I Don't Mind If You're Overrated

I had gotten way too used to not going to school. Over the course of the last month, I had been either in the hospital or been hidden away by my parents. Jesse’s alarm came as a shock when it went off at six in the morning.

“WAKE UP, VIC!” He practically yelled, jumping out of bed right away. Great, he was a morning person. I rolled over with a groan. “I take morning showers. Feel free to have the bathroom all to yourself at night.” He explained as he gathered his clothes. Jesse was way too excited this early in the morning. I just nodded groggily, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. I climbed out of bed once he had shut the bathroom door. I threw on a navy blue v-neck and my favorite yellow hoodie, even though the sleeves had faded bloodstains on them. The thought started to make me upset. I sat on the floor, counting softly until I could breathe normally again.

“You okay, Vic?” Shit, I hadn’t heard Jesse come back in. I nodded shakily, lifting myself up off the floor.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m just kind of nervous.” I told him, which wasn’t totally a lie.

“Let’s see your schedule.” He said, holding out his hand. I gave it over. He scanned it quickly. “We have physics and French together. You have English with Matty and Jenna. Psychology with Gabe, and then music theory and European History with Kellin. Unfortunately, Josh is also in your history.” He explained. I guess the classes were pretty small in a school this size. I was ecstatic to hear that I had two classes with Kellin. I wanted to get to know him. We walked down to the same cafeteria for breakfast. We sat in the same table as well, so I guess that was a routine. I wasn’t hungry again, and I noticed Kellin wasn’t eating, either. After making a little small talk, the questions started.

“So Vic, why’d you transfer?” Matty asked in between bites of egg and bacon. I shrugged.

“We moved.” I answered. It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Where from?”

“San Diego.”

“Do you have any siblings?” This question came from Gabe.

“A brother, Mike. He’s 15.”

“Why isn’t he here?” Jenna asked. I just shrugged. They waited for me to answer, but it became clear I wasn’t going to. I didn’t have an excuse for that one.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Jesse asked. I glanced at Kellin, who was keeping quiet. He looked interested, but sympathetic. I laughed.

“Girls aren’t exactly my thing.” I said delicately. None of them seemed too shocked. Was it really that obvious?

“Well do you have a boyfriend?” I was a little surprised to hear Kellin’s voice. Everyone else started laughing.

“Now Kellin’s getting back to normal.” Jenna joked. I wondered what he was normally like.

“I’m pretty single.” I said to him, trying to keep my tone light. I wondered if he was gay. I could see it. After this, the questions slowed down. I passed around my schedule, and they all confirmed what Jesse had filled me in on earlier. I had English first period. I went with Matty and Jenna to throw away their trash, waving goodbye to the rest of my new friends. I walked with them across campus over to the class building. I got some stares, but I had expected it. We walked into class right as an annoying beep sounded through the intercom, which I was guessing was the bell. I sat down in the back row, in between Jenna and a boy who turned and introduced himself as Alex. The teacher was a small, old man in a fedora named Mr. Evans.

“It appears we have a new student today. Why don’t you introduce yourself?” He announced in an amused tone. I started to speak, but he cut me off. “No, come to the front.” He insisted, pointing to his podium. I didn’t see why there was a need for a podium in a class of twelve people, but whatever. I stood up and walked to the front.

“Um, hi. I’m Vic Fuentes, I’m a junior and I’m from San Diego.” I said begrudgingly. Mr. Evans stared at me expectantly. I just shrugged. “That’s all.” I just hurried back to my seat. He sighed and began the lesson.

The rest of the day passed rather quickly. I sat next to Kellin in Euro, but the teacher was pretty strict, so we didn’t really talk. I did meet Josh, though. He was a showoff, disrupting the teacher and being a smart ass. All the girls seemed to like him, especially a redhead named Hayley.

I ate an apple at lunch, which seemed to please Jesse. I wished that he didn’t care. The one nice thing about my parents ignoring me had been that my eating habits were left up to my own choices. I sighed, exchanging glances across the table with Kellin the whole lunch period. The rest of the group had switched from joking about Kellin’s sudden quietness to being truly worried. He laughed, assuring them it was nothing. I wondered if I had something to do with it. We had music theory next, so we walked together.

“Do we have to go to the meal room at lunch?” I asked on the way there, piercing the slightly tense silence between us. He shrugged.

“I guess not, but I just don’t want to hang out alone.” He said. “I really like those guys, anyways.” He assured me.

“Can we just not go to dinner?” I pressed, realizing I sounded a little bit whiny. Kellin laughed; a clear, high pitched sound.

“We’ll tell them we’re on a date.” He said, throwing his arm around my shoulders playfully. Even though he was short compared to the average guy, he was still an inch or two taller than me.

“Sounds like a plan.” I knew it was a joke, but it still made me smile. He kept his arm around me the whole way to class.

Unfortunately, the teacher sat me across the room from him. It helped me pay attention a little bit better, but I still stole glances at the beautiful boy every few minutes. It gave me butterflies every time I caught him staring back.

The class dragged on, as did the rest of the periods after that. All I could think of was Kellin. Hell, I’d just met him, and I was already obsessed. Jesse distracted me during French, though. It was our last class. We sat in the back, and the teacher didn’t really mind our talking. It’s a good thing I was quiet in the first place, or I knew Jesse would be drilling me with questions regarding why I was stuck in a daydream. He asked me plenty of other things, though. “What were things like in San Diego? Were you born in Mexico? When did you know you were gay? What music do you listen to? I like your sweatshirt.” Luckily, I didn’t have to do much talking besides the direct answers. I just held my wrists under the table, smiling and answering his questions as nonchalantly as I could.

“So, what do we do in between class and dinner?” I asked, interrupting his steady stream of words. He shrugged.

“Whatever you feel like. Homework, library, hanging out in the dorms, going to common grounds or the quad… really anything. Jenna and I have a study date, and Gabe has soccer practice.” He told me. I just nodded and pulled out my phone.

“Can I have your numbers? Like, the whole group.” I asked. I was mainly getting at Kellin, but luckily he didn’t pick up on that. He grabbed my phone and plugged in all the information, which he clearly had memorized, before handing it back to me.

“Mr. Lawson, Mr. Fuentes, phones away.” The teacher warned. We were pretty quiet for the rest of the period. I didn’t want to be on her bad side just yet.

The minute the bell rang, I took my phone back out again.

To Kellin: hey, its vic! jesse gave me your number
From Kellin: hey! do you wanna hit up starbucks with me and matty?
To Kellin: sounds fun
From Kellin: meet at the quad in 15?
To Kellin: (:

I could find the quad pretty easily, right? I decided to go back to the dorm first. I had gathered that the campus had a few buildings. A class building, a lab building, a girl’s dorm, a boy’s dorm, and the library. I think the quad was the huge field in the middle. I dropped my school things and changed fast into a plain black tee, but them decided against it. I didn’t want to seem like I was trying too hard. I settled on putting on my favorite beanie, grabbing my money, and heading off to find Kellin and Matty.