The Outcast

Watching from a distance

Third Person POV

Ethan Torchio sat at his desk in the third row of the geography classroom, absentmindedly doodling on a scrap piece of paper he found in his pocket. An old habit of his, he saw every piece of paper as a blank field that could be filled with bursting colours and expressive patterns. He dragged his pen along the cartridge, stopping only to acknowledge his presence to the geography teacher, who was filling out the registration form.

He noticed that the popular kid, Damiano, wasn't in his seat. It didn't take him by surprise; the kid's only shown up to about 3 lessons of the 150 they've had so far this year. He was probably in the bathrooms, smoking with his elder brother, Jacopo David. Honestly, if you thought Damiano behaved badly, you ought to be put in a room with the infamous Jacopo David.

Jacopo was the sort of kid to smoke and drink alcohol openly at the back of the classroom, swear at you when you call him out on it, and then flip a table or two when the SLT staff show up to take him to the detention room, He hardly ever left there, but Ethan could admit, the number of times Jacopo has managed to run away from them is pretty impressive.

Ethan thought that deep down, Damiano was just under the wrong influence, and that he didn't want to act that way but he wants to impress his older brother. Maybe not so, but Ethan hasn't noticed the shine Damiano gets in his eyes when the SLT show up for him. It was fear, or regret. Ethan found it quite interesting, when watching from a distance.

"Mr David, you're late." Ethan heard the geography teacher, Mr Agnelli, reprimanded said boy as he waltzed into the classroom, cigarette in between his lips and his elder brother behind him, leaning on the doorframe.

"Jacopo, you don't need to be here, get back to class please." Mr Agnelli sighed.

"I'm just making sure my baby brother doesn't get a boo-boo on his way to class, sir." Jacopo chuckled, smile widening when Damiano flipped him off with a "piss off, asshole.", despite the younger smiling himself.

"Damiano, if you don't watch your language I'm going to have to notify SLT."

Damiano tutted at the teacher and without a word sat down in his seat, which just so happened to be right in front of Ethan. Jacopo didn't move, and suddenly his eyes closed on Ethan with a weird, almost suspicious glare. Ethan held it steadily, and was relieved when Jacopo looked away first.

Damiano motioned Jacopo towards him with a wave of his hand, and, ignoring Mr Agnelli, Jacopo waltzed into the room exactly as his little brother had done. Jacopo snatched a chair from the corner and sat next to Damiano, merely raising an eyebrow at Mr Agnelli when he complained. Finally, Mr Agnelli sighed and said "one twitch of disturbance, Mr David, and SLT will be called." Jacopo nodded and talked quietly to Damiano, who at this point was scribbling in his notebook.

Ethan observed silently, eyes trained on the back of Damiano's head. Ethan couldn't lie when he said he found the other boy attractive, but then, didn't everyone else in their class? He was the definition of beauty, not too muscular or masculine, but with a winning jawline and a cute smile, slender legs and a tiny waist. Ethan nearly lost it when Damiano once came sauntering in to his English class wearing a corset.

Lost in his train of thought, Ethan barely registered Jacopo looking at him again, dark eyes narrowed and lips pressed in a straight line. He really did look a lot like his brother, although Jacopo's jaw was a little rounder, and his eyebrows were thicker. It wasn't long before Damiano turned to look at Ethan too, although with a much kinder expression.

No words were shared in the short time they made eye contact, although when Damiano looked away he said to Jacopo "I'm not staying in this shithole of a classroom. I'm going to the toilets."

Jacopo nodded, starting to get up, then hesitated and looked back towards Ethan. Ethan still didn't speak. Jacopo leaned forward and said,

"You seem like fun, come to the bathrooms with us. We'll cover you if SLT start up." Ethan considered it, and came to the conclusion that he'd do quite a few things in order to spend time with Damiano on a more personal level. He'd been living too safely in this school anyway, nothing like taking risks in the last couple years he had there. So, the 15 year old stood up and packed his bag, then walked out from behind his desk.

"What are you boys doing now?" Mr Agnelli questioned, and Damiano tutted.

"We're going to the bathrooms, don't wait up for us." The younger giggled. Jacopo slung an arm around the shoulders of his younger brother, and led him out of the classroom. Ethan traipsed behind rather cautiously, only being able to relax when they were in the bathrooms, which had a lockable door. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.