The GHC

Chap 1: "King, Luke King"

"I'm Cyrus, and I'm a junior here at Jefferson," Cyrus told the new student he was instructed to show around the school.

"I'm Grey," the boy replied smiling.

"It's nice to meet you, Grey. I know it's hard to make friends in the middle of the school year, so you can sit with mine if you want. But be forewarned, they are slightly psychotic and occasionally evil," he added. Grey nodded, and Cyrus lead him to the table his friends were sitting at. Cyrus's friends were engaged in a heated argument over the answer to a question on the math test they had all taken in their previous period.

"I'm positive the answer was 117!" Jonah shouted.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "It was 129, child."

"I think you mean 2 times the square root of 129," Luke butted in.

"Welp, I'm not smart enough to even be in your fancy math class, so why don't you all put a sock in it!" Dylan growled.

"Diddo," Andi added, fist bumping Dylan. "And Leah is such an overachiever that she took this class two years ago," Andi complained, glaring at her friend jokingly.

"Yeah," Dylan agreed, "How is it even fair that people like Leah exist when some of us can't even add and subtract yet." Leah, unsure how to reply, simply blushed madly.

"Wow, I ship it," Luke said, grinning mischievously at Leah and Dylan.

"Fight me," Dylan retorted.

"Fine, let's go!" Luke said, standing up. Luke and Dylan got into a mock wrestling match, and their friends cheered them on as Grey stood there awkwardly, while Cyrus questioned his life choices, and considered telling Grey to run while he still could. Finally Cyrus made up his mind, and coughed loudly to get his friends' attention.

"Hey, Cy, who's this?" Buffy asked.

"This is Grey, and if you guys don't want to scare him off, please pretend to be normal for a second."

"Hurtful words, Cas," Luke responded, clutching his heart. Luke had been calling Cyrus "Cas" which was short for "Casanova" ever since Cyrus came out to him. It was a running joke between the two that Cyrus knew was all in good fun because Luke was good-hearted and in fact bisexual.

Cyrus chose to ignore him. "Okay, so this is Andi Mack, Buffy Driscoll, Dylan Thompson, Jonah Beck, Leah Wilson, and..." Cyrus stopped when he got to Luke. "You know I'm blanking on his name, but he's not important anyway," Cyrus finished.

"No hard feelings, Cas," Luke responded stepping past Cyrus. Luke held his hand out for Grey to shake. "King, Luke King. I go by King, but feel free to make up your own nickname for me that properly represents my greatness. It's a pleasure to meet you." Grey was lost in his eyes. They were amber with shiny specks of copper and gold. Grey realized he had been shaking his hand for way too long, and quickly pulled away, embarrassed. Luke didn't seem to notice. "We were thinking of heading to the Spoon after class. You interested?" Jonah asked.

"Yeah, sure," Grey replied which was quickly followed by the bell signaling the end of lunch.

"Cool, see you then," Jonah responded before joining Andi to walk to their next class.

"Okay," Cyrus said, turning to Grey, "I think we both have English next. Everyone walked off leaving Dylan and Leah alone at the table.

"Luke doesn't know what he's talking about," Dylan broke the silence.

"Right," Leah agreed quickly.

"Totally clueless," Dylan added, putting his arm around Leah.

"Absolutely," Leah finished, grinning as Dylan pulled her closer, and they walked to their next class. 

Meanwhile, Cyrus and Grey were almost to their class. 

"It's not usually that crazy," Cyrus apologized. "On Mondays, pretty much the whole crew has this lunch period. The rest of the week, we're split up between first and second lunch. They're easier to handle in smaller doses." 

"They all seemed really cool."

"Well I doubt that will become a lasting impression." As they walked into their classroom, everyone's head turned to them. "I think we're late," Cyrus whispered to Grey.

"You are indeed, Mr. Goodman," their teacher, Ms. Henntel hissed, having overheard Cyrus. "Both of you please make your way to the back," she said turning away from the two boys. As they sat in their seats, a certain someone caught Cyrus's eye. TJ Kippen. The coolest, most athletic boy at Jefferson, and unfortunately, his long time crush. Grey noticed Cyrus's eyes fixed on TJ, and nudged him.

"You like him, don't you?" Grey guessed. Cyrus looked at him, surprised. No one except Luke knew that he liked TJ, how had Grey guessed it so quickly?

"Of course not," Cyrus responded after a moment.

"Okay buddy, I hate to quote Frozen here, but you hesitated," Grey replied. Cyrus simply stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Alright, alright. Who am I to argue with a Disney quote," Cyrus let a smile creep onto his face, "Yeah, I like him." Grey opened his mouth to speak, but Cyrus stopped him, "Before you get any ideas, TJ is straight. And even if he weren't, he and Luke are pretty close, so I don't have a chance either way.

"He and Luke?" Grey asked sadly.

"Yeah, they've been friends since like forever," Cyrus added, not noticing Grey's dejected look. "They're super close, and go over to each other's house all the time."

"Perfect," Grey replied sarcastically. In the next classroom over, Marty had just walked in. He sat next to Buffy ignoring her icy glare.

"Where the heck have you been?!? You've missed four classes!" She whisper shouted.

"I was skipping, but my girlfriend had to take a test, so we came back," he explained.

"You were what?" Buffy asked incredulously, giving Marty a chance to rethink his excuse.

"I said I have a terrible life-threatening disease, but I came today anyway because school is very important and will help me better my future," Marty coughed for added effect. "Influenza B, so very contagious. In fact, any form of physical contact including but not limited to: biting, punching, kicking, and slapping could give you my disease, so proceed with caution." Buffy groaned and facepalmed.

"I bet you weren't so worried about physical contact when you were with your girlfriend," she responded.

"You have brought up a valid point Buffy Driscoll," he grinned. Buffy gagged, and turned her attention to the teacher, but Marty wasn't done yet. "What is your problem with me and Catherine anyway? It's not like it affects you," he questioned.

"I don't care one bit about what you and Cathy were doing before you got here, but I just don't think you two are right for each other," she replied angrily.

"You sure you don't care at all?" Marty checked hopefully.

"Not one bit, 11.5"

"Cuz if you did-"

"I don't," Buffy interrupted firmly. They fell into silence, and a few classes later, they and the rest of the GHC were headed to the Spoon.