Chapter Text
It’s not that he hated having to move. In fact, Emmett Oliver Flores would’ve quickly taken the opportunity to leave life behind for something better. The only thing that truly dampened his mood was the unfamiliarity and lack of organisation in his new life.
His parents were both adventurous people; the cautious, mess of nerves and worry that called a son was… not. A travel writer and a flight attendant, meeting on countless flights until they finally got the courage to ask for the other’s number. From the outside looking in it’d seem like the perfect romance. Unfortunately, that entailed eventually having to settle down and have a family- thus ending the constant thrills of love that they’d experienced.
Except they never truly settled down.
Emmett could remember each and every time he’d been unceremoniously dropped off at his grandparents' home while his parents flew to who-knows-where. So, after living a life like this for fifteen whole years, it wouldn’t take a genius to find out why the least favourite thing in his life was uncertainty...
…
And yet here he was: in his first homeroom class around strange and new people. He had no idea how long he’d been off monologuing in his head for, but Emmett had fallen asleep. The only thing that managed to wake him up was the soft nudge of another person. He opened his eyes with a yawn, shaking off the sleep as a tuft of black hair fell onto his forehead. A pair of hazel-brown eyes met green as Emmett stared at the person that awoke him.
“Did you need something?” The noiret asked, somewhat half-asleep. He put the piece of hair back in place as he awaited their answer.
Beside him was a red-head who wore a yellow blouse, she gave a gentle smile as she spoke.”Oh, I didn’t need anything. I just saw that someone was asleep and um… homeroom starts soon.” She stops for a moment. “The teacher might’ve gotten mad if they’d seen you like that.”
“That… was really nice. Thank you, I’m Emmett.” He awkwardly extended a hand and the girl took it politely. His tan skin intertwined with her fair, and Emmett could feel his mood immediately improve.
“My name is Penny, it’s good to meet you.” Letting go of his hand, she carefully sat at the desk beside him. Emmett watched as she fidgeted her fingers.
Penny opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a voice behind them. “Won’t you look at that! The trailer trash has found herself a boyfriend, how cute.” The words belonged to a blond kid with the most punchable face that Emmett had ever seen. He didn’t dare say anything though. Nervousness took hold of him as he felt his heartbeat quicken… it would be better if he didn't say anything. He turned to look how Penny was doing.
The red-head had visibly sank in her seat as she tried to turn out their words. Seeing the effect of their mockery, the blond walked away to talk to a person at another desk. Both of them wore letterman jackets, the signature clothing of every stereotypical jock in a high school movie.
Emmett took a breath and anxiously approached Penny, gently placing a hand onto her shoulder. “What…”
“Just ignore him, so... it's nice to meet you, Penny. I just moved here, so I uh- don’t really know anyone here yet.” He tilted his head toward the jerk’s general direction. “I’m really hoping they’re not all like that guy?”
She gave a tired looking expression as a response, collapsing herself on the desk as she sighed into her arms. “There’s a lot of good people here in this town… and a lot of people like him.”
“Woah… well that sucks.”
Penny let out a weak and quiet laugh, “It really does. Well, it’s good to know you don’t make up the latter side.” She took a deep breath, attempting a smile as she sat up straight. “Homeroom usually started around this time at my junior high. The teacher should be here any minute now. Are you excited for our first year?”
The noiret nodded and took a seat. “I’m guessing we’ll just be doing some organising for the first part of the morning? All the stuff like getting our lockers and what-not.” The girl hummed a noise of confirmation. Though she looked a bit better, Emmett could tell that the interaction had bothered her.
So, wanting to do something for the first nice person he’d encountered that morning, Emmett talked with her. And in return he learned more about the students that he might meet. It felt like they could talk forever and by the time they waved each other off for their first official class, Emmett had successfully brightened Penny’s mood. A strange sense of accomplishment and happiness entered him.
Maybe this school wouldn’t be too bad after all.
(Penny + 💛💛)
...
Despite the dislike of his parents dropping everything to travel the world, Emmett often found himself slightly jealous. Mainly because he was never invited, but also because he’d never be able to see the sights for himself.
