I'm an ocean away, but I'll always be here for you

Tori's Dance

Tori's POV
   I woke up to the usual screaming alarm and rolled out of bed. I was secretly a little excited for the dance later that night. I didn't have a date but I was going to have fun with my friends and I haven't hung out with them a lot out of school because of all the drama with my old friend group. But, I'm sure this dance will be good for me to relax and have fun.

   I got ready for school and shuffled to the kitchen to grab something for breakfast. I checked my phone while munching on some strawberries. I noticed I had a message, I checked it and my stomach fluttered.
R: Hey Tori, I know you're probably not up yet but I wanna tell you something. You're a great person to talk to and you're very sweet. I only hope we'll become better friends as time goes on.
Awwwwe I thought to myself, I may or may not have squealed a little. He was such a sweetheart. I decided I'd reply to him.
T: Awwwwe thank you so much Ronnie! You're too sweet. I'd love to become better friends with you. I promise I'll text you when I get out of school today. <3 :)
I checked the time and realized I needed to get to school. I groaned and pulled myself out of my seat. Well today's gonna be just lovely! I thought as I trudged to the bus and put in my earbuds. The bus was already at the end of my driveway by the time I got there, so I just climbed on and sat in my usual seat by myself.

      Someone tapped on my shoulder a little ways down the road from my house. I turned to look at the person next to me. He gave me a shy smile. "Hey, uh..can I sit here?" He asked me. "Yeah sure dude, go ahead." I smiled back at him. "Thanks." He said and sat down. "I'm uh new here, just moved here from North Dakota, it's a lot warmer here than it was there." He told me. I laughed a little. "Yeah, wait till winter though, those are awful." I said back. " Yeah I heard they were." He chuckled a little and after a few moments of silence I turned to face the window and put my earbuds back in.
    He tapped on my shoulder again. "Do you like music?" He asked me.
"Yeah, I love music."
"Oh cool me too, what kind of music do you like?"
"Mostly screamo, metal, or to use an umbrella term emo. What do you like?"
"Oh, uh I like country music mostly. I don't listen to that kind of music often. Could I hear the song you're playing?"
It was in that moment I realized this kid did not look like he belonged sitting next to me. He was nice but his cross necklace, blue shirt, jeans and boots didn't quite match my purple hair, piercings, band shirt and black shorts. I decided there'd be no harm in letting him listen to a little bit of Kuza so I handed him one ear bud.
    He looked a little surprised by how loud it was at first. "So what do you think?" I asked him.
"It's definitely interesting and not what I'm used to."
"Yeah, I bet My Chemical Romance might be a little closer to your style, they don't do as much screaming as Kuza does."
"I think I'm good with the music for now." he laughed.
"Oh, by the way my name's Tori."
"Mine's Darien. I hope I have some classes with you, you seem nice."
With that we got off the bus, I headed to my locker and he headed to the office to pick up his schedule.

"Oh look the homo squad has a new member." Some girl croaked. "Go to hell." Maria shouted as she flipped her off. "That's literally their worst insult and they call us emo ninety percent of the time." I told Darien as I rolled my eyes. We all had the same class first period and were nominated to escort him, which we were going to do regardless of who was told to. "They're all idiots and bigots." Elliot said and Mickey agreed.

     At lunch we all sat together, including Darien. He decided he'd follow me around, because I was the first friend he made and I knew where I was going. "Are you guys going to the dance tonight?" Maria asked. "Yeah, I'm probably going to go." I said. "We're gonna go too." Mickey said. "What about you?" I said as I turned to Darien. "I don't know, I guess I'll probably go too."  He said. "Cool, so you guys want to meet up there?"  Maria asked. "Yeah, sure." We all chorused.