Work Text:
Who was that new freshman?
Archie pondered as he sat in the back of his Bible class, the huge assembly that began the new school year. He was gently rolling his pencil underneath his palm on his desk, not loud enough for anyone to hear except the poor kid sitting next to him who was already struggling.
It was foggy that morning. Unfortunately September hadn’t been nice to anyone that year and was forcing Autumn down everyone’s throats sooner than it should, which made school feel worse than usual. No one wanted it to begin, but here it was, making the whole school miserable.
Ugh, this is what they began with last year too. Do they think we won’t notice? How gullible do they think we are?
They were studying the book of Romans that day, a cliche in religious settings but an easy book to pretend to care about. Well, except for today apparently. There was a boy sitting in the front row that Archie couldn’t take his eyes off of. He was boring his unwavering stare into the back of his head but surprisingly, it went unnoticed. Normally when he tried shit like that the kids would get uncomfortable and shift around in their seats, becoming distracted and unsettled. They would dart their eyes every which way and when they finally did look behind them, Archie would already have dropped his gaze. He was a master at the timing now, perfecting his reflexes and anticipating the exact moment when each kid would finally break and look. (It depended on the kid of course, but the logistics were fairly simple.)
Not this kid though. Was he impervious, or just stupid? Whatever it was, he seemed to care about the lesson even less than Archie did, which was impressive. Or was it? Plenty of students at Trinity were idiots, and didn’t bother with anything the teachers or the Brothers had to say. They would fail each class and then go home to their parents who cared or maybe they didn’t… Archie thought about that. Would it matter? Only in the sense that it would inform Archie of each child’s living conditions perhaps, and give him an estimate on their likeliness to break rules or tendencies to insist upon being a goody-two-shoes.
But this kid? Something was different. Archie watched him twitch restlessly in his seat, run a hand through his dark hair and kick his legs against the desk. At first glance it looked like nervous behavior, but it wasn’t. He just looked…. Bored. From behind, he seemed like a caged animal waiting to be let loose, only keeping calm because he couldn’t move.
I wonder what you’re like outside of class… or outside of this school even…
What was his name again? They had taken attendance about 20 minutes ago, but Archie couldn’t bother to remember. He didn’t think he would have to remember the name of this particular freshman, but now he was wishing he had.
It began with a J, I think. Really fucking odd, that’s for sure.
Suddenly, the boy’s hand shot up, like an uncontrollable reflex.
“I gotta go to the bathroom.” He said. But he wasn’t asking permission. Archie frowned slightly, his nose wrinkling with a twang of disgust.
Damn it, show a little class.
The Brother rolled his eyes and ignored the boy, only for the same thing to happen but 30 seconds later.
Someone laughed.
“Janza,” the Brother began, a harsh note slipping into his tone, “That’s enough.”
Janza. That’s right. Just as odd as I thought. I guess it suits him well enough.
For a while Janza was quiet, but throughout the rest of the period he kept disrupting things in small ways; muttering, giggling… gagging for some reason. Everyone in the surrounding seats looked uncomfortable, even from behind, but it wasn’t quite as satisfying as seeing the look of subdued hatred for the boy that the Brother was trying to hide on his face. Archie smirked. Even he wanted to see things like that from time to time, but to accomplish it so effortlessly in front of the entire class? To shift the entire atmosphere without drawing too much attention to himself? Maybe the methods weren’t beautiful, but the results were.
Archie felt the idea sinking into his mind that he should confront Janza after class. Maybe a conversation would do them both some good. Maybe, just maybe, there was a new ally to be found in this cocky bastard.
Are you out of your mind? Think of what talking to such an animal would do to your reputation. You worked so hard last year, building yourself up. It is only the beginning of the new year, do you want to wreck your entire empire so quickly? I don’t think so.
Archie clenched his jaw, his hand pressing on his pencil so hard it made a small creak. He stopped, finally breaking his concentration and looking down at the tiny piece of yellow paint that had chipped off. Ugh, how unsightly.
