Hellfire club || Gareth/Reader

Chapter 2

The following day was meant to be sunny, that's why you hadn't bothered taking a jacket but of course it turned out to be miserable, a bitter breeze hung in the air and damp grass brushed against your doc martins as you walked to school. You remove your bag from your shoulder and rummage around inside until you find Gareth's sweater, dragging it out and pulling it over your head, figuring he won't mind if you borrow it for an extra day.

You enter your Science room, some students are already sat but you aren't the last. You go to your desk only to notice your partner, Chrissy, isn't in her seat. You had seen her previously that day during an assembly so assume she may just be late but you remember her pale complexion and on edge attitude, it makes you wonder if she may have gone home sick. You seat yourself, laying your tattered pencil case on your desk and rest your head atop your hand waiting for the lesson to start.

You feel a soft thud on the back of your head and turn around to see Gareth smiling at you, sporting his usual frayed tartan jacket, he raises his pencil and points towards your feet. Confused, you look down and see a small screwed up piece of paper. As you go to pick it up your teacher Miss Adams walks in, she's dressed formally as usual with a frilled blouse and dusky pink skirt, it looked quite ugly really and made her middle aged figure look a decade or so older than she really was. With the right styling she could look quite pretty and youthful but she's doomed to dress like a pensioner forevermore if she continues to dress the way she does. She was somewhat nice and would rarely reprimand you, letting you off if you were late and only raising her voice if she saw it got to do so, not that the loud, hormonal teenagers listened to her, thinking they were above her authority to which you'd argue they were in some senses.

You uncrumple the note and look at Gareth's handwriting, somehow it's exactly how you would've imagined it despite never having thought of how his writing may look. The letters look slightly scribbled but not to the point where you can't read them, it's a desirable size as well, big enough to read but not so it takes the whole piece of paper. It reads 'Hey, that sweater really suits you, do you know whether Chrissy will be in?' You smile at the compliment going to write a response "Here" you say curtly to the teacher as she continues reading students names. 'I don't know where she is, maybe she's been sent home, she looked ill earlier' you scrunch the paper up again, checking that Miss Adams is still glaring down at the registration papers. You turn around and whizz the paper behind you, it lands in front of his desk and he has to wait until she's facing away to retrieve it, doing so slowly as to not draw attention to himself.

Papers are handed around and you scan the questions, only having a faint idea of what it is you're meant to be doing. Picking up a pencil, you go to start question one when Gareth sits beside you "Hope you don't mind, since Chrissy's not here Miss said I could sit by you." He states tossing his bag on the floor and reading over the questions himself. "Don't mind at all." You reply "Is it ok if I give you back your sweater at the end of the day? It's pretty cold and since I expected it to sunny I didn't bring a jacket." You ask he nods "Yeah, of course, you can keep it if you want, it's not really my style anyway." He says scribbling something down. "Thank you, are you sure?" You say earnestly "Positive" he remarks smoothly.

Between writing yourself, you observe Gareth working. From what you knew he was relatively good at most subjects, not the top set but passing the majority of tests nonetheless. You get to a certain question and have to reread it several times, it just looks like words and no matter how many times you scan over it those words gain no meaning, did you even cover this topic? "Hey, do you get 11?" You ask, "Yeah, want some help?" He asks, to which you nod. He leans closer to you and takes a pencil, tracing it over your paper "So see this here? You take that and divide it by that, to which you subtract that and there you are." He explains as though it's simple, it does make a lot more sense now though. "Since when were you so good at Science?" You ask teasingly "I was confused by it too, some kid taught me a simpler method. I'm shit at the maths but I know the steps" he smiles and you scoff "Shit at maths? I swear you do the higher papers."

You both are smiling and get scolded by Miss Adams as she instructs you to quieten, neither of you seem to care though continuing to chat between yourselves. You had never met someone with such similar values and outlooks on life, you seemed to click in a way you hadn't with anyone else. You tried not to get too ahead of yourself though, you'd only known the boy for 2 days but you found yourself wanting to get to know him better. "What have you got next period?" He asks gazing at you, you'd completed most of your work and not bothered to continue. "History I think, or maybe English." You say trying to search in the back of your mind as to what the answer may be. "You a fan of either?" He replies, his voice had a calming effect that was able to put you at ease. It was also easy to focus on, a benefit in a noisy classroom.

"Yeah, they're probably my favourites but I'm not a fan of what we're doing at the moment. What about you?" You return the question. "I enjoy both as well, I'm pretty into classic literature and political history." He says, you weren't surprised by the latter but he didn't seem the sort to like classic literature. You can imagine him, book in hand, completely drawn in to whatever novel he's reading, turning each page with anticipation quite easily though. Maybe you could go to a quiet little bookshop together, where the novels are towered high and dust is collected by them due to their age. The idea seems appealing and you make a mental note to offer it as an idea of something to do together in the future.

Miss Adams speaks up and he averts his gaze from you to her, you're told to hand your papers in and put your things away. He hands you your bag "See you at lunch?" He asks, a hint of hope in his voice. You nod "Yeah, see you then." You smile at him and the both of you exit the class, going your separate ways.

The next class passes and you walk to the canteen, seeing Eddie's table as he seats himself, no doubt having just finished a sudden outburst of a speech. He gestures towards you, signalling for you to join them. You do so and sit beside him, trying to grasp what it is Eddie had just been ranting about. "Oh, I said y/n could join us now, hope you don't mind." He says casually. The way it's worded makes you worry slightly, had he not told them, what if they didn't want you there? "Lovely of you to join us." Eddie replies, seemingly ok with your presence. He doesn't acknowledge you much, continuing a discussion with Mike and Dustin about how people had been referring to their club as a cult, he seemed to find the idea very amusing. He was quite an intimidating and unpredictable character, you found it entertaining nonetheless, finding his never faltering energy quite refreshing.

At one point when the conversation dies out,                   Eddie diverts his attention to you "Are you wearing Gareth's jumper?" He asks to which you nod your head "Yeah, he gave it to me." You say, unsure why it had any relevance but answering the question even so. "Are you guys fucking?" He asks and you hear Gareth joke on his drink in surprise "What, no! He was cold you dirty minded fucker" He defends the both of you, it was a side you hadn't yet seen of Gareth but you quite admired the fact he challenged Eddie's remark. "Calm down, I was just asking, I mean it would kind of make sense." He smirks and Gareth breaks into a small smile as well "Oh shut up, just because I'm gay doesn't mean I fuck every guy I talk to Eddie." he says jokingly.

"Sorry about him." He says turning to you, his cheeks are red with blotchy blush but you simply smile along as the others observe the interaction. You didn't know Gareth liked guys, of course he'd explained being called queer by some jocks but you didn't think it contained any truth, simply a stereotypical insult. Honestly, you didn't really care, whoever he liked, he was a sound person and you enjoyed his company. "I'm flattered he considers me to be in your league." You joke earning a smile from his, one that instantly fills you with the same joy.

The bell soon rings and you all part ways, you find yourself walking in the same direction "You got History too?" He asks, you nod in response "Yeah, I don't know how we haven't spoken before given we've got classes together." You'd noticed him and admired his style and clothing but never took the opportunity to approach him, often having your head in a book on whatever time period it was you were studying at the time. You didn't speak to him during that lesson due to the fact he was on the other side of the room but you couldn't help but sneak glances and acknowledge how attractive he looked when concentrating, observing the way his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth was slightly agape. You couldn't help but be drawn to the boy, you were quite smitten with him, in a platonic way obviously, or so you told yourself. Maybe it was worth mentioning that bookstore when you got the chance, it seemed a fun idea.