The New Boy: Phan High School AU

Chapter 5-Dan's POV

Oh my god it's finally up! Sorry for the wait, my darlings! Don't hate me too much?

I walk with Phil to his locker, which turns out to be just a few down from mine. (Eeep!!)

"So... What class have you got next?" I ask him. I'm trying to be nonchalant, but I'm not sure how well it's working.

He looks down at his timetable. "Oh. I've got geography." He makes a bit of a face at the paper before folding it back up and stuffing it into his pocket. "I hate geography."

"Don't we all?" I ask rhetorically, (I'm getting good at this talking like someone with any brains at all thing) and look at my own schedule. Ah. Ecology. "I had geography with Mr. Murphy this morning. He's awful. So boring. It's in room 10 if you were wondering." I'm rambling again. Maybe I'm not as good at this as I thought.

"Ugh." Phil says, though I'm pretty sure it wasn't directed at me, just his next class. "What've you got?"

"Science..." I groan. "Ecology, to be exact."

"Ooh." Phil looks sympathetic. "I had that this morning. Room 8,
if you didn't know. But be warned; Miss Jackson can talk!"

"Oh god, I know! I had her for a sub for about two months last year. I'd never been more bored!" I complain and Phil laughs at me.

"How dare you mock my pain?!" I ask him, pulling a face. He looks shocked for a moment before realising I'm only joking. He chuckles, and oh god I love his laugh, it's just so...pure and happy sounding. His eyes squint up a bit as he grins, his tongue poking our from between his teeth, just slightly.

I'm jolted out of my blissful staring at him by the shrill ringing of the bell, letting us know that if we don't move our asses, we're going to be late for class.

"Shit!" I mutter. "We'd better go; if you're late on the first day, the teacher immediately marks you as a troublemaker."

"Great. Definitely don't need anymore bad reps..." Phil comments. I look at him skeptically. How could such a sweet, adorable person gain a bad reputation?

Thankfully, PJ walks by, reminding us that class is about to start and we need to move. "Er...I'll see you later I suppose?" I sort of stutter at this, any conversational ease leaving.

"Yeah, sure." Phil says, smiling a bit. I smile back and we both head to our classes. Unfortunately, we bump into eachother, sending us
into that horribly embarrassing 'you go this way I'll go this way' thing.

By the time we manage to get everything sorted out, I slide into the last remaining seat of sixth period ecology just seconds before the bell rings.

Miss Jackson gives me a reprimanding look as she takes attendance, but I'm technically on time, so there's nothing she can do about it.

"Good afternoon, class," she begins, and oh, here comes the lecture. She hands out a syllabus, all the while drowning on about what vague subjects we're to cover this year.

She looks down at her list of students, and chooses a name. "Jack, why don't you read the first paragraph of our syllabus?"

I quickly look over the paper before zoning out, looking out the window and trying to draw the small part of campus that I can see.

I've nearly finished the oak tree and benches in the quad when I hear Miss Jackson's nasally voice, and the lower tones of some of my classmates as well: "Mr. Howell!" "Dan!" "Daniel."

"Hmm? Yeah, which paragraphs again?" I ask, guessing (correctly, I might add) that I'm supposed to continue reading the syllabus.

"Just the bullet points will suffice, dear." Miss Jackson says, and I locate the small list of proper classroom behaviors. Great. We have to 'pay attention'. Well, there goes my grade. As soon as I've finished reading, I got back to drawing and staring out the window.