The shy boy [AU - CW]

Romeo was not happy about this transfer, but his father had gotten a job opportunity in Churchill, so there wasn't much to discuss. His mother had come with too, so at least there was that, but the only people he knew was his cousin. And while the two boys had been rather close in their youths, the fact that they didn't see each other every month was weakening their relation. Romeo had skipped a year, but while he was younger than anyone in his class, he certainly wasn't going through any awkward puberty. No, he had grown tall, his dark hair a bit shaggy, but his skin was clear and beneath all of it he was quite strong too.
The thought of biology irritated him a bit. Perhaps because he disliked the last teacher he had had, but alas this was his first class. Looking out at the class he put on his best performance smile, "I'm Romeo Trevino-Altera, piacere di conoscerti," his Italian voice a little lower on the register than his English one. The teacher assigned him a spot next to a pale looking kid who at best looked sleepy but at worst looked like he was about to throw up. He smiled as the teacher introduced Romeo to this partner. Eden Parish. The teacher then quickly started the class, a few girls looking in the direction of the new kid and the vampyre. Romeo looked up at the blackboard, tilting his head a little to the side before he looked at his new table mate, "can I borrow a pen?" his accent a little heavy, but he was doing his best to use English.

Romeo thanked him, starting to scribble down some notes as the teacher explained how they were going to dissect this thing in the bag. He knew this task, had done it before, but he wasn't going to complain on his first day. He could be demanding, but far from a diva. His otherwise silent partner spoke up, and he hummed, writing down a few notes, "I'm from Italy," hadn't the teacher just said that in the introduction? Or was this guy all of a sudden too snobby of a vampyre to even listen to what mortals were saying? "You have an accent as well ... You are not from Churchill either, or?" he asked. He wasn't sure about the accent. Perhaps Scandinavian? But he couldn't be sure.

Wow, a great conversationalist, huh? He could understand, or well, he could empathize with him, but Romeo wasn't quite shy. He was actually rather forward in everything he did. He was dancer so he didn't feel like he could afford being shy. Besides that he was very hard working, even if he came from a rich family. Turning slightly, he smiled at the girl that poked his shoulder, "grazie," his voice warm as he turned around, opening the piece of paper to read the note. Being approached like this didn't surprise him, he was quite popular back home too, and yet he wasn't sure he would call himself a player. He was quite openminded, and frankly what he liked best was having his options open. He checked the box, writing down his number, already sure it would be passed around to quite the few people, handing the note back the way it came.

While Romeo could seem self-centered, he was actually far from it, noticing out the corner of his eye that Eden was doing something. And it didn't look like writing to him. As the bell rang he got up, packing his things and turned to hand back the pen, but the vampyre ran out the door as if he couldn't wait to get away from him. Frowning, he wondered if it was because he was a lycan and maybe the pen now was tainted? He didn't get time to ponder it long before he was surrounded by a fair few girls and even some guys.
He got a bit of a break as they all eventually had to head to a new class and Romeo had as well. A few classes passed, the rumor of a new kid being both handsome and nice to talk to spreading like wildfire, and at recess he was not sitting alone. He felt almost smothered, some girls so eager to sit next to him that they were practically sitting in his lap. Romeo eventually got up, excusing himself before he headed to a place that seemed more quiet; the bathroom. He sat down in the windowsill, running a hand through his dark hair as he focused on his breathing.

It was nice to get away from everyone. The first day already a bit hectic when he had to keep up with school work and socializing. As the door opened, he just remained in the windowsill, hoping that maybe by pure luck who ever came in ignored him, but he wasn't so lucky. And there he was, the mystery vampyre who didn't talk much, and maybe his vampyre girlfriend? He wasn't quite sure, but it did seem a little grouped how the school went about everything. The female asked him who he was, making him chuckle softly, running a hand through his hair, "I'm Romeo," he introduced himself. He got off from the windowsill, walking a little closer because he was curious by nature. "Me and Eden have biology together, but I doubt he even noticed I was new here," he chuckled before looking at the female with a warm smile, "what's your name?" He might've sounded like he was flirting, but he actually wasn't. Maybe it was just one of those weird things about him. He noticed Eden had stopped drying his shirt making him chuckle softly, "let me fix that for you," he said, helping drying off the shirt, his warm hands aiding in evaporating the water off a little faster.

