Chapter Text
The summer breeze lifted your hair slightly as you walked down the pathway and into your new high school. It was your first day here, you had just moved from your home so naturally you were unhappy. Seventeen years old and being moved into a new high school, in a completely different city, was terrifying to you. And you weren't particularly confident. But you had to go, all though you had tried and tried but your parents could not be convinced one bit.
As you walked into the high school reception you had a good look around your surroundings, a few students looking at you in a funny way. You ignored them and walked up to the lady behind the reception, asking for help. She sorted you out and sent you to your class. Your tutor was Mr. Rhodes. A tall, lanky man in half a suit, his jacket was on his chair. You smiled at him nervously as you entered the class room, silence swallowing the room as the students stopped and stared at you. That was nerve wrecking for sure.
"Can I help you?" Mr Rhodes inquired, looking down at you. You took a deep breath to try and calm your nerves.
"Sorry, my name is ______. I've just moved here...I'm new." A chosen few students scoffed at your nervousness. You could feel all of their eyes on you, it felt like they were going to burn right through, it made me you feel sick.
"Ah. I was told you would be here. Right, everybody. This is ________. She's a new student here, so...be nice." You wondered what he meant by that last bit, but he seemed a bit of a joker which was enlightening to you. He told you to take a seat so you took the only empty one, it was at the back of the class, next to a rather punk looking girl and on the other side, a popular, sporty, attractive, probably douche baggy boy. Who, you noticed, would not stop staring at you. You felt like punching him in the face or asking him what he wanted, but you didn't want to be in trouble on your first day in a new school. Plus, if he was as popular as he looked he could make your life a living hell. You simply ignored him and listened to everything your tutor was saying instead, expecting that to be easy.
You wanted to ignore him the entire lesson, but he literally would not stop. Mr Rhodes was talking as he wrote things down on the board at the front of the class. You turned to him with a glare.
"What?!" You whispered aggressively. All the boy did was smirk. You hadn't had a good look at him until now. He was rather short but well built and he had a tattoo hidden under his sleeve. His hair was longer than most boys', almost golden in colour. His eyes were intriguingly similar in colour. A minute passed and the boy chuckled quietly to himself.
"I'm Gabriel." He whispered back to you with a wink. You narrowed your eyes at him and within an instant your response flew from your mouth.
"Well good for you, tell somebody who cares." It was half a whisper this time.
"Oh. . . I do like you." He chuckled to himself once more. You ignored that response, though your cheeks didn't. They became crimson within an instant and you could feel them burning. "That's adorable." Stop talking to me was your instant though, but you ignored him again. You carried on ignoring him throughout the lesson and as soon as it ended you picked up your backpack, threw it over your shoulder and left the classroom as fast as you could. You didn't want any hassle from Gabriel. He just seemed like a typical popular boy, probably sex and girl obsessed, good enough grades, has everything he wants. He had to be, he was wearing a jocks jacket that screamed 'popular'.
Your next lesson was art, one you had picked. You hadn't been told where any of the classes were, so you simply had to guess. You had been wandering the halls for 10 minutes, glad that you had chosen to look for the classroom during your break, but your break would soon be over.
You walked around a hallway corner and smack bang into something.
"Oof!" Someone. "Watch where you're walking, ______." You looked up to see who's chest you were clinging to by accident. Of course it was Gabriel's Because that's what you clearly needed. You cursed god under your breath.. Your eyes widened and you let go of him to back away from him and walk elsewhere but his arms snaked around your back and pulled you in close.
"Woah! Hey! Get off me!" You complained, fidgeting and wrestling to get away from him. You didn't have time for this. He pushed you into the wall that was next to the two of you, one hand on the wall on your left and one above you. He leaned there against the wall, face inches from your own.
"Which class are you looking for?" He asked with raised brows.
"Uh....Art. But I can find it myself." You were so stubborn at times. His eyes widened and he smiled, backing away and standing with his arms at his sides.
"Oh, art! Okay, well you know your way! Off you go!" He cocked an eyebrow at you, crossing his arms. You scowled at him and nervously walked in the opposite direction to Gabriel.
"Complete wrong direction, babe." He called to you, you felt your cheeks burn again. You let out a sigh. It was obvious you needed his help, you just really didn't like him. "Come on, I don't bite twice. It's this way." You grumbled but followed him anyway. He got you to your class on time and then disappeared down the corridor.
When it was lunch time you left your class slowly but were surprisingly and rather annoyingly greeted by Gabriel. You'd assumed he was waiting for one of the popular girls in your class but he followed you down the hall instead. He didn't seem to understand the whole 'personal space' thing because you swore you could almost feel his breath on you, that's just how close behind you he was.
"Seriously, why are you following me? is it some kind of prank? because honestly, I'm not laughing. I don't want to be here as it is, please don't make it anymore unbearable than it is." You'd stopped in the middle of the corridor to scold him. He furrowed his brows at you.
"Prank? What? I'm following you because I like you, I'm gonna sit by you and you can meet my friends for lunch and then we can skip next lesson and I can show you around the school." You stared at him.
"That's suicide. You know nothing about me and i can guarantee you will not like me if you ever do know anything about me. Besides, why would I wanna hang out with the popular crew? All you guys do is bully everybody else around you and have way more sex than any teenager should ever have." You turned around and walked away from him, proud of yourself for standing up to his kind. You'd had issues with his kind in your last high school and you refused to go through it again.
You thought that would be the last you saw of him, but it wasn't. You were sat down eating your lunch outside, on your own. Thud. There was a tray with food on in front of you. You looked up and found Gabriel's eyes.
"Really?" You asked rhetorically, gathering your things together and getting up to leave. You were so close but before you made it 5 centimeters away from the bench, Gabriels hand was clenched around your wrist.
"I know what you see when you see me, okay?" Gabriel gently pulled you back to the bench, sitting you down next to him. He faced you. You were about to get up again but something stopped you, the way he was looking at you. It seemed so genuine, but it could also have been the work of a fantastic actor who had done this countless times. You were unsure. "I know, I'm a popular kid and you're just ordinary! Or whatever it is you're thinking. But... I really do like you and....not cause I think you're hot. I mean....I do think you're hot and very very pretty. But I like how ordinary you are and how nervous you are... i find it cute actually." You really could not figure him out. You let out a sigh. "...And, don't go telling no one this, but....sometimes it's nice to have new company, one's who don't judge every little thing you do."
"I'm not having you use me!" You scoffed.
"No! I don't want to use you! I just- I like....you...because you don't judge like my friends do. Please?" His eyes bore into your skull like a knife baring flames.
"Only today. I'll sit with you today and you can show me around because I do kind of need the help there. But Not again after today. Unless I've made a decision about you. But don't think for one second that I at all trust or like you. Got it?" He nodded with a smile, a genuine smile for once. You'd never seen that smile before. He'd always smirked at you instead....but it was quite nice to see for once. You only hoped you weren't wrong this time.