After exiting the bathroom, it felt important to take the lead again. Or at least be equal with him. I feel like showing that side of me is mostly just for Ezra. At least for now. I walked over to Darien and Jayden, who were sitting on a large area of grass talking. They casually greeted me as I plopped down next to them, with Ezra joining us after returning the First Aid kit to Ms. Sammy.
"I take it someone wasn't happy with you throwing yourself off of the swings?" Darien muttered this to me without the others hearing. "Uh. Yeah, nope." He laughed a bit, making me slightly embarrassed. "How's your knee, bud?" I looked up at Jayden, who was gesturing to my leg. "Fine. High pain tolerance." I shrugged my answer, knowing my ears were pinkish by now. "I'm surprised there was no punishment for that shit." He smirked at me, most likely joking but that didn't stop Ezra from raising an eyebrow and grinning and me turning beat red.
This caused Darien to snort and start laughing and Jayden to clap us both on the back, also joining Darien in laughter. Pretty soon I was the only one not laughing, sulking in my embarrassment. "Man, what did you do to the poor guy?" Jayden said this, looking at Ezra, who I was staring at intently. I wasn't sure I wanted him to say anything. To my appreciation, he glanced at me until I nodded lightly before looking back to Darien and Jayden. "Aw, he's fine it was just a few minutes in the corner." He said this jokingly, waving his hand dramatically.
Even though I was fine with him telling them, it still stung as my face uncontrollably heated up. "Okay, assface... so Darien, what were you talking to Jayden about this whole time?" I smirked as his grin faltered, with it being his turn to be embarrassed. I watched as Jayden gave him a glance, to which he nodded to. "We're gonna get partnered." He said this with an almost triumphant smile, leaving Darien with rosy cheeks. I certainly wasn't surprised by the news and promptly congratulated them along with Ezra.
We had a good time talking and teasing each other for another few minutes until the god awful whistle sounded its way through the playground. We all stood and walked over to the leader and Ezra and Jayden said their goodbyes as they headed back to wherever their group was.
"Alrighty, we're gonna head back over to the dorms to clean up and then head over to lunch!" Ms. Sammy quickly announced this before leading us through the gate and back onto the paths. When we got to our room I changed out of my stained jeans and into some brown cargos to match with my black T shirt and dark green jacket as well as my white Nikes. She had us all wash our hands in the bathroom and some of the kids that played had to wash their faces and also change their clothes.
When we entered the cafeteria Ezra and Jayden were already at our table, but this time I noticed the second tray of food beside Ezra. "Is this mine??" I pointed to the food, looking at Ezra. "Uh, yeah I went ahead and made a plate, hope you don't mind. It has some of everything..." I nodded to thank him and sat down across from him, peering at the plate. Todays lunch included ants on a log, a small bag of chips, and Oreos. I glanced up as Darien soon joined us with his own food, seeing his plate with less celery sticks with a high stack of Oreos.
"So when are y'all getting partnered?" I looked up from my food to ask them before taking a small bite of my food, being careful not to get peanut butter on my face. "Probably during the next free time or maybe tonight." I nodded at Jayden's shrugged answer. "There's no rush though." Darien said this, making Jayden smirk and nudge him under the table. "I mean there's some rush... until we're partnered I can't keep you in line properly." Ezra and I chuckled at this, making Darien turn a darker shade of pink and stuff an Oreo into his mouth. "Eat your other food first." Darien shot Jayden a glare, but started eating his ants on a log slowly.
"What's next on the schedule?" I wondered this aloud, trying to remember what Ms. Sammy told us this morning. "Doms and littles class. For us, at least." Darien groaned at this, "Ugh now I'm going to be all alone in littles class." We laughed a bit at this and continued talking for a while.
After a few minutes, though, I felt a nudge on my arm and I looked to see Ezra staring at me. The others were still talking so he quietly gestured to my plate and asked me to eat some more. I frowned, not really feeling hungry after my one celery stick. To make him satisfied, I reached for an Oreo and before I could put it in my mouth he gently held my arm to stop me. "Eat some real food first. That's dessert." I frowned, feeling a little pissed. "It's just a cookie, it's fine." His mouth went into a straight line, with his gaze flatly concentrated on my face.
