Chapter Text
Summer came to an end and senior year had begun, placing the last of the boxes into his new room Nick had officially moved in with his aunt who was much better than… Them. Nick looked through the boxes to find his guitar. He plugged it into the amp and raised the volume, but not loud enough that the whole neighborhood heard it. He tested it with a quick strum before playing a full blown chorus of a music sheet that he created. “Nick! You need to hurry up or you’ll be late to school!” His aunt called from downstairs, without thinking he unplugged his guitar only to get backlashes from the speaker. “Aw- Shi-” “NICHOLAS LONDON!? WHAT DID WE SAY ABOUT THE AMP!?!” “don’t forget about the volume…” Nick mumbled to himself.
Nick slipped on his arm warmers before finally rushing down the stairs frantically trying to tie a portion of his hair back. “Hey! Breakfast!?” “Not hungry!!!” Nick tossed his bag over his shoulders almost falling backwards from the sudden weight but managed to recover. He dashed out occasionally greeting the neighbors as he ran to catch the community bus. “Wait! Hold on dammit!!!” unfortunately only to be met by it already departing. “くそ!” Nick checked his phone. No way in hell he was going to make it to school on time waiting for the next bus. He looked around only for his eyes to lock onto the usual highschool busses for the high schoolers, which he hadn’t used since 8th grade. Begrudgingly he made his way to the waiting area for the designated bus with the other high schoolers.
Others whispered and laughed, Nick couldn’t help but feel a little self conscious. Until, a warm yet familiar hand touched his shoulder. “Nick! Dude, I haven’t seen you in ages!” That loud and extroverted voice, he knew it anywhere. Alexander Howard, formally known as Alex to everyone. One of the most popular meat heads in school, and Nick's old childhood friend. How delightful… “Alex, nice to see you again… how long has it been?” Nick begrudgingly asked. “It’s been so long I haven’t seen you much since 8th grade! Finally wanna show your face during senior year huh?~” Alex noogied the top of Nick's head. “Yeah, you were always the popular one.” Nick said through gritted teeth. “Don’t be a sour cat! C’mon you slugger, let's sit next to each other on the bus!” As the bus pulled up Alex led Nick inside and plopped him down next to him. “I didn’t ask to sit next to you, meathead.” Nick playfully said. Alex dramatically gasped, pretending to faint and acting all dramatic. “Such a foul tongue you have! Are you really the Nick I knew?” The question seemed slightly genuine. “You just don’t see how I've grown so much from a meek lil kid!” Nick boasted with confidence.
“You’ve dyed your hair since the last time I saw you huh?” Alex twirled a piece of Nick’s hair with fascination. Nick stared at Alex’s hand in a daze before snapping back to attention. “Woah!- okay!” Nick backed off and patted Alex’s shoulder. “Too close bud… too close.” Nick murmured.
Once finally at school the two parted ways for their separate classes. As Nick arrived he slumped in his seat mindlessly twiddling with his pen, barely listening to the teacher introducing themselves, in fact he couldn’t care less. He stared at the window outside as other students in the background introduced themselves one by one. Till eventually the class's attention was pointed straight at him. “And what about you? You've been staring at that window for quite a while, young man.” The teacher put her hands on her hips in mock irritation while the class erupted into laughter.
Nick finally looked back at the class only to see their eyes piercing into as if he was a foreign being. Nick bit the inside of his cheek to distract himself for a moment before finally having the courage to introduce himself. “My name is Nicholas London, but I prefer to be called Nick.” before he thought it could be the end of it the teacher spoke once again. “Do you have any hobbies or anything you like in particular?” The teacher smiled, but Nick knew she probably didn’t care in the slightest. “I like playing the guitar and writing songs in my spare time, I guess?”
