Xaiden was surprised to see Ewen standing near the door as he walked out of the class room, still arm in arm with Lani. "C-can I t-talk to y-you for a m-minute?" Ewen stuttered quietly as they passed. Xaiden paused and faced him, raising an eyebrow.
"If it's about what we talked about last time, no." Xaiden said firmly.
"I-it's n-not," Ewen replied haltingly.
"Oh, is this one of your friends?" Lani asked warmly. She greeted Ewen with a nod and a sweet smile. "Hello!"
Ewen flushed and avoided her gaze, rushing to say, "I-it really w-won't take l-long!"
Xaiden reached to pull Lani's arm from his own, and started to ask if they could meet at the front of the school, but before he could utter a single word, Lani jumped. "Oh no! I totally forgot!" She lightly smacked her forehead. "I was supposed to move some boxes from the art room to storage. Would you guys be able to help me?" Lani pleaded, "Please, please, please? It really won't take long and they are really heavy."
"Umm, sure. Uh, Ewen, you in?" Xaiden asked, glancing between the two. Lani bubbling with glee and Ewen swiping sweat from his temples as he slowly nodded.
"Thank you guys so much! I really appreciate it!" Lani beamed as they walked towards the art room together, Ewen trailing a few steps behind. "It's just these boxes here, I can grab this little one if you guys can carry the other two!"
"Sure," Xaiden agreed as he walked over to the boxes she pointed out. He picked up a box that rattled with plastic paint bottles and brushes while Ewen wordlessly lifted one filled with rolls of canvas. These are pretty heavy, Xaiden thought to himself, I wonder why she was left to move these on her own?
"You can set them right here," Lani chirped happily from the storage closet as Xaiden and Ewen made their way into the cramped space. "Thank you guys again! You're lifesavers!"
"Do you always have to clean up like this?" Xaiden asked while setting down his box where she pointed.
"Oh no, I offered to take care of it last week but I completely forgot about it. Gosh, Mondays!" Lani replied cheerily. "Normally I would just drag those boxes in here, but this was much faster!" She dusted her skirt and ushered them back into the art room. "You know, I don't ever see you in art class, not into painting?"
"Not really, I prefer writing. I can paint better pictures with words." Xaiden replied.
"Ooo, I really like that!" Lani clapped. "Painting pictures with words," she repeated to herself slowly. "sounds amazing! Can I read something you've written?"
"U-umm, s-sorry to I-interrupt," Ewen cut in nervously, shifting from side to side as he tried to get Xaiden's attention.
"Oh, right! Lani, let's talk more later." Xaiden said as he followed Ewen out of the art room. "What's up?"