Janza began rocking back and forth in his chair, just slowly at first. He would tip himself back and then fall forward onto all four of the chairs legs, each time getting louder and louder.
Archie could only imagine the grin on that boy’s face. Beautiful. There was a system to it, a method to the madness it seemed. Each incident was paced strategically, and every outburst was kept at a level that was acceptable, but only barely.
You only just got here and you already know how to drive adults insane without getting yourself skinned. It really is beautiful, if you think about it.
—
After class, Janza was the first out the door, shoving his way with powerful shoulders through the crowd of other students. Archie followed, not too close behind but close enough to keep his eye on him. He was shorter than Archie had originally thought, which made it funny to watch as he bulldozed through the sea of kids. But where was he going in such a damn hurry? Kids these days really needed to slow down, they always looked so damn desperate to do everything, like there was a death penalty for not relieving yourself, or getting to class on time. But wait- Janza wasn’t going to class. At least, not to any class Archie was aware of, (and he was aware of them all.)
Outside? What the hell. Could you be more infuriating?
Archie grit his teeth as Janza slipped through a side door without a word to anyone. He paused then, reconsidering. Was he really going to go speak to this hooligan?
If I slip out now, not a soul will notice.
He glanced back, still needing to double check that no one was around despite his confidence that no one was, and then, with a grim determination, he followed.
Breathe, you know what you’re doing.
Closing the door quietly behind him, a rush of cold air blew in his face, making him squint. He saw Janza a few feet away, standing at the bottom of the small hill that the school rested upon. He still had his back turned, and Archie rolled his shoulders with the full satisfaction that Janza had no idea he was being followed.
“It’s cold out here.” He announced with a straight face, folding his hands in front of him like a teacher pondering on a point of his lecture. Janza turned around, a cigarette between his lips. He grinned, a giggle slipping between his teeth as he opened his mouth, a puff of smoke releasing from the white paper.
“Then why did you come?” Janza asked.
“The cold is beautiful.” Archie replied, his eyes narrowing just slightly. He glanced at the cigarette, perplexed.
“You could get into trouble you know,” he stated wisely, his tone implying that he, Archie, would be the one to make sure that happened. “Cigarettes aren’t very good for you, anyway.” Another breeze blew past them, ruffling Janza’s dark mullet.
Damn, if he stopped grinning like an idiot he might almost be good-looking. What a waste.
Janza shrugged, blowing out more smoke. “If I get sent home, it’ll be a blessing from God.” He hadn’t quite meant to say that- but something about this blonde boy above him was making his tongue a little loose. He blew it over quickly however and looked him up and down, deciding to keep those thoughts to himself. “What’s your name?” He asked lazily.
“They read out loud the name of every student in that class, Janza.” Archie said with a slight smirk. “Were you not paying attention?” Asking as if he hadn’t done the same exact thing. “And we all responded with “here”. Do you remember that?” His voice was quiet and mocking, dangerous. But Janza didn’t seem to care. It was impressive, really, but maybe the apathy was just a facade, in which case, it was just really fucking annoying.
He still won’t put the cigarette down? I guess he’s not faking. This kid’s an addict.
Archie wanted to press him just one more time, he couldn’t help it. He opened his mouth to speak, but the door behind Archie flung open right at that moment. Obie stepped outside, all in a huff and a clumsy hurry. Both boys watched as he nearly fell over and pushed his glasses further up his nose. “There you are Arch, I couldn’t find you in there. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Obie you idiot.
“I’m making a new friend, Obie.” Archie replied coolly. Obie swallowed, and then stared down at Janza with a look of disgust. Who was going to tell Archie that this was a bad idea?
“Oh. With him?”
“No, with that tree over there.”
Obie blinked. Janza giggled again and tossed the butt of his cigarette into the damp grass, stamping it out with his shoe with what almost looked like relish. Obie sighed, cleared his throat, and began again as if nothing had happened.
“Well, I just came to let you know that Brother Isaiah had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital, so we won’t be having a science period today. Hah, you should see the freshmen, they’re ecstatic, squirming like a bunch of frying worms.” He itched his nose, re-adjusting the hold on his textbooks that he insisted on carrying around everywhere.
