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The door slams behind Adam as he sits down in the headmaster’s office.
“Look, Adam, you’ve been kicked out of every other school we can get you to. I know you think it’s ‘lame’ and ‘weird’ to go to this school but you have literally ruined all your other chances. This is the last straw. If I get one parent complaint about you, you’re out. Military school,” Mr Groff rants.
“I know, dad,” Adam grunts in response. Even though he knew his parents were on the brink of a divorce, you’d hope he’d be at least slightly nicer to his only son. I guess finding your soulmate doesn’t mean you have to be a nice person. Times like this, Adam was glad he hadn’t met his soulmate yet. Emotions would only make this worse.
“Alright. All sorted. Now get to class,” the headmaster orders, swiftly turning back to his work. Adam slung his bag onto his shoulder and left the room, his middle finger trailing behind him.
---
“Did you hear we’re getting a new guy in the school?” Eric asks, adjusting his jacket in front of the mirror.
“Maybe he’ll be your soulmate,” Otis replies, craning his neck down the corridor to look for Maeve. It was their 6 month anniversary tonight, and he was excited. He’d planned something extra special.
“I don’t think so. Have you heard all the rumours about him? Apparently he’s been kicked out of every other school within a 2 hour distance because he just bullied everyone constantly.” “Sounds like a fun guy,” Otis replies.
“Who does?” Maeve asks, sidling up beside Otis and kissing his cheek. “Hey, you,” she smiles.
“I may not be able to feel much disgust but I know this PDA is gross,” Eric says, finally shutting his locker.
“The new kid apparently has quite the reputation,” Otis tells Maeve, wrapping his hand around her waist. “
Oh, him. I heard he didn’t even want to come here because his dad’s the headmaster,” Maeve said, eyebrows raised.
“Mr Groff’s son? No wonder his reputation precedes him,” Eric says as the bell rings. “I’ve got a free. What about you guys?”
“I’m free but Maeve’s got English,” Otis says, kissing Maeve before she saunters off down the corridor, waving.
“Clever clogs,” Eric mutters. Otis and Eric head down to the common room together, but it’s not long before they notice a commotion at the end of the corridor. They hurry down the corridor and realise it’s the new kid, slamming everyone he encounters into a locker. They all walk away wincing in pain but very few people are crying or getting angry. It’s unlikely to find your soulmate this young.
“Hey!” Otis yells over the noise of another body hitting a locker. “What are you doing?” Otis may be socially awkward, but he knows when it’s time to stand up for others.
“What does it look like I’m doing, dickhead?” Adam replies.
“Well, uh, you’re um…” Otis stammers.
“Uh, um, uh. Wasn’t looking for an answer, but thanks for the insight,” Adam retorts, shoving past the last few people. He’s now face to face with Otis.
“Well I’ve gotta go, so I’ll just…bye,” Otis says, swiftly walking away. He’d never quite gotten the hang of handling fear.
“Dude! Don’t leave me!” Eric calls after Otis and begins following him, before a hand in his chest stops him dead in his tracks.
“Somewhere to be?” Adam asks, looking Eric up and down. Eric feels a sudden flare of anger rise up inside him.
“Yes, actually. Anywhere away from here. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we don’t tolerate bullying in this school,” Eric yells suddenly. Hang on. He’s never felt like this before.
“Ugh, you’ve found your soulmate. Good for you,” Adam says, ready to move on to his next victim.
“You’re as thrilled about it as I am,” Eric mutters under his breath as he walks away. Again, a hand in his chest stops him, but this time he finds himself against a locker.
“What did you say?” Adam asks, chest rising and falling rapidly. He’d never actually gotten angry at anyone before. Not properly.
“I said, dickhead, turns out my soulmate isn’t a great guy.” Adam slowly moves his hand away from Eric as he realises his normal dull ache is gone, replaced by anger and loneliness.
“No way…” Adam says, grabbing his head in his hands. “But I ain’t into dudes. That’s gay.”
“Surprise. Looks like the universe hates us both. As glad as I am to know I won’t be alone forever, I really could do with leaving righ-“ Eric’s sentence is cut off by Adam suddenly grabbing Eric’s face and kissing him deeply, desperately. Eric wants to resist, this can’t be right, he can’t just give in, but deep down he knows this is just right. He puts his hands on Adam’s waist and pulls him in closer. Finally, they pull away.
“Hi,” Eric whispers.
“Hi,” Adam whispers back
-EPILOGUE-
It’s only been a few weeks since Adam and Eric met, but it feels like they’ve known each other for years. Their hands roam each other’s bodies freely, tracing the lines like a map. They know they should stop, people are in the bathroom, but they can’t help it. The flush of a toilet, however, manages to dramatically dampen the mood and they pull away. Somebody comes out of the cubicle and heads straight for the door, bypassing the sink.
“Wash your hands, you detty pig,” Eric says, casting a disgusted glance over the boy.
“I didn’t do a poo,” the boy replied, “I was crying.”
“Full emotions are a lot, huh,” Adam contributes. The boy just sniffs and walks out.
“I wanna ask you something,” Eric says, cupping Adam’s face in his hand.
“What?” Adam asks, letting his chin drop into Eric’s hand.
“Why were you so mean to everyone, everywhere you went?”
“I figured if I got in contact with enough people, one of them had to start feeling something and then bam, found my soulmate.” What Adam wasn’t sharing was his deep craving to be loved, but this didn’t feel like the time.
“You know the chances are lower of you finding your soulmate before you turn 18, right? Was your plan to just be a dick until eventually someone realised hey, I’m actually angry at you?” “It’s not like it matters. I didn’t feel bad, most of them didn’t really get angry so who cares?”
“Just cause they didn’t feel any emotion in the moment doesn’t mean it won’t affect them later on. It’s called human decency.”
“I didn’t exactly harass people constantly. One shove and you can pretty much figure out whether they’re into you or not.”
“Human. Decency.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I promise I’ll never do it again.”
“Well you don’t have to, do you?” Eric smiles and leans in for another