Something Beautiful.

Half way through my run my right calf started hurting. Ugh, it was definitely a Monday. I stopped by the doughnut shop on my way back by so I could stretch it out. Plus, it gave me an excuse to talk to the old men for a second. I hadn't stopped by since the start of August, and since it was now September it had been quite a while.

"Hey Shane," one of the men named Mike calls out to me. "You alright? You looked like you were limping a little coming up here." He looked genuinely concerned and it made me smile. That's just the way things were around Comfort.

If someone was hurt, everyone asked what they could do to help. If there was a death in your family you'd have enough food brought to your house to last a month, and if you were upset in any way you'd probably be the recipient of baked goods and have people offering to talk to you. Yeah, I guess some people would think it was people being nosy, but I love how everyone cares about each other, even if you don't know them very well.

"Yes sir, I'm alright. My calf is tight so I decided I'd stop to stretch it out." I replied as I pressed the ball of my foot up against the wall and leaned forward.

"Awe, you mean you didn't come to see us?" another man, Joe, asked.

"Of course not! Who'd stop by to see you?" jeered Mike as he hit Joe over the head with a rolled up newspaper. Everyone laughed and I joined in. I could see myself sitting in some doughnut shop years from now with other people I've known all my life. Now, I know I said I don't want to stay in Comfort in particular, but I have my moments where I get nostalgic and don't want to leave my little town.

"Would you two quit arguing? I swear, you two chatter like women. I leave my house every morning so I don't have to hear it from my wife when she wakes up. I don't need it from you here," said Paul. Paul was one of my favorite old men, and him and his wife were just about the most adorable old couples I had ever seen. "How's school going?" he called to me.

"Pretty good, fourth week of class starts today," I told him.

"Hey, Shane," Joe said to me. "You excited about the new students?" New students? This is the first I had heard about us getting new kids. Like I've said, people don't move to Comfort very often. The last new person we had in our grade was Jules, and he moved here in freshman year. Another old man asked him what he was talking about, and everyone stopped to listen to the conversation. "Yeah, new kids. Two high school boys. They're brothers, and them and their parents just moved in to that old two story house next door to me, and their mom told me they were starting school today."

"I hadn't even heard anything about it until just now," I admitted. I looked down at my watch and realized if I didn't get back soon I was going to be late. Fuck Monday mornings. "Hey, I've gotta get home guys, or I'd stay and talk to you. Have a good day guys!"

They all called out to me telling me bye and to be nice to the new kids, stuff like that, and I was out the door and making my way down the road, faster than I usually ran. I wanted to stop by that house again, just to see if Joe was telling the truth, or if he was just being his crazy old self, but because I was late I didn't have any time to spare, so I took a short cut and arrived at my house only five minutes behind schedule.

When I get home Tiger was going crazy. Even to her five minutes was a big deal. "I know girl, I'm freaking out too," I tell her. I let her out and rush inside to start getting ready, leaving Tiger by herself. She can deal with being in the yard a little longer than it takes for her to do her business. I have to hurry.

My mom is already gone to the hospital, but that's no surprise. She left me a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast along with a note telling me to have a great day and make sure dad gets up in time for work. I smile and think again that I almost feel like a father waking up my dad every morning. He always groans and complains, much like I used to. It's kind of funny, actually.

I grab the plate and turn to go to my room when my dad walks out of my parents room. I check to see if he's sleep walking or something, because there's no way he'd actually be awake right now. He's in a t-shirt and boxers, but he's definitely awake.

"Hey Shane, I forgot to tell you. You need to be at school ten minutes earlier than usual this morning because there's some new kids coming and one's in your grade. They want you to show him around and all that jazz." Without waiting for my answer he mumbles something incoherent and shuffles back to his bed. I know I should tell him he has to get up for work, but my mind is in overdrive right now.

I've just gone from being five minutes behind schedule to being fifteen minutes behind schedule. Fuck, I hate Mondays. I turn and fly up the stairs to my room trying to decide where in my routine I can cut fifteen minutes. Nowhere.