“Oh dear, that’s awful.” Archie said in a voice that lacked an ounce of sympathy or even curiosity for more details. Janza snorted.
“Yeah, it is.” Obie said, trying to ignore Janza best he could, “Hope he makes it out of there alive.”
“Me too.”
There was an awkward pause, and Obie licked his lips. Who was this guy?
“Hey.” He said, nodding to Janza who looked at him with a smug expression. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Emile.” Janza replied innocently. It really was an innocent sounding name, so soft and unassuming. It was babyish, even, and that made people read him incorrectly whether they wanted to or not. Janza used to hate his name, but he had grown to appreciate its uses over the years, and he laughed when he saw the effect it was having on Obie.
Obie scowled, and then remembered something. The name sounded familiar- but where had he seen it? He had seen it, that was for sure. It wasn’t long before Obie recalled that he had seen the name “Emile” on a list of the students signed up for football tryouts that he had gotten a sneak peak of when the coach was reading it off his clipboard right before school. That was odd, though, this kid (fine, Emile) didn’t look like a football player… he was …too small.
Archie was watching this exchange with some amusement, but he was mostly annoyed that his private discussion had been interrupted. He watched Emile take out another cigarette and light it shamelessly, one hand holding the cigarette to his lips, the other deep in his pocket. Archie locked eyes with Obie, explaining through his look that the two of them would talk later. They needed to have a meeting anyway- the Vigils, needed to have a meeting. Did Janza know about the Vigils? It was hard to say.
“Hey!” Obie blurted out, pointing at Janza. “You can’t have those!”
Emile grinned at him.
“You snitch on me and I’ll beat shit out of you.”
Now, Archie was no snitch, but Obie couldn’t always help it when he saw someone breaking the rules. It was in his nature to report what wasn’t right, and this definitely wasn’t right. He gulped.
Archie smiled.
“Now now Emile,” he said in a weirdly soothing voice, “tryouts don’t start till this afternoon.”
Obie’s eyes widened. How did Archie know about that-?! Ugh, why did he have to know everything?
In truth, Archie didn’t know. It was just a guess, a hope that maybe Janza would be trying out for the football team later that day. Emile blew more smoke from his heart shaped lips, strangely full for a boy, and sighed at Archie, smiling.
“Oh yeah, I forgot.” But of course he hadn’t. Janza had been looking forward to those tryouts all fucking day.
All… fucking…. Day.
“So Arch,” he began, that stupid smirk still on his mouth, the cheap smoke wafting towards Archie’s face, “You gonna join me later?”
“My afternoon is full I’m afraid.” Archie replied, hiding his shock. The boldness of this kid would never cease to amaze him it seemed. He turned to Obie, “we really should be going, actually. It was a pleasure to meet you, Emile.” He said with one more look at that strangely handsome face. Obie scowled again, but nodded. “Yeah. We’ve got work to do.” Janza laughed.
“Aw.”
Archie frowned and walked back up towards the door, Obie following behind. They left Janza just like that, and both boys felt cleaner once they were inside. Instantly, Obie started yelling in a hushed whisper.
“Arch, I didn’t realize it before but that’s the guy everyone’s been talking about!”
“Everyone Obie, really?”
“You know what I mean! Just listen, ok? They’re saying that’s the kid who got transferred here because of harassment and assault charges at his old school!”
“The middle school?”
“I mean I guess! That’s all there is but I’m telling you, it’s him. Did you see that look in his eye?”
Archie paused, slowing his step. Hm… he smiled, slowly, just a corner of his lip turning.
“Actually….”
Sure as hell I did. I couldn’t stop looking at it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Obie.” Archie finished, watching Obie’s jaw drop. “As a matter of fact, Obie, I’d say that he’s a very beautiful human.” With that, he sped up and left Obie alone in the hallway. Alone and shattered. What was that? Archie never talked like that about anybody, and certainly not about him. Obie grit his teeth. He’s got to be joking.
He started to jog.
“Hey! Arch- wait up! Th-that’s not funny!”