"—and then he shredded the paper and walked away. I swear I'm not making this up because you can't make this shit up."

Iris' wispy blonde hair danced in the wind as she threw her head back laughing. "Oh wow," she said. "And this guy is seventeen years old?"

"Allegedly," I replied with a snort. "I'd say about two years old mentally. He didn't say a single word to me either. I can sympathise with moving to a small town being hard. But who does that?"

Iris shrugged. "Aquila, apparently."

"Right."

I purposely stepped into a pile of yellowish red leaves on the road, which made a satisfying crunching sound below my foot. Staying at Pinewood school as a tutor for a year longer meant I didn't have to give up on my lunch break walks in the nearby forest with Iris. She was a grade below me, but since our school was small, we used to take many classes together until I graduated.

"Still, I kind of like him. Aquila." Iris grinned impishly at me. "Did you know he totally ignored Mrs. Bennet when she introduced him to the class? I kinda wish I had the gall to just walk away from things I didn't like. That would mean I also had the gall to tell my parents there's no way in hell I'm going to take over their supermarket when I graduate. Instead, I'll be taking the first flight to NYC, or really, anywhere but here."

I sighed and looked up at the cloudless sky through the leaves. "Yeah."

I didn't share Iris' sentiments. I actually liked Pinewood town, its people, and its calming nature very much, but I didn't feel like arguing. Besides, a girl like Iris would certainly thrive in a place like NYC. She was a city girl through and through, despite being born in a desolate small town. The stork must've gotten lost and delivered her at the wrong address. It meant to fly to The Big Apple, but accidentally delivered her to the big Apple supermarket instead, where Margaret and Rick Apple hoped the apple of their eye and only child, Iris, would take over.

In my opinion, you had to really try hard to miss the fact that Iris was only interested in fashion. Even on a simple school day, she was donned in a fancy silk top underneath a blazer. Pretty beaded, dangly earrings hung from her earlobes, and she had even found stylish-looking flat boots.

"Maybe I'll sign up for your tutoring too, Xav..."

Iris had her lips pursed when I turned to her with a raised brow.

"Why?" I asked. "Your grades are already great."

"Yeah, that's true." Iris sighed. "Not as great as yours, but I suppose even better grades won't help me. They're worthless if Pinewood school doesn't even exist to the outside world. The only thing worse than a bad reputation is no reputation at all."

I shrugged. "I don't know a lot about the fashion world, but isn't it way more important that you can sew, draw, and design? You're already doing all of that. You made the uniforms for Apple's supermarket, and you gave so many people in our school makeovers. What do they have left to teach you at college? You've already learned through experience."

"Yeah, you clearly don't know anything about that world," Iris replied with a lopsided smile. "I need to meet people. It's all about contacts! How will anyone know what I'm capable of if I'm stuck here? I need to be in an inspiring environment." Iris made an exasperated sound. "I can't wait until I can start applying for college. Don't get me wrong, Xavier, I'm glad you're staying here for a year longer, but I can't imagine delaying leaving."

"I won't rush into a decision when I'm not sure where I want to go," I defended myself.

I really didn't want to get into my college story, so I quickly scanned my surroundings for a distraction—something else I could talk about, even if it was a silly thing like a squirrel in the tree.

I found the perfect topic when we passed Boris' house. Boris lived at the edge of the forest, a little while away from town. He said he preferred being away from folks because he was a handyman and often had to make noise when he was working. Today, it appeared he was working in his own house. Half Boris' garden was now hidden behind a fence that hadn't been there before today. I also spotted a pile of planks in the back, presumably meant to form the rest of the fence.

"Huh, look at that. It seems Boris wants some privacy," I said, pointing at the half-finished wooden fence.

Iris turned to look where I was pointing, and that was when I suddenly heard a noise coming from the house. It sounded like muffled yelling. Iris and I exchange a glance.

"I guess he wants to yell in private?" I quipped.

"Which is exactly why we're going to listen in." Iris' brown eyes sparkled, and she took a step in the fence's direction.

"Iris!" I hissed. "What are you doing?"

Iris didn't reply. She looked at me over her shoulder, pressing her index finger to her lips, and kept walking closer to Boris' house.

"Iris!" I repeated more urgently, jogging after her.

I followed with the intention of telling her to stop because eavesdropping was rude. But then we came close enough to hear what Boris said, and I froze when I heard my name, clear as day.

"You're not going to be rude to Xavier or the others at that school again," Boris' voice snapped. "This school is your only chance. Do you understand, Aquila?"

I didn't hear the response, if there was any.

"Iris, come on, let's go. We can't listen in," I whispered. "That's rude."

Iris rolled her eyes. "You're no fun," she whispered back, but she did follow me to the path.

If I thought the Aquila and Boris topic was closed just because we'd walked away, however, I was sorely mistaken.

