Chapter Text
CHAPTER ONE:
The weather in Austin was hot, and Michael couldn’t help but worry he had sweat stains lurking underneath his grey hoodie. Even his scalp was sweating, underneath his dark beanie, a single bead of swear dripping down the side of his face.
He glanced to the dashboard of the car. His mom had the air-conditioning at full blast.
“You nervous?”
Maybe it wasn’t the heat, then.
Michael swallowed thickly, hand clasping in a loose fist around his phone. “A little.” He avoided looking at his mother, instead simply looking out of the window, as the car slowed down in front of his new school, RT High School.
The first thing he noticed was the sheer size of the school. It was huge, tall looming windows spread around a large building, followed by what looked to be acres of greenspace. He’d only been living in Texas for a few days, but he'd already come to terms with the fact that everything had been multiplied by two, from the buildings to the food to the people.
“Don’t worry, at least you won't be alone. You’ve got your friend from… online, right? What’s his name again?”
“Ray.” Michael said quietly, scanning the area in front of the school as people drove and walked in.
“Right, Ray. He’s the one who used to live in New York, right?”
Michael swallowed nervously. He couldn’t really see Ray anywhere.
“Yeah.”
“His parents must’ve had the same idea we did. I love Texas already, everything is so much more… relaxing, than out in the city.” His mother mused.
“I liked Jersey plenty fine, mom.” Michel mumbled quietly.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head and glanced at his phone, finger hovering over Ray’s contact. “I should go, Ray said he’d meet me out here.”
“Have an amazing day! Make lots of friends!”
“Yeah, I will mom.” Michael smiled nervously, as his mother leant forwards and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you.”
“Love you too, call me!”
“I will.”
Michael climbed out the car as he pressed the phone to his ear, trying not to look awkward or lost as he hovered around the gate, watching his mother drive off into the distance.
“Michael?”
“Ray!” Michael sighed in relief, the familiarity in Ray’s voice calming him instantly. It was strange, not hearing the crack of Ray’s shitty Xbox headset as he said, “Yeah, I can see you now.”
Michael spun around, looking anxiously for his friend as he rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie, cradling his phone between his ear and shoulder. “Where?”
“Here!”
Michael flinched, and his phone slipped out from his shoulder. Thankfully, a girl caught it just in time, as Ray stood by laughing.
“Sorry. Couldn’t resist.” He laughed.
“Asshole.” Michael grinned.
“Sorry about him,” the girl said, reaching over and handing Michael his phone. “You’ve known each other long enough to know what he’s like. I’m just sorry for endorsing it.”
“It’s… It’s okay. Ray’s an asshole, I know that.” Michael said. The girl smiled brightly.
“I’m Lindsay, by the way.”
Michael nodded, “Nice to meet you, Lindsay. I’m Michael.”
Michael had never had many female friends before. His school back in Jersey had been full of assholes and he had only ever had a handful of associates whom he could barely call friends. He grew up with only brothers and hardly any cousins, so he couldn’t help but feel a little nervous conversing with Lindsay.
However, in the first ten or so minutes of speaking, he could see that Lindsay was nothing like the other girls he’d ever met.
She was beautiful, sure, with bright red hair and very bright, green eyes, but she was funny too, and witty. She knew a lot about video games, and talked to him like they’d been friends for years. He liked Lindsay a lot, way more than he was ever expecting to like anyone in the entire state.
Ray had to go to a different wing of the building for his first class, leaving Michael and Lindsay to walk to math together. She helped him out with his class schedule, considering they were in a lot of the same classes, and helped him navigate his way to his locker when the lunch bell went.
“This is going to sound kind of weird,” He said as he walked with Lindsay to his locker, “But I really wasn’t expecting to like you this much.”
“Michael please, buy me dinner first.” She joked, grinning as they came to a stop at Michael’s locker. He blushed, pulling his beanie off.
“Sorry, that was really weird, wasn’t it? I-I guess I've never made friends very easily before.”
“Michael,” she smiled, warm and genuine. “It’s fine. I think you’re pretty awesome, screw anyone else, right?”
“Yeah.” he smiled, “Right.”
“Now come on, Ray’ll meet us outside.”
