Days Like These

“Victor! Victor, te me paras ahorita, a este momento!” Vic heard through his door. “Y tu Michael, apurate que no tienes todo el tiempo en el mundo!” he heard his younger brother Mike, screech. It’s his ‘Getting up and stretching’ screech. Vic banged on the wall and his brother banged back. It was their ‘Good morning asshole’ wake up call. Vic sat on his bed and rested his head in his hands.

Vic got up and made his way towards his closet. No, he wasn’t going to wake up an hour earlier and shower; that’s what the night is for. He pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and slipped on a muscle shirt with The Fray on the front. Slipping on some socks and a pair of beat up black and white Vans, Vic made his way towards the bathroom. Looking at himself in the mirror, he saw bags under his eyes and the bird nest he called hair. Starting with teeth and ending with brushing out the knots in his hair before straightening it, Vic was decent enough to enter the judgmental hell called high school.

He left the house with a backpack on his back, his phone, (empty) wallet and skateboard. His brother Mike rode beside him on his orange BMX bike. Ten minutes into their commute, their friend Tony rolled next to them on his skateboard. Five minutes later, another friend of theirs named Jaime, rode next to them on his silver BMX bike. The four friends rode to school in silence. When they got there, they lingered in the hallways. They were an hour early but the hallways were already filled with buzzing teenagers.

It was just another school year and another waking up at six a.m.

-

“Bring me back to life by evanescence
How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb
Without a soul my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there and lead it back home”

A pale hand came from underneath the plain white blanket, looking for the source of the noise. The delicate fingers found a phone, which was sitting in shoe(?), and dismissed the alarm. With an annoyed sigh, the young man sat up on his bed and looked around. There was empty boxes sitting around, waiting to be thrown in the trash.

He eventually got up and went to take a well-deserved shower. After his shower, he slipped into a pair of skinny jeans (he did not jump around like a fish out of water, thank you very much) and put on a plain black v-line shirt. He slid on his maroon Toms and went to the bathroom. He began brushing his teeth and then he fixed his damp hair. Quickly taking out his phone, he took a selfie and posted it on Instagram. The caption read ‘starting a new school #lame :P’. Within three minutes of his post, there was more than a hundred likes with comments saying how his followers wished him good luck.

With one quick glance in the mirror he grabbed his backpack and stuffed his keys in one of the pockets. Locking the door behind him, the boy slipped on his sweater and began walking towards the school. He saw a group of girls drive by him and one of them actually wolf whistled at him. That didn’t help the butterflies he was feeling in his stomach. He walked with his head down until he got to the school.

Walking towards the main office, he was greeted by an elderly woman decently dressed. Once they had sorted out his schedule and gave him a map that was highlighted with the shortest way to class. The young boy walked off to look for his first period class with a pass in hand.

A new school and new Kellin.

-

Vic was lingering in the hallways with his friends and brother. They talked about their summer; Jaime talked about a cute Panamanian he met while staying with his aunt in Arizona, Tony and Mike complaining about being in summer school though they were in the same class. However, Vic, he was staring at the boy with dyed black hair and turquoise eyes. The kid was staring at a sheet, and then glanced at another sheet in his hand. His facial features reminded Vic of the porcelain dolls his grandmother has in her house.

Vic felt a shove on his shoulder, before hearing Jaime talk. “Hey, what are you staring at? Is there a new boy toy? Have you finally moved on from Alex?” Alex was Vic’s ex-boyfriend. They broke up on a mutual agreement because Alex was moving back to Baltimore for a family emergency.

“I am over Alex, have been since day one.” Vic mumbled as he continued to stare at the lost boy.

“Really? Because, you being locked up in your room, crying all summer because Alex had to leave doesn’t sound like moving on.” Mike said, stopping his arguing with Tony.

“Shut up.” Vic replied, punching him in the arm. “Can we just get to class? The bell is going to ring soon and we haven’t compared our schedules.”

“We’ll leave after you talk to the new kid.” Jaime said with a smile. “Welcome him to the school and make him feel comfortable.”

“Translating into, go flirt with him and get over Alex.” The younger Fuentes piped in only to receive a glare from his older brother. “Or, it means go be nice and make him feel welcomed. We’ll be right here waiting so you can bring him over.” With Jaime and Mike pushing him to do it, Vic sighed before walking over to the new kid. He obviously does not do well under peer pressure.

“Um, hey, I’m Vic and I noticed you looked a bit lost.” He began. So far, so good.

