When You Can't Sleep At Night (an Of Mice & Men Fanfiction; Austlan)

Chapter 5

      A few weeks go by and this whole Alan and Phil thing hasn't let up at all. In fact, it's gotten worse. They're practically a couple now. I cringe in disgust as I stuff a tuna sandwich in my mouth at lunch. 

      Surprisingly enough, besides the fact that Phil is practically dating Alan, he's actually really cool. He's hung out with us a few times. He even plays guitar, just like me. We've exchanged a few pieces that we've written. I like the guy. 

      Across from me sits Aaron, alongside with Alan and Phil. Next to me is Tino. "Hey man, are you listening?" Tino's voice asks from beside me. I almost jump and look up at him. "Sorry." I say quickly. "What were you saying?" 

      Tino laughs before saying "I was talking about the Spiderman comics. You know, the guy who can shoot spider webs through his wrists?" 

      "Oh. What about it?" I asked. "I was wondering if you've read them." I shake my head at his question. I was never much into comic books. "I do," Alan jumped in. "Dude have you read the last issue? It was intense." Tino shakes his head. "No man, but I need to! Can I borrow your copy?" Tino asked. "For sure!" 

      They're such nerds. 

      Just then, a girl I didn't recognize came up and sat down next to Tino. "Hiya!" she said excitedly. I just kinda stared at her. She has light brown skin, surprising gray eyes, and dyed light blue hair. Then I remembered her, I glanced at her that one day when Jessica and I got into that fight. 

      We haven't talked much since then. Unless she talks to me first. She just loves to try to pretend nothing happened. 

      'A lot of people do' I think. 'Exhibit B-- Alan Ashby' 

    "Oh hey Ashlyn! I didn't know you had this lunch." Tino replies. "Honey, every junior has this lunch." Ashlyn (apparently that's her name) says. Tino laughs slightly before saying, embarrassed "Yeah, right, I knew that." 

      He clears his throat. "Okay, guys, this is Ashlyn. She's in a few of my classes. Ashlyn, this is Aaron, Alan, Phil, and Austin." he introduces us all. We all say our hellos. "It's nice to meet you guys." her mellow and smooth voice says. "Tino talks about you guys a lot." At that, Alan fist bumps Tino. "He'd better." he says cockily. 

      "So, guys, I was planning on going to the lake by the park this weekend. Is anyone coming with?" Alan asks us. "I'm in." Aaron says first. "Yeah, I'll come too." Phil agrees. "Of course I wanna go. Can Ashlyn come too?" Tino asks. "Definitely, as long as she doesn't mind sitting in the back trunk." Alan says. Ashlyn and Tino exchange glances. "Thanks for inviting me." she tells him genuinely. 

      "Austin, you coming?" Alan looks at me. "Yeah, sure." I say and take a bite of my sandwich again. 

      After school I walk out of my class and out the main door. The guys are all at the end of the stairs, so I start down them towards their way. 

      Before I can make it to the second step, I feel someone shove me. I fall forward, and reach desperately for the railing. My heart beats a thousand miles a minute. Thank god it was there, I would have plummeted down the concrete stairs if it wasn't. I swing behind me to see who did it. Justin is looking down at me, with a menacing glare. "What? You were in my way, faggot." He laughs as he shoves me against the railing and trots down the stairs. 

      Grumpily, I continue down the stairs to my friends. "Dude, what the fuck is his problem?" Alan says loudly. "What the hell did we do to make them hate us so much? All of us, they've been harassing us since we got to this school." 

      "People can just be mean, Alan." Tino says. "And there's nothing we can do about it." 

      "Wrong. Fucking wrong. We can do something about it." Alan's face lights up, and I can practically see the gears running through his brain. "What do you mean?" Aaron asks. "You'll see," Alan says, smiling brightly. "Everybody, meet me on my roof tonight at 8. I'll invite Phil too." At that, Alan runs down the road to his house.