A Lion's Roar

Chapter one

Phil's POV

"PHILLL! Wake up, you're gonna be late for school!"

I groaned into my pillow as my mum finished yelling. I knew I needed to get up and get ready but I hate new schools. Everything about a new school sucks: The new teachers, New surroundings, New people. ugh, I can't stand the thought of one more asshole teen pushing me around. I know it'll happen though.

I get up and walk down stairs, and to my amazement there was my mum stood at the stove, making pancakes. She turned to greet me with a cheery smile and a "Ah! Good morning darling!" I stood there stunned till I realized she was waiting for an answer and snapped out of my daze. "Uh, hi mum... why are you cooking?" She looked at me offended and spat "What?! A mother can't make breakfast for her son!" I cringed at her tone and thought to myself "There's my real mum..." "I mean yeah, of course you can." She smiled and returned to her cooking while I started back up the stairs to get dressed.

after dressing in a dark blue jumper and some black skinnies I brushed my hair and turned to leave the room. "Oh! I almost forgot!" I whispered to myself as I went back over to open the drawer in my bed side table. I grabbed my lucky necklace that my sister had given me last year before heading to college. It had a silver chain with a rainbow coloured tag that hung just above my chest. I put it over my head and tucked it into my jumper.

I sighed softly thinking about my sister. She was the only one who accepted me after coming out as gay. Not even mum did.... I pushed those thoughts away and went downstairs hoping to eat quickly and leave. Just as I was sitting down where a plate of slightly burnt pancakes sat with syrup lightly drizzled over them, my mum walked down the stairs and headed towards the door. She came up to me and gave me a very quick hug then pulled away to say "I've got a long day ahead of me so don't worry if I'm not home when you get here" she smiled at me and I noticed a hint of something unreadable in it.

She swiftly turned away and practically ran out the front door. I sighed and went to put my plate in the sink then walked out the door and headed for school. "Today is going to suck." I thought to myself as I turned the corner to face the big building.

Dan's POV

Getting up early is quite possibly the worst thing ever. But alas I must or my father will be late for his first day of teaching. I don't know why he wanted to teach at MY school... Oh wait was it maybe to embarrass me every chance he got!? yes, that must be it...

I stumble out of bed and quickly get dressed in my Fall out boy shirt and some black skinny jeans. I look in the mirror to see my tangled mess of hobbit hair and immediately plug in my straightener, when it's hot enough I straighten my hair and then run out of my room and into the kitchen to see my dad and mum sitting at the table both drinking coffee. my dad notices me and speaks up as I walk over and grab an Apple out of the fridge "Dan, are you almost ready? we can't be late for our first day!" my dad says with the cheesiest smile I've ever seen. "Yeah, I'll just eat on the way if you're ready to go..." "great!" he replies and my mum gets up to hug me. "I love you honey" "you too, mum" and with that my dad and I are out the door and on our way to Howard High.

Phil's POV

I take a deep breath as I walk down the unfamiliar hall in search for my first class, English. Eh at least it's not maths. I think to myself as I walk into the room of my class.

Luckily I was early so only my teacher and one other boy was there. the boy had tanned skin with dark brown hair and golden brown eyes. He was looking down at his phone playing some game. Damn he was fucking gorgeous! wait, stop Phil. you do NOT need a crush right now. I tear my eyes away from him and walk towards my teacher. He actually looked quite like the boy except older and with less hair. I approach his desk and open my mouth to speak "Um, hi. I'm Phil Lester...." I say and his head shoots up to smile at me. wow, he and the boy really do look alike. "Phil! lovely to meet you! I'm Mr. Howell, your teacher!" I give him a weak smile and he points behind me. I turn my head to see him pointing to the boy as Mr. Howell says "Why don't you go have a seat next to my son, Daniel I'm sure you'll get along just fine!" So he's his son... that makes sense. I nod and nervously walk over to the seat and the boy- Daniel- looks up at me for the first time. I notice he's had head phones in and he takes them out and puts his hand out, introducing himself. "Hey, I'm Dan." I shake his hand and quietly reply "Phil." he smiles at me and I swear a piece of my heart just flew up my throat when I see he has dimples. "Nice to meet ya, Phil. This your first year at Howard High?" he asks. I nod and he says "Well, if you need any help with anything round here just ask me." Just as I began to speak the bell rings and kids start piling into the small room.

The rest of the class I spent sneaking glances at Dan and doodling in my notebook.

Dan's POV

For some reason I couldn't stop thinking about the boy named Phil sitting next to me. He looked so different but in the best way possible. He had jet black hair, pale skin and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. I watched him draw in his notebook and smiled at the way he'd stick his tongue out in concentration. He was kind of adorable.... whoa whoa whoa! where did that come from? I'm not gay, right? I shake my head frantically trying to get those thoughts out of my head.

"Dan? are you ok?" I look up to see my dad standing in front of me with a concerned look on his face and I see Phil looking at me through the corner of my eye. Shit! now he's gonna think I'm weird! "Erm yeah, I'm fine dad." I mumble back. He looks at me unconvinced but then just turns around and begins his lesson.

Phil's POV

I stand up and gather my things, stuffing them in my back pack when someone taps my shoulder. I look over my shoulder to see Dan standing there looking at his hands. "Yeah?" I ask and he looks up at my face "I was just wondering what class you have next...?" I quickly grab my schedule out of my pocket and scan for the second class "Uh... science, with Mrs. Alan" I say stuffing the paper back in my pocket.

A smile spreads across Dan's face and I raise an eyebrow, silently questioning him. "We have science class together too!" he announces and I feel a bit better knowing that I'll have someone I know in the next class.

"wait, can I see your schedule? maybe we have more classes together." "Sure" I get the piece of paper back out and hand it to Dan. He skims it over quickly, the side of his mouth turning up in a cute smirk. "Hey, looks like we have 1st, 2nd 5th and 7th together!" "That's lucky" I reply. He grabs my hand and leads me out of the class room, waving a quick goodbye to his dad.

After 3rd, Dan waits for me outside my classroom, as I make my way through the wave of teens. Someone pushes me and I turn around to see a very tall boy, with blonde hair starring down at me. He scowls and mumbles "Fag" then walks off in a huff, followed closely by two more boys. One with brown hair, pulled back into a very stylish man-bun, and the other also with light brown hair and a grey beanie on. Great. My first day and I've already had a slur thrown at me... what joy.

Once we got to the cafeteria Dan brought me to a table in the far right corner. There were six people sat there, all laughing and talking with one another. Dan cleared his throat and got their attention "Guys, this is Phil" he says motioning to me "He's new so be nice" He warns. "Phil, this is Zoe, Louise, Troye, Chris, Pj and Tyler." I wave and they all welcome me. I sit next to Dan and Zoe. She has mid length brown hair that fades into blonde. She's very pretty and seems to be starring across the room at one of the boys I saw earlier. The one with the man bun.

The rest of lunch was pretty good. All Dan's friends were really nice, and Chris and Pj were cool. Turns out they were a couple, an adorable one at that. So at least I don't think any of them are homophobic. Which means Dan isn't.