VOICES || TROYLER

three // troye with an e

Troye's POV 

"Have a good day. I'll pick you up right here."

"Bye, Mom." I squeezed her hand before opening the door and heading up the stairs of the school.

I took a seat at my desk and started working silently on the work assigned for the day when the teacher stopped us.

"Okay, everyone up," he clapped his hands. "New seats." People around me groaned as I stayed silent, standing up as he started pointing at desks and calling names of my class mates while they sulked to their new seat.

"Troye, right here," he pointed to the seat in the back next to some jock biting his pencil like a dog. I sat in the seat, ignoring his scoff as he looked me up and down.

"Oakley, here." I looked up and the air left my lungs as soon as my eyes landed on the figure in front of me. A boy with blond hair and square glasses sat next to me, his eyes studying his fingers. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. How have I never noticed him before? He was beautiful.

"H-hi," I heard myself say. He looked up and gave me a weak smile.

"Hey, you new here?" I shook my head. He looked down awkwardly at the book in front of him. "Sorry."

"What for?" I chuckled. He shrugged.

"Never noticing you before, I guess," I smiled, my cheeks turning a slight pink. I was about to respond when 48 interrupted my thoughts.

"Of course he never noticed you, dumbass. Half this school doesn't even know you exist." I whimpered quietly at his words.

"Leave him alone. I like him, he's cute." Blue assured. A smile broke out on my face.

"He is," I whispered to myself. The boy next to me looked at me again, realizing I wasn't talking to him before turning to look back down at his book.

"Get a room," the jock scoffed next to me. I looked over at him. "Nice shirt, twinkle toes," he snickered. I looked down at my jumper, a frown finding my face at his comment.

"Purple's for girls you prick," someone chimed in, a few people laughing and agreements floating in the air around us. I kept my face down as a strange lump rose in my throat that I struggled to swallow.

"Purple is a color. Colors don't have a gender. You'd think you'd know that after repeating the first grade three times." I looked up, dumbfounded to find the boy with blond hair and beautiful blue/green eyes addressing the person who made the comment, his arms crossed over his chest as he flashed an evil smirk. I tried holding back the smile that threatened my lips when people fell silent around me until it was damn near impossible, the biggest smile enveloping my lips as a sudden warmth and admiration ran through my veins.

"Whatever." Was all he said, bringing an end to the conversation as the teacher clapped his hands to get the classes attention.

"I hope you're getting to know the students around you, yes?" We all shared glares directed to each other, the teacher obviously seeing it. "Okay, well, I didn't put you guys in any random seat. There's reasons behind the people you sit by. Any questions or concerns can be directed to me after class."

***

"My name's Troye, by the way," I blurted out randomly. He turned to face me, a light blush sweeping across my face as he met my gaze. "Troye with an e." I shifted uncomfortably under his now unreadable expression.

"Tyler," he said after a minute as I breathed a sigh of relief, catching the small lopsided smile on his face. "Nice to meet you, Troye with an e." My blush deepened as I looked down at my lap and smiled. An awkward and heavy silence fell over us after that.

I tried desperately to think of something, anything, to say to break the tension. This whole making friends/getting to know people outside of my family thing was never anything I seemed capable of doing without making it even more awkward than it had to be. That is why I decided to wait for him to speak up.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed when the bell rang without us talking anymore than we had before. I stayed seated, watching as he gathered his things into his arms. He gave me a small smile before scurrying off to his next class.

Guess I'll just have to try again tomorrow.