naïve // a phan au

part one

I drop myself on the seat at the furthest row possible from the teacher. Mr. Smith has never been one of the people at school I find tolerable, but then again, I never find anyone at school tolerable anyway.

"And thirty minutes added to your detention for bad attitude," his annoyingly high-pitched voice rings from the other end of the room, followed by a roar of laughter from my classmates.

Yes, about all the other humans in the classroom except for Mr. Smith, I don't like them, I never have. And the feeling is indubitably mutual. I am the nerd they find every opportunity there is to make fun of. To them, I'm not even Daniel, I've been Space Boy ever since some guy slapped the astronomy book I was reading in the hallway out of my hands and tore it apart right in front of my eyes. When I tried to protest, I got a punch square in the jaw along with the nickname that will probably follow me until the very end of my senior year.

The funny thing is, either people don't know that I'm bullied, or they enjoy the sight of it. No one is ever there for me. But it's my fault after all; I'm too useless to stand up for myself.

"For the millionth time, Daniel Howell," Mr. Smith's voice brings me back to reality. His pupils laugh again - I don't even get offended by their amusement anymore, it's become normal for people to laugh at me now. Nevertheless, I still catch my cheeks reddening and decide to fix my gaze upon my desk. "There is no point in educating you now is there? That's two hours of detention for you Mr. Howell, I'll call your mother to inform that you will be late for dinner."

I clench my fists. Tears start to burn at the back of my eyes. I know it's no one other than me who caused all this mess, but I don't think I can just grin and bear it much longer.

* * *

I push the heavy door open, causing it to creak. I am greeted by the familiar Detention room, with Mrs. Allison reading a magazine behind her table, not even bothered to look up at me. She is so used to me going here every day of the week now, she can probably tell it's me by the way I open the door or my footsteps - those things.

"Welcome home, Space Boy," a girl with dyed hair and piercings all over her face smirks at me, making the other familiar faces giggle. I know some of the people here, since most of us are here all the time after class, but they're not my friends. I only remember their last names from the times Mrs. Allison addresses them, all from behind her magazine. But I don't even need to introduce myself; and Mrs. Allison never calls me by my last name, or any part of my name at all, for that matter. She usually doesn't speak to me, but when she does, she calls me what everyone else calls me.

Fucking Space Boy.

"All your devices please," says Mrs. Allison uninterestedly when I reach her table, "two hours. That's a one-hour progress compared to yesterday isn't it?" She adds, earning a few snickers from the others, but I ignore - like I always do.

I reach into my backpack and hand over my iPod and earphones before dragging myself to the seat at the far back that's been only mine for the whole year. I never won this desk - it's just that people tend to stay away from me and anything associated with the name Daniel James Howell.

I am just about to doze off and let unconsciousness take me when something hits my face. A paper aeroplane. At first I think it's another hilarious joke, ha ha ha, but someone has written Please open on one of the wings neatly with black marker. When I look up to try and find out who threw the plane, I am met with the gaze of a stranger sitting right in front of me whom I didn't notice was here. His blue eyes stare straight at me, sparkling with something familiar but which I definitely haven't seen in a long while. He smiles at me, his tongue poking out at a corner of his mouth.

"Lester," Mrs. Allison says sternly, raising her eyebrow at the stranger.

"S-sorry, Miss." He says apologetically and turns away.

I find myself grinning like an idiot for some reason even I don't know. So you're Lester.

Nervously, I unfold the paper aeroplane and can't help but smile at what Lester has written for me. Apparently he had to try his best to make his handwriting look so legible.

Hello there.

Hi. First time? I scribble down quickly before folding the piece of paper into a ball and bend down to roll it on the floor, aiming for Lester's foot.

I get his reply within a minute. Yeah, I'm pretty new around here actually. Two-hour detention huh? Pretty impressive.

Yep, how long is yours? I write down and follow the method of rolling the paper as quietly as possible so that no one notices.

An hour and a half. Almost done, when you came I'd been sitting here doing nothing for an hour.

I have just picked up Lester's note for me when Mrs. Allison calls his name, telling him it's the end of his detention and that he can go. Lester thanks her, then picks up his backpack and swings it on his shoulder. I could tell he must be quite tall from his sitting position, but I never expected Lester to be so ideally tall. And he has muscles, which I can easily see since he's wearing the school basketball outfit.

Fuck.

"I'll see you later?" He mouths, locking eyes with me, making my stomach fill with butterflies all of a sudden.

"Okay," I smile back shyly.

Lester waves at me which gets a few weird looks, but he doesn't seem to mind - if he notices at all. I wave back tentatively before he gives me a reassuring nod and exits the room.

Now Dan, what the fuck just happened?