I may sound like a total girl, but everything has to go exactly according to plan when I'm getting ready, or I don't have a good day. School starts at eight, and I usually arrive at 7:40. I come in from my run at 6:30 exactly, which gives me about an hour to get ready, and ten minutes to get to school and out of my car. I have twenty-five minutes to shower, fifteen to pick out what I'm going to wear, fifteen to do my hair, and five minutes to eat. Right now it's 6:35 and I have to get to school at 7:30. There's just no way I'll be ready on time.

I speed through my shower and throw on the first clothes I grab: a pair of light wash skinny jeans and a black v-neck. With my black converse I suppose it's acceptable, but I'm still not pleased with how I look. I start to do my hair, but looking at the time I realize I'll never get it done in time. Dammit, today is not my day.

I peer at my reflection and grimace. Curls are forming in my hair around my face and I despise them. It takes me so long to do my hair in the morning because I straighten it, but it doesn't look like I'll get that luxury today. Its not that I have a thing against curly hair, it's just that I have a thing against my curly hair. There's just no cure for it.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair hoping that by some miracle it will straighten out. I definitely need to get my hair cut soon so it will stop all this nonsense. It's already seven twenty, so I grab everything and call to my dad to wake up before I dump my plate in the sink and hurry to my car. Tiger whines to me but I don't have time to pet her this morning.

Even though I'm irritated by my lack of time this morning I'm actually kind of excited to get to school. As I pull out of my driveway and turn up my music I'm actually smiling. Last time someone moved in and I showed them around it was Jules, and now we're best friends. This could actually be great.

*****

There's already people milling around when I get to school, and I'm not surprised. The sun rises so early here that most of us are early to wake up, and after you wake up there's not really anything to do except come to school. Even with me arriving at 7:40 most mornings I'm usually one of the last ones to show up.

People are whispering about us getting two new boys today, and as I pass I can't help but agree with the chatter. It's a really strange time to start a new school. I mean, really? Who goes to a school for three weeks before deciding to go to a different one? One week into the year, okay, maybe it took a while to get moved. Two weeks is a little less likely, but three weeks? It's just an odd time.

When I get to the office I see two boys standing there, and a junior girl, Madison, talking to them. One is tall and has an athletic build and the other is shorter, at least six inches shorter than me. I open the door to the office and smile at the receptionist before turning to the guys.

"I'm guessing you're Nick?" I ask the taller looking one. I'm terrible with names, but I'm pretty sure that's the name my dad yelled to me as I was leaving. The guys is pretty good looking, but there's just no way I'd ever actually be interested in him.

"Yeah, I’m Nick. Hang on, let me just say bye to my brother and we can get going." I turn my attention to his little brother and I get the feeling he had been staring at me. He puts his head down and hugs Nick, who hugs him back tightly as if he's afraid to let him go.

The younger brother looks absolutely miserable, and I think his clothes my be drowning him. Everything he's wearing is three sizes too big, and he kept putting a hand over the bottom half of his face as though he was trying to hide. Even under it all, he was so adorable. To think he might be upset made me sad and I have to fight the urge to reach over and join in on the hug. If Jules had been the one showing Nick around he probably would have made it a group hug as soon as the hug started, but I could tell there was something intimate about it, so I just stood there and took in the moment.

Finally the older boy, Nick, releases his brother and the boy shuffles out of the office following Madison while he looks as though he wants nothing more than to dart out the front entrance.

"You ready, man?" I ask the other brother, Nick as we walk out the door. I look again at the lost boy in the giant clothes standing with his guide in the hall and I can't help but think they must be polar opposites. Here's this tall, muscular looking boy standing beside me with his hair done wearing a button up shirt. Then there's his brother, a small thing with clothes on that make him look like he's homeless or something, which obviously isn't true judging by the house they bought and the clothes his brother is wearing. I don't understand it.