Michael quickly tossed is bag and his hoodie into his locker, before making his way out of the building with Lindsay by his side. The school looked big, but it was pretty easy to navigate with the huge signs everywhere. Every teacher he’d met so far hadn’t been too much of an asshole, and nobody had given him any trouble yet. If anything, this school was better than his last one.
“S’up gays!” Ray greeted them with a smile as they walked out the back entrance of the building, coming down onto small area of playground leading up to a giant green field. Students huddled in separate areas with their friends, a handful of jock-types down the end playing ball and some girls up the front creating a dance routine. Sketchier looking kids sat huddled around benches at the far corners, and everywhere else was filled with kids simply sitting in circles and at lunch-benches, talking and using their phones.
“Holy shit.” Michael breathed, looking around the area. “This is fucking huge.”
“Did you not have a field at your last school?” Lindsay asked. Michael shook his head.
“It’s alright Michael, Lindsay isn’t a city kid like us.” Ray laughed. “It’s a lot to take in, but you’ll find your spot. Or, our spot, I guess.”
“Right over there.” Lindsay pointed to a small empty bench across the left side of the field. “That’s where we usually hang out.”
“Just the two of you?”
Lindsay shrugged. “Pretty much. We have other friends but… they prefer to hang out inside in the Library. We do too sometimes but… gotta have some fresh air, right? Especially when it’s so nice outside.”
“Right.” Michael nodded. “And… nobody will sit there if you don’t?”
“It’s our spot,” Ray shrugged. “Everybody has their own place, so they wouldn’t go to ours, I mean, look-” Ray pointed out across the field. “It’s like a cafeteria. Over in the back, your jocks. Emo kids up the sides and in the corners. Nerds are nowhere to be seen, Cheerleaders hanging around the jocks, but not too close, Music nerds huddled with acoustic guitars in the front corner, and stoner kids way in the back….”
“Right.” Michael nodded, eyes scanning the field until they fell around the middle. There was a long strip of grass slightly greener than the rest, where what looked like around ten or so kids were hanging out. The girls looked beautiful and the boys were straight out of shitty teen movies, a few tossing a ball and the rest sitting around, basking in the sunshine and talking animatedly to each other.
Michael had never exactly been one to stereotype, but they looked like assholes.
“So let me guess, those are the popular kids?” he sneered.
“Uh, yeah.” Lindsay nodded.
“What are they like, then?” he asked, glaring at the group of teenagers.
“Well,” Ray said. He looked across the field and pointed to a lanky boy with light brown hair and a crooked nose, who was grinning as he jumped on the back of another boy. “That’s Gavin Free. He’s like, RT royalty. He’s a Junior, like us, but he’s British. Moved here halfway through freshman year. He immediately became really good friends with Geoff, so he became like prince of the school.”
“Who's Geoff?”
“There,” Lindsay pointed to a boy with dark hair and visible tattoos on his arms, peeking out from his t-shirt, sitting on the grassy floor next to a few other people, and had one tattooed arm around an equally tattooed girl, who Michael could see had blonde hair and a noticeable nose piercing. “That’s Geoff. If Gavin’s prince, he and his girlfriend Griffon are the king and queen to the RT monarchy.”
“Right…” Michael said quietly, looking at the group. “And what about the rest? Where do they fit?”
“That guy there, grabbing Gavin’s leg is Dan,” Ray said. “He’s sorta like Gavin’s second in command. They moved here from England together.”
“They're brothers?” Michael asked. Ray shook his head.
“No, just friends. But Gavin lives with Dan and his parents. I don’t know why.” He shrugged.
“The girl with the blonde hair is Barbara, she’s the head cheerleader.” Lindsay continued. “Her and a few others tend to stay away from the more airhead cheerleaders. Barbara dates Aaron, the guy with the dark hair next to her. They’re like, next in line for the throne when Geoff and Griffon leave at the end of the year.”
“Is that Aaron?” Michael pointed to a smaller looking guy in a red t-shirt, with brown, static-looking hair. Lindsay shook her head. “No, that’s Chris, Aarons best friend. He’s alright, kinda goofy, but harmless.” She shrugged.
“What about those two?” Michael pointed to two other boys, standing just at the edge of the group with a few others, tossing a ball back and forth.
