Walking through the serene hallways that were Worthington Christian High was no unusual routine for Josh. The faint smell of cleaning products mixed with pencil shavings, old textbooks, a cocktail of perfumes and colognes and the faint smell of expo markers. It was typical for Josh to skip classes. He'd gotten in enough trouble for the staff to just leave it alone. The silent rule amongst his higher ups was, if he was seen 3 times out of class it was an immediate write up. Depending on who caught him, it could also be a detention. That never really bothered Josh. It was his senior year anyway. Soon he could leave, he could blow this shithole town, and hopefully even the state. He walked, a slow pace listening to whatever fast rock, mind fuck, screamo he enjoyed, not really paying attention to his surroundings. He yawned a bit, clicking a button or two on his iPod to skip a song. He heard the faint sound of fast footsteps behind him, he turned his head to see a boy, running through the halls with some sort of small instrument case in his hand. Before Josh could get out of his way, the two collided in a thud, landing on the ground. The boy got up quickly, Josh taking in his appearance. He wore some sort of graphic tee, it seemed. With dark blue denim jeans and blue converse. Josh smirked at the converse, he was familiar with that type of shoe. The boy was quite tall, with disheveled, deep coffee hair and dark brown eyes that had a flash of amber in them. Josh got up, approaching the boy. He ran a hand through his cherry red hair and picked up the boy's instrument case. "Hey there.." Josh offered, handing the case to the boy. He was clearly flustered as he took the case, quick to apologize "Oh man I'm so so sorry.. I'm gonna be late to rehearsal, I didn't mean to bump into you like that. I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Gosh, I really didn't mean to-" Josh cut him off, "It's all good." He smiled a bit, watching the boy ramble an apology, "I'm Josh."
"Josh..." The boy repeated under his breath, shifting a bit "I'm uh, I'm Tyler." He nodded, taking in Josh's appearance. Tyler scanned him a few times. A cut off band tee, black skinny jeans and.. converse. Woah. "I like your shoes.." Tyler pointed out, "We're kind of matching." He chuckled, awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess so, Tyler." Josh nodded, looking at his shoes and then to Tyler's. Tyler couldn't help the faint rouge growing on his cheeks, nose and the tips of his ears as he heard Josh say his name. He looked at his watch, "Oh man.. I gotta get to class I'm so late.." He waved a small 'goodbye' to Josh before walking towards his band class. Josh followed him, picking up his pace to walk beside Tyler, "You're interesting, y'know. What do you play?" He motioned towards Tyler's instrument case. "Oh. Clarinet.." He looked at the case and then to Josh. Josh wasn't really bothering him, just the way he pried and poked sat odd in Tyler's mind. "Hey, listen I.. I really need to get to class, can we uh.. talk later or something..?" Josh smirked to himself and nodded "Yeah, I'll see you later Tyler." Shit. There it was again. His name, in Josh's mouth.. He nodded in response to Josh and quickly entered the band room, setting himself up. He couldn't shake the feeling the entire period. Something about Josh as so.. alluring, but off putting in the same way. He seemed so cool and natural and sure of himself. His body language, the way he expressed himself in his style, the way he talked, the way he said Tyler's name..