"I'll see you at lunch Bud!" Nick calls to his younger brother. The boy waves back and soon him and Madison are swallowed into the tide of students in the hallway. A few people call out to me and I wave back. Everyone is looking at the boy beside me, and I don't blame them. I mean, he's good looking, and from what I can tell he's nice, at least to his brother. From the way everyone's looking at him he may give Jules a run for his money when it comes to girls.

"Shane!" I turn around, and sure enough Jules is fighting his way through the crowd to get to me. "What the hell man? I went by your house and when I walked into your kitchen I found your dad in his boxers instead of you fully dressed. Do you know how scarred I am now? I wanted breakfast dude, I didn't want to lose it! Oh. Wait... Who's this?"

"Jules, Nick. Nick, this is my best friend," I told them looking from one to the other. Both boys examine each other quizzically. Nick looks as though he's a little freaked out from the ginger in front of him, but then again, Jules still freaks me out sometimes and we've been best friends for three years.

"Hi Nick! Welcome to Comfort, Maine! Our little slice of heaven, right here on earth!" Jules throws his arms out and acts like a show man. Yeah, that still freaks me out sometimes is happening right now. Nick looks uncomfortable too so I hit Jules in the stomach and he doubles over coughing.

"Sorry," I tell Nick. "He's a little... eccentric." I tell him for lack of better words. To my surprise, Nick laughs with me. Maybe he's good with weird.

"Yeah, I can tell," he laughs. "Nice to meet you Jewels."

Woah. No way he just called Jules Jewels. Only I call him that. This new kid may be cool, but not that cool. "Woah," I say. "Only I call him that. His name is actually pronounced Julius. It's just spelled J-U-L-E-S, so I say it like Jewels. Just the adults say Julius though. Most everyone calls him-"

"Morning Fries!" someone calls and Jules glares at them, checking for teachers before flipping the guy off.

"Well then, nice to meet you, Fries," Nick says with a grin on his face as he reaches a hand out to Jules. Jules shakes it with a pretend grimace on his face as he groans.

"Putain," he grumbles. "Another person to call me Fries. Nice to meet you too, Nick." I roll my eyes at them and lead the way down the hall to the algebra class both Nick and Jules will have first period. At least Nick won't be alone. Then again, he might be better off without Jules.

"So you'll have algebra with Jules. He can show you where to go in a minute," I tel Nick. I have his schedule in my hand and he's nodding at my words. "Oh, man. You have choir second period?" Jules laughs and Nick blushes.

"Yeah, I uh, took it to be with my brother," he says, and then looks as if he said something wrong. He scratches his head with a hand and glances off down the hall. "He couldn't like... fit it in his schedule though, so I guess I'm alone, then. No chance you two have it?"

"Nope," I laugh. We wouldn't be caught dead in choir. Even for a gay guy that would be embarrassing. I can just picture Nick with all the freshman girls who have decided they just have to be the next American Idol. He's gonna need ear plugs, for sure. I make a mental note to offer him aspirin at lunch, because I know he'll be needing it.

Jules and I make our way down the rest of the halls showing Nick where everything is. After just ten minutes with him I've decided that yeah, I do like him. Not like him like him. But as a fried, he's cool. I've also discovered it's not just his brother he's nice to. Nick's nice to everyone. He's a genuinely good guy, and I can tell he's going to fit in just fine here at comfort.

*****

"Nick!" Jules yells. We had just sat down at our table, but now Jules is standing on his chair waving his arms at the boy who just exited the lunch line.

"Shh," I hiss at Jules and pull him down from the chair. Its no wonder everyone knows his name. How could they not notice someone who thinks its perfectly normal to stand in a chair in the middle of the cafeteria and yell at the new kid?

"Ta gueule," Jules says back to me as he takes his seat. "You're such a killjoy Shane. Like seriously, you ruin my fun all the time."

"Quit pouting, you baby." I had been having a pretty good day considering it was Monday. Nick and I had two of our first four classes together, and he had seemed to genuinely enjoy having me as his guide. I had learned a lot about him in a short amount of time, and the only topic he wouldn't talk about was his brother.

