Chapter 2: Relations and Ruminations
As Lambert steps out into the yard the sun is still annoyingly bright making him take out his sunglasses from his messenger bag which provide him some much needed relief. He can't help, but hope he will sleep better tonight so he doesn't have to deal with this. For a moment he was thinking he could sleep in class as he was far enough ahead that he could sleep in class for the next few months and he still wouldn't be missing anything, but this would be improper.
His sister impatiently drags him towards the bus stop around the corner to ensure they didn't miss it. It wasn't hard to keep up with her though due to his long strides compared to hers which slightly annoyed her, she was only one year younger yet he towered over her unlike the boys in her class and he had barely even started his growth spurt unlike her.
'It just isn't fair.' she thinks to herself. She is wearing a blue and white summer dress that comes down just past her knees despite it still being slightly cold due to it being early spring, her long chestnut hair flows as she turns around to look at him.
"Lam! Come on, you're making us late." she whines, though the slightly petulant behaviour is coming off more cute than anything else despite her best efforts.
"We'll make it sis, don't worry." he smiles and assures while he lets her keep dragging him along without any resistance. She nods at his response, but it doesn't slow her down at all.
Not long after they make it to the bus stop the bus is already there. The door opens with a hiss the clamouring of kids breaking out before they even board with the few kids from their neighbourhood. His sister quickly spots someone, waving her goodbye to him as she sits next to her best friend and classmate Carla who seems to be quite distracted blushing as she shoots him glances and quickly looking back to Cinthia who immediately started a conversation.
He playfully smirked winking at the girl. Her eyes go wide for a moment before her blush begins to spread all the way to her ears as she stopped glancing at him in embarrassment. While he walks further towards the back of the bus searching for an empty seat multiple others glance and stare at him, most of them being girls around his age unable to help themselves, he simply stands out for too many reasons most of all his unusual appearance and behaviour. If it wasn't for him being so attractive he would definitely be labeled a weirdo.
Despite growing up in a middle class American household and going to a public school anyone would believe it if they were told he was secretly a noble or royal descendent from England sent to study abroad and ready to head to Oxford after getting his high-school degree due to his Received Pronunciation accent and noble-like etiquette.
Due to his attractive-ness though to most of the girls rather than making it weird it only added to his charm as it made him even more of a Prince Charming in their eyes, but to many of the boys it definitely made him weird. Over the years everyone just got used to it though as it just being how he was for those that knew him.
Lambert quickly found an empty window seat a little further towards the back and didn't hesitate to take it for himself casually sitting down and started staring out the window letting his surroundings fade to the back of his mind as he tries to think about the strange dream and how drastically it suddenly changed this past night. They have always been strange and something he kept from others, because who dreams about the same place. Every. Single. Night.
They were never gory and horrific like this one was though. It's just too strange. At best they won't believe him and at worst he will be dragged to therapy to talk about what it means, but he doubts they would be able to since they are nothing like other people's dreams as he discovered after asking multiple other people throughout the years. Normal dreams generally fade from your memory and you don't learn things in them.
It was the complete opposite for his. He remembered them just like any real experience, not only that it was almost like having a whole other life there separate from his regular life. It is to the point where he has even been able to confirm that he is able to use the skills and knowledge he has learned in the dreams in his regular life. From simple things like acting or etiquette to far stranger things like swordsmanship and horsemanship.
No matter what though it was always either in or near the same castle from last night. He can barely even describe it as having a dream beyond that he knows he goes to sleep before it and wakes up from it. It would seem more like he was living a whole other life there if it wasn't so surreal there. Despite it being very realistic with him even being able to feel things and learn things while remembering everything there were tells that it wasn't quite real.
The world lacked a certain sense of continuity just like how others had described of what little they did remember of their dreams. Like imagine sitting at the dining table finishing dinner, but instead of leaving just suddenly appearing in the bedroom getting ready to go to bed or finishing your exercise only to suddenly find yourself in the shower without having to go there. Also the castle always seemed weirdly isolated, even more so than you would expect.
Sure sometimes new instructors, teachers or staff would appear. However, there never seemed to be anyone that came from nearby cities or really anyone not directly related to the activity going on right that moment. Also anyone not vital to his experience appeared quite generic both in appearance and behaviour.
