First Week

I never thought I'd be in this situation; Alan's back pressed against me and my back pressed against the lockers, all the while the metal from one of the locks was digging painfully into my lower back. My hands were resting nervously on his shoulder blades and I stared at the back of his neck. I cringed when Mark yelled sharply, but Alan threw a statement coolly, and angrily, back at him. I swallowed thickly and I saw the past week flash before my eyes. I hated how fucked up this Friday, my first Friday here, had turned out to be.

.

Monday morning, the first day of school. I kept one hand fixed securely on one shoulder strap of my backpack as I walked to my third hour. So far, so good. Geometry wasn't my strong suit, but it wasn't my worst, so I wasn't all that worried about it.

I walked into room 306 and briefly took a seat in the back after a quick talk with the teacher. Mr. McAllister didn't seem to mind that I was a tad bit antisocial and promptly started the lesson as soon as the shrill ring of the late bell had finished ringing.

I zoned out; we had already done this in my old school. I made sure the keep my head at an angle so that it looked like I was paying attention, and thankfully my hair and my beanie shielded my eyes enough that the teacher couldn't see if they were closed or not. So after some zoning, I started to doze off. I awoke to the sound of the bell, grabbed my stuff, and split to fourth.

.

The next day was more or less like the first, boring all around. I acquired a friend at the end of the first day, though. His name was Derek. He reminded me of a happy, brown-haired puppy, always yip-yipping and eager for attention. He walked with me to almost all of my classes and sat with me at lunch.

“You could use some color.” he told me as we sat down at a lunch table.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” he said, contemplating his next words. “It's just that you're nothing but... black and white.”

“What wrong with black and white?” I retorted.

“Nothing!” he said, smiling. He then proceeded to point out, jokingly, that if it weren't for my icy blue eyes, I could legally be a shadow. I threw a bottle cap at him and chuckled. Like I said, so far, so good.

.

Wednesday was when I met Alan. He was tall, blond, and so very handsome. I was indeed bisexual, and very happy with it thank you very much. I just wasn't too open about it. So what?

When I asked Derek about him, he told me that Alan was the pretty boy everyone wanted in one way or another; head of student council, valedictorian, the works. He had a good attitude to boot. I sighed and told myself to leave it be, past experiences taught me that prince charming and any boy – especially the peasant boy – were heavily frowned upon, even in my own family. And everyone wondered why I was so secretive about it.

“Do you want me to introduce him to you?” Derek asked slyly.

“What? No. He looks busy anyway. See ya.” I said, waving to him over my shoulder as I walked off to my next class. I could practically feel Derek frown and shrug.

I was almost to my next class when I heard a 'Hey, you!' from behind me and I snapped my head back to look at whoever was talking to me. I swear I almost had a heart attack.

“You're the new kid, right? Sean, was it?” Alan asked, smiling. He was wearing a blue polo shirt and khakis. His soft gold bangs shadowed his green eyes and the medium hair length reminded me of a surfer.

“Yeah.” I responded in a robotic voice. He held out a flyer to me. In big yellow letters at the top was 'Fall Jamboree' outlined in orange.

“It's this Friday night if you don't have any plans.” Alan said as I looked up at him. He was at least a foot taller than me; making him just about seven feet tall. I also thought I caught a glimpse of a blush on his cheeks, but when I blinked the light pink was gone. Nothing but perfect, tanned skin. No getting smitten with the angel, I told myself. I didn't need that kind of trouble. Beside, he probably already had some girlfriend that was just as perfect. I felt a twinge of jealousy toward whoever she was.

“Sure. Okay.” I said. He smiled and waved goodbye, turning back the way he came. I waved back and walked on to class. Oh geez, being at this school just got that much harder and it wasn't even Friday yet.

.

Thursday was a little weird. I kept getting weird stares from people all day, and at lunch when I tried to ask Derek, he seemed kinda pissed and didn't want to talk about it. I overheard some girls talking on the way to my seventh period and they kept mentioning my name, or else it was a different Sean. But I wasn't sure if there was another Sean in the school that Alan had talked to directly. I was kinda confused.

After school, I found Derek and interrogated him relentlessly until he decided he was being mad at me for no reason and decided to spill what he knew.

“Alan talked to you. Like, directly invited you to the Fall Jamboree.” he said with rushed words, running a hand through his short, brown hair. I screwed up my face into a confused expression.

“So...?”

“So?! So! He hardly ever does that to anyone!”

“Maybe he was just being nice to the new guy...”

“Oh, yeah right. Gimme a break.”

“Like it's my fault! I don't know why the hell everyone's so upset over it anyway.” I said with a sigh, plopping down onto the sidewalk.

“Were you not just listening to me, dude? I said-”

“'He hardly ever does that to anyone'. Yeah, I get it. But I didn't do anything! So, what the fuck?” I shook my head. Derek sat down next to me.

“... Maybe he likes you.”

“Shut up.”

“Sean, I'm serious.” Derek said.

“He's straight. And I'm not.”

“So?”

“Ugh!” I said, flinging my arms up in the air. “Just... ugh.”

“Well, whatever. I'm just saying that as a suggestion.” Derek replied. We sat and watched some kids play basketball for a little while before we both finally had to go home.

All night all, Derek's “suggestion” ran through my head.

.

The next morning I awoke groggy; Derek's and Alan's voices had haunted me all night. So much for sleep. When I finally tumbled out of bed, the flyer that sat on my desk practically screamed at me with it's bright fall colors as I walked to the bathroom. Oh good hell, it was going to be one of those days, huh?

I shook my head at it and continued to the bathroom where I promptly took a shower and got ready for school.

