smile. || joshler ||

Ch. 2

The next day, Josh almost missed the bus and he already knew the day wouldn't go too well.

His classes wen't by relatively quick, and once it was time for lunch he walked toward where Ian and Andrew were in the lunch line.

"Hey man, how was your second day?" Andrew said smiling at him.

"Pretty boring, since I barely know anyone." Josh shrugged, but smiled because he wouldn't let his loneliness get to him.

Ian nodded, "Yeah, I hate moving schools. When I moved here, I met Andrew after a few months and it was really boring without him."

"Aw, thanks Ian!" Andrew smiled, nudging him.

They all laughed and when the line moved, Josh looked at the table where Tyler sat, just like yesterday. He was curious as to why Tyler never went to get food, maybe it was because the food was terrible or maybe he didn't have the money.

There was something pushing Josh to talk to the boy, to see what makes him this way and why he never talks of is around people.

He frowned, "Hey Ian, do you know why Tyler doesn't talk to people?"

"No, and honestly I don't care. He's weird." Ian shrugged and stopped talking to pick out his food. The line moved and soon they made their way to the table.

While eating, Josh tried listening to the boys as they spoke, but he would always glance at Tyler.

He sat there, just like the day before with his arms crossed, while wearing his sweater and his head down slightly. He didn't move or anything, he just sat silently with nothing.

Josh found it odd, because there are so many people in the cafeteria and surely Tyler could have simply sat with other people.

However its like he purposely sat alone. Like he didn't want to be bothered or talk to anyone. Thats the complete opposite of Josh.

-

Halfway through lunch, Josh decided to speak to the boy. When he got up, Andrew raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going?"

"I'll be back," He said simply, and walked towards the table the boy was at.

For some reason, he needed to speak to him. To be friends with him.

Josh sat down and Tyler didn't even show any acknowledgement that he knew Josh was there.

"Hi," Josh said smiling.

Tyler looked up, his face was blank and his eyes held no emotion, Josh still smiling, asked, "So, you're Tyler, right?"

He didn't respond, not even nodding.

Josh felt a bit uncomfortable, Tyler just stared at him and wouldn't respond.

He didn't let the silence get to him though, so he kept talking, "Well, I'm Josh, I'm new here. I'm in your science class, its pretty boring, hey? I mean, all those notes and stuff. Do you like science?"

Nothing.

"I mean, it's fun," Josh continued. "But, I thought we'd do something cook, like experiments and stuff. But no, we just write and write and write.

Tyler played with his fingers a bit, raising an eyebrow at Josh. He shifted under his gaze and looked into his eyes.

Tyler had brown eyes that were dull and lifeless almost, they held a bit of pain and Josh was curious as to why.

"You don't talk much, do you?" He asked, wanting to get a reaction from the boy, "Thats fine, I talk alot so that will make up for it." Josh joked but Tyler didn't do anything except stare.

Josh nodded, "Well, Okay. I'll see you later? I should get back to my friends, it was nice talking to you."

Tyler watched as Josh went back to his friends, he didn't understand why Josh was talking to him.

When Josh sat down, Andrew raised an eyebrow, "Why were you talking to that freak?"

"Yeah, I said you shouldn't do that, he's a bit strange," Ian added.

Josh frowned, "He's alright, just....shy?"

Andrew laughed, "He's not shy, he's just weird. Seriously, it'd be best if you don't talk to him. It could give you a bad reputation here."

"Why don't you guys like him? I mean seriously, have you ever tried being friends with him?" Josh questioned, he didn't want to start and argument, but it was a bit rude to judge someone like that.

"Actually, I had to work with him for a project in health, and he wouldn't even look at me. I had to do it on my own and when I tried talking to him, he just stared at me." Ian responded.

"Well, I think he's misjudged." Josh said softly

The two boys tried warning Josh, but he just looked at Tyler and felt intrigued by him, how he didn't seem to have a care in the world.

Josh was determined to be friends with Tyler, to get him to talk, and he won't give up until he does.