perf*ct (boy × boy) ✔

nineteen: third time's a charm

solar clarke's pov:

I sometimes sneak out for a smoke with Kieran in between the classes, which is stupid because I don't even smoke. Instead I just sit on my side of an old concrete pillar, big enough for two and watch Kieran taking hurried drags from his cigarette. It's a habit Choni tells him to quit over and over again, but somehow he never does.

Sneaking there is stupid because it's quaranteed you'll get in trouble if you're caught doing so. I mean, I could somehow understand why the smokers did it, but seriously, what was I getting out of it?

Anyway, that was the reason I heard the commotion from the school yard, so it turned out sneaking to the secret smoking place wasn't as fruitless as I thought it would be.

"Did you hear that?" Kieran asked, even though it was obvious I did, when I was craning my neck towards the noise. He crushed the rest of his cigarette with the sole of his yellow sneaker and I followed after him to the school yard. Yet, as soon as my brain registered what I was seeing, I sprinted past him. 

It was Nathan, I could tell that from the blue hoodie he was wearing. As I had learned after taking a closer look at the Dawson twins, Nathan was the only one wearing anything brighter than brown. 

One of the two guys standing in front of Nathan was my teammate, but I wasn't sure if his name was Peter or Sebastian. They all looked the same to me. But I didn't need to know his name to kick his ass, which was what I was planning to do the second his fist connected with Nathan's jaw.

"What the fuck?" I shouted as I ran towards them across the yard. The punch had caused Nathan to stumble and he was sitting on the ground when he lifted his head to look up at the other guys.

"Leave him the fuck alone." I shouted then, using one arm to yank Peter/Sebastian away from Nathan and the other to pull away his friend. I gasped when I saw the bloody nose of Peter/Sebastian, but I didn't feel even a hint of empathy towards him after what he had done to Nathan. 

"He started it." The third guy spat, his broad face contorted by anger. 

"Yeah, right." I glared at him poisonously, standing in front of Nathan to keep them away. Once Kieran joined us, the two idiots changed glances and shrugged, starting to back off.

"Whatever, he's your problem now." Peter/Sebastian retorted before turning on his heels and fleeing from the scene with his friend.

I crouched down to take a closer look at Nathan. At first, when I lifted his head with my fingers under his chin, he gave me a startled look. I mentally cursed myself when I lost my train of thought and started revering the shade of his eyes. It was the blue of the summer sky, so bright you couldn't help but stare.

"I d-did start it." Nathan mumbled then, looking down and biting his trembling lower lip. "At least k-kind of."

"Why would you do that?" I frowned, but he just shook his head and shut his eyes. "I'll take you to the school nurse."

"No way!" Nathan's eyes darted open again. "My p-parents will kill me, if the p-principal finds out what happened."

I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of not going to see the nurse, so I turned to look at Kieran over my shoulder. He just shrugged and mouthed: "I don't know." 

"I can take you home then, but I'm not letting you go alone." I helped Nathan on his feet after he had nodded in agreement and took him to my car. Kieran left for his class, but made sure I would keep him informed if anything happened.

Nathan and I didn't talk. He sent a text to Nicholas and told him he didn't need a lift today. I could tell he was feeling embarrassed by what had happened, when he kept his gaze turned towards the window the entire drive to his home. I wanted to press him to tell what had happened, but I didn't. He would talk when he wanted to.. if he wanted to.