Spaces {Malum}

F̶I̶V̶E̶

Tuesday came pretty quickly. After the research, Luke and I fell asleep on my bed. I drifted after a couple minutes of Luke talking about how great Ashton was. I didn't tell him that I caught them basically sucking each other's faces off. It would've been weird.

Right now, I was in fifth period. It was history, my least favorite subject in the entire world. This class was pretty nice though. I didn't know anyone here, and it looked as if no one really knew me in here. We were all neutral with each other. The teacher was mean sometimes, but she was pretty cool I guess.

"Okay class, today we actually have a new student. Well, he's not really a new student. He goes to this school. He's just switching classes. Don't ask any questions. He should be coming in a couple moments," Mrs. Hardy smiled at us. I kept my eyes on my notes. Of course we'd get a different student as soon as I thought about how content this class was. I have the best luck.

I heard the door open and looked up. Right then and there, I wanted suffocate myself with a pillow. Michael Clifford walked through the door with his eyes looking straight at the door. For some reason I just lost my chill.

"Why are you here?"

Michael looked up and made eye contact with me. His eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth to speak, but the teacher beat him to it.

"Mr. Hood! You do not address a fellow student in such a rude manner."

"Okay, then I'll ask you," I say. "Why is he here?"

Mrs. Hardy glared at me like she was trying to set me on fire with her eyes. "Mr. Clifford has switched classes. He will be remaining here for the rest of the year. Deal with it."

"But why?"

"Because the teachers were nice enough to take me out of a place where people shitted on me. Apparently this class is gonna be better," Michael spoke up.

"Well why does he get special treatment?" I push. Mrs. Hardy looks at Michael with pity, and it clicks.

She knows.

"You know why he doesn't like to be touched," I mumble.

"Be quiet and get to work or I swear, you will have a week's worth of detention," Mrs. Hardy glares at me.

I huff, finally being quiet. My luck gets worse when the only available seat is next to me. Michael sits in that seat, completely ignoring my presence. And I'm okay with that. A couple minutes pass as the class works in silence. Then I hear his annoyingly cute accent.

Why am I calling him cute? I'm straight.

"C-can I borrow a pencil?"

I looked at Michael, confused as to why he was talking to me. There was literally someone in front of him. But not wanting to cause any trouble, I looked through my pencil case and got out a grey mechanical pencil. No one really uses those regular pencils anymore.

I stretched out my hand and smiled when I saw him hesitate to reach for. After a couple seconds, Michael look a deep breath and went to reach for the pencil. As his hands reached the pencil, our fingertips touched very lightly. Michael gasped and pulled his hand back. The pencil dropped to the ground. It didn't cause much attention, though. Literally, no one turned around. It was just a pencil. I looked up at Michael in confusion. He was rubbing his hand as if he got hurt. Did I hurt him? I know he doesn't like being touched, but I barely touched him. Did he really get affected by something so small? Michael quickly bent down to pick up the pencil.

"T-thank you," Michael mumbled quickly said, going back to taking notes for History.

Why did he react as if I was going to kill him? I didn't mean any harm. Did I shock him or something? I shook my head, trying to ignore what just happened and continue with my work.