"What do you think Boris means?" Iris asked, still casting glances at Boris' house.

"I have no idea," I replied. "Aquila seemed like a super well-adjusted young man. I'm sure he was always pleasant to everyone before coming here, too."

Iris snorted. "Well, at least his life probably wasn't boring. Maybe we should find the nice medium between... well, Aquila and our boring lives."

I shook my head at Iris, bemused by her strange admiration of Aquila. "Why do you think we should take an example of a badly behaved guy at all?"

"Everyone loves a bad boy," Iris replied sing-song. "But come on. You're eighteen, I'm seventeen. We've never broken any rule. We have both never even kissed anyone. I haven't because I just don't want anyone in this town, so I'll have to wait. But you. You could've totally had James at last year's Christmas party."

I grimaced at the memory. James was my old classmate Riley's cousin who had visited for the holidays. We'd been flirting for an entire week, but when it came down to the mistletoe kiss, I was too nervous to do it.

"I know," I whined.

Behind us, someone cleared their throat. "Sorry to interrupt your conversation," a familiar deep voice sounded.

Iris and I both turned. Boris and Aquila were standing there on the path behind us. Heat crept up my cheeks. How did they sneak up on us? I should've noticed leaves crunching, but I hadn't at all.

Shit, they must've heard what we said. Judging from the smirk on Boris' face, he had definitely heard the James part. I'd never seen Aquila look anything other than pissed, so there was no telling what he thought.

It was clear Boris and Aquila were related when they stood side by side. They both had amber eyes and the same eye-shape and jaw-line. While Aquila's face was permanently stuck in sour-mode however, Boris was... well, charismatic. The man was old enough to be my father, but nobody could blame me for lusting after him a little. He looked like a very successful blend between a bearded lumber jacker and that dude who played Castiel in Supernatural.

Boris' smile faded as he nudged Aquila. "Aquila has something to say to you, Xavier," he said.

Aquila crossed his arms in front of his chest and pressed his lips together. He looked like he'd rather fling himself into his uncle's wood chipper than talk to me. Boris nudged him again with a lot of force. So much force that I was pretty sure that would leave a bruise on Aquila's side, but it didn't seem to bother him.

I, on the other hand, seemed to bother Aquila a lot. His glare intensified, as if he blamed me for his current predicament. "Show me the classroom tomorrow," he spat.

"And?" Boris prompted Aquila. "You also wanted to say that you're sorry."

Aquila's destructive gaze briefly shifted to his uncle, before settling on me again. "And I'm sorry... that I'm stuck in this shithole."

Boris sighed. "Fine, good enough for now, I suppose," he said. "But you have to behave, Aquila. You know that."

Aquila didn't respond. He and Boris held a silent staring competition for a few seconds. Then Aquila did what he seemed to do best: he scoffed, he turned, and he marched away.

Boris looked after his nephew, dragging a hand through his shaggy brown hair. Then he smiled apologetically at me and Iris. "He's having some trouble adjusting to his new living situation. I apologise on his behalf."

I made myself return Boris' smile. "It's alright."

"He's not here because he stabbed another student at his old school, right?" Iris bluntly asked.

Boris' eyes went wide, and he chuckled at the suggestion. "Oh no. No stabbing. Let's just leave it at that a group situation like a school is new to Aquila, and he's not happy about it."

That made sense. I nodded as I took in the new tidbit of information. "So he was homeschooled?"

Boris thought about my question for a moment. "Yes, I suppose you could say it like that, yes."

"Was he raised by bears? He behaves like he's feral," Iris piped up.

Boris laughed. "You could say it like that, too. Either way, don't worry. A barking dog doesn't bite."

"Okay, thank you for the reassurance, Boris," I said, though I wasn't entirely sure if I bought it.

Boris gave me a wink. A gesture which made plenty of hearts beat faster, maybe or maybe not mine included. "I'll leave you two to your walk then," he said.

We said our polite greetings, and Iris and I went on our way again.

Iris waited a few moments until Boris was a little further away, then she grabbed my arm and leaned closer to me. "Yeah right," she said. "I don't believe for a second Aquila didn't come here straight from juvi. And let me tell you: there's no staff turnover as high as in juvi. My aunt works there. My guess is if Aquila turns eighteen later this year and still commits crimes, they will try him as an adult. That's why he needs to learn how to behave now. And where better to do it than in a middle of nowhere dump with his uncle, where's he's far away from his gangster friends?"

I studied Iris' face for a moment. "You know, that makes a strange sort of sense," I had to admit.

Iris let go of my arm to flick her blonde hair over her shoulder. "I know," she said. "And I want your ps5 if he stabs you during a tutor session."

"I want your wardrobe if he stabs you during class," I retorted.

Iris gasped, but then grabbed my hand and shook it. "Deal."