Confidence Not Found (DNF)

Friends

George woke up randomly around 5am. He was deathly tired from the constant thoughts of his new friend, which he ended up dreaming about. The brunette swung his sheets from himself and lazily he watched them fall to the ground besides his bed. He groaned as he tried rubbing the restless sleep away. As that ultimately failed, he decided a shower might be better suited.

He sluggishly got up from his bed and searched through an unorganized pile of clean clothes. Procrastinating, he had a silent argument in his head whether to wear a bright blue sweater or a grey oversized one. George ended up going with the oversized sweater and some blue jeans. Simple but perfect, George thought tiredly as he made his way to the bathroom.

The sound of the shower starting was deafening compared to the utter silence which was peacefully filling the empty house. The bathroom mirror started to steam over, signaling George to get into the shower before the heat began to turn colder by the second. As he entered, the heat of the shower was slightly overwhelming, but soon the short boy relaxed into the hot water which seeped into each and every pore in his skin.

Have you ever, just sat in the shower and thought about nothing? Well, that was currently George except from the fact a certain blonde boy would interrupt the emptiness of thought. He imagined the taller boy at school, showing a large ego as he shoved into his friends playfully and ran throughout the halls saying hellos. Yet, George now knew a different side to Clay. His imagination shifted as he began thinking about what Clay was actually like. Instead of a loud and confident boy running through the halls of the school, he now saw a boy who cowered at every look towards him. He now imagined the boy walking shamefully through the school, smiling at his friends who showed concern, hiding who he was in the inside.

Hiding his anxiety.

Hiding away completely.

George was awakened from his thoughts, a light knocking on the bathroom door echoed through the small room. "George, you've been in there for an hour. I have breakfast in the kitchen, please come out and eat." he heard his mom shout from outside. He quickly got out of the shower, feeling a little more awake than he did before. Even after his previous thoughts about Clay, he could help but feel excited to see the boy at school. Maybe Clay would come up to the library again or maybe he would say hello in the halls. Whatever happened at school today, George didn't care unless it had to do with the taller boy.

George didn't take his time at all to get to school early. He hoped so badly that Clay would be there so he could hear the blonde's voice and see his tall figure look into his own eyes. I'm really falling for this guy, aren't I? George thought while grabbing his backpack from the passenger seat of his car. He looked through his backpack double checking he had everything, before hopping out of the car excitedly. As if the parking lot was now slowly turning to lava, George ran into the school, then running to his locker to put some things away. This consisted of a bag of chips, a math book, and a couple pages of notes he didn't need until later. After he was left with a now lighter backpack, he sped walked through the hallway hoping to come across a certain someone.

He wandered around for good five minutes before losing hope of seeing Clay before school began. Sighing with frustration, he made his way to the commons. He saw several people he recognized, yet he hadn't talked to in a long while. These people were Alex, Karl, and Darryl, who were a fun group constantly joking around. You would pass by them and hear reoccurring words like, "WE BE POPPIN OFF," "What the honk," and "Language." George always wanted to join the group but feared rejection, so he just avoided them as he did with most people at the school.

He finally reached the loud commons and found an empty seat at a table in the far corner of the very large room. He studied the people who walked in, girls trying to get boy's attentions, boys being loud and obnoxious, and nerds or geeks gawking at the popular kids. He adverted his gaze to his hoodie's pocket as it buzzed loudly. Bewildered, George brought out his phone and looked at the notification which had appeared.