Not unlike an NPC in a game where the developers just couldn't be bothered to put effort into giving them a fully fledged unique appearance and personality and preferred spending that effort on what they considered to be important. It was all just slightly uncanny, revealing that it wasn't a fully fledged world. Just a fragment or a figment not a reality.
Before he realises a few stops have already passed when he is suddenly roused from his thoughts when someone plops down beside him. He glanced away from the window to see a scruffy kid with an unkempt mop of dirty blond hair. He greeted him by nodding at him.
"Hey Lambert, Happy Birthday! Do anything good?" he asks Lambert.
"Hello Robert, It was quite alright. Cinthia convinced me to come see a movie with her and mother made us a delectable steak meal accompanied by a birthday cake for desert. How was your weekend?" Lambert asked him nonchalantly.
"I keep telling you to just call me Rob." he snorts back at him before his eyes light up. "Emily! Get over here."
A cute girl their age with shoulder length brown hair and bright blue eyes hurries over to sit in the aisle seat in front of them and turns around leaning on the backrest facing them with a broad smile. She was wearing some jeans and a loose cream coloured frilly top that gave her a casual, but still slightly feminine feel.
"Hey guys, flirting this early in the morning?" she says with a playful smirk. Robert frowns at her immediately, a flush on his face as he still remembers when he first joined their class two years ago before Lambert had his growth spurt that made his body a bit less feminine looking that he thought Lambert was a cute girl with great girlfriend potential and Emily would never let him live that one down for the rest of his life.
It didn't help that though less feminine now Lambert was still very attractive to both girls and boys though most of the boys would never admit to it and this definitely included Robert. Meanwhile Lambert had no real reaction causing Emily to roll her eyes as she really wants to see him flustered too, but she never seemed to be able to manage this. No matter how hard she tries Lambert always remains cool and collected with a slightly playful teasing edge.
"You're no fun Lam. Oh right. Happy Birthday!" she starts grumbling, but quickly changes track taking a bag of M&Ms from her backpack and stuffs it into his hands with a smile.
He raises his brow in bemusement, but cracks a small smile before opening the bag and tossing a few in his mouth, his eyes revealing a slight joy despite his neutral expression already having returned before sharing some with them too.
"Nom...nom Thanks Lambert." Robert says with a mouth stuffed too full with M&Ms which just makes Emily roll her eyes at him instead and Lambert chuckles lightly. Robert has always been this way after all, not caring what others think and a bit off a mess to be honest. If he did they might not have been friends now as most guys were too intimidated, embarrassed or both to spend time with Lambert and not many of the girls wanted to be just friends with him like Emily is.
He didn't mind too much interacting with the girls that were looking for more from him, but was glad that he was able to relax around Emily knowing there was no pressure to manage a respectable and healthy distance to not give the wrong impression. It was bad enough when he was just cute, but back then at least most just wanted to befriend and hug him like they would for any of their other cute girl friends.
However once he got his first growth spurt that was more extreme than the other boys in his class making him more muscular and tall causing him to look like he belonged in a higher grade rather than the others that things started changing and they started looking at him in a different way wanting more.
It had taken him some time to learn to manage his relationships without hurting the feelings of too many people. Though thankfully most had learned by now and other than some stares and glances most wouldn't push further than that anymore.
"Have you guys prepared for next week?" he asks curious about their preparations for exam week even though he can guess what their answers are going to be. Emily has a confident smile, but he can tell that though Robert is trying to smile confidently he is anything but and quickly looks away hiding his expression.
"...uhm... Of course!" Robert says a little too loud trying to overcompensate for his insecurity. Though not stupid he could never even keep up with Emily let alone Lambert and studying is just so boring that he always ends up distracting himself by watching TV, browsing social media or playing a game.
"I only need to revise my notes this week to refresh myself." Emily says nonchalantly. She is the type that would make sure she keeps up during the classes so she only needs to revise a little before exams rather than cram like crazy before the exam so she reliably manages to score above the average in class unlike Lambert who practically has perfect recall and only needs to read things once or Robert who was more of a social animal that tends to both get distracted in class and when trying to study.
They don't even feel like asking Lambert about his preparations as in their eyes he was practically a monster in this regard as they never see him study and still he manages to remain at the top of the class anyway.
The bus ride doesn't last much longer and they arrive at school shortly while they catch up on how their weekends were.
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