Senior Slump Or Comeback Of The Year

Do's And Do Not's

Pete had no fucking idea what the teacher had said the entire time in class. He wrote down potential song lyrics instead of notes. Humming in his head to the beat he wanted them to be read in.

If home is where the heart is
Then we're all just fucked
I can't remember
And I want it so bad
I'd shoot the sunshine into my veins
I can't remember.
The good old days.

He read over the words he'd just written. Trying to make sense of his own thoughts. Finally he scribbled over them. Marking them from the page and out of his mind.

He hated being himself sometimes. He hated all the weird thoughts that ran through his mind. The thoughts that picked at the seams of his insecure subconscious like the frayed edges of old tape.

The sound of the bell ringing saved him from the never ending thought process in his head. He closed the notebook on his desk and slid it back into his book bag. He dropped the pen in there after it. He zipped up the bag and stood simultaneously.

Walking from the classroom as slowly as possible. Afraid that if he left too quickly, Sarah and Meagan wouldn't be waiting for him. And then he'd be standing in the hallway lost and confused.

His slow walking paid off because they were both standing there when he got out of the room. But it wasn't just the two of them. There was a small girl with curly hair and glasses. And a tall, skinny girl with thin eyes. They looked like some sort of teen add for Cover Girl. All pretty with perfect hair and great bodies.

"Hey, Pete." Of course it was Meagan who walked up to him first. It was simple to see she was the leader of the clan.

"Hey."

"Your next class is Music Education." Sarah held up the schedule she'd never given back.

"We have music too." Thin eyes smiled down at him. "I'm Helena by the way."

"And I'm Elisa."

"Cool."

"We all have music education next." Meagan grinned. "So we're just-"

He didn't catch the rest of what she'd said. His eyes strayed around the hall. Stopping when he saw the guy from class leaving the room. What was his name again? Patrick. Patrick Stump.

He was the most interesting person Pete had seen in the school. Not too many people could pull off a trucker hat and sideburns, but this guy made it work. Even with the band T-shirt, jeans and hoodie.

Without a second thought, Pete found himself running towards him. Rushing to catch up. Not even bothering to say excuse me to the girls or explain to them where he was going. He skidded to a stop beside Patrick. Patrick flinched, his head quickly turning to see who'd approached. He visibly relaxed when he saw it was Pete.

"Jumpy?" Pete teased.

"You scared me." He admitted. "You shouldn't just run up to people like that without a warning."

He didn't stop walking so Pete just stepped into pace with him. He slipped the book bag from him shoulders and pulled it to the front of him. Unzipping it and digging through it's scarce items for the pen.

"I forgot to give you this." He held it up to him.

Patrick eyed the pen but didn't take it.

"You chewed it."

Pete's brows furrowed as he looked at the top. He flushed in embarrassment when he realized that he had in fact chewed on someone else's pen.

"Oh shit. I didn't notice." He dumped it back into his bag. "Sorry about that. You must think I'm gross."

"No. Everyone does it. It's sort of a subconscious move. You don't realize it."

"So I guess I'll be keeping the pen and you'll keep my pencil?"

"You guess correctly." Patrick smiled.

Pete's eyes dropped to his lips. "Cool."

"Cool?" He repeated with a frown.

"I uh, I mean because I finally have a pen to use."

"Oh. I guess that's cool." Patrick looked around awkwardly. Pete hadn't notice that they'd stopped walking. "I should get to class."

"What class do you have?" He asked a little too happily.

"Music Ed-"

"Music Education? Me too!" Pete grinned. "We could maybe-"

"Pete!" He rolled his eyes at the sound of Meagan's voice. They both turned to watch her and her group of followers approach.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing talking to him?" She scoffed at Patrick. Grimacing as if he were disgusting to look at. When in reality, he was quite the opposite.

"He let me borrow a pen and I was-"

"He's at the bottom of the pyramid." She didn't let him finish. "If you want to make it in this school, I suggest you stick with us."

"And not losers like fat pat." Sarah glared at him.

Fat Pat? Why the hell would someone say that about someone else? Pete glanced over at Patrick. His prize winning smile was gone. And he was staring down at his shoes. He didn't even try to defend himself.

"You can go." Helena tapped his shoulder.

He didn't hesitate to rush off down the hall. Pete frowned at the group of girls surrounding him. He wasn't sure why there were being nice to him. If they knew he was gay he'd probably be getting the same treatment as Patrick right now.

"You didn't actually want to talk to him, did you?" Elisa asked.

They all stared at him expectantly. Waiting for a short, crisp answer. Pete wanted to say yes. He wanted to tell them that Patrick was the most interesting person he'd ever met. He wanted to tell them how cute his voice was and how nice his smile is. But he knew he couldn't.

This was his last year of highschool. And for the first time in forever, things were going according to plan. Better! The popular group had taken him under their wing. This was his chance to have the highschool experience he'd always wanted.

"I was just trying to give him back his pen."

"Fuck his pen." Meagan slipped her arm around his shoulder. "Come meet the rest of the gang."