Photography was one of his secret passions. That, and his love for music were an outlet for a creative mind that was left to develop on its own. Sometimes he’d dream that they took him on their exploits, and the boy could take as many pictures as he wanted.
That dream however was far from his reality.
Emmett waited eagerly as class neared its start. The second he’d read that he could sign up for a photography elective, that interest of his became a slight obsession. So it went without saying that the reason he was tired all morning was from the anticipation for this in particular.
When the teacher came into the room the students were assigned into their seats. Penny wasn’t there, so Emmett knew not a single body in this room. He ended up being placed next to a girl, who was shorter than him but not by a lot. Their lightly sunkissed skin was near perfect and her fashion sense was clearly active: A blue shoulderless top matched with a pink skirt. Her entire aesthetic screamed ‘popular’ but in spite of his hesitation, he took the chance to compliment her.
“That outfit looks good on you.” He said. The girl perked up and turned in her desk to look at Emmett, who hoped his comment didn’t come off as too weird. “It’s like the perfect match of comfy and cute.”
The blonde stared blankly before returning his words with a grin. “Thanks. I don’t think anyone’s ever complimented me on how comfortable my clothes look. You look… erm.”
Emmett nervously laughed off her obvious distaste. “I look like a mess, don’t worry. I just moved here literally yesterday and let’s just say I didn’t feel like digging through boxes worth of stuff for a single outfit.”
She took a sigh of relief. “I hear that. For what it’s worth, yours looks pretty comfortable too… if not horrendous. I’m Haley.”
“Emmett- and yeah, this wouldn’t be my go-to wear.” He inspected the aforementioned clothes. The noiret didn’t think they looked awful, but then again, a gray hoodie coupled with the same shade of gray pair of sweatpants that he wore did look a bit like sleepwear. Backhanded compliment aside, he decided to keep the conversation going. “Are you excited for class?”
With a motivated look, Haley responded. “Totally. We’re taking this for a reason, aren’t we?” The sentence came out matter-of-factly, and the way it was worded held a tone of cattiness. It was like he asked an obvious question that deserved an annoyed and snarky answer.
He couldn't help but let a memory of the earlier morning play in his mind:
“Mhm, a bunch of the people here can be interesting. I tend to avoid a lot of them though… There's this one girl in our year that’s the textbook definition of mean. She has opinions and she’s not afraid to say them.”
“That kind of confidence is admirable.”
Penny shrugged, “I guess, but could they stand to be a little nicer?”
Oh, so this was the person that they’d talked about. Emmett might have to be careful around her, but she’d been way nicer than the way Penny described her. There was definitely way more to her than just you typical mean girl…
(Haley + 💛)
...
The two of them ended up talking all the way until the lunch bell. Haley made for surprisingly good conversation if you could get behind the occasional insult or two, but something did manage to intrigue him:
Everytime she went to talk to other people they would act all friendly and the minute she left, they’d roll their eyes and presumably talk behind her back. It was horrible and from what he’d learned, the girl knew better.
Haley seemed to be popular, and hated simultaneously. And she seemed fine with it… content even. Emmett never did understand the school hierarchy, but if this was what that life was like then he’d gladly avoid it at all costs.
And with that, they walked out of the classroom mid-conversation, the blonde appeared to have let her guard down a smidge and Emmett got her to half-laugh at one point. She didn’t seem all too bad, just complex.
His thoughts were interrupted by the same douchey voice from his homeroom. “Haley, hey... is this guy bothering you? Dude, she has a-”
“-shut it Brandon. For the last time, Alex and I aren’t dating. We’re friends and that’s that!”
The guy scoffs, eyeing the other teen up and down, “Sure… but it’s not like this dweeb could even think about comparing to him.”
It stung to hear those words and not be able to say anything back, but it would only cause more problems if he’d acted. Emmett avoided eye contact as best he could, and discreetly slipped away without either of them noticing.
Emmett successfully got out of that situation, and after a quick trip to his locker he navigated his way to the cafeteria. It smelled of fried foods, and the orchestra of chattering people was weirdly therapeutic.
