FALL

Chapter One: L - oath/ove, at first sight.

Fluffy golden hair like a lion's mane, warm honey hazel eyes, an athletically lean body toned from laborious manual effort, and endearing country bumpkin freckles from staying in the sun too long dotted his face and arms. His smile was like inviting warm sunshine itself even if one could tell he was missing a tooth right behind a canine when he smiled too wide. It was no wonder the superficial girls in Jonathan's classes had flocked to the month late transfer. Just another jock to deal with and loath as high school dragged on, he supposed.

Only two more years. Jonathan reminded himself as he turned away from the scene of cheer girls crowding the cafeteria table to talk to the new guy. Taking his one free meal provided by the school outside. He should have been thankful for the peace he was getting. Typically, Bo and his merry band of meathead imbeciles would have harassed him long before lunchtime. They had been too busy scoping out the new guy like jealous animals making sure their mates would not gravitate to the new male of the grand social experiment that was a couple hundred teens stuffed into one building. The status quo had to be maintained and everyone – even Jonathan to some degree - was curious where he'd fall into the pecking order. It happened every time there was someone new which was rare for a school in the middle of nowhere but happened nonetheless.

Jonathan squinted as he got outside, most of his peers left him alone in this kind of sweltering humidity. Sticking to always running ceiling fans in the building at least until cooler weather permitted the girls' makeup to not run from sweat. A sigh was let out when he sat on the concrete ground in the only shade offered by a small awning. Two more years and he could be out of this hell hole at eighteen. If he made it to eighteen; between his great-grandmother's loving-abuse and the football team treating him like a personal punching bag on the best of days, he was not one hundred percent confident he would.

Speaking of. He felt them looming over him before the shadows came poking out of the awning's shade line. It was a shame, today had been mac n cheese day one of the few palatable meals they offered. Only one fork full in and the meal was kicked to the ground from his hands. Green bean liquid soaked his left thigh, and some of the mac had splattered across his lap, he was lucky the instant box potatoes stuck to the tray like glue, however, the small unopened milk carton was picked up. The contents were poured unceremoniously upon his head, streaming milk down his face and neck. He just did not have the energy for this today, all his strength was likely being sapped away as he found himself rapidly getting taller in the last week. Jonathan sat still staring straight ahead, "I was eating that." Even his voice did not seem to have the effort to be as bitter as he felt.

"Oops," Mark rounded to the front of Jonathan. The sunlight silhouetted him into a shaded devil before Jonathan and as the boy looked up into the face of his tormentor for the day he squinted his gaze against the glaring sunlight – it was taken as him narrowing his gaze at Mark. It made the bigger teen sneer, "not like a scarecrow needs to eat anyways." Jonathan assumed Bo was somewhere around watching while Daniel and George hauled him to his feet by his arms suddenly.

He could not struggle out of their hold; his wiggling was at best annoying. Mark grabbed ahold of his ankles dodging the first time Jonathan kicked at his face. He felt his shoe hit Mark against his chest before the grip on his ankles felt crushing. They hauled him away with jeering smiles, making it appear like they were just boys horsing around with their good small friend. George nearly impossibly pulled Jonathan's arm when he tried to call out for help and he stopped resisting after that. Refusing to shed a tear at the pain it had caused, it would only fuel their fun.

Jonathan spent the rest of the lunch and the entire next period in his locker. They had not forgotten about the promise they made him yesterday that he'd get an all-expense paid trip to 'Locker Land' for making one of them look stupid in class. All he had done was answer the math question after that idiot Mark could not – it wasn't his fault that their teacher called on him right after. Maybe he should have just not answered it. He could have stayed silent like he didn't understand the simple question. He had all the time to ponder now what would have been the correct thing to do not to bring their ire upon him...