Chapter Text
Moving to another country turned out to be more unpleasant than Benatar thought, but his real personal challenge was the transfer to a new school. Before that, he had never changed schools, so he was terribly worried, and his parents' phrases like "you're a big boy now" weren't reassuring. Benatar wasn't a coward, he just wasn't confident enough to easily fit in and make some friends.
However, he was lucky: he wasn't late and he quickly found the right classroom. Before the lesson began, teacher asked him to introduce himself to the class, and he calmly said what he had been rehearsing to himself all morning: "My name is Benatar, and I moved from Britain."
After saing that, he exhaled nervously. The phrase was short, and it was impossible to screw it up. Now the boy could only think that it'd be nice to sit on the back desk to assess all the classmates with a glance. The teacher gave him this opportunity, pointing to an empty seat next to some long-haired guy. Benatar sat down quietly, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, and didn't look at his neighbor. However, the latter turned to him with a friendly smile.
"Hi. So you're British? Do you have that funny accent?"
Benatar looked at the boy. He had long brown hair with bangs falling over his eyes, and he was apparently tall.
"I don't know, maybe." Benatar smiled back.
Suddenly, the guy sitting in front of him turned to them. He looked funny in his glasses and braces, but he seemed to be very confident — Benatar even slightly envied this.
"I'm more interested in that new hottie at the first desk. Do you think she has a boyfriend?" the boy with glasses asked Benatar's neighbor.
The brit pretended not to hear their conversation and looked away. However, a black guy sitting next to the nerd joined the conversation.
"Don't even try, man. She'll probably turn you down just like that chick you were running after last year."
The long-haired guy chuckled:
"Why did she dump you?"
"She said she likes bad guys." the boy with glasses shrugged.
"It's weird that she didn't like you, you're bad at absolutely everything."
The guy with glasses snorted with displeasure, the black boy shook his head and turned away. And only Benatar laughed softly.
He exchanged glances with his neighbor, who at first looked slightly surprised, but then smiled carelessly again, pleased that his sense of humor coincides with the sense of humor of his new pal.
"I'm Axel." he introduced himself and slightly slapped the Brit on the shoulder.
"I'm Benatar."
"Your name sounds like that pop singer's nickname."
"And your name sounds like a dog's nickname."
They looked at each other for a short time, when suddenly Axel giggled, and Benatar relaxed a little, looking at him. At first he thought that Axel might be offended.
"You're funny. And you really have that stupid accent." Axel said with a smile.
The brit just chuckled and began to take out a notebook from his backpack, on which Axel noticed several pins and small patches with the names of music bands.
"Dude, how can it be that you have David Bowie pin hanging right next to Black Sabbath?" Axel asked with interest and pointed at the other's backpack.
"It's nothing compared to this: here is "Queen", I specially hung it next to the "Sex pistols" so that the universe would collapse." Benatar raised an eyebrow ironically.
His new friend laughed softly.
"What kind of taste do you have?"
"I just love music, mate. And you?"
"Yeah, me too. Something like "Cannibal Corpse" and "Children of Bodom", and so on."
"That's cool."
Benatar smiled sincerely. For some reason, he liked this guy very much. The boys looked at each other for a few more seconds, and then turned away to the blackboard, confused for some reason. Both felt a strange warmth in their chests, but tried not to think about it, only hoping that this acquaintance would be the beginning of a great friendship.