“Oh, um, h-hi.” The new kid stuttered. “Uh, yeah, I’m sort of confused.” Vic noticed the light blush that appeared on his cheeks, tip of the nose and tips of the ears.

“What are you confused about?”

“Where my US and VA history class is.”

“Can I see your schedule?” Vic asked kindly. The kid handed Vic his schedule and took a great interest in his shoes. “Kellin.” Vic mumbled, almost as if he was tasting the name on his tongue. “Well Kellin, we have all our classes together so I’ll just guide you, is that ok?” Kellin nodded his head. Vic looked behind him and saw Jaime and Mike staring at him with smirks while Tony leaned against the wall looking bored. “Hey, wanna go meet my friends?” Kellin looked up and the nervousness was clear in his eyes.

“Uh, I-I, um, I don’t know.”

“They’ll like you, you seem cool.” Kellin felt a little bit better. It was a huge compliment considering that at his last school, Kellin was bullied. He nodded hesitantly, silently hoping he wouldn’t fuck up his chance of gaining new friends. “Hey guys, this is my new friend Kellin. Kellin, this is Jaime, he’s like sort of funny-.”

“Sort of funny? I think you mean very funny.” Jaime injected into the conversation.

“Anyways, that kid there with the gauges, is Tony though you may hear us refer to him as Turtle in the near future and this last one is my annoying younger brother Mike and you’ll be seeing him when you come over to our house later on. Ok, now the bell in going to ring and you losers need to get to class ASAP. So move like Speedy Gonzalez and go.” The butterflies that went through Kellin’s stomach as Vic pointed out that they were going to hang out more often was exciting. Maybe being the new kid wasn’t so bad.

Vic walked away and Kellin followed him like a lost puppy while the other three boys walked to class. People were pushing into Kellin, bumping the poor boy, unintentionally pulling him further away from the older male. Soon, the pin straight haired, tanned boy disappeared into the sea of people.

The air became stiff, the students voices became muffled, the walls were closing in on Kellin and his eye vision became blurry. Breathing became a challenge and his feet felt heavy. Kellin somehow managed to move himself towards the lockers, leaning on them as he slid down. No one took notice of him and if they did, they did not help him. He bent his knees close to his chest and rested his head against them. He tried breathing the way the doctor had told him to, in through his nose and out his mouth, slow and gentle. That did not help. On his second try, Kellin let out a strangled sobbed.

“Kellin, I need you to look at me.” the voice sounded distant, muffled. The person, who talked to him, gripped his wrists lightly, freaking him out even more. Kellin felt like a caged animal, his claustrophobia getting the best of him. His wrists were released quickly and then Kellin looked up. He saw a mixture of brown. “Breath for me Kellin, come on. In and out, let’s go.” Kellin listened to the voice and breathed with it. “That’s it Kellin, you’re doing fine. Come on, one more.” After that last breath, Kellin came back into reality. There were a few people lingering the hall, staring at him oddly. He felt the blood rush to his face from embarrassment. “Are you better now?” the younger boy merely nodded. “Ok than, come on the class is down the hall.”

When they came face to window glass with the door, Kellin started to panic a little. “I-I can’t. I don’t want to.” He looked at Vic with wide eyes, fear written in them. “We’re late because of me.”

“It’s ok Kellin. I’ll just talk to the teacher. You aren’t the first kid to have a panic attack on the first day of school. I heard she was cool anyways.”

“C-can I, um, sit next to you? Please?” the way Kellin was so shy to ask a simple question made Vic smile lightly, causing the younger boy to blush and look at his feet.

“Yeah, sure you can. You didn’t even have to ask. Now, let’s just get this class over with.”

-

It was lunchtime and Kellin found himself sitting at a table that looked like it was over flowing with hormonal teenage boys, which it wasn’t, but there were about eight guys. There were three girls but they just sat at the corner of the table (if a circular table had a corner ?). It was completely different from his old school where he’d find himself hiding in the library until the bell rang. Of course, he sat next to Vic, like in his five previous classes, and shared a to-go-container filled with Chinese food someone ordered during fifth period. While everyone talked and caught up, Kellin sat there and thought.

The classes seemed all right to Kellin though there were at least three funny kids in his class; they were good kids but they were purposely loud. They were the type of kids that never stopped talking and fooling around. Their names were Ronnie, Jusitn, Austin and Danny, also known as the pranksters. Kellin knew he needed couldn’t sit near them in class because he’d get distracted but they were funny, and made history class and other classes a good laugh.

