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Theo knew that he wasn’t popular. Theo knew that people didn’t like him. The looks he got in the hallway and the whispering he heard about how ‘hot and mysterious’ he was did not count. Just because people thought he looked good did not mean they actually liked him, he sure as hell was not falling for that trick ever again. But, Theo didn’t mind the loneliness, if anything, he embraced it. Fewer people meant that the likelihood of being left behind and forgotten was lessened. People only ever seemed to let him down, so being alone was better for him and everyone else around him.
Liam knew that he was popular. Liam knew that people liked him. The shy smiles and waves he got in the hallway were all he needed to know. He heard them talk about how ‘in shape and hot’ he was. He saw the countless posters with his name on them in the stands of every LaCrosse match. But, there were times like this when Liam realized that he didn’t really have that many friends outside of LaCrosse besides Mason and, by association, his boyfriend, Corey. And Mason was the only one he really hung out with outside of school. He liked being popular, trust him he did, but he usually just hung out with his teammates and maybe some of the cheerleaders. Was he popular because people liked him? Or, was he just popular because he was the captain and star player of the LaCrosse team? Whatever, that didn’t matter. He was still popular. He still hung out with a lot of people. He was still liked by everyone and not made fun of and talked about like the infamous Theo Raeken. It didn’t matter why he was popular because at least he was popular.
Now that Liam thought about it, he never really knew why people didn’t like Theo. He hasn’t done anything bad, well at least not that he’s heard of. He was just quiet and stuck to himself. Was there something wrong with that? He was smart, from what he’d heard from Mason, who was told by Corey. That’s another thing, even though Theo doesn’t hang out with a lot of people, occasionally he could be seen hanging out with, or at least talking to Corey. And according to Corey, Theo should be in the orchestra classroom right now, he practices there after school, not that he knew where the classroom was. After some failed searching and trying to ask what few people were there if they knew, and not getting any luck, he went down the only hallway he hadn’t checked yet when he heard music coming from one of the classrooms.
Theo was sitting in the orchestra practicing scales on his viola. He was practicing the scales because they were used in a few of the pieces that he would be playing during All City. If he even passed the audition, he had to, his parents would hopefully be proud of him once. He keeps accidentally playing C sharp in the G major scale, he knows it only has F sharp, okay, he’s just played songs with D major for so long! Also who in their right mind decided how high the G major scale had to go, it doesn’t need to be that high, and shifting sucks! As he started over again he saw someone step in the doorway out of the corner of his eye, most likely waiting for him to finish before talking to him, or most likely make fun of him and his playing. Why couldn’t they have walked in when he was doing the D major scale, it was easy and didn’t sound like a dying cat halfway through!
Liam stepped in the doorway and saw him. There he was, Theo Raeken, playing what he could only guess was a violin, cause what else is there, and looking at some notes on whatever the thing was in front of him. He sounded great at the start and end, but for some reason in the middle, he got really high-pitched. After Theo finished Liam stepped forward to get closer to him.
Theo didn’t utter a word to him, only raising an eyebrow in question. “Uhh, that's a nice instrument you got there, is that a violin?” Liam said, trying to start small talk.
“It’s a viola,” answered Theo with a flat face. And before Liam could even ask what it was Theo started again, “And no, it’s not the same as a violin, it’s not a big violin, and it’s not a small cello. Even if I doubt you know what a cello is. So let me explain this in a way you’d maybe understand, a viola is slightly bigger than the size of a violin and can still be hand-held and it has the same strings as a cello; A, D, G, and C,” said Theo, with that flat look still on his face.
“Uhh okay, sorry. What song were you playing? It sounded really nice!” Liam said with a hopeful look on his face. It wasn’t a lie, it sounded good, maybe just not during the middle.
“It was the G major scale. Not a song, and you don’t have to lie, the middle always sounds terrible. And yes, it is supposed to sound that high-pitched. I don’t make mistakes like that,” Theo said looking more and more unamused. He started again, “Now what do you want? Or are you just here to ask the same dumb questions as everyone else?”
“Uhh I need your help actually. See I kind of failed Biology last nine weeks, and the coach said if I fail it again this semester I’m getting kicked off the team. And Corey said you’re really good at Biology, so I was just wondering if you could please tutor me?” Liam said with the saddest puppy eyes Theo had ever seen.
“Are you joking?” said Theo with a raised brow, he wasn’t falling for the nice guy act again.
“No I promise, I really need your help! I can’t get kicked off the team!” said Liam desperately. He started to get down on his knees when Theo didn’t answer and continued his pleading.
“Ugh, fine, I’ll help you, just please get off the floor, you look pathetic,” answered Theo with a roll in his eyes.
“Wait, really? Oh, my Athena! Thank you so much, I promise you won’t regret this! And-“ Liam started as he got up off the floor. Theo knew he was still talking but wasn’t really paying attention.
All Theo knew was that this was going to be pretty interesting.