Youth || Joshler

5: Tyler Hears His Heartbeat

Tyler approached the school with nervous eyes, glancing up through the dark night air. The school looked different at night from this angle- he could barely recognize the reddish colour of the rugged brick walls. The only lighting, -aside from a few dim windows in the downstairs half of the school, - was the bright streetlights casting light onto the walls.

The teenager approached the building, feeling oddly cold. Even with his suit jacket. God, he was even wearing a tie. He didn't even know why he agreed on coking to this stupid dance, but there was no going back now..

Once he found himself there, Tyler pulled open the front doors and immediately he heard the vague sound of music cascading faintly down the halls. Probably from the gym. There was a lady sitting at a table, some teacher Tyler remembered seeing in the halls a few times. She smiled at him like she knew him.

"Tyler Joseph," she said, matter-of-factly. "Let me sign you in." Tyler put his hands in his pockets and nodded as he watched the teacher scribble his name down on a sheet of paper that was already crowded with names. She nodded him off and he set off toward the sound of the music.

He realized it was coming from the gym- as he walked toward the large pull-open doors to the gymnasium, the music was growing louder, and it appeared they were playing some old pop song from last year.

Tyler opened and slid through the doors, the loud music immediately blasting into his ears, going unnoticed. He had to blink to get used to the flashing lights of every colour, everywhere. It was hot in the gym. There were people dancing everywhere..

"Tyler?" Again, the voice made him kind of jump. He turned around to see Josh, standing there in a nice suit by the front door. He almost looked like he belonged at the party, aside from his obvious teacher clothing. He was young enough of a teacher, though, to nearly blend in. Probably fresh out of teacher's college.

"I think you're a little too old to be here," Tyler said jokingly, over the loud music. This made the man crack a smile.

Mr. Dun chuckled- or, Tyler assumed he did, he couldn't really hear the soft noise. "I'm chaperoning."

"Oh, okay."

They kind of listened to the music together for a moment until Josh, again, broke the silence.

"You look nice," the teacher said as if it was normal. This made Tyler smile and look down at his suit. He kind of did try to look nice for Jenna-

In fact, as if the thought triggered it, the brunette heard his name hollered across the gym. And there she was, Jenna Black, running up to him in a gorgeous blue dress that hugged her thin frame perfectly. Her heels clicked on the hard floor.

"Ty! You're here," she exclaimed, hugging his side when she got close enough. Tyler smiled and nodded, and the hug continued until Mr. Dun coughed, jutting the couple. They broke apart. Jenna giggled embarrassedly when she noticed the man. "Oh, hi, Mr. Dun!"

"Hi, Jenna." He didn't smile but instead stared at the blonde girl, something in his eye that Tyler couldn't read. The way he said her name was almost unpleasant.

Jenna seemed to pick up on this and nodded, quickly turning back to her boyfriend. "So, wanna dance?"

Tyler payed attention to the song that was playing at that time, kind of frowning in distaste when he recalled the sound of an upbeat song he didn't know the name of. He didn't really like this kind of electro/house/pop music, but didn't really want to admit it. If she wanted to dance, he would, but..