Pretty Boy

Untitled Part 1

There he was, the rebel of Clarke High School. William Broad. But he went by Billy Idol, a personal name to him. And what was he doing? Giving someone a wedgie, a classic Billy move. And who was he giving a wedgie? Neil Tennant. Poor kid, he has been the center of attention for all bullies and punks at the school. He came out openly as being gay and ever since, he's gotten only threats and busted lips. 

"Billy, man, come on" Someone grabbed Billy's shoulder, taking his attention away from Neil for  a moment. 

It was David Vanian. Billy and David were best friends, always getting in trouble together, being punks. Billy was more of the sassy punk, intentionally breaking rules. David was the crazy one, who had a temper and did a lot more than Billy, but he also had a side to him that was calm and he actually thought things through 

Billy looked back down at Neil, who was cowering in a corner of the school hallway. Billy looked over his shoulder at David, and David shook his head slightly. Billy nodded once and took a step back. He scoffed at Neil and pat David on the shoulder as he walked away. David watched Billy turn the corner, and looked down at Neil. Neil didn't make any eye contact 

"You need a hand?" David asked after a few moments of silence. Neil slowly looked up with a confused look on his face. Why would someone like him help? 

David caught on to Neil's look and bit his lip a little, trying to think of something else to say. "I know Billy is an asshole, but come on, I'm trying to help you out here" David put his hand out towards Neil 

"Why?" Was the only thing Neil could get out of his mouth 

"Unlike Billy, I actually have a conscience" David sighed slightly, but still held his hand out 

Neil grabbed his hand hesitantly but David pulled him right up. No problems. "I'm sorry about Billy. He just has bad days sometimes. And i'm sorry about people giving you trouble for a lifestyle. See, my cousin is gay and I guess you could say I protect him" David's eyes trailed off while he spoke, with a glazed look spread across his face. He nodded to himself and gave Neil a quick smile and walked off 

Neil stood there, not knowing what to do. It was lunch time and everyone was in the cafeteria, but he didn't want to go in there. Billy was in there. Half the school hated him and he didn't want to be the laughingstock of the school today. He walked to his locker, right around the corner. He grabbed his own lunch and made his way to the boys bathroom. He sometimes ate there, but now he would probably have to eat there until things died down 

He looked around himself to make sure nobody else saw him, and pushed the door open. But when he walked into the bathroom, there was someone else in there. The other boy didn't see him. The other was brushing soaking wet hair angrily and the top of his shirt was wet as well. It was obvious, the other kid had just gotten a swirly. Neil knew that look, he'd been there before 

Suddenly the kid looked up and locked eyes with Neil. Neil looked away and the boy grabbed his backpack and pushed past Neil in a hurry, looking down. Neil recognized him. He saw that boy every day in Chemistry. He didn't talk or even look at anyone, but he was the only one in the class who got almost perfect test scores 

Neil made his way to one of the stalls and thought about the boy more as he quietly ate his lunch. Yeah, he saw that kid before. Never noticed him until now. What was his name? He couldn't think of it, nobody really knew him. Neil only saw him in the back of class and sometimes going to 3rd period, sticking to the walls, hugging his books as tight as he could to his chest and always looking down 

Maybe he was in the same boat as himself. Neil was going to talk to him next class. Even if it made him uncomfortable, he thought that everyone needed a friend 

The lunch bell rang and he put his stuff up and quickly checked himself in the mirror. A little rough around the edges, but there was no fixing that. He shrugged it off and opened the bathroom door and blended in with the big crowd of teenagers rushing around to get to their lockers and next classes 

Great, his locker was now blocked by some jocks. The only people he hated more than Billy and his group of punks. He walked slowly up to the area where his locker was. One of the jocks noticed Neil and realized he was in his way 

"Sorry Neil" He said and took a step to the left and leaned back on a different locker 

Neil stood there confused again. How did that guy know his name? 'Oh yeah, everyone knows me' Neil thought to himself and shook the thought away and grabbed his science book from his locked and walked to his class 

The first thing he did was look for that boy. Sure enough, he was sitting in the back, looking down at paper to avoid everyone 

"Class, we're doing a lab. I've already paired you up. Everyone come up to the board and i'll place you at the tables with your partner" The teacher walked into the room. A short bald guy wearing glasses. His name was Mr. Gordon, and everyone loved him 

After a few people were sat, Mr. Gordon pointed to a table in the back of the room. "Mr. Tennant and Mr. Smith" He didn't look up, he continued down the list of partners 

Neil sat down quickly, waiting to see who his lab partner would be. He was so focused on looking at the teacher, he didn't realize his partner was already sitting next to him. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and realized someone was next to him. He looked over his shoulder to see who, and sitting next to him was the boy from the bathroom 

"You" Neil managed to whisper, looking directly at the kid. He didn't look at Neil for a while, but slowly turned his head. His eyebrows wrinkled upon seeing Neil 

Neil licked his lips and looked away. He could feel the tension beginning to stir around the two of them. He looked up once and the boy continued to stare at him 

"Um, why were you wet in the bathroom?" Neil blurted out and instantly started kicking himself mentally. He couldn't believe he said that. But nobody was paying attention 

"Swimming" The boy replied with a smirk and Neil had to cover his mouth so he wouldn't laugh. He didn't want to be rude 

"Fall in or were you pushed?" Someone grabbed the boy's shoulders from behind and held him down so he couldn't stand up. Neil only stared up at the guy 

"Look at the nerds sitting together. Real cute" The guy smiled at both of them and winked 

"Shove it Robbie" The boy rolled his eyes and winced when the guy squeezed his shoulders 

"Better watch that mouth Curt" He whispered and pushed him forward and walked away 

"That's Robbie Smith. Don't pay attention to him, he's just a punk" the boy scoffed and rubbed one of his shoulders as he spoke to Neil 

"Your name's Curt?" Neil changed the subject 

The boy nodded and looked away from Neil, just as someone walked in late. It was the jock that was standing in front of Neil's locker. Neil never noticed him in the class before 

"Since you want to be late Orzabal, you can work by yourself" Mr. Gordon said as he gave him a tardy slip and the jock sat down at an empty table and crossed his arms with a huff 

The teacher looked at the clock. "The directions are on your table. If there's an emergency, come see me. You know the drill. You may begin"