Unable to see anyone he knew- or because he felt too awkward to ask and look around, the noiret found a table off to the side. He placed down the tray of terrible food, and was completely ready to eat in silence as someone slid their own meal directly in front of him.
The familiar shade of red hair brought a welcome surprise and Penny sat there as if they’d known each other since the beginning of time and this was the most natural thing to do. Another person sat down alongside them. “Hello again, Emmett. This is Maru.”
Emmett looked up from his lunch to meet eyes with the stranger- a girl whose glasses looked identical to his, except his was a shade of black and hers had magenta frames which matched her hair colour.
“Emmett was the person I was talking about last class.”
He nodded at the sound of his name. “Nice to meet you.” Emmett said briefly, returning to eat… whatever the cafeteria gave him. He’d definitely be bringing his own food from now on.
“I second that disgusted face, this macaroni and cheese looks moldy.” A light-bronze toned hand tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “It’s nice to meet you, Penny told me about how you cheered her up.”
Emmett blinked, then smiled. After that encounter with Brandon he was half expecting to be interrogated or accused by the girl. “It was basic human decency…” It came out as a mumble, but Maru heard it loud and clear.
“Yeah, people seem to forget what that is sometimes.”
Overall, lunch was a pretty enjoyable experience. Emmett and Penny occasionally chimed in on Maru’s self-lead conversation, though she didn’t seem to mind. Apparently, she was a self-proclaimed inventor, but were taking home economics classes with Penny. Something about needing her hands to be more stable and to have more precise movements, and Penny had recommended trying needlework.
Honestly, the only thing that could’ve ruined the last few minutes of lunch was another run-in with someone like Brandon… and lo behold, speak of the devil and he shall appear- the jock magically came into view, a smirk on his face and accompanied by equally jerk-ish looking people. Emmett presumed they were his team, but one seemed to stand farther back from the group with a disinterested expression.
“Oooh, looks like-”
Maru made a sound of annoyance. “Are you ever going to say anything new?” That shut him up.
Emmett stared at the scene; a staredown. His eyes switched from Penny, to the two as an uncomfortable silence filled the table.
“And will you ever stop being such a prude? You’re no fun.” Brandon grumbled and walked away without another word. He looked back for a moment, as if to fire back with a better insult. “Watch your backs if you know what’s good for you.” The blond warned. Unfortunately for him, the threat came off as so comically cliche that it didn’t really hold any meaning. The three watched as the group walked away.
“That takes care of that. I wouldn’t worry, my dad’s the science teacher here and they know there’ll be hell to pay if they even look at me wrong.”
The noiret accidentally spoke without thinking: “Okay, Draco Malfoy…” He paused, the two girls staring at him with confused expressions before eventually bursting with laughter.
He was unable to get a clear response as to why they even laughed at the remark. It wasn’t even that funny, and yet every time he brought it up they’d only begin again.
...What just happened.
(Maru + 💛💛)
(Penny + 💛)
…
The rest of his classes went by without much issue, thankfully Maru and Penny shared all of his afternoon. Though, when the science teacher; Maru’s father saw them talking to each other, Emmett could quite literally feel his eyes staring deep into him.
He wondered if this was what having overprotective parents was like.
By the time the three waved each other off, Emmett was in high spirits. He’d always been able to make friends with people, but it was a genuine surprise that he did. That is, if they even considered anything more than an acquaintance.
The walk home from school was a dull journey, save for the person that just knocked him down onto the cold concrete. He laid there for a moment, taking the time to process the event that just happened.
“Woah, you okay?” Emmett tilted his head up at the person looking down at him. A pair of bright green eyes met his gaze and a swoop of brown hair was swept over their forehead. This was the guy from his homeroom, and the guy from the cafeteria. He was probably friends with Brandon… What was his name again?
With a sigh, he got up and dusted himself off. “I’m fine.” This was met with a nod, then a few seconds of awkwardness. The noiret watched in mild disbelief as they jogged away, not even attempting an apology.
Rude.
He let out a tired yawn as he continued his way home.
(+ 💙)