𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 || 𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐨

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨.

no. no, this cannot be happening.

zak cursed silently to himself many, many times. he prayed that at the last second, the boy would turn away and choose another desk to sit at. he prayed, but to no avail.

soon enough, the boy was right by his side, placing that stupid red binder on the desk next to him. stupid, stupid, stupid.

zak probably looked ridiculous with his red face and trembling hands. his gaze was fixed on his own desk. he didn't dare look at the boy again.

he stayed dead silent as the boy took a seat next to him. maybe if he didn't speak to the boy, the boy wouldn't speak to him. this is not what zak was expecting from his first day of school. he was hoping to skate by without doing something horrible to embarrass himself, and maybe listen to vincent rant about his first-day experiences. not this. no, this wasn't what he had planned at all.

just don't speak to him, and he won't speak to you. right?

"hi, i'm darryl," the boy said with a beaming smile.

no!

zak tried to breathe, but there was a lump in his throat. even if he wanted to say anything, the words wouldn't come out. from the corner of his eye, he saw the boy's expression falter. "oh," was all he said. zak felt a small pang of guilt. darryl probably thought he was purposefully ignoring him. he had no control over it. the boy didn't say anything else. he just sat and twiddled his thumbs as the teacher began droning on about the plans for the semester.

poor kid. he probably wasn't having a good first day either. and it's all your fault. zak sighed. how many more things would he mess up today?

i bet he regrets sitting here now. i bet you made him feel awful. i bet he hates you now.

zak let out a sigh, earning a sideways glance from darryl. he sat there and tried to ignore the boy's (intimidating) presence.

he heard darryl let out a shaky breath. "i hope she only sounds bored because it's the first day of school. i don't know if i could handle that all year," the boy somewhat joked. zak let out a breath of air from his nose, which was supposed to be some sort of sign that he was amused by the statement. from where he was sitting, he could just barely see the corner of darryl's mouth twitch upward.

usually, zak had no problem ignoring everyone and everything around him. usually. but now, he felt incredibly guilty for not responding to the boy when he introduced himself. not that he really had a choice in the matter, though. but he felt like it was too late for him to introduce himself now. around twenty minutes had already passed. how weird would that be?

"i hope you chose your seats wisely," the teacher said, interrupting zak's thoughts, "because that's where you'll be sitting for the rest of the semester."

a glance from darryl. oh great, zak thought, and even he couldn't tell whether or not that was sarcasm. on one hand, he had to sit with this same boy he embarrassed himself in front of for the next five months. on the other, that meant less people he'd have the chance to embarrass himself in front of. that had to be a positive.

zak couldn't have been happier when the bell rang, and he was able to leave that stupid history classroom that was starting to get a little too warm for him to handle. he got out of there as quick as he possibly could.

and, of course, darryl had to follow suit.

"hey, i, um.. i was wondering if you could show me where my next class is," he said with a very questioning tone.

zak took a deep breath and began fiddling with the string on his hoodie. all of the sudden, he felt very hot. he could feel the waves of heat coursing through him, so warm that it would almost feel cool for just a moment. yet it would always return to that suffocating feeling that just made him want to pass out.

don't make a fool out of yourself. you've already embarrassed yourself enough today.

he blinked rapidly, trying to will away the small droplets that were forming in the corners of his eyes. one managed to escape, but he quickly wiped it away, passing it off as if he was scratching his cheek.

he glanced over at the slightly taller boy, who was holding out a scrap of paper. zak grabbed the paper tentatively, giving it a once-over. it was a schedule. he looked at which class was in the second period slot. algebra two. of course. darryl and zak just so happened to have the same second period as well.

zak looked over at darryl, who had a hopeful expression. the way the boy was looking at zak made him a little queasy, but he ignored that, swallowing the lumps forming in his throat. he gestured weakly with his free hand - sweater paw and all - as if saying "follow me". he didn't look back as he continued on to the class. behind him, darryl grinned and followed closely behind.

the two entered the classroom, and darryl's smile grew ever so slightly when he realised that zak was also in this class. zak found a desk near the back of the room, as per usual, and - again - darryl picked the desk right next to his.

zak let out another breath through his nose. is he gonna follow me everywhere? this boy was like a lost puppy. how cute. for some reason, zak wasn't really bothered by the fact that darryl was sitting next to him again. the way darryl smiled just because zak had another class with him was almost...comforting. what? the boy didn't even know his name.

zak sighed inwardly.

"i hope you don't mind me hanging around you," darryl said, snapping zak out of his thoughts. zak looked up at the boy. "it's just... well, it's my first day here like, ever. i don't know where anything is or... i just hope you don't mind." he smiled sheepishly.

it's fine, he wanted to say, but the words got caught in his throat, as they so often did. instead, he waved his hand in dismissal and offered the faintest of smiles.

at least he looked at the boy.

he immediately looked back down at his desk and started fidgeting with his hoodie strings.

this day couldn't end soon enough.

finally, a break, zak thought as the bell rang, signalling that it was time to go to lunch. he hated the first and how the teachers just continually droned on about things that were painfully obvious to everyone. if he had to hear the word "syllabus" one more time, he might have just lost it.

he left his english class, a class that he surprisingly didn't have with the new kid. yet, by either sheer luck or the cruel, cruel doing of the universe, they managed to run into each other yet again in no time at all. why?

"hi!" darryl called out to zak. his face flushed, and he stared down at the ground. maybe there was just no way of getting away from this kid. maybe he'd just have to get used to darryl being around. like he did with vincent.

until he leaves.

what?

but something told him that this boy would probably leave eventually. he'd get sick of zak, of how he never spoke, of how he couldn't even maintain eye contact but for a fraction of a second. he had to face it. there was no way that a cu--, a boy like darryl would want to be friends with a boy like him. just no way.

zak nodded in the boy's direction, who had now caught up with him and was practically bouncing up and down at his side. how could the boy possibly be this excited about anything?

"i was wondering," darryl began, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets, "if i could maybe sit with you at lunch? i don't really...have anyone else to sit with..." he looked down at the floor. had he really not made any other friends today? he seemed like such an energetic and outgoing person, like he'd have no problem becoming friends with anyone he wanted to. yet, still, he nodded, cursing silently as he led the now even more ecstatic (as if that was possible) boy to the cafeteria.

maybe darryl wasn't going away anytime soon. yet for some odd reason, and he would never actually admit it, zak actually kind of enjoyed the thought.

⊱ ────── {⋆❉⋆} ────── ⊰

word count: 1468

this story already has like twenty reads. that's wack. thanks guys :)