20 Seconds (Jack Barakat/Michael Clifford)

20 Seconds

My grandfather always told me that all it took to achieve anything in life was twenty seconds of bravery. Twenty seconds and it could lead to anything.

It got him multiple jobs, his first kiss, my Gran. He essentially lived his life by this sentiment, and he was keen to pass this wisdom on to me.

It was something I was taking great interest in now.

I stood at the front of my brand-new class in my brand-new school and there was one spare seat at the back next to a guy with bright blue hair. You can do this. Twenty seconds Michael.

1... 2... 3... 4... 5...

I walked to the back of the classroom, and took my seat, purposefully ignoring all of the eyes that were following me. I was used to getting stared at, having neon pink hair seemed to gain that sought of reaction but that didn't make this any easier.

6... 7... 8... 9...

I unpacked my stuff before turning to the blue-haired boy beside me who was doodling in the corner of his notebook. Come on Michael.

10... 11... 12... 13...

"Hi. I'm Michael." I offered. Real smooth.
"Alex." The guy smiled with a grin.

14... 15... 16...

"I love your hair." He added relaxing my nerves a little.

17... 18... 19...

"Thanks, man. Yours is rad too! I tried going blue once, but it ended up going this weird green colour."

20...

Alex chuckled. "Yeah, it took a lot of bleaching."

It turned out we had a lot in common beyond a love of dyeing our hair obscure colours. We had similar music tastes, similar fashion sense and we were both openly gay. We also shared near-identical timetables.

We continued to talk as we headed down the hallway so Alex could show me where my locker was.

The conversation was however cut off by Alex suddenly getting attacked from behind. "Ninja strike!"

I stepped sideways out of the way just as Alex lost his balance and toppled sideways, his attacker laughing his ass off.

"Jack, you dick!" Alex grumbled, shoving the laughing boy off of him and standing up. "Michael this asshole is Jack, asshole this is Michael. He's new so be nice and don't creep him out." The skunk haired boy seemed genuinely offended. "I'm always nice!"

The pair showed me my locker so I could dump the stuff I didn't need before we went to lunch. The canteen was the opposite end of the school which meant we had a long ass walk.