Their Sky

"Damn."

Wednesday | 6:30AM

The alarm was buzzing. Oscar opened his eyes slowly.

Shit, school.

Oscar ran his had through his hair. Red and blonde. He'd need to change that eventually. At least it was short. He had cut it at midnight in the dark one night. The feeling of having long hair was getting to him. He just chopped it off. Surprisingly it wasn't that bad. He didn't want to fix it. He cherished his first 'trans haircut'. But he 100% wanted to change it.

 Oscar has a disease. It's called Cystic Fibrosis. It effects his lungs and pancreas. He has to do treatments to be able to breathe and digest food.

After he did his treatments, he got dressed. He wore the same black hoodie, but black pants this time. Maybe nobody would notice him if he wore dark clothes.

Breakfast. Toast with peanut butter and honey. 

Maybe that's too much food. Oscar thought as he picked up his food. Nah, it's fine. Stop overthinking it, it's just food. 

Wednesday | 8:29AM

Suddenly, Oscar heard the doorbell ring. 

Shit I forgot I have to walk to school. Oscar thought, nerves building up as he walked over to the door.

His neighbor, Anna, was standing there, her same fake smile plastered across her pale face. Her hazel eyes were wide. She looked as if she had just seen a ghost. That was normal for her though, so Oscar wasn't concerned. 

"Hey Oscar!!" Anna exclaimed excitedly. Her smile grew bigger. Oscar could see her teeth, always a vibrant white shade.

"Uhm hi Anna." Oscar said awkwardly. He hadn't seen Anna since March of 2020. It's been so long. Anna was controlling, only towards Oscar though. Or to who Oscar used to be. She was always annoying. Only to Oscar though. He never understood why, but I guess she's okay now.

"We should get going, we don't want to be late!" Based on Anna's tone, Oscar was getting a little uneasy. That's just how she is though.

Oscar grabbed his bag and him and Anna walked to school. Luckily it's only a 30 minute walk at most. Anna was talking the entire time.

Wednesday | 8:56AM

Crap where's my class. Oscar looked around. Everyone was gathered on the field. Either talking to friends or searching for where their class was.

Oscars chest tightened as anxiety built up. He felt as if he was going to be sick. He stomach was hurting. But he had to make it through the day.

He started making his way over to the gym teacher. Luckily he somewhat recognized her from the picture he was sent. No students were near her yet. Another lucky thing.

Eventually he made his way over to the teacher.

"Hello, who are you?" The teacher asked. 

"Oh I'm Oscar." Okay, first interaction done. Now for the rest of the day.

"Oscar Alston? I'm Mrs. Fox." She said, looking down at her list. She had a list of everyone in the class. Oscar took a glance down at the paper.

Elijah Ashford. Oscar read in his mind. For some reason Oscar recognized that name. He couldn't place where. 

"Do you recognize any of the names?" Mrs. Fox asked, sounding a bit annoyed by her tone. It was most likely not annoyance at Oscar though, however that's what he thought.

"Uhh, Olivia Elrod and Joshua Lint." Oscar muttered, reading down the list. Those two had gone to the same middle school as him, but they never got along. The closest Oscar had to a friend in school was Olivia's obvious fake kindness. Joshua never spoke to him. "Oh and Lucas Zimmerman."

"Hm, anyone else?" Mrs. Fox asked. Oscar shook his head. 

People started arriving. First it was Riley, followed by who seemed to be her best friend, Sadie. More and more people arrived. Oscar examined all of them one by one. One girl caught his eyes. In a platonic way. She was stunning. Her name was Abby Maiys. She recently moved here from California.

Remember what your therapist told you. Start a conversation by complimenting someone. Oscar thought. He had a feeling that wouldn't work.

Oscar took a deep breath and walked up to the girl.

"I like your earrings." Oscar pushed the words out. Even though what he said was true, he did like her earrings, he still struggled to say anything.

"Thank you, I really like your hair." She smiled at him. Her hair was blonde and a little messy.

Oscar smiled back and stood next to her. He didn't say much else. That was already hard enough for him.

Mrs. Fox clapped her hands loudly. "Alright class! We'll go up to our class and then back down to the gym to run a few laps. Then we'll introduce ourselves."

The class lined up quietly. Very few people were talking. And it was only in whispers.

I wish Kaia were here. Oscar thought miserably as everyone walked up the stairs to the classroom. Kaia would make things better just by being there, but Kaia was in 9th grade, not 10th. 

Oscar remembered that there were 11th graders here too. Stupid Covid. He couldn't tell who was in what grade. He hadn't been trying to put these peoples faces into his brain yet so there's no way he'd remember who was who by this point. 

Eventually they reached the classroom. Everyone rushed to chose their desks, but Oscar didn't really care. He didn't have any friends and nobody was really interesting to him. Maybe he'd be near that girl, Abby. She was nice enough.

After everyone had chosen their desks, Oscar slowly walked over to a desk at the middle back. There was another open desk, but the one at the back seemed the most isolated, exactly how Oscar liked it. It was behind Olivia. Next to Joshua. At least Oscar knew who he was sitting near. Abby was at the front of the class. and a little to the left.

Oscar believed himself to be Asexual. He hadn't felt sexual attraction. Ever. It was strange, but that's who he thought he was. Maybe someone else in the class would be Asexual as well.

Oscar looked around the class. They didn't have lockers due to the pandemic so they'd have to keep everything in their bags. Luckily they didn't have to change classes every period. Again, due to the pandemic. 

Suddenly, a tall, slim boy wearing a blue hoodie walked into the classroom. He had dark curly brown hair and he was carrying a basketball.

Oscar immediately blushed and got significantly more nervous. 

"Damn." Oscar whispered under his breath. Nobody heard luckily.

What was this feeling?

(1081 words)