flaws // dob

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"It's the first day, Dylan, what on earth could go wrong?" His mother sighed at him from across the table as he poked at his breakfast.

"A lot, mom. I could be completely shunned and have to hide away at lunch so I don't have to face the fact of having no friends!" He exclaimed, pushing the bowl of cereal away from him, it remaining largely untouched. A hand went up to mess with his hair - a nervous tick.

"And I'll say it again, it's the first day. Calm down, go with the flow, you'll be fine." His mother sent him a reassuring smile, before glancing at the watch on her wrist. "You'd better go now, you wouldn't want to be late on the first day." She smiled at him, causing him to roll her eyes at the older woman before grabbing his bag. He sent her a resigned smile and a wave as he exited the house, sauntering towards the 2011 Volvo car his mom had gifted him as a 'I'm sorry I ripped you away from everything you know, have a car' kind of gesture.

The engine revved to life and the slightest hint of a smile crossed his face, at least the car was nice. The drive to his new school was fairly simple, only a couple turns before he came across the huge set of buildings that was Faireweather High. He pulled into the parking lot, trying to park in a place where he thought he'd be easily ignored by the other students.

Fucking hell, it's school, Dylan. He thought, slamming his car door behind him obnoxiously loudly. A few heads turned to face him but looked away disinterestedly, returning their vacant gazes to their equally vacant friends. Lovely.

"Um, hey." He cleared his throat awkwardly after approaching the front desk tentatively. The receptionist looked at him blankly. Why does everyone here looked like they're constantly bored?

"Can I help you?" She asked monotonously, shuffling papers on her desk.

"I'm the new student? Dylan O'Brien?" He muttered, hands shoved into his pockets as he tried not to look so incredibly awkward.

"Here's your schedule. Hold on a moment." She held a pudgy finger up to him, bright pink nail polish adorning her talon-like nails. "We're paging Toby Maine down to the front office." She practically sneered into the microphone. "Feel free to take a seat." She signed at Dylan, who nodded awkwardly, shuffling back towards one of the empty chairs. Soon, he heard the thundering of footsteps coming towards the front office, an overexcited boy swung around the door, grinning at the receptionist.

"What's up, Nora?" He smiled cockily at the older woman who in turn glared at him.

"You will escort Dylan around the school for today." She snapped as Dylan stood up, nodding towards the energetic boy. He shot him a half-assed salute.

"Will do, Nora, my absolute favourite receptionist." He winked at the woman before gesturing for Dylan to follow him. The two boys walked about five metres away from the office before Dylan spoke up.

"Look, you don't actually have to escort me. I can handle this, you can do whatever you were doing before..." He scratched the back of his neck, boots scuffing slightly against the dirty linoleum floor.

"Dylan, right? Dylan. I say this with complete kindness and empathy, but please, shut up. Oh, and welcome to Faireweather High, where the food is shitty and the girls are pretty." Toby grinned at the taller boy beside him, who stopped to look at the boy blankly.

"The food is shitty and the girls are pretty? Really?" He scoffed, feeling a small smile creep across his face.

"Yeah, I know. Don't judge me on that, I swear to god, I'm cooler than you think."