Chapter 1
Chapter 1
It was a normal morning just like any other, I woke up to my alarm blaring lulling me from my short lived sleep, the sun beaming in through my window bathing the room in a warm yellow light. I lazily pressed the snooze button, but as I rolled over attempting to shield my eyes from the light I heard my second alarm begin blaring. Begrudgingly I sat up and moved my feet off the edge one after another, the floor felt cold against my feet as I left the bed and grabbed my phone. I heard the sound of my mother calling from downstairs. “Honey, are you finally awake?”, her voice rang out through the door. “Yeah, I am.” I responded, my voice hoarse after my long night’s rest. I rubbed my eyes grabbing some clothes and putting them on before, taking a deep breath and walking toward my door, the floorboards creaking under my weight.
As I placed my hand on the cold metal of the doorknob I felt my phone vibrate in my hand, it was an amber alert. It was a strange sight considering the town I had lived in was known for its safety. I ignored it not thinking I could do much about it. As I trekked down the stairs my legs started to feel a bit heavier. The thought of who could have been taken weighed on my mind, but I knew if I checked it would only make me worry more.
As I reached the bottom the smell of the warm breakfast being made wafted over me and the weight felt like it lifted a bit, and I slipped my phone into my pocket. And walked forward. “Morning,” I said with a yawn as I walked into the kitchen. “If you don’t get ready for school soon you’ll be late to your first day of school,” she said, sounding a little worried. “Ill be fine, I don’t plan on being late,” I responded slightly annoyed that she had such little faith in me. “And don’t worry too much, with blood pressure as high as yours you might just have a heart attack,” I added jokingly. She sighed “Very funny”
I grabbed my backpack before walking by the stove and snatched a piece of sizzling bacon before grabbing my bag and heading out the door. I walked down the sidewalk, bag in hand. After a bit of walking, I decided to call a friend of mine, his name was Chris. I had known him for quite some time but I had to move, this just so happened to be the first day at my new school.
“Hey man how’s it been since I left, did you miss me?” I said sarcastically. “Don’t get such a big head, you might just fall over.” he responded with a chuckle. “You can’t be talking.” I said, chuckling . “So did you end up asking that girl out.” I asked, my tone slightly teasing. “For your information I did.” He responded with mock hurt. “Sooooo, what’d she say? Come on, you can tell me.” I responded, sounding slightly curious. “She well…” he said, giving a dramatic pause. “Said yes!” he said, his voice crackling with excitement. “Nice dude!” I said, sounding almost surprised.
Before I had known it I had arrived at the school, the fall air was cool, and the sun was still at the horizoned line, the mellow orange glow softening the bite of the cold air. I tentatively walked towards the front doors, pulling my phone from my pocket, and checking my schedule before turning on DnD, and walking in. The high school was fairly quiet, save for the murmuring coming from the office, so I walked up to the office window. “Hey um, I know I’m a little late but, I just need to head in.” I said before making my way forward and walking into the main hallway.
The hallway wasn’t too packed, lockers lined the walls, and i had needed to find my locker before the first period ended, so i speed walked down the hallway, until i reached my locker, it looked clean, besides a few scratches on the middle portion, so i walked up and leaned against it, leisurely checking my phone for the combination. That was until i saw someone walking down the hallway, they looked fairly tall, and had short curly black hair, they appeared to stop once they had gotten a few feet away from me.
“Hey, you skipping too?” he said, chuckling slightly. “Because I know a great spot without cameras,” he said sarcastically. “No, I just got here late.” I said sheepishly, while scratching the back of my head. “Besides that I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, are you new?” he said, studying my face, as if to commit it to memory. “Yeah, I moved here just a bit ago.” I said, almost surprised he immediately knew, however it was a small town and all.
“Oh, nice we haven’t had a new student in awhile.” he said, punching me in the shoulder gently. “I could show you to your first class, if you want.” he said, a smile playing on the corners of his lips. “I don’t see why not.” I said, returning his smile. “So what is your first class?” he said, draping his arm over my shoulder. “Oh, i–it’s chemistry.” I stuttered out, a bit surprised at the casual touch. “No way, same.” he responded.
