In Our Heads

Chapter 4.

*****

Theodore threw his bag over his shoulder as he climbed out of the car and locked it. It was one of the days his stepfather was not using it, so he had driven his younger brother Zion to school before heading to his own.

The car was not in the best shape. The dents along the side and chipping paint made it stick out among the perfectly paved, recently cleaned school grounds as it was surrounded by neatly trimmed bushes... And then there were the other students' cars that all seemed to have been manufactured in the past couple of years. It did not really bother him how out of place the car looked. He was lucky to be in the school, it had a good reputation amongst business and tertiary institutions. Saying you came from Richman High School – especially due to scholarship – was something that had many advantages and he intended to use it as best he could.

What bothered him were the stares he kept getting from every single person as he passed them. He had not had the school uniform on Friday as it was a little expensive but managed to get enough money for it by Saturday, and yet even as he walked into the school fully dressed in their black and royal blue uniform, people still stared at him. He knew it was because he was new, an unfamiliar face in a school so closed-off and connected definitely stuck out but he hated the attention. It always made him incredibly anxious. It would be fine in a few weeks though, when everyone got used to him and he faded into the background... That was what he liked to hope would happen.

He made his way through the halls trying his best to ignore the gazes following along and avoid as much eye contact as he could while listening to people talk about him. Some of it was flattering relating to his height and how well the school uniform fit him, most of it was them wondering who he was and what grade he was in.

Theodore let out a sigh feeling his shoulders relax once he reached his locker. There were fewer people in this hallway than the others as it was further towards the back of the school. Maybe he would spend his lunches in the hallway if the teachers did not pressure him about no one being allowed to be there at the time.

"Hey. Theodore, right?" The voice came from his right, and it belonged to one of the boys he had seen Cassian hang around with the first day he had attended the school along with someone he had never seen before. The first guy was blond and about the same height as Theodore. He nodded to answer the question and returned his gaze to his locker hoping to be left alone as he realised there were more eyes turning towards them in the hall the longer the guy stayed beside him. "We have a tradition here, you know," he said.

"I'm not very traditional," Theodore replied.

He heard a chuckle as the guy stepped closer and clenched his jaw when his locker was suddenly shoved closed in front of him. He did not really know how to react to it, at his old school he was a loner but people just let him be. He was not the type to confront anyone and usually steered clear of anything that led to unnecessary interaction. What was happening right now, in front of everyone else in the hallway was making his heart beat harder in his chest and his throat dry up as he tried to figure out whether to shove the guy away or just leave.

He could not afford a fight, especially given that there were two of them.

"Well, we have a tradition here," the guy repeated, "scholarships earn their lockers." It was followed by silence as if he was waiting for Theodore to ask how. He was not going to, and the guy never got a chance to say more because someone else spoke.

"Kian, Jake, what are you guys doing?" It was Cassian's voice from somewhere further down the hall, behind the blond guy's back.

"Speaking to scholarship," the guy replied.

"You forgot we had a meeting?" Cassian asked. "Stop messing around. Come on."

"Seems I have somewhere to be, I guess we'll have to talk later." They stepped back and walked off without much else and Theodore felt his face heat slightly at the fact that everyone around them had just watched him do nothing to stand up for himself. Still, he had a goal. He just needed to get through the school year. He was going to do so quietly.