Hope Relit (Personal 2.0)

Chapter 1

Allen POV

School. I hate it.

This place is full of homophobic idiots who don't care about anyone but themselves. Not to mention almost every guy is trying to get laid and almost every girl is a gold-digging whore. I say almost because my two best friends, James Hunter and Vanessa Reyes, and myself are the only ones not trying to get in bed with someone. There's a few others that don't fit the norm, but they're usually targets for bullies and end up not being themselves. I hate when people act like something they're not.

I guess it's appropriate that I hate myself then. I'm gay, not a little gay either. Like unicorn flying through the sky and farting rainbows and butterflies gay. Yeah. I hide it pretty well though at school. If not talking to anyone but my best friends counts as hiding it.

I have been a student at James Pearson Independent School District since I was six years old. When I was eleven, I realized that I was gay. When I told my parents and older brother, Jason, my dad simply handed a ten dollar bill over to my mom and a fifty to Jason. Imagine my indignity at the realization that my own family had bet for and against me being gay. I came out to James and Vanessa our freshman year of high school. James handed a twenty to Vanessa, and I didn't speak to either of them for about a week.

When I did start speaking to them again, James began to flirt with me when we'd hang out after school. He didn't mean it but wouldn't stop. I had to threaten to call him "Boo-bear" and kiss him in front of the basketball team. When that threat didn't work, I trapped him in a bathroom stall and acted all lovey-dovey and sexy. I was about half a centimeter away from kissing him before he got the hint. I left him in the stall looking slightly confused and very disheveled. Having successfully traumatized my best friend, I started looking for someone. I thought I met the right guy junior year, but he was into BDSM and was looking for a submissive to beat. I walked away with a "Hell no," and never spoke with him again.

Currently, I was sitting at lunch with James and Vanessa. I poked at the fish on my plate and was wishing that Jason would have made a bento box or something. From the disgusted look and Vanessa's face, I could guess that she was thinking the same thing. We gave our lunches to James, who wolfed them down like it was some kind of delicacy.

"How can you eat that and throw up?" Vanessa asked.

"I take a page from the Tokyo Ghoul school of eating."

"They take smaller bites then," I pointed out. "We gave you our lunches like, fifteen seconds ago and now they're both, both, gone."

James belched and the someone at the table next to us held up eight fingers. "Care to give me a kiss, Ness?"

KERTHWACK!!

James' face was now against the table and the back of his head had a very large bump.

"What have I told you about calling me that name?" Vanessa demanded angrily.

"Not to," James replied in a strained voice.

I sighed at the seemingly never-ending stupidity that is James Alexander Hunter and the miniscule temper of Vanessa Kimberly Reyes. Then I shuddered and got a weird vibe. I looked in the direction the vibe was coming from and saw an absolutely gorgeous guy staring at me. He had dark, sun-kissed skin and muscles that looked like they would tear through the dark green tee-shirt he was wearing. His hair was brown, but it was so dark that it looked black, and I couldn't really see much anyways since he was wearing a beanie that looked a little like the one Soul from Soul Eater wore. His eyes were so blue that I mistook them for sapphires at first. His jawline was squared off and just wide enough that you could tell he had a very powerful lineage. His hands looked like they could crush an aluminum can with no effort, but at the same time there was a steadiness to them that me wonder if he was an artist of some kind. I had no idea that I was staring back until he winked at me. I felt my face heat up and turned away, hoping that nobody would notice.

"Al, why are you as red as a tomato?"

DAMMIT!!

"N-n-no r-r-reason." STOP STUTTERING!

Vanessa looked behind me. "Incoming hottie at six o' clock."

Please don't be the guy from earlier, PLEASE don't be the guy from earlier.

"Tahiaat, my friends." Oh God, he had a freaking gorgeous Arabic accent. "How are you doing?"

"Well, Vanessa and I are doing good," James started, "but I think the cherry tomato next to you is about to have a panic attack."

I threw a pen at James for calling me a cherry tomato.

"I have a feeling that the 'cherry tomato' did not appreciate your comment." Dear lord that voice was going to be the death of me.

"M-my name is Allen. Allen Morris," I pouted.

"Min dawaei saruri. I am Benjamin Nejem." Ben grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it, causing me to blush.

"Waqf 'iighazat lah, maetuh," another voice from behind he said.

"Boku wa boku ga nozomu mono o okonaimasu." Arabic, Japanese, English, how many languages does this guy speak?

"Tch, anta ga o shiridesu." Whoever was speaking sat down next to me. I turned to see that the person was very clearly Japanese or at least of that decent. He had a fighter's body and was easily six feet tall minimum. His eyes were a dark brown and his slicked back hair was jet black. "Hello, I'm Daisuke Tsume," he said in perfect English, "Best friend to this nanpa and one of the few in the world that can keep up with his intelligence."

I looked over to Benjamin, who was still holding my hand. "Are you a genius?"

"Nem, I am."

"What's your IQ?" James asked.

"Three times three times three times seven," Benjamin replied.

"One hundred and eighty-nine?!" I replied quickly. Benjamin nodded. James's, Vanessa's and my jaws all hung open.

"So then what are you?" I turned to Daisuke.

"One fifty even," he replied. "Although you are clearly quite intelligent as well considering you solved the math that Ben spouted rather quickly."

"Allen here has an IQ of one hundred and thirty six," Vanessa said, getting Daisuke's attention. When he looked at her, I saw that his pupils enlarged and his nostrils flared a bit.

"Daisuke, anta no reisei-sa o ushinau koto wa arimasen." Benjamin said in a very stern voice.

"Damare." I widened my eyes. I knew very little Japanese, but I knew how to say shut up in almost every language possible and Benjamin did not seem like someone to cross. I looked at Benjamin and saw that his pupils had gotten smaller and his sapphire blue eyes started to look more like a dark, stormy grey.

"Kisama wa sakarau tame ni eru koto wa arimasen." Daisuke turned to Benjamin and stood up a bit threateningly. Benjamin followed and the whole cafeteria got quiet and looked on at the scene.

"Omae wa, koinu o ore o toru koto ga dekiru to omoimasu ka?"Daisuke said in a threatening tone.

"Kantan ni."

I stood up between the two of them, my small 5'8" frame coming up to their chests, and tried to separate them. "W-wait. I have no clue what the two of you said, but it didn't sound good so please resolve this some other time when the whole school isn't watching." It was a bit hard to concentrate with tingles running down the arm that was holding Benjamin back.

The two stared at each other for a while before they took deep breaths and sat back down. I flopped down in my chair with relief. I jumped a little bit when I felt the same tingles from my arm run up my leg from my knee. I discreetly looked down and saw that it was Benjamin's hand. I looked at him and he had a sly smirk on his face. It irritated me a little bit so I flicked his hand. He removed it and looked at me with mock hurt.

I wanted to know what was going on in that head of his.

Benjamin POV

I can tell that I am going to have a lot of fun with my cute mate.