Only Just A Name (Phan)

Chapter 1: Phil's POV

The bell rang to signify the start of the school day: the start of Year 11. I took my things out of my locker for the first few lessons and hurried off, winking and smiling at Grace as she rushed the other way, earning the same gesture in return.

I had History first – boring, right? I entered the classroom and sat down, waiting for the fifty minutes of agony that was due my way.

As with all of the first day lessons, we didn't actually do much work. The teachers just droned on and on about the assignments we'd be doing, what we would be covering in the lessons and etc. And it's not like I wasn't paying attention either. I tried my hardest to take notes and keep track of the topics being covered. So that meant a lot of concentration...

...For two lessons. So you could probably imagine the stress my brain was going through right now, especially when we were just doing housekeeping.

After I escaped my second lesson of the day – maths – I happily placed my books back in my locker and went down the hall to find Grace. We spent all our breaks together, occasionally joined by PJ and Chris. She smiled widely when she saw me, rolling her eyes at my obvious exhaustion.

"First day, huh?" she laughed slightly.

"Yeah. At least I have Science and English next," I said. Grace straightened up after putting her stuff in her locker, grimacing as she almost collided with someone's butt. I laughed slightly. "Lower lockers aren't that great, huh?" She shook her head seriously.

"I have science and English too," she smiled, "so I'll get to be with you!"

"Great! What did you have now?"

"Art and drama."

"Nice."

I held her hand throughout the entire thirty minutes of recess.

We strolled into the science lab, laughing gaily about something that happened to Grace in art.

"Yeah, all over him!" she exclaimed, laughing loudly. She had such a beautiful laugh.

As we went to take our seats, our teacher, Miss Powning, stopped us abruptly. I gritted my teeth.

"Sorry, Philip, we've got a seating plan for the first term," she said sharply. "Grace, you're sitting up there, near the back." She indicated towards a seat.

"Oh, ok," Grace said quietly. She let go of my hand, and glanced up at me, smiling apologetically. Miss Powning pointed out a seat in the second row.

"You'll be sitting next to a new student this term," she added, before whisking away and starting up the computer.

I sat down, disappointed that I wasn't able to sit next to Grace. I turned around in my seat and found her sitting near the back, grimacing, sitting next to a large guy whose name I'd never bothered to learn. She waved her hand in front of her nose, and I realised why she'd been grimacing. I shook my head slightly, chuckling under my breath.

My gazing at my girlfriend was rudely interrupted when I felt someone dump several books next to me. I turned to my left, and saw someone I didn't recognise (obviously the new kid). He had dark brown hair – the same shade as Grace's, in fact – which swept over his left eye in a not-really-emo-like way. Huh, I thought, kind of like mine. Except my hair was black, and the fringe went the other way. But... why did I care so much about his hair?

He glanced at me fleetingly with dark brown eyes – wow, he really reminded me of Grace – before sitting down quickly, anxiously tapping his left hand against the desk. First day nerves.

Miss Powning started talking about the coming term and I basically repeated my first two lessons with my struggling brain. I kept glancing over at the new boy, focusing on little features of his face: his hair, his eyes, his nose, even his mouth. After a few moments I realised that what I was doing was just a tiny bit odd and looked back at my work.

I had English next, in which I got to sit next to Grace (thankfully). However, as we were placed in the front row, I had to sit next to the new kid again. I didn't really mind though, he wasn't a disturbance – he just got his work done quietly and barely looked at anyone else, almost like he was doing his best not to be noticed.

As the bell rang to signify the end of the lesson, I gathered up my things. Grace leant towards me and whispered, "I think you should introduce yourself to the new kid. He seems pretty ok."

I glanced at him; he was busy double checking that he had everything he'd brought with him to the lesson.

"Okay," I whispered back, smiling. "You can go ahead." Grace left, and the new boy stood up, about to leave.

"Hi!" I said warmly, smiling. The new kid looked slightly shocked that I was addressing him. "You're the new kid, right? Nice to meet you – I'm Phil," I said, offering my hand for him to shake. He took it awkwardly, his mouth in a crooked smile.

"I'm Dan, nice to meet you too."