The teacher was finally satisfied with Nick’s answer and she moved on. “Alright let's continue onto the class syllabus.” and like that class continued as normal as did the rest and so on. Nick had about two classes as far as he could tell he looked down at the class schedule. It read in two bolden text’s “French II” and “Physical Ed” the last one being the one class he dreaded the most out of all of them. Despite that Nick went to the third floor to French II. “Hi, is this French II?” Nick asked the teacher before a familiar blonde called out to him “Nick!”. The blonde in question walked up to him and slung one of his arms over Nick’s shoulders.
“Alex…” “Nick!” The two shared their glances before the teacher ushered them to find a seat. Nick sat in the far back pulling out his notepad where he usually writes down song ideas or just doodles mindlessly. That is till he heard a duffle bag be put down in the desk next to his. Not thinking much of it Nick just continued thinking about lyric ideas for his latest song he was writing about new beginnings. “Whatcha writing there Nick?” Nick looked up from his notepad only to be face to face with Alex. “Why are you here?” Nick asked bluntly.
“One, lil mean to your childhood friend. Two, Cuz I wanna hang out with you more since we haven’t even spoken to each other or kept in contact since 8th grade.” Alex retorted. Nick scratched his cheek in thought for a moment. A second try can’t be bad… right? “Fine, do what you want, I couldn't care less.” Nick nonchalantly replied not thinking of what harm could come from it. Alex happily smiled “Thanks man, I’m actually quite good at French believe it or not!” Alex puffed out his chest in prowess. Nick chuckled lightly “Sure, Meathead”. As class continued the two joked quietly and caught up during the past 4 years.
“Geez, how were you not kicked off the team?” Nick joked, playfully punching Alex’s shoulder. “Hey! I made a very intelligent calculation!” “Yeah, one that got your nose broken.” The two tried their best to laugh under the teacher's radar only to fail miserably. “Was something I said funny to you two?” The teacher sneered, his eyebrows furrowing. “No sir…” the two said in unison.
As the class ends, it feels as if the fun dies down with it. “So, what’s your final class?” Nick tried to sound nonchalant about it when in reality he was genuinely dying to know. “Ah…” Alex pulled out a crumpled schedule from his duffel bag “I got PE, what about you?” Alex brightly smiled as he leaned over to check out Nick’s schedule.
With what luck the two had the same classes twice in a row. “Yes! Let's go!” Before Nick could reply Alex whisked him away to the gymnasium. Nick being dragged by the arm complained down the halls at the fast pace. “Slow down you meathead!” Nick tried picking up the pace, stumbling every couple steps. “No can do! We’re gonna be late if we slow down for a second!” Alex gleefully laughed. “We have like 5 minutes dude!” The two laughed all the way to the Gym.
Once the two finally made it to the gym they were already out of breath and the class hadn't even started yet. “You are an absolute meat head.” Nick huffed and attempted to catch his breath. “I got your blood pumping! You're welcome!” Alex had that type of Asshole smirk on his face basically saying “Suck it up buttercup I win.” Nick playfully hit the back of Alex’s head before heading further inside the gym to meet their gym teacher and finish the day.
After about an half an hour of light exercising the final bell rang signaling the end of the first school day. The two headed out to the bus stop, rain pouring down like a symphony. “Aw dammit.” Nick wiped himself off while Alex just shook the rain off like a dog. “Don’t get me wet!” Nick complained as he shields himself with his backpack. The bus had pulled up and the two stepped on. They passed building after building. It felt as if those fifteen minutes had passed by like an hour until the bus came to their stop.
“How far is your house? Mine is just three houses down.” Alex looked at Nick as the two were already getting drenched. It then dawned on Nick… “All the way… down… there.-” he realized that his house was all the way down the block. It wasn’t that far, but relatively far when it’s raining. Nick then felt something tossed over his head, Warm and felt soft like cotton with a subtle feel of leather. “Then I think you’ll need this more than me.” Alex chuckled as he left the bus stop and sprinted to his house leaving Nick with his letterman jacket over his head.
Time seemed to stop as the rain felt warm for once. Were those eyes of his such a beautiful amber? Nick raised a hand to his blooming red cheek feeling it's heat in the cold rain as he stared where Alex had left. “Shit…”