During his free period, Vic explained how the day usually works. On a One Day, the students had first, third, free period, fifth and seventh. On a Two Day, they had second, third, free period, fourth, and sixth. Third period was basically their homeroom and free period was when they went to their second period to catch up on homework or went to another teacher to finish a test or get help on something for that class.

Then lunch was the easiest thing to remember. First lunch was for the freshmen and sophomores. That meant some of Vic’s friends had first lunch when Kellin had fifth period. Second lunch was for the juniors and seniors, and seniors could walk of school grounds to go to a nearby food place. It is confusing and Kellin began to get a headache but Vic told him not to sweat it because he’ll get used to it.

“-ink he’s dead? He’s been staring at the door since he sat down.” Someone said in a thick Australian accent.

“He’s fine Tay.” Vic said to the girl with green hair. “Watch.” Kellin felt something poke his side, causing him to squirm and squeal. He quickly turned to look at Vic with wide eyes, almost as a dear caught in the headlights.

“Aw!” Tay squealed. “You look so cute! You remind me of the little yellow rat in Pokémon.”

“Pikachu!” the other girl shouted. She had jet-black hair with a fading tan. “She has point by the way. You kind of do look like Pikachu. Vic, where did you find?”

“In the hallway? Where else was I supposed to find him? Wait, I wasn’t even looking for him, I saw him.”

“But you don’t help people.” Tay stated. “You never help people! Kellin, you changed him! Thank you!”

“Keep the drama for theater Tay.” Vic lamely fired back. He noticed Kellin barely made a dent in his part of the food. “Hey, aren’t you hungry?” Vic asked quietly, so no one else could hear their conversation.

“Um, I ate a big breakfast.” Kellin lied, but Vic didn’t need to know that. Of course, leave it to his stomach to grumble like a giant waking up. “Uh …”

“Eat Kellin. At least eat four pieces of chicken and two forkfuls of noodles.” Vic said hopefully. And really? Kellin thought it was unfair because he was pouting a bit and his eyes looked a bit wide. Sighing in defeat, the younger boy did as he was told.

It was somewhat hard to stop after the second piece. Kellin chewed slowly, trying not to take the fifth piece but when Vic noticed, he encouraged the boy to continue. By the time the bell rang for sixth period, Kellin managed to eat most of the food. When everyone stood up, he looked down and could see his stomach jut out a bit. Tears began forming but he quickly blinked them away, not wanting to cause another scene. There was mostly like the three pounds he had lost, back on his body. All because he couldn’t say no., he’s weak.

The rest of the day passed without much incident. Kellin sat close to Vic and stayed quiet. When the last bell rang, Vic and Kellin walked out the classroom and towards the main exit to wait for their friends.

“Hey, did you walk or did you take a bus?” Vic asked as he scanned the sea of kids for his friends. “Is it me? Or does a school seem like a dick. Like, right now it’s cumming.” Kellin’s cheeks turned a bright red and he stared at Vic with wide eyes. He began giggling, hiding his smile behind his sweater paws. He shrugged, pulling out his water bottle to take a sip. “So did you walk or …?”

“I walked.” Kellin mumbled.

“Oh, cool, I came on my skateboard obviously.” Vic said, motioning to the board with scratches on the bottom and on the wheels. “Can you come over?”

“I have to, um, call my dad first.” Vic nodded his head and Kellin walked a few feet away to call his dad. After a few minutes, he walked back to Vic. “He, uh, wants me to back home to finish unpacking.”

“That sucks, but where do you live? Maybe I can walk you there.” Once Kellin gave Vic his address, he was smiling a bit. “No joke, I live like two blocks before you.” Kellin nodded as the rest of the guys came out the school. “You guys can go ahead, I’m walking with Kellin.” Said boy blushed even more. And maybe Vic preened inside a bit, but no one had to know.

“Ya sure? We don’t mind.” Jaime said. “We can just go really slowly.” Tony and Mike quickly agreed.

All five boys walked quietly down the sidewalk. Jaime and Mike were slowly riding their bikes with Tony sitting on Mike’s handlebars. It wasn’t an awkward silence; it was comfortable, the kind that make you realize how beautiful the day is even when it’s raining.

They got to the corner of the street before Kellin began talking quietly. “Thanks, I um guess. For, like, walking with me and stuff.” He looked at his house and saw his father standing on the porch, glaring at the group. “I’d better go, but like, see you school.” And before anyone could say anything, he ran into his house, his father falling closely behind.