Pablo Honey Highschool

Stop Whispering

Colin was able to finish his essay with no worries. Once he seeped into the flow of writing, everything had fallen into place. Meanwhile, the other students were stressing out. As much as Colin would love to help the other kids, he couldn't. Looking at the clock, there were only five minutes left.

Pencils were moving quickly as students tried to ramble on their essays to make it appear longer. Colin got up from his seat and dropped his work in the tray by the door. His shoulders were lighter now that everything was done for this period.

He slipped on his bookbag and the bell chimed just in time for him to head out of class, and to walk to the longest class of the day, third period.

Thom was able to escape Maxwell as he walked out of the building to head to the boy's gymnasium. It was high noon, and it was pretty hot out. He felt his nervousness creep up at the thought of gym class. He knew the boys would be excited for sports, especially because the beginning of the school year meant that try-outs were coming soon. Thom had no confidence whatsoever as he followed some of the boys inside the gymnasium, and they all headed off to the locker room.

The boys already had brought their own clothes to use for the class, but Thom hadn't brought anything. There was a corner where you'd be able to use the school's clothes that they provided but if you were sensible, you wouldn't trust it.

The gym teacher, or coach, was sitting on a bench, watching all the students roll in. He waited for the bell to chime before speaking. "Alright. Grab a lock and pick a locker that does not already have a lock on it. That's going to be your locker for the school year, so pick wisely." He instructed. Each boy went up, grabbing a lock before heading out to find a locker by their friends. Thom wasn't looking forward to participating, but he did so anyway. He grabbed a lock and walked over to the back cubbies, where he found a locker that was suitable for him.

He latched his lock on it and set his own code for it. Looking at the lockers surrounding it, there were little to no open lockers for other students, so he felt lucky. Until, he heard the thump of a heavy bookbag behind him. He turned around to see the person he expected the least...

"What's up, Yorke? Surely you wouldn't mind being locker neighbours, yeah?" The tall student from before whom Thom only knew as O'Brien spoke to him. He walked to the locker next to Thom's, and he latched his lock onto it. Thom didn't even speak back yet, as he was too busy wondering why the hell this guy of all people would want to be next to him. "Why me? Don't you know any other people..." Thom mumbled, opening up his locker again to shove his book bag inside, in which the other student did the same.

"Oh, come on. Don't be like that." He chuckled and shrugged his broad-set shoulders. He was big for some 15 year old boy... "I'm not so bad, you know." He said with an almost sly grin. Thom looked around the other areas of the locker room, and all the other boys were getting ready to play the sport of their choice, which was rugby. Thom looked back at O'Brien, and spoke to him. "Whatever... What's your name, anyway?"

"Edward." He answered simply. Thom looked down, thinking of what to say next. The thought of playing alongside the boys was tainting his mind. "Alright, nobody is calling you that. You're Ed."

Ed shrugged and laughed, he was already removing his super cool and awesome leather jacket and placed it neatly in his locker. "Alright, Ed it is."

"I'm Thom." He replied after, standing there awkwardly beside his locker. He hadn't brought any clothes to change into, which were a terrible predicament. Ed acknowledged his name, but he noticed how Thom was just standing there.. "Ya didn't bring any clothes?" It was as if he read his mind.