Cover Your Eyes

Riley’s smile is still placed on his face when he walks alone towards his English class. He has two periods of English today, but he doesn’t really mind. His teacher, Miss Clearwater, is young and really nice. Her courses aren’t as boring as old Carter or Wilson’s.

Deep in thought about how awful Carter and Wilson actually are, riley doesn’t see the guy and bumps straight into him. The guy turns around and isn’t very pleased with Riley. But a smirk grows on his face when he sees it’s the one who stumbled into the door the other day.

“Well, isn’t that the new kid? What’s your name again? Fitch?” he says, the smirk only growing wider. Riley doesn’t move or say anything. He doesn’t want to get in trouble on his first day and it looks like this guy really could get him into some deep trouble.

“I do expect you to answer when I ask you something,” he says, his smirk disappearing a bit, but he is obviously still amused by the scared look on Riley’s face. He doesn’t want to get punched and this one really seems like a puncher.

“Yes,” is all Riley is able to bring out. The other sixth form students around the one talking laugh at the crack in his voice. All but one. His hair is messy and light brown coloured. His eyes are greenish blue and really gorgeous. And Riley has seen them before. He is still holding the book in his hands that he was reading during lunch break.

“Listen, Fitch, if you bump into me again, or any of that sort, you’ll be able to meet my best friend.” Told you so, puncher. Riley just nods his head. The sixth form student turns his back to him and Riley quickly crosses the Great Hall, walking away from the guy as fast as possible.

He doesn’t understand. The one with the book seems like a nice guy and he can’t understand why he hangs out with those bullies. Why doesn’t he just hang out with the girl he met during the lunch break. She seemed nice as well.

His good mood immediately turns south again. His day sucks again and he really wants to go home. After English, he’s got another period with Eben, biology this time. He decides to skip the last period, which is just gym so it’s not that big of a deal.

He lets his body fall on his bed, face first and closes his eyes, exhausted from the day. Vince walks in the room an hour later and surprised to see Riley lying on his bed already, sound asleep. He decides to wake him up when it’s time for dinner, which is an hour later and they go downstairs together, meeting up with Eben and Nolan half way.

They eat dinner together with Vince’s girlfriend, Phoebe, and her two friends, April and Sienna. It’s probably not the first time they eat together, because they all seem very familiar with each other. Riley notices Nolan eyeing Sienna a few times and every time she catches him looking, she turns away, blushing and so does Nolan.

Sienna isn’t very tall, barely reaching five foot two. She has light blond, almost white locks reaching just past her shoulders. Her eyes are as green as the trees outside, but sometimes they turn yellowish. She has the cutest little nose Riley has ever seen and gets along with Nolan really well. He doesn’t really know them, but they both eat a lot and are pretty hyper, so they seem perfect for each other.

April is a bit taller than Sienna. Her hair is in light waves – she says it is their natural way of going, but Riley doesn’t know if he believes her – and brown. Her eyes are soft and caramel coloured. Her lips seems so perfectly pink and plum, which is the cause of her gorgeous smile. And she smiles a lot. She smiles at the sickening cute couple and at Nolan and Sienna flirting and blushing and she seems genuinely happy with them being in love.

They all seem very nice people to Riley, but he can’t help and wish that he isn’t here. Though he feels a bit better than he did earlier this afternoon. There is a small smile placed on his face again and from time to time he laughs at Nolan’s jokes.

Later, when he is in his room again he undresses himself until he is only wearing his boxers. He knows that Vince is uncomfortable when he is naked. Earlier this day he wouldn’t have cared if he was uncomfortable or not, but Riley started to like Vince. He collapses on his bed once again. He’s got a math test due Monday and also an essay for English due Monday. He’ll do that this weekend.

It doesn’t take long for him to fall asleep this time, even though it’s only eight thirty. Vince still has to study for his Latin test the next day, but it doesn’t bother Riley, he sleeps through it. His sleep is dreamless, but it only seems that his head had just hit his pillows as Vince’s alarm clock goes off the following morning. This time it’s not the obnoxious, loud beeping, but simply the radio playing, which Riley is thankful for.

His first period is together with Eben, another science course. He’s got two math periods which sucks, but this time he is allowed to sit next Vince and that makes it a little bit more bearable. He also got another course of French together with Nolan. Nolan tried to eat again, but got caught again and he got detention. Now he can go together with Eben, getting up early on Saturday morning. He also noticed that he has English together with Phoebe, Sienna and April, who smiled and waved at him.

He also crossed paths with the mysterious sixth form student a couple of times, but the guy doesn’t look at him anymore and completely ignores him. He once again sat alone during lunch, reading his book, until the same girl from the day before went to sit with him. Riley was a bit thankful for that, that he didn’t eat with those bullies. Although he doesn’t even know why he cares in the first place.

Friday flies by much quicker than Thursday and before he ever realizes it, it’s already weekend. He is thankful that they don’t have to wear those awfully stupid uniforms during the weekends, because he really hates those blazers and ties. He sleeps in Saturday which puts him in a good mood. He throws on a simple white shirt and a beige pants and heads down with Vince for breakfast.

Riley’s good mood fades a bit after breakfast when he realizes he has yet to do a good amount of homework. But Nolan and Eben distract him, asking him if he’s up for a game of football. Riley immediately forgets about his homework and heads outdoor with them. They are joined with some guys that Riley only knows the names of. Vince watches from the side line with Phoebe and her two friends.

