Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Prologue - Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...

"Whoops, sorry", Alex apologised for the fourth time by now, "I'll get it right this time, promise." As this was his fourth time making said promise, it was likely he was in fact not going to get it right.

Him, Matt, Jamie and Nick were in Alex's parents' garage once again, having claimed it as their band's rehearsal room some time ago. Right now, there wasn't much rehearsing though as Alex kept messing up the beginning of one of their newest creations, a song called 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'.
Alex was cursing himself inwardly. It wasn't all that hard, really, but for some reason he couldn't focus, not even on this intro they'd basically been playing every other day for the last couple of weeks.

"Why don't we take a little break for now? Catch some fresh air?" Matt suggested, putting down his drumsticks. His idea was met with approval on Nick and Jamie's side as they immediately made their way out of the garage to get said fresh air.
Matt and Alex stayed behind. "We'll be right there", Matt excused before directing his gaze at the boy stood opposite him, face buried in his hands.

Matt waited for Alex to reappear before he started speaking.
"Are you okay? You've been weird this whole day and now this."
"What? Yeah no, of course, I'm fine. Just can't focus."

Matt could hear it in the way Alex's voice sounded. He was beginning to stutter again and looking like he was about to bite his fingernails, unmistakable indicators that something was indeed off. After all, Matt had known him the longest. Even though all four of them had been friends since childhood, him and Alex had always had a special connection. There was no way Alex could ever keep anything from Matt, he usually saw right through him.

"Alex. Stop talking shit. You know I won't leave you alone until you tell me what the hell is going on with you."
"Uh", Alex sighed dramatically, "I dunno. I just, I mean I don't, I-" Alex stopped speaking. This thing was happening again where he kept looking for the right words to say something but instead awkwardly stuttered and stumbled around, feeling himself getting uneasy because he didn't like the attention directed at him while being in this state. Or any state, really. It was only Matt though and Alex knew he'd never judge him, so he tried to tell himself it was alright, that Matt was patient enough to let him look for the right words.

Of course, Matt hadn't planned on doing it any other way. It regularly astounded him how Alex managed to write such unique and thought-provoking lyrics but could barely get out a halfway coherent sentence in any actual conversation.
"I couldn't sleep last night, so I'm dead tired."
"Obviously." Matt was referring to the very visible rings under his eyes. Alex gave him a look before continuing.
"I couldn't sleep because I was nervous about that gig. This whole day I've been thinking about it and I just, I can't, I-" There was the stutter again, but it was okay, Matt had understood.

"Calm down, mate. I get it. But that gig's still weeks away. We've got more than enough time to practice and this new stuff, it's really good, we'll do alright! Try not to worry about it so much."
Matt knew very well himself how useless that last tip was, not just Alex but any person would certainly not just 'not worry about it so much' because their friend told them so. "Is this all that's been bothering you?"
Alex nodded.
Matt wasn't sure whether to believe him or not but he decided not to dig in any further knowing how difficult the last five minutes must have been for the boy already.
"Let's go and join the others, then."

"Miles!"
At what felt like the speed of light, Miles jumped out of - the far too comfortable - bed and in the shower, back out and into his clothes, brushing his teeth somewhere in the process and finally rushing into the kitchen to snatch any kind of food to go.
His mother, Pauline, had been waiting for him, arms crossed and a stern look on her face.
"Next time I shouldn't even try to wake you up! This isn't my problem, you know?"
Miles knew very well his Mum would never do that, she was too concerned and frankly too nice of a person. That said, he felt bad for angering her like this almost every morning but he just couldn't get his shit together and get up on time for once.
"Sorry! Gotta go now, see ya!" He called whilst hurrying out of the house and onto the street, still putting on his jacket.

Miles and his Mum had only moved to Sheffield from Liverpool about a year ago.
Still, it hadn't been all too hard for him to make new friends at his new school. The ones he'd gotten on with best straight away (and still did) were Alex, Matt, Jamie and Nick. Alex and him had hit it off especially.
He didn't really know why. He'd never had a friend he'd known for such a short amount of time but gotten as close with as he did with Alex even though Miles was the kind of person that could be friends with anyone as everyone liked him and his bubbly personality.

With him and Alex it had been different. They didn't just get along and had fun hanging out, it wasn't just that, it was more that they got each other. They shared surprisingly many interests, most of them music-related, and regularly talked for hours on end about their latest obsessions.
Right now, Miles was far too occupied to be thinking about all that though, trying to put on his jacket, eat the piece of toast he'd grabbed and cross the street without getting hit by a car all at the same time.
About ten minutes later, he finally reached his destination, miraculously still alive.

"Trying to break all of Al's records, aren't we?" Those were the words that Jamie greeted Miles with as he approached him and Nick for the class they now had together every Wednesday morning, catching them just at the right time while they were on their way there.
Miles was way too out of breath to answer. Alex was usually known for being late, especially in the morning, but Miles truly had been doing an excellent job at topping even his worst days lately.

When the first period was over, all three of them made their way to their next class, physics, one of the very few classes all of them shared. When Miles, Jamie and Nick entered the classroom, Alex and Matt were already there, apparently deep into a conversation about which one of them some girl they'd both talked to the other night in a pub had liked better.
Miles noticed his brows had furrowed.

"Hiya, lads", Nick casually said and him and Jamie found their seats. Miles sat down next to Alex who only now turned around to look at him.
"Have you got your jumper on inside out?"
Miles looked down and clutched the fabric of his jumper. Alex was right. He could see the
seams.

"Fuck."
Alex chuckled. "Christ, Miles how do you do it?"
"You're one to talk!" Miles complained.
"I'm not that bad!"
"Ehm", Matt suddenly exclaimed, causing Alex to slowly turn in his seat and raise an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, come on. I've never had my jumper on backwards!"
"Still-" Matt was interrupted by the teacher coming in and the lesson beginning.

Alex and Miles shared a quick smile.
Alex thought it was mean how even sleep-deprived, Miles didn't look tired at all. Well, perhaps he didn't need sleep. He was probably a vampire.