"Sorry, but just eat them last." He gave me a look, like he was satisfied with his order. I felt angry and annoyed, so I huffed and put the cookie down. I looked down at my plate, seeing all of the food and decided I didn't want the cookies. I pushed it away a little and joined Jayden and Darien's discussion about their dream concerts and ones they've been to. One of them mentioned a venue from my town, which they all live in or close to. "Oh yeah, I played there in the summer. It was so hot we were pouring water bottles on ourselves onstage." I smiled at the memory, reminiscing on my time with my band.
"Wait. You're in a band??? What do you play?" Ezra said this, with all three of them staring in surprise. "Oh. Uh, I used to know guitar but now I'm mainly on drums. I was in my band for like a year but I've kinda been on a break since...... uh, for a while now." I froze, realizing what I was about to say. Thankfully they didn't seem to notice. "Shit, that's cool! What's the name of your band?" Jayden asked, all of them still seeming very interested. "Oh, um Catbait. It's kind of dumb but we made it in freshman year." I blushed slightly at the name, hoping they wouldn't think it was stupid. "Wait what I've heard of y'all? That so cool. Small world." Darien commented, looking surprised still.
We continued talking about local bands and I shared some of my stories with them for almost the rest of lunch until Ezra touched my arm again. "Hey, can you try to eat some more? Just a couple bites then you can have the Oreos..." he almost whispered this to me so the others wouldn't hear. I looked at my plate and thought about it before deciding I really didn't want to eat anymore, so I shook my head. He clearly didn't love this answer, seeing as though he frowned and raised an eyebrow at me. I knew I should get better at doing what he says if we're going to do this for real, but I didn't want to budge on this particular topic.
After we had a small staring contest, he sighed and whispered "we'll talk about this later, okay?" I froze, not wanting to have this conversation at all but I just turned away from him to listen to Darien talk about some horror movie to end the conversation. For some reason, I was a little nervous about the later discussion, but I just shoved it from my mind and talked with all of them until the deafening whistle was blown. We said our goodbyes, with Ezra it being a 'see you soon' as my cheeks reddened in embarrassment after remembering where I was going after this. With him.
Ms. Sammy read over her clipboard, splitting up our group between those who are partnered and those who were just going back to plain littles class. As she led us back to the light blue accented building, she explained that some days little and dom classes were in the dominant building and others it was in the submissive building, with each type of class covering different sides. Today it was being held in the dark blue building. So, while I waved bye to Darien as his group was led inside, my group stayed by the door and waited for Ms. Sammy to return and lead us to the building next door.
I peered around this classroom, realizing it looked a lot more normal than ours, the only odd thing being the small play area and metal shelves with what appeared to be littles supplies stacked in clear bins. I went ahead and took a seat at an empty table, seeing as though we were the first ones there, and waited as the girl littles group came and sat down and then the girl doms, and then finally the boy doms group. My ears heated as Ezra spotted me and grinned before sitting next to me. No one had tried to take that spot, probably assuming I was waiting for my dom to arrive to sit next to.
As soon as the last group was seated, a tall man walked in with another tall woman behind him. I couldn't help but stare, feeling a strong sense of... dominance around them. "Hey everyone, welcome back to some of you, hope your free time was well. Hope you're excited for partners class! My name is Ms. Nixon, and this is Mr. Drake." The tall woman politely greeted us, before turning to Mr. Drake. "Hey guys, today of course is more of an introduction class, which most of you have heard before but I expect you to pay attention anyway. Now, you are all here because you have found someone that you wish to enter a cgl relationship/lifestyle with. This class is important to help you work together, not just for each other. That is why there are separate classes for all of you as well as joined." I leaned in my chair, with my knee propped against Ezra's, listening closely this time.
"Of course, most of you are also new at this. That's okay, that's why we are here. It can take a lot of time for some of you to adjust to everything, which is more than alright. The most important thing is that everyone here feels safe, comfortable, and is enjoying themselves, so make sure to take your time and go at your own pace..." Ezra and I sat silently, taking everything in. The whole class was about how we both need to work together and how to do that and how rules and contracts work and different stuff like that. Honestly, it was so much better than littles class. Here they actually treat you like you're capable.
I also felt like I owed it to Ezra to be learning from this, seeing as though I knew he was trying and so far he seemed pretty great. After about an hour and a half, it was time to go. My brain was getting a little bit tired from trying to pay attention for so long, and I was thankful to leave. That was, until, I learned we were going to group next. I groaned, not having the energy before saying goodbye to Ezra, following Ms. Sammy back outside to the treatment buildings.