Lover Boy

chapter one

September 7th, 2015.

The sound of rain splattering wildly against the wide window in my dark bedroom awoke me from my slumber. My heart thumped against my ribcage. Fear pressed against the walls, filling in any empty space there was.

Another bad dream meant another bad day in my world.

As I ambled down the sidewalk on my way to school, I slipped my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket. Leaves blew around in the frosted wind, the chilled downpour soaked into my dark silky hair.

I took myself inside the vast building and made my way over to my few friends in the atrium. The area was already flooded with students and the tiled floors were wet and grimy.

Through the crowds of people, a short boy passed by me, he didn't see me, but I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of him. His dirty-blonde, curly hair bounced as he walked. He wore blue jeans, cuffed at the ankles and a baby blue knitted sweater that appeared handmade.

The air became warmer when the sun burst through the glass doors.

A tiny droplet of water dripped from a wet strand of hair that had fallen in front of my pale skin. I used the back of my hand to wipe it off of my cheek. However my eyes were somehow still locked on the petit boy.

A hand waved in front of my face. "Hello? What are you looking at?"

Right, Emma. My girlfriend. "Oh, nothing."

Her dark eyebrows lowered and she looked in the direction that I was previously observing. "Hm, I'll see you after class then." She added and tucked her platinum locks behind her ears.

I nodded my head and accompanied my friend, Gavin down the hallway with the first bell ringing. "Do you know him?" I asked, my index finger discreetly pointing over at the boy.

I shifted my gaze slightly downwards at the slender body of him standing next to me. Gavin shrugged his shoulders whilst running his hand through his light brown messy, yet middle parted hair. "Never seen him before."

When we got to first class, I sat down in my usual spot at the rearmost of the classroom; away from everyone else. The desks are placed in three rows of seven, my teachers desk is at the front left corner of the room. There's a big whiteboard on the front wall and two long, horizontal windows on the left wall.

History is tedious, boring enough to fall asleep to. My marks have fallen to a lower grade. I don't listen to the lessons or take much notes. I'm falling behind with no motivation to catch up, somehow I've stopped caring as much.

I pop a mint into my mouth and cross my arms over the table, resting my head down in the most comfortable position I can get into whilst sitting in one of those plastic chairs. The image of the innocent-looking boy strangely comes back into my head when I close my eyes.

•••

To pass time in class, I asked to use the bathroom. Frankly, I just went out for a walk around the school. When I passed by the math rooms to buy a water from the vending machine, I saw light hair and a baby blue sweater from the corner of my eye. The same as what I saw this morning.

I immediately stop in my steps and peek through the long, vertical window next to the door of a ninth grade math classroom. He looked up from writing his notes to see the whiteboard, then pushed a stray wavy curl of hair away from his face that was dangling in front of his eye.

On the inside, I began to feel abnormal.

I slightly shook my head and scrunched my face as I slid two, one dollar bills through the money slot in the vending machine and pressed the button with the right code number.

Why does he stand out to me?

•••

I started packing up my things five minutes before the bell. "Richie, the bell hasn't gone yet. I didn't say you could pack up your things." Mrs Jackson scolded.

I placed my things back down onto the desk with an unpleased look on my face. Mrs Jackson went back to teaching the end of the lesson.

She is the type of teacher to choose favorites. She either loves you, or despises you. I'm one of the ones she despises, not surprisingly.

On my way to meet Emma at her locker, I happened to pass by the same boy as I've kept seeing this morning. When he walked, he took small steps and he held his binder hugged to the front of his petit physique.

His next class was science in room 204.

•••

The lunch bell rang and it startled me, considering I was deep into thought. I got up and grabbed my black backpack from the back of my chair and tossed it onto my broad shoulders. When I got down to the cafeteria, I met up with Emma, Ben, Gavin, Abby and Ava at our usual table. Besides Emma, those were the four that I spent majority of my time with.

"Why didn't you meet me at my locker after first class? Were you too busy?" Emma said as she raised an eyebrow.

My heart skipped a beat when I noticed I'd forgotten to go, after I was distracted. "No. I stayed in class, Mrs Jackson made me catch up on some work." I replied with a dry tone using the first excuse that came to mind.

She shrugged, chewing on bubblegum flavoured gum. I stared at her mouth as she chewed with her mouth open. I catch myself giving her a slight disgusted look, then quickly erasing it from my face. Anyway, I'm surprised she believed it.

I stroked my hand through my sleek hair. Once I look back up, I see him. Again. Except it wasn't just him, he was with Connor Gleave.

I give you the biggest asshole to ever walk planet earth. He's in 12th grade on the rugby team, a pretty rough guy with muscle and golden blonde hair. He matches the "dream boy" in most girls eyes. He's known as a manipulator, too. And to see the boy who I thought was so innocent with him, is shocking. Is he that stupid actually want to be friends with Connor or what?

I tried not to stare.. but I couldn't help myself. Emma kept nudging me and asking if I was okay.

"Emma. I'm fine."

She rolled her eyes and sat up walking over to two of her friends.

My eyes followed back over to the small boy. Connor looked like he was telling him off. What could he possibly have done so wrong? At that moment, I felt the want to protect him. I clenched my fist together as I watched Connor get into his face.

I sat up and scurried out of the cafeteria without saying anything. My head felt crowded with overwhelming thoughts. In some way, I felt disgusted with myself.

I enter the bathroom and unzip my backpack, picking out my lighter and a single roll of weed that I had stashed in the front pocket. This kid called Eric Lawson stared at me through the mirror, washing his hands as I flick on my lighter.

"What do you want?" I said inconsiderately.

He dried his hands off on his white t-shirt and instantly exited the bathroom with a nervous look spread across his features.

I put the end of the joint in my mouth and lifted the golden flame from the lighter up to it. I puff the smoke out of my mouth, feeling relief.