The walk wasn’t too eventful, we talked a bit about school, and our interests, and we really got to know each other, and surprisingly we liked a lot of the same things. “Wait, you like writing too?” I said, sounding surprised. “Yeah, who doesn’t?” he said casually. “Also, now that I’m thinking about it I never asked your name,” he said, sounding curious. “Oh, yeah. It’s Gabrial, but you can call me Gabe.” I said, my eyes drifting to his lips for a moment. “Nice to meet you, Gabe. I’m Alexander.” he said, giving me a pat on the back. “But you can call me Alex.” he said before pointing to a sign above a door we had come to rest in front of. “And that would be our class.”
The chemistry class was dead silent, save for the lesson the teacher was giving at the front of the classroom. The room had a simple layout, five large tables spaced out neatly, the walls covered in cabinets, and the countertops were stacked up with boxes, and an occasional empty spot with a poster covering the wall.
When we walked in no one seemed to notice, that was until the teacher looked over, her eyes falling upon Alex. “h-hey teach, funny seeing you here.” he said with a nervous chuckle, then the teacher looked as though they would burst a blood vessel. “Alex, come with me to the hall NOW.” she said, her voice teetering on the edge of yelling. Then she walked past me, and grabbed his arm before dragging him out into the hallway. Once the door shut behind them I could hear muffled yelling, the only bits I could make out were. “THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK-.”, and, “DO YOU KNOW HOW LATE YOU ARE-.”
Then after a moment she walked back in with a smug grin, Phil trailing dejectedly. Then her gaze shifted to me. “Ah, you must be Gabrial. Sorry about that, you may choose your seat.” out of the corner of my eye I could see Alex walking over to one of the tables. “Y-yeah thanks.” I said forcing a smile before walking over and sitting down next to Alex. “Are you ok, that looked pret-” I said, but before I could finish my sentence Phil interrupted, “It… it’s nothing.” he said, sounding a bit dejected. “Ok man.” i said placing a hand on his shoulder
I was almost surprised that I did so, for as long as I could remember people had treated me like I was diseased, i had been the star student since 1st grade, the teachers treated me like gold… but eventually people started avoiding me, but he didn’t finch, he only looked over, and smiled, although strained it was nice to see that i… you know, helped.
The rest of the period was like a blur, save for the occasional chatter between classmates, or me and Alex. Once that period ended I went through my classes until lunch, then I met up with him. “Hey man.” I said, before sitting down next to him. “Hey.” he said, his tone a bit dreary. “Whats wrong. Are you still feeling bad about what happened during science?” I said , sounding concerned. “It’s… it’s nothing.” he said, his tone slightly more upbeat as he looked up from his food. “Let’s just forget about that.” he continued, patting my shoulder. “Ok man.” I said scratching the back of my head “guess I was the only one still caught up on that.” I added with a chuckle.
“Sooooo…” he said, sounding bored. “What are you doing after school?” He said after taking a bite of his pizza, “I have to work at my part time job unti-” before I could finish, he cut me off. “Boooooooring, how about this. You call in sick, and come over to my house to play some video games.” he said, punching me in the arm playfully, but i looked unsure “come on man, you only live once.” I paused for a moment, then I sighed and spoke. “I guess I don’t see any harm in it.” I said, I failed almost miserably to hide the slight bit of excitement in my tone. What the hell, I don’t see why not. I thought to myself.
He draped his arm on my shoulders. “See man, that’s what I like to hear.” he said. I felt a thrill run up my spine at the contact, not from surprise like last time, but from something i couldn’t quite place, like comfort, then he pulled away just as quickly as he leaned in. “Let me give you my number.” he said, holding his hand out expectantly. My hand almost shot into my pocket, but I tried to slow down and play it cool, so I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone, before unlocking it, and handing it to him. “Here.” He took it from me, then went into the contacts and entered his phone number, before checking to make sure it was right, and handing it back. “Here man.” he said flashing me a smile. “Thanks.” I said taking it from him. “Don’t mention it. How would we keep in contact otherwise?”
