HighSchool AU
You were reading a particularly good part of your assigned English reading book, Friday Night Lights, when the bell rang overhead. You sighed and closed your book, lunch was over. Time for class, you thought bitterly, picking up your bag after shoving the book on the table inside. The crowd swallowed you up and pushed you towards the large, open doors of the cafeteria where you could barely see student after student filing out into the large area just outside the door. You squeezed your way through a slightly more dense part of the crowd of students till you reached the hallway and you hurried off on your way to Chemistry. Half way up the stairs you heard a giggle and you paused, turning your head to find the noise. A freshman girl was leaned up against the wall, surrounded by the school's "bad boys", Thomas, Minho and Newt. The said something to the girl that had her face flushing red and you sneered. Nearly seniors and they're flirting with a freshman, you thought as you began on up the stairs once more. You heard the girl scurry off and the sound of the boys' laughter and then their footsteps were pounding the stairs, following yours.
"Dude," one of them said with a groan, "she was cute."
"I called her first," spoke another, there was the sound of a hand hitting shoulder and you rolled your eyes.
"I've seen better," said the last boy. You could almost hear the shrug of his shoulders. You recognized that voice and its British accent – Newt. He was a transfer that arrived last year from some private school across the pond and the moment he arrived he'd been one of the most popular boys in school. You didn't know whether it was the accent, his acting ability or his good looks but whatever it was, the student body had taken a liking to him that hadn't exactly faded over the past year.
It was no secret every girl in school found him attractive, you included, but he was way too high up on the social ladder for you to even think of touching reaching him. You reached the third floor, blocking out the conversation taking place behind you, and made your way to the A hall on the opposite end of the floor. The boys followed behind and their voices fell quiet, you assumed their eyes found you. You could make out just a few of their words – words like "book" and "quiet" and "loner" – and based on that, you concluded their topic of conversation had changed to you. With a roll of your eyes you entered your science class and took your regular seat at the front of the classroom.
Your teacher, Mrs. Malik, sailed in moments later, carrying a portable container of spaghetti. She smiled at you through a bite and plopped into her desk chair, watching as the students – including the boys – began to pour in after you. You pulled Friday Night Lights back out from your bag and began reading from where you left off as the three boys walked by. You heard the chair next to you scrap against the floor as it was pulled back and a body plopped into it, a body that had a British voice. Your head popped up and you were graced with the glowing, smiling face of Newt. The other two had the same look on their faces that you had on yours, confusion.
"Dude," said Thomas, coming to place a hand on Newt's shoulder, "you're not coming to sit with us." He pointed over his shoulder at the back table, where they all usually sat.
Newt shook his head and grinned. "Nah, not today."
"Why?" It was Minho who asked, stepping up to Thomas's side.
Newt shrugged his shoulders, "'cause, I just want to sit up here today. I've been feeling oddly... alone, sitting back there."
Minho and Thomas exchanged a look and then the bell rang, and Mrs. Malik forced them to take a seat. You watched as they sulked to the back of the room, an unexplainable sense of pride welling up in your chest as they plopped, very dejected looking, into their seats. Mrs. Malik then called the class to attention, not that you paid any mind. You'd already finished this classes assignment – and the one after that, and the one after that – last class; chemistry, like most sciences, just came easy to you. It was halfway through the period, you were focusing intently on your book trying to ignore Newt's presence beside you, when you felt a tap on your shoulder and heard the scraping of paper against the table. You moved your book down a bit and saw a folded note sitting in front of you.
In a burst of confidence you raised an eyebrow at Newt, to which he responded with a grin, and grabbed the paper, unfolding it till you read the tiny word that was scribbled on the page.
hi
You grabbed a pencil of your own and wrote down your own hello before folding the paper and, when Mrs. Malik's back was turned, sliding it back to the boy. After scribbling something down, the note came back to you, this time with a longer message.
i'm newt
You fought the temptation to write I know and instead you wrote, Y/N, in reply.
why aren't u working like the rest of us??
Because, I'm smart :P
He grinned when you slid the note back to him, marking down a quick reply before going back to today's class worksheet. When Mrs. Malik's back was turned once again, as she explained the names and purposes of the columns and rows of the Periodic Table, the note was slid across the black top table back to just underneath your book.
and i'm not! i'm offended you'd even imply such a thing!
Well, you do hang around with Meathead #1 and Meathead #2, guilty by association, I guess.
hey! those meatheads are my friends! be nice
I am, it's just, I've never taken to the type 'tall, dark and sweaty'.
Newt let out a little burst of laughter, which he quickly covered with a cough after pulling Mrs. Malik's attention, and scribbled a reply.
tall, dark and sweaty? they don't sweat THAT much... kinda...
No, right... they don't sweat, they glitter (or so I've heard)
Newt laughed once more, though quietly now, under his breath so as not to be heard.
minho does glitter, but maybe that's something else...
You risked a glance back at the two boys and found Minho with his head leaning on Thomas arm as they worked away at the problems on the paper in front of them. Were Minho and/or Thomas...
You don't mean..., you quickly wrote.
oh, yes i do! Was his reply, they just... haven't said anything yet. DON'T SAY ANYTHING THOUGH! THEY'D KILL ME! XD
You hadn't even thought of telling anyone, not that you'd have anyone to tell if you wanted to, you weren't at all a popular person. Can I just ask, you wrote, why do you hang out with them? Don't you ever feel like the 3rd wheel?
all the time!
Then why keep, idk, hanging?
idk... they were the 1st ppl 2 talk 2 me when i got here, nobody else rlly cared 2 get 2 know me.
Maybe you didn't try to get to know others...
Newt threw you a thoughtful expression, one that didn't go unseen as the times before had.
"Newt," said Mrs. Malik, "do you and Y/N have something you'd like to share with the class?"
Newt swiped the piece of paper off the desk and smiled, shaking his head. "No ma'am," he answered. "She was just... helping me with problem number four."
Mrs. Malik raised a brow, but let the situation slide, turning back to the board where a picture of a Boron atom was sitting. You put away your pencil and picked your book back up, turning to the page you left off at when you and Newt had begun your conversation. You were nearly through with the page when you felt a tap against your leg. A phone was sitting on your thigh, opened on messages and in the box were the words: number? ^^ i want 2 keep talkin 2 u. Discreetly, underneath the table, you put your number into the boy's phone, and from the corner of your eye you saw his face light up when he saw you had. The class continued in silence, but every minute or so, Newt would nudge you to either point out when Mrs. Malik had said something funny or just to remind you he was there when you go to into your book. When the bell rang you said goodbye to Newt, out loud this time, and grabbed your things before heading out the door.
"Hey, Y/N!" Called a voice.
You looked around until your eyes found the person the voice belonged to, a freshman named Chuck. He was in your Creative Writing class, which you conveniently had next period. "Hiya, Chuck," you said with a smile. He joined you in your way to Creative Writing, chatting non-stop about something apparently hilarious that had happened in his PE class earlier that day. When you arrived at your class, you felt a vibrating in your back pocket; your phone. You held up a finger and stopped Chuck's rambling, picking up your phone you saw the words New Message run across your screen. Chuck looked over at your phone as you opened it, asking who the message was from. It took a minute before the message opened, but you smiled when you saw it.
hey, it's meathead #3! :P are u doing anything this wkend?