Their family had moved from New York City to Comfort over the weekend for a 'change of scenery' as he put it. If I were Nick I'd be pretty pissed at my parents to move me right before my senior year, but he really didn't seem to mind it.

"Hey guys," Nick says as he sits down. It's only the three of us sitting at the table because although Jules and I have friends, we prefer a small lunch group. The most we ever really have sitting with us is about six people, and on days there's homework that has to be caught up on, like today, we're sometimes the only people here.

"So, how was choir?" Jules asks with a grin as he stuffs food into his mouth. Nick groans and puts his head in his hands.

"Terrible," he replies. Jules and I laugh because we both knew it would happen. Nick had told me about it in third period, and it was about as bad as I had predicted. "I seriously need to request a schedule change before I have an ear drum blown out."

He begins to recount the events and we laugh along before he breaks off suddenly and smiles. He's facing where the line comes out of the serving area, so I can only guess he's smiling at someone coming out of the line. By the look on his face, it must be his brother. Looking at Nick I feel as though I'm intruding on an intimate moment. He looks at the younger boy with so much softness I'm reminded of a father looking at his newborn son. The fact that the two are really close is so evident anyone could see it. Nick waves a hand gently and when I turn around I see the boy slowly walking towards our table with his head down.

"Hey Bud," Nick says and his smile widens. The boy sits down beside Nick and scoots his chair closer. Its as though the boy has melted right into the background and is just a part of Nick's shadow. I think the boy would like it better that way though. "You had a good morning?"

"It was okay," he whispers, and I swear I just heard an angel speak. His voice was so clear and pure, but it sounded almost hurt at the same time. I find myself again overcome with a want to just reach over and hug this boy, but I don't.

"What's your name?" Jules asks him happily. That's another thing I love about Jules. He doesn't care who it is or what they look like. He's like a little puppy. If the thing's living and moving and smells good he wants to be its friend, even if the thing isn't too fond of the idea itself.

"Uh, I'm Noah," the boy replies, his voice barely louder than a breath of air. He is so adorable. Really, he is. Noah covers his face with his hand like he did in the office this morning and shrinks away farther into Nick's shadow.

"Noah. Like the dude with the ark!" Jules exclaims, obviously oblivious to the fact he's making this little delicate boy uncomfortable. "Dude, that is so cool! What grade are you in?"

The boy peeks from between his fingers and the little bit of his face I can see looks absolutely horrified. "I'm a junior," he whispers. He's scooted over so far that he's now pressed against Nick's side, but Nick doesn't seem to mind it. The rest of lunch passes without a word from the little shadow. He sits next to Nick and eats his sandwich quietly, a faint blush painted across his beautiful cheekbones the entire time.

"So what do you have next?" Nick asks us. Noah got up to take his and Nick's trash to throw away, so the three of us were left alone again.

"French one," Jules groans, causes me to laugh at him.

"Ditto," I agree.

"Wait," Nick says to Jules. "French One? Aren't you like French?"

"Exactly! Someone finally understands me! Thank you! My gosh. I'm not even an American citizen. I'm French for crying out loud! But nooooo. You have to have at least one year of foreign language to graduate, Julius. I'm very sorry. Yeah right, I bet you're sorry. Making a Frenchman take French One to graduate. C’est foutu!"

Both Nick and I are rolling now, and a few people around us laugh too, having overheard the whole thing due to Jules tendency to speak loudly. Everyone had heard about his scheduling, and it was one of the biggest jokes around school now. I loved it though. Jules sat right beside me, and although he said he refused to help me in French, he helped me. He just didn't know it.

The bell rang and we jumped up, telling Nick we'd see him in English right after French. When we got to the class we were the first ones there, which was a very rare occurrence. Usually Jules and I were the last ones to class, not the first. People slowly filed in and there were normal conversations surrounding us about the mall, who's dating who, the football game last Friday, stuff like that. I was talking to Jules and asking him when he worked for the week, but he didn't reply. I looked up at him and saw a familiar glint in his eye. Was he really ignoring me to look at a girl?