When lunch rolls by, he still hasn’t done any of his homework and honestly, he really doesn’t feel like making any even though he knows his should. He tells himself he will make it this afternoon, after lunch. Of course, he doesn’t keep his promise. He hangs out with Nolan, Eben and a couple of others boys he barely knows all day. He barely sees Vince, who was with his girlfriend.

He feels a bit guilty that evening, for not doing any homework. He’ll have to do it the next day and he knows that he will delay it again. He proves that statement the next day. Around six thirty, after dinner he finally grabs his books and heads towards the library to write his essay. He’ll probably skip studying for his math test, it’s a subject he already saw at his old school. He would have studied during lunch break, but math is his second period Monday morning.

The library is quiet. He has already walked past it, but he has never been inside. The library is huge. There is a path in the middle with on each side bookcases that reach till the ceiling. Riley has never seen so many books in one place. Even the library in his hometown isn’t this huge. He is not a fan of books, but he is truly amazed by what he sees. How the hell is he going to find the right book in here?

He starts to slowly walk around and looks if there are subjects that could relate to Myths, the topic he has to write an essay about. He is glad when he finally finds the right aisle and starts walking through it. And there he is, the mysterious sixth form student, sitting on the ground with a book in his hand. He is alone and it doesn’t seem like one of his friends are anywhere near. He doesn’t seem to notice Riley at first, but when he walks closer he looks up. His beautiful greenish blue eyes bore into Riley’s. A faint smile appears on his face.

Riley nervously clears his throat. He open his mouth and closes it again. He wants to say something, but he doesn’t know what. The sixth form student is still looking at him, obviously expecting him to say anything. When that doesn’t happen he says something himself.

“Are you looking for something?” he asks. His voice is smooth and a small smirk appears on his face. Riley is caught off guard for a second, but quickly recovers.

“Myths,” he says, sounding a bit nervous. “A book about Myths.” The other boy doesn’t say anything, but reaches up and grabs a book. He shows the cover to Riley and says: “This is a pretty good one.”

Riley takes the book from the guy and looks at the cover. The cover is a very primitive drawing from a woman on a cow in the sea. Tanglewood Tales is the title. The book seems extremely old and worn out. Riley looks at it with his eyebrows raised.

“If you don’t like then just put it back,” the boy says harshly. He gets up, grabs the book from Riley’s hand and puts it back in its place. Without saying another word, he grabs the book he was reading and disappears from the aisle. Riley just stares at the place he was just moments ago. The boy looked really friendly, but his mood switched in a second. Riley hadn’t even said anything, he had just looked at the cover.

Riley grabs the book again and walks toward the desk where the library lady checks the books you take with you. She nods her head as Riley shows her the book. He quickly heads up again, to start writing his essay. It’s not as easy as he thought it would be and he is only finished when the clock reaches ten o’clock.

He rubs his eyes when he is ready and puts his books away. Vince is lying on his bed, on the phone with an unknown person. Riley wants to know if he knows anything about the mysterious sixth form student. He’s become a little curious about him now he talked to him. He wonders why he became so angry. Maybe he’s got a temper problem and that’s the reason his mood changed so quickly.

He’s lying on his bed, waiting for Vince to end his phone call. But before Vince can even finished Riley is sound asleep.



Louis Hynes is a sixth form student attending Westminster Boarding School. He is one of the lucky – or unlucky – people who has gotten a room all to himself. He doesn’t mind being on his own, in fact he likes to be on his own, but some company from time to time wouldn’t hurt. That is one of the reason he isn’t in his room after the curfew most of the time.

This time it wasn’t for someone’s company though. If he’s not hanging with his friends or making homework, he’s at the library reading another book. Some of his friends call him a geek. Maybe he is, but he doesn’t mind being a geek. Reading takes his mind off of real life, which he needs from time to time.

He walks through the aisles, his fingers softly brushing the backs of the books. He stops when he sees something interesting he hasn’t read yet.

He takes a seat on the ground and immediately starts to read. He’s lost in the story within minutes. Until someone interrupts him.

A younger boy with brown curls walks through the aisle. Louis faintly smiles at him. He has seen the boy before. Kenneth has yelled at him when he accidently bumped into him. His name is Fitch, although Louis doesn’t think it’s his first name. He hadn’t laughed when Kenneth laughed at him when you could hear the fear in his voice, but he hadn’t done anything either. Kenneth wasn’t about to punch.

The Fitch boy opens his mouth a couple of times and Louis expects him to say something, but no words come out. After a while Louis just asks: “Are you looking for something?” He can’t help, but smirk a little at the look on the boy’s face. He seemed to be caught a little off guard.

Eventually he opens his mouth, sounding a bit nervous. “Myths,” he says, his voice lower and deeper than Louis expected. “A book about Myths.”

Louis smiles to himself. He remembers being in Year 11 and he had to write an essay about Myths. He had pulled out a book and at the same time another book fell out. He had used that other book and had gotten an A.

He doesn’t open his mouth to say which book he used, instead he reached up and grabbed it, showing the cover to the curly boy. “This is a pretty good one,” he says.

The other boy grabs the book and looks at it, his eyebrows raised. Louis knows it’s old and worn out, but that doesn’t make any less good. In fact, older books are often the better ones. Louis tried to help him, if he doesn’t appreciate it, he could have at least hidden it a bit better.

“If you don’t like it then just put it back,” he says harshly. He grabs the book from the boy’s hands and puts it back in the bookcase. Then he grabs the other book, gets up and walks away, leaving a surprised Fitch boy behind.