Listening? What inch of him looked like he was listening? If given a chance, Claude would have grabbed Len's face in anger. His face grew black, but his glare left the guy's face quickly. He shifted to his normal class posture, but the professor stared at them as much as everyone did. Claude realized that his action must have been so loud. He could only lower his head in shame.
The professor smiled a little. "Mr Dietrich, I can't help but notice that you were listening quite too well. Can you help me give a recap for everyone in the class? What's the first active reading strategy that we're doing for this week?"
"This week's strategy revolves around questions." Len sat properly as he answered. "We would have to go through a short excerpt and formulate questions to understand the material…"
Len's clear and deep voice rang out despite the modulated sound. He was not yelling, but everyone could hear him perfectly. They couldn't even look away or think of anything else but what he was saying. The same phenomenon happened to Claude. He couldn't help but turn to Len. It did seem like Len heard everything the professor said.
This made the professor satisfied. She nodded her head once and regarded the class. "Right. However, I would appreciate it if none of you followed Mr Deitrich's example. Even you, Mr Hastings."
"I'm actually sleeping, though…" Jameson Hastings cracked a joke behind his hand. His voice was too soft to be heard outside their row. It didn't help that he whispered it toward Len. However, his eyes were on Claude, who faced him just to get Len in his vision.
"Show some respect." Claude grimaced at the other person's antics. He leaned against his seat again, gaze dropping to his open notebook. He was busy taking note of everything the professor had said. Upon a closer look, he realized that Len's mentioned points… were the ones written in his notebook. Claude leaned closer to his desk before turning to Len.
The guilty only smiled. His slight chuckle was the closest thing Claude earned as a response. Claude only rolled his eyes and moved his notebook further from Len's gaze.
…
Even in the next class, Claude sat next to Len. There was no merit in moving for the day. However, instead of flying to another seat during the break, Eugene stayed close. He pulled Claude closer to him and played a mobile game for Claude to watch.
As for Len, he only leaned on the desk to sleep. He had nothing to do aside from watching people. However, most female students kept looking at him. They also shivered and giggled as if he were staring at them intently. His peers also had their own things to get wild about. If this continued, he would have to find a hobby to bring around.
"Hey, didn't you sleep properly last night?"
Life breathed back into Len's body as he heard Claude's voice. He lifted his head and turned to the other person. Claude looked annoyed, but his other notebook showed up on the desk. Claude looked at him. "Don't sleep in the next class, too."
Len chuckled and leaned his chin on his hand. Even if Claude didn't keep looking at him, his eyes were stuck to Claude's face. "I wasn't sleeping. I was listening."
"Yeah, right." Claude huffed and glanced at him again. "I don't like getting disturbed during class time. If you want to sit next to me again, stop dozing off."
"Do we have more classes in common?"
"I think so. It's not like there are a lot of freshmen in Saint Emilien." Claude hummed, tapping his pen's butt against the desk. He looked around as if counting the people in the wide lecture theater. "This could be all the classes for the freshmen. Five courses, five classes. All GE subjects might just be combined every time. So… we're stuck."
Len smiled and swept his gaze over the multiple rows closer to the professor's pedestal. "That could be right. Don't worry. I'll sit through my boredom while sitting next to you."
Claude gave him a strange glance. "I'll pretend that wasn't creepy."
…
"Finally, the first day's done!" Jameson stretched out his arms as if relieving his joints from stiffness. He quickly got off his seat and met with his closer friends. "See you at the dorm, boss!"
"Don't get in trouble." Len sighed, only moving in his seat. He turned to find Claude, who was still staring intently at his notes. When he started scribbling, Len thought Claude had missed the bell. He reached out and tapped the desk close to the notebook. "Lavallee, the class is over. Aren't you going to go back now? Still solving a problem?"
Claude glanced at Len's hand before sitting up and clearing his desk. He didn't answer Len's questions, but his answer was obvious to Len. The other guy didn't care too much and watched Claude pack up.
Before he could move, some girls blocked Len's end of the seat. When one of them started talking in a flirtatious voice, Len already tuned her out. He glanced at Claude, who was scooting away to leave through the other end. From the steps, Eugene mouthed a few words to his friend.
"So… are you free?" The girl finished. That was all Len caught from everything she said. He ended up gazing heavily at the girl, making her nervous. "Uhm… Dietrich…?"
"Len, aren't you coming yet?" Irving showed up from higher steps. He glanced at the girls, who glared at him for disturbing them. However, the timid guy didn't seem to care if they got mad.
Len sighed and quickly moved to get on his seat. He stepped on the desk and dropped past the table. The walkway there was impeded. Len didn't walk closer to the girls, only where Claude and Eugene stared at him in horror. In fact, most students were shocked by his action.
However, Len cared too little. His shoes didn't leave a mark, either. He walked up to Claude. "Do you have plans tonight?"
"…yeah." Claude glanced at Len and then at the angry girls next to their desk. However, his gaze quickly returned to Len's face. "Don't break school property."
"I can't help it." Len only hummed and looked at the higher desks. At the further door were Jameson and the others, stifling their laughter. Irving had also ascended the steps to join them. Len looked at Claude again. "I'll ask you out again next time."
Claude lifted a brow. "I will still have plans next time."
Len frowned his brows. "That shouldn't work that way."
"It does for me."
"…I'll guess I'll have to drag you from the streets next time."
Claude made an annoyed groan, but Len took it as a positive response. He walked off to get to the steps leading to his friends. The girls wanted to block him and speak, but Jameson's group descended to meet them halfway. They kept the girls from blocking Len, and the secret bigshot left the lecture theater. He didn't even care if people gossiped.