Don't Give Up on Me

Chapter 1: Raining Men

The rain pattered softly against the window of the classroom. It was such a soothing sound, something I'd let take me beyond these brick walls to a place where-

"Mr. Carlisle." I snapped back into focus, meeting the eyes of my teacher. Fuck. She had that look on her face, the one she makes when she juts her hip out to the side and- "Why don't you come work the example on the board since you have obviously grasped the material well enough to daydream in my class AGAIN."

Sheesh. With that tone, you'd think I'd corrected her grammar again. Instead of mouthing off, though, I simply made my way to the front of the room. She knew. Everyone knew. Everyone, except me. I blamed it on the private schooling up to middle school, or the price of my car, or the size of my house. I was nothing special.

My marker moved swiftly across the board as I wrote script-like numbers as if I had been given the answer prior. Without a word, I turned to move back to my seat in the back. Once again, my teacher had tried and failed to catch me off guard with something as trivial as calculus.

I sat back down with a heavy sigh as my teacher fumed from her desk and called up her next victim, leaving me be for now. It amused me to no end when these small town teachers felt the need to challenge me in an attempt to regain dominance in the classroom. I had probably received more education in the first 10 years of my life than they had in the last 30.

It was a blessing and a curse, ya know? Not having to worry about my grades and just enjoying high school. Being more intelligent than others in this town not only attracted attention, but allowed me the time to excel at other things while most spent their time studying. By no means do I mean that I'm cocky – simply confident in myself about most things...most.

When the bell rang that day, I didn't flee from the room instantly. Instead, I took my time and listened to the rain for a few seconds longer.

"Dude, you coming to lunch or what?" My gaze drifted over to Marvin. "You know the girls are gonna bitch if we aren't there five minutes ago."

"Yea," I sighed. Something just felt off today. My body was heavy and my brain felt like a field full of fog. Despite the weird feeling, I threw a smile on my face and shoved Marvin playfully as I walked by. Landon Carlisle was not the kind of guy that had off days. I was the impeccably charming, well-dressed, intellectual of the sophomore class.

Marvin began droning on about how some upper classman had invited him to a party this weekend. I still wasn't entirely sure how being president of the sophomore class gave him the connections within the school that he had; however, I never protested when it presented the opportunities it did. We were two social butterflies graced with luck in the best kind of currency: social capital.

Our conversation was halted when we exited the building, though, as we looked out into the rain. Jocks. Half a dozen boys were wrestling each other and laughing in the middle of this downpour. I was frozen for a moment, appreciating the sight of them. The carefree attitude and joy in the air was palpable. This moment was broken.

"What a bunch of children." I liked Marvin, I did, but he was such a nerd sometimes it killed me.

"Oh hush," I nudged him hard enough as we were walking that he stepped out from under the awning. The bewilderment on his face when rain drops met the dark, bare skin of his head had me roaring with laughter. Though it was only a second, half of his yellow sweater was almost entirely soaked through.

While laughing, my eyes drifted back over to the boys roughhousing in the mud. Marvin huffed in agitation, continuing to mutter about being wet and how ridiculous he probably looked now. I silently accepted his verbal reprimands without a single regret, taking in as much of the other boys as I could before they were lost from view behind a wall.