Faze

Chapter 5: You're Kind

Chapter Five

Lola's smile glistened when Sunny walked into class and sat next to her. Her braids were scrunched into a bun and she wore a sunflower top that reflected summer, although it was nearly fall. Sunny merely wore plain denim shorts with a grey shirt, not feeling like wearing bright clothes to a boring place like school.

The teacher didn't give them a second to talk, he started class the second the bell gave its signal to do so. "Alright class, I have an assignment planned for you to finish by the end of the class. I will be assigning partners through this hat."

He gave the black baseball cap a shake in his hands, everyone's name on a white folded paper. "It would suck if we got paired with Mackie," Lola said and Sunny laughed when he noticed Mackie with his head down, sleeping on a desk at the other side of the room. "How does he not feel the stress?"

"Well, when you don't care, you have nothing to be stressed about." She sighed, "he has other things to worry about I guess."

The teacher drew the first pair and Sunny anxiously squirmed in his seat when his name was pulled first. "You're working with Leland." The teacher gave him an apologetic look, knowing what went on around the school. To summarise, most kids feared Leland or disliked him.

"Good luck," Lola whispered. It didn't sound like a warning. Sunny confirmed it when he saw a hint of a smirk behind her glossed lips.

"Lola and Mackie."

Lola's smile dropped.

Sunny laughed, "Good luck."

After all of the names were pulled, Sunny found his way to Leland and took the empty seat next to him after Zephan left to find his partner. He held the worksheet in his hand and wrote both of their names at the top corner, his fingers slightly trembling.

"You don't have to be nervous around me," Leland said and Sunny nearly jumped when he heard his voice so close to his ear. It was soft but deep and it tingled through his ear in a way that almost hurt. "Not everyone knows who I am."

"Who you are?" Sunny let himself look at the other boy. He let his eyes wander, to his silk dark blond hair, his brown cave-like eyes, and his lips that moved when he spoke. A blush formed when Leland smiled and a dimple made its way on the left side of his lips. Sunny hadn't heard a thing he said. "I'm sorry, what?"

A soft laugh left Leland and Sunny wondered if he was hearing things. If he was anything like Mackie or Lola was saying, then he was a fake. This wasn't the real Leland he heard about. The boy who'd fight anyone who looked at him wrong. The boy he was supposed to fear. He was trouble they'd say. But he smiled although Sunny looked a little too long the other day.

"I said that they all judge me without knowing me."

"Oh," Sunny was quiet. "I don't believe those people. I'm sure bending someone's finger back isn't that bad. He challenged you right? whatever that means."

"It means he asked me to fight him," Leland said, resting his head on his hands, his elbow propped on the desk. He looked at Sunny and nothing else. "I didn't want to but I have no choice when there's a fist flying before I can even blink."

"That's not fair."

Leland shrugged, "it's the way it is. People have been doing it since I was born."

Sunny wanted to question what he meant but the teacher scolded them for talking too much. So instead, they worked together on the maths problem, occasionally looking at each other for answers.

Leland mostly watched Sunny write down the answers. He would watch the way his pencil glided across the page. He would give him the answers just to watch how his handwriting began to form. And when they finished, he was the one to stand up and give their work to the teacher and his fingers would rub the paper like it held a weird truth to it before he let the page go.

Sunny didn't notice his behavior but when Leland sat down next to him, he stared at him again. They had a short amount of time to talk as class would be done soon and not everyone was finished with their work. Sunny would hear Mackie's complaints from the back of the class as Lola scolded him for not doing any of the work. Poor girl.

"So I heard that you're from the city," Leland started and Sunny gave him a puzzled look. Leland caught on quickly. "Word gets around fast when you're the new kid and we don't get a lot of those."

Sunny nodded.

"How is the city? I've never been there."

"You haven't?" His eyes widened and Leland chuckled at his shock. "It's loud and busy. There are lots of people. I've lived there my whole life but I like this place more, although the silence is kind of boring sometimes."

Leland smiled, "you get used to it."

"I really like the beach there. The sunsets are pretty and the waves are calming, kind of like a lullaby."

"You should take me there one day," Leland said casually like it was something so normal but Sunny knew that it wasn't. How could someone look at him with such interest, Leland's eyes never leaving him, and he responds to everything he says? His cheeks flushed a rose pink and he looked the other way. Such a harmless comment could cause a reaction. Leland laughed again, "I'm kidding, there's a beach an hour away. Although if it flatters you that much, I don't mind going with just the two of us."

Sunny imagined his eyes falling out of his face. He felt like jello sinking into the floor. Leland was messing with him. And when he looked back at the sparkling boy, he was gone with the rest of the class, because the bell rang and he didn't hear.

_______________

At lunch, the trio sat outside instead of the crowded cafeteria. Mackie played games on his phone and Sunny shared nachos and fries with Lola. "I have a question," Sunny announced and Mackie looked from him back to his screen, showing that he was listening.

"Yeah?" Lola said, shoving a whole nacho in her mouth, her long nails close to matching the colour with yellow.

He sucked in a deep breath before asking, "Is Leland gay?"

Mackie sat up from his lying position, his head no longer on Lola's lap. He put his phone down hurriedly, like if he didn't share his thoughts then Sunny would run away without the truth. "Don't tell me you have a crush on him because if you do, so help me."

"I don't!" Sunny was quick to say. "I think he was flirting with me in class."

Lola snorted, "are you sure he wasn't just being nice because that doesn't happen often."

Sunny shrugged, "well he was really nice to me."

Mackie clapped his hands together and sat crisscrossed on the grass, "Rule number whatever, the freak group number one is the worst!"

"What?"

"Lelands group. Him, Theon, and Zephan, the worst," he said. "For whatever reason they are the worst. Most active in the fights I guess. Just stay away, Sunny. That's best for you."

"But they are just like everyone else," Sunny tried to reason but Mackie ignored him and went back to his game and Lola tuned him out with music as she finished eating.