Smoke and Fire ||Lams Soulmate AU ||

The Last of the Real Ones

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I walked into school on Monday to find debate club posters taped onto every wall. They were all promoting the bake sale that was going on, but I had no intentions of buying anything. At least, that was until I saw who was working the booth.

"Hey, John!" The brown haired boy greeted me as I walked past the bake sale booth, that was ever so strategically placed in front of the cafeteria. A smirk grew across my face as I stopped in front of the table covered in assorted desserts.

"Debate club, huh?" I questioned with a single raised eyebrow.

Alex smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, we're trying to raise money for the big debate trip at the end of the year. Do you, uh, wanna buy something by chance?"

"Let me guess... I'm your first customer?" I shoved my hands into the front pockets of my jeans. Alex sighed. "Yeah, you are."

The fact that I was the only one willing to walk up to the booth made me chuckle. "That's because no one in their right mind would eat a two dollar cupcake at 8am."

I fished a crumpled ten dollar bill out of my pocket that I had gotten from Thomas the other day and handed it to Alex. "I'll take a brownie."

Alex's wide grin returned as he graciously accepted the money. He handed me a brownie in a small bag that I put inside my backpack. He opened the metal box on the table, and his smile had disappeared as soon as he looked inside. "I don't have any change for a ten."

I leaned over the table and in close to him. "Keep it." I said, lowering my voice an octave or two. I stepped back and started towards my first period class, but not before catching Alex's cheeks flush a bright red.

"Thank you!" He shouted through the crowd, but I pretended that I couldn't hear him and continued on my way.

**

In Mr. Franklin's class, we were choosing partners for our next assignment. Peggy and I immediately paired up once we were given the chance. It's not that Peggy didn't have any other friends, it's just that she preferred me over her fake, snobby ones. They're all dicks for not realizing how much of an amazing person she is, though. Besides, who wouldn't prefer me?

As the project was being explained to the class, I couldn't help my mind from drifting off. The only thing I could think about was Alex. There was something about him that told me he wasn't like everyone else, and I was determined to find out what it was.

He seemed real, unlike everyone else around here. I came to the conclusion that he had to have had a pretty fucked up life.

That, or he's a serial killer.

Either way, he met my standards.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I saw Peggy snapping her fingers in front of my face. "Hello! Earth to John?"

I look up and meet her gaze. "What?"

She groaned as she smacked her hand across her forehead and lazily dragged it down her face. "Did you even hear what the project's about?" I shook my head in response, which evidently didn't help my case.

Peggy sighed before going on to explain the project. I didn't listen, though. All of her words were going in one ear and out through the other. She finally finished talking after what felt like an eternity and asked "And can you please at least do some of the project this time?"

I nodded, even though I was only planning to write my name on the finished product. She smiled and wrote some notes down in her notebook. I read over what she wrote, and it looked like we were doing a project on Runako's government system.

Great, it's a project on a corrupt dictator trying to make the transfer from socialism to communism.

Then an idea popped into my head, which kind of hurt a little, considering I didn't get ideas very often. I sat up in my seat and slapped Peggy's arm repeatedly in excitement.

"What?! Did you get an idea again, or do you have to take a piss?" She retaliated. I gave her a side glare and pulled her pen from her hand.

"Leave the project to me, don't worry about any of it. All you have to do is show up the day we present it, and we'll get a good grade. Alright? Just, trust me."

I could tell that Peggy was skeptical of letting me take full control of the project, but she finally gave in. "Fine. Just, don't screw this up."

I gave her one of my sarcastic smirks. "When have I ever screwed anything up?" She rolled her eyes and took he pen back from my grip.

"Hey, John," Peggy started, "I'm getting picked up early from school today, so don't come looking for me at lunch." I simply nodded in response.

The bell rang and I quickly threw my bag over my shoulder and made my way to the cafeteria. I didn't have lunch then, but I just wanted to stop by the bake sale booth before my next class. And lone behold, there sat Alex behind a nearly full table of baked goods. Just the sight of him brought a small grin to my face, but once he spotted me staring in his direction, it quickly turned into a sly smirk.

"Hey, what brings you here again?" He asked as he tried, but failed, to hide a smile growing across his face.

I quickly thought up an excuse for stopping by again. "Um, that brownie was uh, really good and I wanted another one?" I knew I shouldn't have lied to him, but what was I supposed to say? "Oh, I just came over to stare at your face again because I felt like it."

Alex rubbed the back of his neck as he picked up another brownie and handed it to me. I noticed he did that a lot whenever he got flustered or nervous, and it was kind of cute.

"It's on the house. Or I'll just take the money from the ten you gave me earlier... Either way, you don't need to pay." I took the brownie and put it in my bag with the other one from earlier. "Thanks, I guess." I said with a raised brow. "I should get going, I guess I'll see you around."

Alex smiled again and sent me a small wave. "I'll see you around."

With that, I turned and started towards my art class. I walk into the classroom and find Thomas with his gang of assholes in the back corner, laughing at something that probably wasn't even funny. I sauntered my way over to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Can I help you?" He snapped, but I kept my composure. I motioned with my finger for him to follow me, and surprisingly, he complied.

I led Thomas into the hallway and to a spot where there weren't any students. "You want pot brownies?"

He looked both ways down the hallway, then back at me. "How much?"

With a smirk plastered on my face, I pulled out the bake sale brownies from my bag and held them up teasingly. "Twenty five a brownie."

At first I thought Thomas was going to laugh in my face, but instead he dug into his pocked to retrieve a fifty dollar bill and handed it to me. He snatched the brownies and went back into the classroom just in time for the bell to ring.

"Sucker." I mumbled to myself as I followed suit and took a seat at my desk.

I pulled out my sketchbook and continued to work on a drawing I had started the week before. I had drawn an outline of a body, but as I continued to add detail to the drawing, I realized that I had been drawing an all-too familiar, brown haired boy.

I quickly crumpled up the drawing and tossed it into a nearby trash can before anyone could see what was on the paper. It had only hit me then how much I was thinking about Alex.

I swiftly put my things away and made my way out of the classroom, ignoring the teacher's attempts to grab my attention. I marched my way through the halls until I reached the cafeteria.

I needed to figure out why I couldn't stop thinking about Alex, and there was only one way to do that.

~~

(Kind of a filler chapter, but it's setting up future chapters, so I guess it's pretty important. And... I updated at 1am again! Yay! 🙃)