They Always Told Me I Was Gorgeous In A Way

I was always the kid who sat alone at lunchtimes. But not because I didn't want the company, or because I was 'emo', hell, I craved the company, I just didn’t know how to interact.

I was the kid whose parents brought him up as straight laced as possible. No television, no sleepovers, only a few friends, boys, no interaction with girls until I got to High School, that concrete fortress in the next town over. I was the one who was far to over protected for his own good.

Social interactions were alien to me, right up until when I was 15, where I found my first real friend, Melody. She was a girl, which made things just that little bit harder, since my parents didn't want me hanging around with girls.

Melody came over to me, on our first day back after the winter holidays, and asked in that bright bubbly voice I've grown to love if that seat next to me was taken. I shook my head, unable to do anything more.

"I'm Melody, Eddy if you want," She said with an equally bubbly bright smile, one that contrasted with her appearance – black combat boots, a layered skirt, black and white striped tights and an Iron Maiden shirt. I fingered my own Iron Maiden shirt nervously and cleared my throat, looking down at my tattered notebook to avoid this girl.

"Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" She asks, bending her head so I can see her with my own head bent to stare at my knees.

"Max," I say, so quietly she can't hear, in my raspy voice, riddled with unconfidence.

"Matt?" She asks, and I see her eyebrows furrow a little out the corner of my eye again.

"No," I say, lifting my head a little, turning towards her slightly so she can hear me, "Max,"

"Max..." She repeats, softly, a little quieter since our teacher had just strode into the room, "You like Maiden too then?"

I nod softly, fixing my eyes on the lesson in front of us, "Yeah, they rock,"

And for the first time since I started this school, I smile.

I'm smiling that same smile now, only this time it's brighter, wider, and it's used far more than it used to be.

I shuffle on the sofa next to Eddy, watching carefully as she played Halo with far more concentration than I thought the game deserved.

I was a loner up until she sat next to me that day, wandering the halls on my own, unsure of what to do or say. Eddy had chatted animatedly all through our first lesson, and I found myself smiling more and more, my voice become ever so slightly more confident with every phrase I whispered back.

I glance round my room, making a mental note to take down the birthday cards, before glancing back at Eddy with another smile. I liked the fact we were in my room, I liked the fact we didn't have to hide our friendship, since when I turned sixteen, just a few weeks ago, my parents attitude had suddenly changed.

I was pushed into every party, and suddenly I needed a girlfriend. My parents would invite girls round, but none of it would work, and the girls would leave more than a little dejected. So my mother now set her sights on getting me and Eddy together, which, from the beginning, had a vital flaw. Since Eddy and I were best friends, nothing more and nothing less, and both of us knew that would never change.

"Eddy," I say softly, "Stop playing Halo will you, you suck."

She gasps and throws the controller at me. I screech and duck under a pillow, laughing. When I hear the controller thud onto the pillow I'm hiding behind I quickly reach from under it and grab the controller, throwing it at Eddy, whose too busy laughing to notice.

Eddy screeches when the controller hits her and I peek from out of my pillow fortress, a little more than wary. Eddy is scowling, the tears brimming at her eyes, a hand on her forehead.

"Max, you motherfucker," She growls, clambering up to look in my mirror, her hand still stuck to her head.

I untangle myself from all the pillows on the floor and follow Eddy into the bathroom, chewing my lip a little, "Sorry Ed... I didn’t think I could throw that well!"

Eddy takes her hand from her head and leans forward, inspecting the red bump on her hairline, "Melody? Sorry," I repeat, edging closer so I'm looking over her shoulder into the mirror.

My own reflection draws me in, and I see a sneer in the mirror as I don't like what I see. I see my (dyed) black hair hanging into my eyes, an outgrown mess I'm too rebellious to cut, so it hangs just above my shoulders. My pale, too pale skin, my lips that even when I'm not sneering seem like I am. My Motley Crue shirt's a few sizes too big, so the neckline almost hangs off my thin shoulders.

The only thing I even remotely like about myself are my green-brown eyes, the ones that are half hidden by my hair. The ones that look far too pale since the last time Eddy put eyeliner round them, something I found myself liking a little too much.

"Come on Eddy, sorry," I say, tearing my eyes from my still sneering reflection, "I'll make it up to you, anything,"

"Anything?" Eddy says, immediately brightening up and turning round. I nod warily as she smiles, "Let me put eyeliner on you Maxxy."

I only protest a little and Eddy looks as surprised as I feel when I agree, "Oh, alright then," It takes a second for it to sink in before Eddy squeals.

I let her pin me against the wall and painfully poke at my eyes with the black stick she miraculously produced from somewhere. When she's just done both eyes, and I sneak a glance at it in the mirror, smiling, Eddy jumps in alarm as her phone rings.

She dodges back into my bedroom and searches frantically for it.

I hear her find it and answer it as I study myself in the mirror, smiling. She bounds back into the room, still on the phone, and smiling back at me.

She places her hand over the receiver and raises her eyebrows, "You look dead cute!"

She bounds off again, answering her phone and I hear her squeal, say goodbye, and hang up.

She bounds back in, moon walking backwards into me and singing, over and over, "New boy! New boy! New boy!"

"New boy?" I question, tearing my eyes away from my reflection to see Eddy smiling.

"Yes! Shall we go and meet him!?" She's always so happy when there's a new person in our town, always eager to meet him.

"Sure!" I say, ruffling up my hair in the mirror then following Eddy from the bathroom.

"He's apparently really hot, black hair a bit like yours, lovely eyes," Eddy says, checking her own reflection before finding a hoodie from my wardrobe.

"Depends what you go for," I say softly, before placing my hands on my hips and looking indignant, "Excuse me? My hoodie?"

"You can have mine! You always do!" Eddy exclaims, zipping up the red and black checked hoodie as I snatch her grey and orange hoodie, with comic book style "Whoosh!' and 'Kaboom!' written everywhere, off the sofa, and shrug it on, zipping it up halfway.

Eddy fishes her favourite sunglasses out of her bag, before swinging it onto her shoulder. I go to find my glasses, then remember my eyeliner, and decide I can squint in the sun for a day.

Eddy and I link arms as we trip down my stairs and out the front door. We're greeting with bright Vegas sun, and I wish I'd brought my sunnies, but I find I want to show off my eyeliner far more than I should.

"He's down the park apparently, he's thingee's cousin," Eddy says, fixing her fringe as we near the park.

"Thingee?"

"Yeah, you know..." Eddy leads us into the park and towards the group of people similarly dressed to me and Eddy. I quickly scan the group and single out the one face I don’t recognise.

"Hey," Someone says to me and Eddy, ushering us forwards to a boy, "This is Ronnie."

I look Ronnie up and down in the Vegas sunlight, and I decide he looks like an alright guy. Black, almost shoulder length hair, longer layers than mine, hanging in his piercing green eyes, lined in charcoal thicker than mine. His thin lips were curved into an almost nervous smile, and, as I looked down and surveyed his outfit, I see a Rob Zombie skinny fit shirt, and some low slung black skinny jeans, held up with a bullet belt, and finished with a pair of black beat up Converse.

"Hey."

I knew, right from then, this boy was going to be my best friend.

Sorry Eddy.