Kareema? Well that sounded different, but also rather fitting. She looked way too bossy to be a mere high school student. It was clear she was going places in life. The way she hit him made it seem like they were siblings. And while he couldn't see a family resemblance - except for their clear smell of vampyre - he summed it up to perhaps good friends. No, a girlfriend it most certainly was not.
The male left and Romeo was left with Kareema who had to apologise. He shook his head, "No, believe me, I don't," he assured her with a slight smile. These were actually seemingly nice people. "I hope he'll open up to me at some point, seeing as we'll sit next to each other every biology class," he chuckled. He had never been shy, so he didn't get it, but he hoped that things would pan out. Besides, Eden seemed very cute to him. "Hey, I'm supposed to have P.E. next class, but I don't know where I'm supposed to go; could you give me a hand?"

Romeo followed her, well it wasn't like he had much of a choice. Grabbing his bag he just walked beside her as she guided him through the school grounds. He was trying to memorise it, but he guessed he would have it easier once he knew his classmates. "Well we move around a lot because of my father; he's the head of a lawfirm back in Italy, and I got an uncle up here who's pretty well established as well," he said, just spilling it all, wanting to get to know this kind vampyre. "I hope it's going to be somewhat permanent, but I don't know for sure yet," he confessed with a slight smile. He had been a few places before this, so his experience with other countries, languages and cultures were pretty diverse. "How about you? Are you a native to Churchill?" His voice warm and welcoming, as if he spoke to someone he had known for a while. He was good at that. Making people feel seen and wanted.

So she wasn't his sister, but he did have a sister. Also why was Romeo soaking all of this information in like he was a sponge? They arrived at the building and he smiled, humming at her suggestion, "yeah, that would be nice," he said in a small chuckle, "here, I'll give you my number." He wasn't shy, but he wasn't quite sure he felt attracted to Kareema. She just seemed like someone you wanted to be friends with.
As Romeo headed in to the building he waved goodbye to Kareema, heading in to get to know this new class. It was strange that you moved around in different classes, but he suspected it was just how things worked. The lycan was good at sports, he was athletic and rather flexible, so as the class was over, a couple of jocks saw to recruit him for their respective teams. He declined for now, wanting to get to know the school first, then find extracurricular activities to dive in to.
Outside he ran a hand through his damp hair, feeling fresh as a shower had done him good. He always took warm showers, perhaps because he liked the heat so much.

Romeo turned his head quite naturally as his name was called, his face lighting up in a smile, chuckling as he went to greet his cousin. "Language, Kurtis, they're gonna think you were raised by literal wolves," he chuckled, feeling how strong Kurtis had gotten. He was really growing fast, huh? Romeo's hazel eyes looked around at the other people, though they did linger a little longer at Eden. However he was quickly drawn back to reality. "I thought you said you would try and quit smoking?" He teased him slightly chuckling. Romeo and Kurtis looked familiar, but far from one another. Kurtis was more of a diamond in the rough with boyish charm while Romeo seemed more polished and polite.

Romeo chuckled, shaking his head lightly at his cousin. How many times had they not sneaked out to smoke when they visited each other? Romeo however was trying to lay low here, so he wouldn't really smoke unless he had a reason to. He waved goodbye as his cousin hurried off to class, but noticing Eden he went over, walking beside him as he just followed him for a bit, "I still got your pen," he said, taking it out of his bag, handing it to the vampyre. "I swear I haven't drooled on it or anything weird lycan-y," he chuckled, but he also didn't know where Eden stood on the whole vampyre-lycan thing. It was hard. On one hand Romeo knew that a friendship between them could prove a little troublesome, but on the other he didn't want to be rude when the guy was already shy. "Eden's a pretty name," he smiled, just wanting to taste the name a bit, though his accent made it sound almost romantic. "If you don't want to be friends with me, you can just tell me and I'll go away - well besides biology, but I could still talk to the teacher if you end up not liking me?"

Romeo just let the vampyre talk. Did he find him weird because he was a transfer or because he was a lycan? Back home in Italy the relationship between vampyres and lycans was rather toxic, so Romeo hadn't ever really tried having vampyre friends. Not that he didn't want to. And especially after meeting Eden. There was just something about the vampyre, something the young lycan could not put a finger on. His reaction to the question made him chuckle, shrugging lightly as he clearly wasn't too concerned about how his questions sounded. Unless it was because they offended him.
"So you did hear my name," he chuckled, though he had to admit that hearing the vampyre speak his name felt quite nice. Like he was acknowledging him, though the moving away part did make him wonder. "Are you attracted to me?" He asked point blank, because what the vampyre was doing would only make sense in Romeo's head if that was the case.

"I don't know, maybe I'm projecting," he shrugged with a smile. Yeah, he found the vampyre attractive. But no meant no, even if it turned out that Eden had lied. "I think this is my stop," he smiled as they reached a door leading in to an English class that was slowly filling with students. "I'll see you tomorrow in biology, I hope ... Ciao," he smiled heading in to the classroom where people seemed to already know who he was, eager to speak with him before class started.