When I got to school, I noticed I was getting more intense stares than usual. I ignored it and continued to the usual spot I meet Derek at, surprised when he was there waiting for me today.

“And here I thought you were always late.” I said, standing over him for a few seconds before I sat down next to him on the sidewalk. I was relieved we had unintentionally chosen a spot on the side of the school as it was away from everyone– well, mostly everyone.

“No no, that's only when I want to be. Usually I want to be, but not today.”

“What's so special about today?”

“Hell if I know. I just couldn't get back to sleep. So here I am... Here I am...” Derek trails off, watching a few small animals scurry around in the bushes. There's something on his mind, I know it, but I won't push him. Don't want to drive away my only friend.

The bell rang then, interrupting the calm silence that had settled over us. The quiet roar of student voices picked up dramatically as everyone headed to class. Derek and I got up and went to class as well, parting at the 200 building.

The morning went on without incident; Derek and I met up between classes to rant about how the history teacher won't shut up or how math blows intensely, the usual. Between second and third, I made brief eye contact with Alan when I passed him on my way to geometry, but other than that, everything was boring with a capital 'B'.

It was during lunch that it happened. No one was in the halls except for me, I was rummaging through some notebooks for some notes and I had already sent Derek off to get lunch, telling him I'd be there momentarily, when Mark came along. He was tall, and being the captain of the football team, was very well muscled. Rumor had it that he didn't have a very good attitude or temper.

“Hey, new kid,” Mark sneered at me, stopping when he was a locker away from me.

“Hey,” I replied coolly, I didn't want to set him off.

“So I heard you're getting a bit smitten with Alan.”

“I hardly even know him. I've only said maybe–” I jumped back from my now closed locker. Mark had come over and slammed it shut, his palm still splayed across the faded gray metal. He was wearing an evil smirk, one that I had seen many times before at my old school.

As Mark was making his way toward me, trying to trap me against the set of lockers across from mine, a door two doors down from the one closest to my left opened and out stepped Alan. I'm guessing he had caught a glimpse of my current predicament from the corner of his eye because when he turned his head toward us – Mark and I – his facial expression suggested he was quite confused before it darkened with anger.

.

And that was how I ended up here. Alan had tried to intervene, and to protect me, and pushed me against the lockers with his back, acting as my shield. Alan was holding Mark's fists, pushing back against them with equal strength as Mark tried to get to me. He constantly slewed insults and profanity.

I, on the other hand, was still trying to figure out why he got so angry about the whole thing. Then again, why the hell did Mark have to come pick on me in the first place?

“Mark, back off.” Alan said in a controlled tone.

“Make me, pretty boy.”

“We don't want the football coach to catch wind of this, now do we?” Alan suddenly asked, and I could practically hear the smirk in his voice, assuming he was wearing one. Mark's left eye twitched, and he huffed. He started to back off, letting Alan relax and drop Mark's hands. Alan took a step forward, giving me some breathing space while still shielding me behind him, and I instantly dropped my hands to my side. I stared at his back while he spoke to Mark.

“Get out of here, Mark.”

“Whatever.” Mark sneered as he walked off.

“Oh, and Mark?” Alan called after him. Mark stopped, but didn't turn around. “If I catch you picking on anyone again, I'll personally have a little chat with the coach.”

Mark scoffed and continued walking. Soon enough, he turned a corner and was out of sight. Alan turned around to me then, and I dropped my gaze to the floor.

“You okay?” Alan asked, his voice laced with worry. I wanted to vomit.

“Fine. Thanks.” I said shortly. I wanted to go back to my locker, but Alan was standing in my way. I leaned back against the lockers, feeling Alan's gaze on me.

“You don't seem okay, Sean.”

“I'm fine. Just a little fazed from that.”

“From Mark picking on you like that?” Or from me? He didn't have to say it, I heard it echoing in his tone. I glanced up at him, surprised to see a small smirk on his lips.

“W-what?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Alan replied, his expression immediately melting to a clueless one. Before I knew it, I had a clueless expression too.

“Seriously, what?!”

“Nothing! It's just...”

“Just...?” I inquired, kind of annoyed.

“You seem flustered, not fazed,” he replied. I opened my mouth to say something, but snapped it shut again. “It's cute.”

That wasn't cute, being flustered, right? I folded my arms loosely over my chest and looked back down to the floor. I tilted my head forward enough for my bangs to completely hide my eyes. Was he serious? I felt my heart thunder in my chest.

I suddenly felt a finger under my chin and I instantly looked up, surprised to see Alan standing directly in front of me, his head tilted down to look at me. I felt myself blush as I realized what was happening and as I had suspected, Alan pressed his lips softly to mine. Then my mind blew up and I couldn't think straight. Holy hell.

I hardly realized that my arms had unfolded themselves and my hands were clutching the front of Alan's white shirt and my body reacted on it's own as I pushed back against him when he pushed my harder into the lockers. So, was this why those people in the halls just couldn't find a room and make out there? Because it was just too damn good?

Alan forcibly pulled himself back, both of us panting. I left my hands buried in Alan's shirt as I stared into his green eyes and he stared into my blue ones.

“Uh...” I said stupidly.

“You wanna go to the Fall Jamboree with me?” Alan asked. I stared at him for a few minutes.

“I th-thought you were...”

“Straight? So does everyone else.” Alan replied, winking at me.

“S-sure... I mean, yes. Yes, I'd love to... go with you.” I replied, my brain finally working again. Alan smiled and kissed my cheek softly.

“See you there.” he said as he walked down the hall to his locker. That's when I noticed that the bell had rung and students were just flooding into the halls.

I walked over to my locker, feeling warm and fuzzy as sappy as it sounds. I made a mental note to tell Derek that he was right as I grabbed some books and headed off to my next class.