Patterns of Blues

Chapter 17

Peter dropped the older boys off at the high school first, and Liam stood outside the doors to the place, feeling rather indifferent about the whole thing as the doors to the twelve-passenger van shut behind him. Nate stepped to his side, slapping his shoulder encouragingly,

"Day one, huh? Just stick with us and you'll be fine." Liam nodded, having planned to do that anyway. Silvio and Asher led the way into the school, Nate and Liam following a few paces behind them. Nate had been chatting on about his schedule and where each classroom was, but Liam was only half-listening, thrown off by the dirty looks he was receiving from passers-by,

"What's everyone's problem?" He asked, cutting the taller boy off mid-sentence. Nate looked over, confused,

"Oh, yeah, don't pay them any attention, total idiots, half of 'em."

"What? Did the orphan gang get a new member?" Someone called out, but Liam couldn't see who had said it.

"Oh, (redacted) off, Ricky." Silvio shot back, showing off his middle finger in the direction the voice had come from. Asher stood beside him, arms crossed threateningly, and even Nate looked ready to bash someone's head in, totally different personas than they had at home. A tall boy with ginger hair took a step closer, Ricky, by the sounds of it, and made to grab Nate by the collar of his shirt, but the bell rang overhead and he cursed loudly, backing off,

"Count your lucky stars, freaks." Asher rolled his eyes, and Liam wondered how safe this school was. Usually, he was left alone and even had some friends back home, but this was treatment he had never so much as heard of, let alone been subjected to.

"Don't waste your brain cells on that guy," Nate advised, grabbing his shoulder and guiding him down the hallway, "He can't count past thirty anyways, there's no point in listening to a word he says."

Silvio and Nate split from the other two because they were a year ahead and their first classes were across the school, so Liam stuck to Asher like glue, trusting his odds with him were better than going alone. He was right because nobody else bothered them during their walk to class.

American History was easy, stuff he had already learned at his old school, so he let his mind wander as the teacher, whose name he had already forgotten, rambled on about George Washington. Asher sat beside him, doodling some obscure-looking animal on an empty page in his notebook, Liam guessed it was a cow, but was unsure because the tail went out like a horse's.

After some utter boredom, the bell finally rang, and Liam jumped at the opportunity to leave. Asher hooked his arm around Liam's elbow, stopping him from reaching the door,

"Wait up, would you?"

"Sorry," Liam muttered, tapping his foot impatiently as Asher slowly collected his belongings.

"Ya know, you're lucky the teachers'll cut you slack. Tomorrow you'll have all your books and junk and they won't be so nice if you suck at classwork."

The rest of the morning went by in basic normalcy, until lunch. On their way to the cafeteria, Liam spotted Nate rip off a note that was taped to his locker, a frown etched upon his face. He read it out loud, but he was far enough off that he didn't hear the words spoken. Silvio, who stood beside the blond-haired boy, scowled and took it from him, balling it up, tossing it in his own locker, and slamming it shut before placing a hand on his lower back, heatedly saying something to him before leading him away. Nate nodded along with him, expression rather troubled.

"What was that?" Asher asked as they approached the older boys, and nodded toward the locker.

"Just a sweet little love letter," Nate tried to joke but looked closer to crying than being unphased. Silvio stared into Nate's face for a moment before dragging his dark gaze away,