A Book of Beau, Griffin Stagg

01 - The Outcast

North Denver, 1978

It was a groggy, cold morning in September, and the clocks were about to strike eight am.

     I was sprinting to school with an exhausted  look on my face, not excited to start the day. My alarm clock decided to be an asshole and not wake me up on time. My "friends" also decided it would be cool to not wait for me and head to school.

     Once I reached school, the bell had rung. Shit. I hurried to my first period, English, and hoped that Mrs. Morris wouldn't notice I was late. It was my favorite subject and as she said I was pretty "gifted" with it. Plus Mrs. Morris and I are in good terms. She wasn't in her chair yet, so I rushed to it and sat down.

     Mrs. Morris came in seconds later and greeted the class. "Good Morning everyone. I hope you had a good weekend. Let's get right into class."

     I was falling asleep as she started taking attendance.

     "Michael?"
     "Here."
     "Clara?"
     "Here."
     "Y/n?"
     "Here," I replied groggily, waiting for attendance to be over to i could take a nap and survive the rest of the day.

     "Griffin?"
     "Here."

     I looked over to see a cute, shorter boy across the classroom, studying something outside. I have never seen him before, even if school started a week ago. He looked rather sad.

     "I should say hi to him after class..." I mumbled to myself as my vision started to become cloudy.

     That was the last thought i had before i fell asleep... and it was about that mysterious boy.

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     I was awoken to the feeling of someone gently shaking me. Opening my eyes, I saw the same boy I fell asleep thinking about. He looked even prettier up close.

     As I regain my vision, I meet his glare and gave him a quick smile before he said, "Hey. Pages 34 through 39 and complete the questions after."

     "Huh?"
     "The homework today. I saw that you were asleep the whole time and thought i should tell you."

     Then he walked away.

     I shot out of my seat, thanking Mrs. Morris and tried to run after the boy, but he had disappeared. I really wanted to thank the boy, but I guess I have to do it tomorrow.

     I walked over to my locker to grab the textbooks for my next period, science, and walked over to the next building. Science is pretty cool, but the teacher makes it very uninteresting.

Time skip to Lunch.

     After another excruciating class period, it was time for lunch. Most of the time I just read, while my "friends" did something else. They aren't the nicest people, but whatever it takes not to get bullied. Right?

     I walked back to my locker yet again to grab my lunch and headed to the cafeteria. Today, my lunch consisted of a nutella and honey sandwich with an tiny orange and other various snacks to keep me going through the day. (you can change the lunch if you want. this is just the first thing i came up with :])

     The first thing i hear when i enter the cafeteria is Angela and Christina gossiping— no spreading rumors about some new kid that just joined the school.

     Angela sees me walking up to them and tries to bring me into the conversation, "Yea. I heard she's so poor, her family lives in a trailer. Isn't that sad? Right Y/n?"