Ray immediately straightened. “Uh, the blonde-ish guy is Ryan Haywood, and the dark haired guy in the big hoodie is Joel Heyman. They’re both like, really involved in theatre and stuff. They're seniors, like Geoff and Griffon.
“And then next to them, the guy with the glasses is Jack Pattillo. He’s been Geoff and Griffon’s friend for like, years, so he’s always kind of stuck with the group because of that. And the girl next to him is his girlfriend, Caiti, who runs the art club. Jack’s on the football team with Geoff, Joel, Ryan and Aaron. And then you’ve got Arryn, Barbara’s best friend. she’s a cheerleader, and she dates one of our friends, Miles.”
“She dates one of your friends?” Michael asked, immediately feeling guilty at the shocked tone to his voice. Thankfully, Ray just laughed.
“Yes, Michael. One of our nerdy friends who sits in the Library at lunch dates a cheerleader. We don’t know how he managed it either.”
Lindsay laughed too, adding, “Sounds weird, but they work. They seem to really like each other.”
“Like Romeo and fuckin’ Juliet.” Michael laughed, making Ray grin and roll his eyes. “This school is so weird!”
“It’s a full blown monarchy, man!” Ray explained. “Last year, it was run by Burnie Burns, who was the student body president, and his two friends Matt and Gus. They were cool with Geoff and Griffon and the rest of the group, but they left last year for college.”
“Geoff and Griffon just continued the reign.” Lindsay finished, dramatically extending her hand in the groups direction.
“Right, the cheerleaders and the jocks, basically? How original.” Michael huffed, unable to keep himself from feeling riled up as he watched the group of friends. “And where do we fall in all of this? Bottom of the food chain, I guess?”
Lindsay and Ray both exchanged a glance before shrugging.
“It’s… not really like that here,” Lindsay said. “They’re ‘populars’ but… they're okay I guess. We stay out of their way, they stay out of ours, I guess. They’re not really assholes.”
“Some are pretty nice.” Ray said, dreamily, glancing out onto the field. Michael raised an eyebrow, and Lindsay laughed.
“Yeah, Ray thinks someone in particular is really nice.” Lindsay sniggered.
Michael was half listening, half looking out onto the field. He’d given each member of the large group a quick glance, but each time felt his eyes wandering back to the first kid Ray had pointed out.
Almost as if he could feel Michael’s gaze, Gavin stopped still, turning and looking up. The two locked eyes, for a few seconds, that should’ve been awkward but… wasn’t. It just made Michael feel strange inside, as Gavin stared at him, for a solid three to four seconds and grinned, before turning back around and continuing his conversation.
“Shut up Lindsay!”
Michael turned back to the conversation. Ray was blushing furiously, as Lindsay laughed at him.
“Who?” Michael asked.
“Ryan.” Lindsay smirked.
“Shut up.”
“Ray has had a huge crush on him since like, sophomore year.” Lindsay explained, as Ray covered his face embarrassing with his hands.
“Do not.” He mumbled.
“Come on Ray,” Lindsay smiled, resting her had on his bony shoulder. “I had to sit through an entire performance of Macbeth because he was playing the lead. You’ve got it bad.”
“I thought the play was good!” Ray retorted. Lindsay stared at him in a knowing way.
“Really?” Lindsay scoffed “Ray, you hardy get standard English, let alone Shakespearean language.” She pointed out. Ray rolled his eyes.
“Hear that, Michael? Racism! She’s mocking my Puerto Rican heritage!”
Michael laughed. “Just admit it if you like him, Ray.”
“God,” Ray rolled his eyes. “I like him, okay? Happy?”
“Very.” Lindsay grinned. “And come on, we can all see why you’d like him. He’s pretty hot.”
“I saw him first,” Ray grumbled, making Michael laugh. “Not like it’ll ever actually happen, though.”
“Hey!” Lindsay shoved him lightly. “Never say never! Now come on, let’s head to our table. I think Michael’s absorbed enough information today and probably wants to chill out.”
“You’re right.” Michael laughed, walking with his hands tucked into his pockets across the grass. “Although, I am starting to like it here a lot more than I thought I would. Two friends are better than none, I guess.”
Lindsay grinned, and Ray linked his bony arm through Michael’s.
“Stick with us, Michael,” Lindsay said. “Even if we’re you're only two friends, we’ll be damn good ones!”