Stay for Me (Hold Me Close Prequel)

Chapter Eight: Back At It

-=Evan=-

Did I mention that I hate school? A lot? Well I hate it enough that all this morning I've been dreading going back. Since my welcomed relief day, also known as the day I spent with Hunter, I've spent two more days trapped at home. But today's Monday, which...you know what, fuck it. I don't even know anymore. To break it down all nice sweet and simple, I didn't want to be here, nor did I want to be at school. The only place I wanted to be was the Taco Bell kitchen working with him. Him. Just the thought of his perfect fucking smile made me feel sick, and ai couldn't tell if it was a good kind of sick or just the gut-wrenching reminder that he was coming to school today, probably just to be swept up by Elliot and whatever the fuck he does to make pretty much anyone around hate me. I've got to hand it to him, he's one hell of a bully.

I combed my fur, looking myself over in the bathroom mirror. I was wearing yet another baggy hoodie, this one being my favorite blue one. Quickly, I hurried to grab all of my stuff for my classes and rushed out of the front door. Fast, but quiet. I had learned my lesson.

It took about two minutes before my bus arrived. I climbed aboard and took my regular seat, looking around and hoping that I would see him. But I didn't. In fact, he's not on my bus, which made me a little upset. But hey, can't win 'em all now can you? On the plus side, I guess that means he's also not on the same bus as Elliot, so I'll count my blessings as they appear. When we arrived I rushed inside, standing still in the lobby with a steady flow of other furs moving by me to get on with their lives. I stood observant, scanning the doors and looking for Hunter. But I spotted a different blue fur first. Elliot. He must have seen that I was looking for someone because he started looking too, and then Hunter walked in. Horrible timing. Hunter, oblivious to what was going on, saw me and waved starting to walk over to me. But Elliot was much closer. And so Elliot got to him much faster.

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-=Hunter=-

I saw Evan standing in the crowded lobby as I walked in, so I natuarlly waved and started to weave my way through the crowd and over towards him. Then a paw on my shoulder stopped me. A blue paw. I turned to see who it could be, I mean, I didn't know anyone here beside Evan. It took me a second to realize that the fur in front of me (a jaguar) was one of the ones longboarding down by my house that Evan pointed out to me as a bad fur.

"Can I help you?" I asked, still trying to maintain a general level of politeness, didn't want to start something on my first day here.

"Yeah, I noticed that you're new here, want me to show you around?" He asked, giving a small smirk, almost like he had accomplished something.

"No thanks, I've got a friend." I replied.

"Oh Evan? Trust me, you don't want to be around that little fag." He said.

"Yeah? Because I'd rather be around that 'little fag' than you it seems." And with that I brushed by him and walked over to Evan, who was physically trembling.

"That asshole, huh?" I said."You alright?"

"He didn't...say anything to you?" He asked.

"Nope, I shut him down when he called you a fag." I said as Evan started walking, and I followed.

"Thanks..." He said quietly. "Oh shit, what does your schedule look like?" He asked. I should probably look at that. I pulled a folded piece of paper from my pocked, unfolding it to reveal my class list. I handed it to Evan and he imediately started to look it over. "Hm. We have periods three, five, and six together, as well as the same lunch! Yay." He said, folding my schedule back up and handing it back to me.

"Cool. So uh. How do I get to calc?" I asked, seeing that this place was essentially a maze. Without verbally answering, Evan reached across me and pushed a class door open, revealing a...ready? Guess? A calculus classroom. "Thanks haha." I said, making a 90 degree turn to my right and walking into class. The thing that you're never told about when you make a mid-year shift of schools is how freaking impossible it is to adjust quickly. Bam! Thrown right into the hardest math class ever known. But I managed, and by the end of class I had grasped some sort of foothold and was starting to understand. Second period I had a study hall in the cafeteria and third finally rolled around, which was French class. I walked in and headed to the back where Evan was sitting, and he instantaniously perked up when I sat down next to him.

"Oh hi! Forgot you had this period now too." He said, self-conciously organizing his desk. He's a little anxious all of the time, I wonder why. Class dragged on, and I realized that I knew no French compared to Evan. He wasn't necessarily participating in the class, but he was finishing paper after paper, doing them like he had lived in France all his life. But he was socializing, with me anyways. We talked about work and stuff, and he seemed happy to have someone to talk to, which kind of made me feel happy.

After fifth period Evan and I walked down to the cafeteria, and he pointed out places in the school I should know the locations to, such as the library and the auditorium. We walked into the cafeteria and got into the line to get food, and I couldn't help bu notice that there were quite a few people staring. I tried to pay them no attention, and Evan and I got our food and started walking out into the dining area. We actually walked right by that blue jaguar, Elliot, and he didn't look all too happy.

"Where are we going?" I asked, noticing that Evan had passed right by two empty tables.

"Oh I have a friend that I want you to meet...my only other friend. He's a senior so he's allowed to take us outside. See that green bird over there? That's him." He explained. My eyes followed his outstretched paw and over to a dide door, where yes indeed, there was a green bird waiting. We walked over and the green bird looked at me funnily, probably wondering who the heck I am.

"Jason," Evan said, addressing the green bird, "...this is my friend, Hunter. We work together." Jason's look of suspicion cleared up.

"Oh, hi Hunter." He said.

"Hi." I quietly said back. We walked out the side door unopposed and the two of them led me around the side of the building until we reached a round picnic table.

"I have to say, that was one of the only times I've made it through the cafeteria without anyone doing anything." Evan said.

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, they must be scared of you haha." He said, playfully punching my arm. I rolled my eyes and bit into my sliice of pizza.

"You going to eat?" I asked Evan, seeing that he haden't taken a single bite out of his lunch.

"No...not really that hungry." He responded. I looked at Jason, who gave me a 'this happens all of the time' kind of look. I wonder why...