Only Ones Who Know - Derp Crew High School AU

Chapter 2: The Little Viking

I was one of the first people to show up to my math class with a few minutes to spare. I took a random empty seat in the back of the class, deciding that the teacher might change our seats anyway so it won't matter where I sit. While I waited for the rest of the class, I pulled out my latest reading obsession, Gone with the Wind.

Little did I know, the class started filing in around me. I was just too into my book to pay attention to what was going on. The only thing that made me look up was when I heard someone was trying to get my attention.

"Hey, Gone with the Wind, awesome book!" I lifted my head and looked around to find a boy sitting beside me with deep green eyes and a red viking hat. He smiled and searched the cover of my book curiously. "How far are you?"

"Uh..." I looked back at the page I was on. "I'm almost at the end of part 3. Have you read this before?"

"Read it before? It's my family's favorite book." He lightly smacked his forehead with his palms. "Oops, where are my manners? My name's Steven Royale." He stuck out his hand for me to shake it, and I did the same.

"Anthony Mariani."

He smiled and his eyes lit up. "So, Anthony, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before. Are you our new student?"

"Yeah, I just moved here from New York."

"Cool, welcome to Granite Hills. How do you like it so far?"

I dog-eared the page and closed my book. "Pretty good, I guess. Just hoping my sister has a nice day because we don't have any classes together."

"Oh, you have a sister? What's her name."

"Cielo. She's a freshman."

"Aww, that's cute! I do too, same grade. Her name's Scarlett. You know, after the book character."

"Oh, really?" I asked, glancing down at my book. "That's awesome!"

I smiled as I stared into his green eyes. They were bright, and full of life, and his lips were just so kissable... wait, what am I doing? I just met the guy and I'm having these thoughts about him? I've known that I'm bi for a couple years now, but what if he's not even into guys? I really don't want to scare away my first friend in California all over a crush.

But anyway, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and continued our conversation. "You think they're gonna have class together?"

"I don't know, probably." He chuckled, and that was when I knew it was it. Was this even love at first sight? Friendship at first sight, maybe? If he doesn't feel the same way, it will be. Anyway, Steven and I chatted for a couple minutes until our teacher, Mr. Crawford, came in. He pulled out his book and began to call roll, then he stopped at my name.

"Anthony... Mariani?" He slowed down to pronounce every syllable in my last name. "Did I get it right?"

"Yes sir," I responded. I glanced over at Steven, who had a bit of a half-smile on his lips. He had taken his red viking hat off, and now I could see his curly brown hair. God he's so adorable... Anthony, you might need to slow down there, bud, I thought to myself.

After roll was taken, he broke us up into groups of two to begin a research project, and he let us decide our own groups. Without missing a beat, Steven put his hand on my arm when Mr. Crawford asked him who he wanted to be paired with.

"Anthony, are you okay with working with Steven?" Mr. Crawford asked me for reassurance.

"Yes, sir," I responded and smiled as Steven and I made eye contact. He was the only person at this school, other than Cielo of course, that I was comfortable talking to. Besides, school started a month ago and I have no idea what they've been working on to do this project.