the lost property cupboard, because that stupid purple haired idiot was the human equivalent of a year 7's forgotten blazer. speaking of purple hair, wasn't that like, 100% against the school dress code in every way? though, it wasn't like roman himself payed attention to the school uniform rules. he wore jordans instead of black leather shoes, he had a bomber jacket permanently replacing his embarrassingly too small blazer. he even wore sweatpants instead of the school trousers sometimes, just to see what he could get away with. and he got away with a lot, since the teachers were always too preoccupied trying to get the Year 9, 10 and 11 girls to stop rolling up their skirts so everyone could literally see up their arse when you walked behind them up the stairs. seriously. if tom holland wasn't what turned him gay, then that horrifying sight certainly did.

after climbing up the main school staircase for what felt like the millionth time that day, roman was on the verge of giving up. he had one last place to check, which was the roof of main school, which was the only building with access to a flat roof. it used to be used for astronomy lessons back in the 70's, before the school decided to become lame and boring and not to do that anymore.
"like damn, imagine having a school telescope?" roman muttered to himself as he climbed up the narrow steps to the roof. "that would be sick."

when he finally reached the top, a cold slap of air stopped him in his tracks. it was awfully windy, which was probably why the small area was completely void of the usual year 11s smoking weed. the view from the top was pleasant, as always. there was something placating about viewing his bustling town from so high.

"roman."

a voice broke roman from his admiring. he turned behind him, to see he had FINALLY found virgil with his back to the fence, sleeves rolled up and tie pulled loose. his stupid purple fringe swayed against his face, and from his lips, a cigarette hang precariously. roman felt a pang in his stomach, and he shivered slightly. from the cold, obviously. not from the intimidation... and whatever else was festering in his stomach.

"are... are you smoking?" roman said incredulously, his voice too loud and too high. virgil snorted.
"yeah. is that a problem?" the hooded teen replied.
"uh.. yes? smoking is so like,, 90's. dude. you know they make... i dunno, like bubblegum flavoured vape now? smoking is for grandpa's."
virgil lifted his head and his eyes locked onto roman's, and he slowly, lazily, stood up, the script that was in his lap falling to the ground. he walking right up to roman, until their noses almost touched, and roman was vividly reminded of the time when they were in the very same situation at the auditions, when virgil had a panic attack and when he squished roman's face after chasing him around the hall.

virgil suddenly huffed out his held-in breath, breaking the remarkable stillness, and a vast cloud of lung-tickling smoke clouded roman's face. roman's felt his face contort in disgust.
"VIRGIL!" roman managed to yell through his spluttering. "WHAT THE FU- "
but the other boy was long gone, collapsed on the floor with loud, obnoxious laughter, interrupted by little snorts. "HAH! you should have, you, abfrheyehhahaha, you should've SEEN YOUR face!" virgil howled, and roman felt laughter bubbling up within him. "YOU PROBABLY JUST GAVE ME LUNG CANCER?? THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" roman screeched, but the poorly hidden grin on his face said otherwise. virgil slapped the floor a few times through wheezing, and after a long time of pausing, and then laughing again, and then stopping, and then laughing again, both boys were spent.

"what's gotten you so confident today? that's supposed to be my thing." roman said when they had finally calmed down.
"dunno. thinking of a plan to break into mr calazans office has been a welcome distraction to my usual intrusive thoughts."
"oh cRap! the plan! dude, we were supposed to come up with a plan this lunch! we're breaking into his office tomorrow, remember? tomorrow's rehearsal is the only time he'll be out his office for sure. AND! not only that, but this weekend is your auntie's anniversary dinner! ya know, the one where i'm supposed to be your boyfriend?? we don't have a plan for that, either? EVERYTHING IS GOING TO SHIT- "
"roman, chill." virgil interrupted. "we can just meet up after school today to discuss both things. you free?"
"oh. yeah. that's pretty smart, i guess." roman said. "i'm free. do you want to come round to mine? since.. ya know.."
virgil and roman had hung out quite a lot, the past few months, since their characters shared a lot of scenes and they needed to practise their interactions. but, out of all those times, roman had only seen virgil's house once, and that was only to drop him off since it was dark out.
"nah. you can come round to mine. my mum wants to meet you, and don't worry, i told her that you're not actually my boyfriend." virgil responded
"yeah, okay. then."
roman shivered again, even though the sun had burst through the clouds, and the wind had stopped completely.