"Jules!" I said again, but then I followed his line of sight out the door and saw Noah. What?

"Who's that?" He asked me. I stared at him as though he was going crazy. He was goggling at Nick's little brother?

"That's Noah,"I began, but I was cut off.

"No, you idiot. With him."

I looked out the door again and saw that Noah was awkwardly trying to get away from his guide, Madison. Jules was staring at Madison? Don't get me wrong, she's a great girl. She's just shy, and quiet, and doesn't really care about how she looks or what people think. She's number one in her class, but she's friendless. There's nothing wrong with her, really, but she's not Jules type. At all.

"Madison?" I ask incredulously. Jules looks down at me with a confused look on his face.

"What? No, I was talking about the girl behind them. It was Jennifer though. She just bleached her hair this weekend, I guess," he tells me. I study him for a second more as he starts to get his homework out, and he's blushing faintly. Some part of me tells me he's lying, but my my logic tells me he's not.

I hear the sound of feet shuffling and when I look up I realize Noah must be in our class. He's shuffling through the aisle between mine and Jules's desks, and he looks lost beyond belief. My heartstrings are pulled and my thoughts of Jules immediately diminish.

"Noah," I say softly. He looks up at me, relief showing for a second before he covers his face with his hands again. "You can sit behind me, there's nobody sitting there."

"Thanks, Shane," he whispers as he passes me. I study him when he walks by, and again I get the feeling that there's just something about him. What it is, I have no clue. I can't put my finger on what it is, or even what it's making me feel.

He removes his hand right as he's even with my desk, and I'm struck by how beautiful his face is. He has thin eyebrows that frame his amber eyes perfectly and his cheekbones appear to have an ever-present blush on them. His lips are frowning though, and it's apparent he's not very happy. I want to reach out and touch his cheeks and to tell him everything was okay.

Stop it, Shane. All day I've been fighting urges to touch this boy and assure him he'll be happy here, but all day I've also been held back by an invisible force. The same invisible force that's making me feel something totally different when I look at him. I don't know what it is, but it's crazy.

Our teacher enters the room and everyone falls quiet. She welcomes Noah who is luckily not made to stand in front of the class. "Bonjour, Noah," our class says, following Madame Delacour's lead. I glance over at Jules and see him staring off into the distance. Everyone starts going through our daily routine of the alphabet, numbers, months, and days of the week, but I want to ask Jules when he works since he ignored me earlier.

"Jules," I whisper, my voice barely audible. My teacher gives me a disproving look, so I join in the counting. Jules is still staring off, not participating, but that's normal. I tear a sheet of paper out of my spiral and ball it up. When Madame Delacour is looking at her computer I take the chance and throw the paper at Jules. He jumps and turns in his desk to look at me.

"What do you what, Salop?" he jokes in a whisper. I open my mouth to reply, but before any words can come out our teacher yells across the room.

"Monsieur Jules!" she calls looking angry. The only problem Jules has with cursing in French in other classes, is that he forgets our French teacher can actually understand him, so he can't get away with calling me a bitch in the middle of class. "There will be no cursing in my room! If I hear that again you will be serving detention. I don't care if you're fluent in French or not. I understand French cursing just as well as English, and you will not be using either in my class, am I understood?"

Jules is blushing so bright he's almost the same color of his hair, and I can barely contain my laughter. He agrees, staring down at his desk. The rest of the class chuckles, and Madame Delacour breaks into a smile. She acts like she's upset, but everyone knows she thinks Jules being forced to take this class is just as funny as us kids think it is.

There's a distinct noise coming from the desk behind me. It's this beautiful, faint little giggle. The only one sitting behind me is Noah. I turn to look at him in wonder, curious as to how someone could even make a noise as wonderful as the giggle I heard, but when I turn around he's looking down at a piece of paper with one hand over his face, the same pose I've already begun to associate him with.