Kissing Boys (Solangelo high school AU)

Chapter 2 Rewritten

I took Mrs. O'Leary back inside and closed the door behind us. I didn't feel much like eating my toast anymore, my mind was racing too much. I fed the toast to the dog and she happily ate the whole thing in one bite.

In a slight daze I started making me and Hazel's lunches. She would have helped but she spent more time getting ready than I did, which wasn't too hard to do. I packed Hazel a pb&j and me a pre packaged salad that my dad had bought for me the other day. I shoved a protein bar in each lunch with two mandarin oranges and a yogurt each. I added cucumber slices last minute because I knew Hazel liked them, plus, eating more vegetables couldn't hurt me, could it?

Just as I zipped the bags Hazel came downstairs. Her hair was braided tight to her head and down the back. I never understood how she could make her hair look so good by herself. I could hardly make my hair not look like a rats nest even when I tried.

"Hey Nico, thanks for making lunches again," she said with a smile.

"No problem."

I checked the time, we had to head to the bus stop in 10 minutes.

"Get some food in your stomach, it's not good to go to school hungry," I said to Hazel.

She smiled and ruffled my hair as she passed, which made me realize how tall she had gotten, or maybe how short I was. Either way it bothered me, she was my little sister, she was never supposed to be taller than me.

"You know, you're one to talk. You never eat enough Neeks," she sighed.

I sighed. She was right but hearing someone point it out didn't really help, but I knew she meant well so I brushed it off. Hazel would never purposely make me upset.

Right before we left I unlocked Mrs. O'Leary's dog door to the back yard and she immediately ran out. It was so big that I could fit through it, which concerned me, but we also had cameras so really nothing too bad could happen.

We got to the bus stop a few minutes early, giving me enough time to play a game on my phone where you just repeatedly tapped the screen and got fish, it was actually pretty relaxing.

"Hey! Someone else is coming to the bus stop," Hazel whispered.

I looked up for a moment, it was the guy from this morning "Yeah, Will. He just moved here, sophomore, met him this morning."

Hazel looked even more surprised about the fact that I talked to him than the fact that he existed.

"Hey, gosh Neeks, give a guy the chance to introduce himself," Will laughed, still a little far away.

Neeks? Who said he could call me Neeks? Where did that even come from? Who said he could call me that?

"Well, you can still introduce yourself," I said, vigorously tapping my screen.

"Well, I'm Will, but you already knew that. What's your name?"

"Hazel, I'm Nico's sister, half sister I guess but, you know."

Will nodded "Yeah, I get it. Oh, there's the bus."

I continued tapping my phone while we got on the bus, almost tripping over my own feet. Wow Nico, very smooth as usual.

"So what grade are you in Hazel?" Will asked.

"I'm a freshman, though I technically should be in eighth grade. My ma' just put me in home school early," Hazel explained.

We had to do a little switching around since I always sat by the window and she had gotten on the bus ahead of me. Will sat in the seat next to us and sighed.

"What's up with busses and giving about two centimeters of leg room man. Do they forget people have legs?"

"They're probably just trying to fit as many kids on here as possible," Hazel laughed.

I continued tapping my phone. I had a presentation in thirty minutes. Thirty minutes till I died. My note cards were in their little box in my bag, I could look at them to make sure I wouldn't mess up, though that wouldn't really change anything. I would still be a mess in front of the class.

Will and Hazel continued chatting while I tapped, before I knew it we were at school.

Everyone got off the bus, the cold bit my face and traveled through my clothes as if they weren't there. Once we entered the building the cold detached itself from me like a parasite that was done feeding, I felt as though it had completely drained me of all of my energy. Fuck that wouldn't be good for my presentation.

"Jesus, how is it so much colder over here at the school?" Will asked "Back at home the only time it would be this cold is if there were a giant storm."

"Ah yeah, Will where exactly did you live before?" Hazel asked.

"Texas. I'm a true country boy, at least that's what my mom says."

For some reason the vine of the little girl saying "countryyy boy, I love you" came to mind. I almost laughed out loud.

"I get what you're saying about the cold, I used to love in New Orleans, coming up here was a big shock."

They kept talking as we stood around for a little, a woman that I recognized as the councilor came out of the office "Will Solace! So good to see you're making friends, come in my office we had to make some schedule changes."

"Ah, good morning Mrs. Freedman, well, guess I've gotta go, see you later Hazel, Nico."

I waved a little but didn't really look up. My fish needed me.

"Oh shoot Nico, Mr. Gregg needed me to help Jazz band I totally forgot, I'll see ya later. Good luck," Hazel said, running off.

I was alone in the corridor other than a few kids getting stuff from their lockers. I needed to grab my binder anyways so it didn't matter much that I was alone.

On my way to my locker I noticed a big poster on the wall, the Winter Formal was soon. Not that I was going to go, but it was still interesting. As I walked I heard laughing, not good laughing though, it was malicious. When I looked up I saw why.

"Fuck," I muttered.