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REMAIN CLOSE BUT STAY AWAY

--Josh's P.O.V--

School wasn't originally as terrifying as I thought it was going to be little over a month ago. I was starting to adjust to the new environment and I was also getting more comfortable around Jenna's friends. I wasn't comfortable with them enough yet to start hanging out with them outside of school, but I was able to talk to them without much problem at the lunch table.

Jenna, Tyler, and I were present at almost every hockey game that took place at Oakville. I was actually starting to find the sport interesting, which was very abnormal for me. I was not a sports person. However, hockey seemed to be the exception to the rule.

Tyler even asked me if I was interested in trying out for the team. He said I had the right build for it, but I wasn't interested in playing. Besides, the entire hockey team wasn't the nicest. I never had any altercations with any of them in the entire month I had been at Oakville, but I knew how they acted and how they were. They thought they were better than everyone else and treated everyone else like they were a bug on the bottom of their shoe.

I did not want to be a part of that group.

Music was my thing anyway. I preferred drumming any day over playing on a sports team. A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to find out that Tyler too was involved in music. He played multiple instruments and he could sing pretty well.

I was curious to know if he ever thought about starting a band, but he quickly told me that he couldn't even if he wanted to. He said he needed to focus on basketball because he was relying on sports scholarships to get into college. Jenna told me a different story when we were walking home together that same day. Tyler really didn't care about college or scholarships. He was just afraid to start a band because of his parents.

Apparently, his parents didn't agree with the music path he wanted to take. They wanted him to play in the NBA when he was older. The NBA, in my opinion, did not suit Tyler Joseph.

I was a bit bummed that Tyler didn't want to start a band with me, but I quickly got over it. I knew that someday I would find someone who wanted me to be their drummer. I was not giving up on my dream that easily.

"Hey, Josh, I'll meet you at the table. I need to warm up my lunch in the microwave first."

I turned my head towards Jenna and nodded, watching her as she started off towards the microwave at a first pace. I quickly got in the lunch line, my stomach starting to rumble. For some reason, tenderloin day always triggered something inside my stomach that made it extra hungry.

I bent down and grabbed a red tray off of the cart beside me, glad that they still had plenty of tenderloins left. I grabbed two along with a banana muffin and some yogurt before sitting them down on my tray and turning towards the fridge that held the drinks.

My hand wrapped around the handle and pulled the door open, grabbing a hold of my usual bottle of apple juice.

I stepped back from the fridge that housed the drinks and as I did, I felt my body knock into someone else's. "I am so so sorry," were the first words that came out of my mouth. When I turned, I was shocked to see who I bumped into.

Declan Gray opened his mouth to say something, but Parker Axton nudged his shoulder, causing him to close his mouth. However, he quickly opened it back up.

"Watch where you're going, you redheaded freak," he hissed, roughly shoving me aside with his shoulder. Although I was quite a bit taller than him, he caused me to stumble back slightly.

Parker Axton chuckled, following after his all-star player. I watched warily as he clamped his hand onto the shorter boy's shoulder, a smile on his face. "Good job, Gray. You showed him who was in charge."

Declan shoved the dark haired boy's hand off of him before muttering a "whatever," under his breath. The brown-haired boy stormed off towards the hockey team's table, only buying a bottle of water and some fruit snacks, much to Parker's dismay, who was demanding that Declan ate some sort of protein before the big game.

A heavy sigh left my lungs as I paid for my food and made my way towards Jenna's table. As I was passing the hockey team's table, I saw Parker throw a cheeseburger in front of a brooding Declan. He didn't even look up until Parker almost shoved him out of his chair.

I pulled my chair out from under the table and sat down. The first thing I noticed was that there was a girl that I had never seen before next to Tyler. She had short blue hair.

Jenna cleared her throat. "Josh, this is Hayley. She'll be sitting with us today."

"Hey," she said, sending me a kind smile. "It's nice to meet you, Josh."

"You too," I mumbled, beginning to eat my lunch.

Ezgi was the next one to speak. "It seems like there is conflict in the hockey team today or something." She nodded her head towards their table.

"Yeah, the little guy looked extremely pissed when he sat down," Ambrosia added. "He slammed his textbooks down hard enough that six or seven tables turned to look at him."

"He's probably just having a bad day," Carter protested, sending a sympathetic look in Hayley's direction. I was surprised to see that her knuckles were white from clutching into the table.

Nickolai looked from his current book that he was reading. "Here's a thought. Why do we care about his attitude? I thought we all agreed that they were assholes."

"Nickolai, that is enough," Jenna remarked, but she was too late. Hayley was already out of her seat and making her way towards the hockey team. We all watched as she said something to Declan Gray before grabbing onto his arm and pulling him out of his seat.

All the hockey players whistled as they walked away. "Go get some, Gray!"

A disgusted sound left my throat from their behavior as I turned back to my table. "I didn't mean to upset her," Nickolai insisted. "I forgot!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Forgot what?"

Tyler sighed, turning his head to look at me. "Hayley is Declan's girlfriend. They have been dating pretty much since Declan moved here."

"And she can't stand it when anybody talks bad about him," Carter added.

"Well," Ambrosia began, "none of us like him, so it's kinda hard not to say anything bad about him or the hockey team."

"None of you guys saw what happened with Josh in the lunch line." My head perked up as Ezgi mentioned my name. "He accidently dumped into Declan and Declan ended up calling him a redheaded freak."

"See!" Nickolai exclaimed. "He isn't nice!"

Jenna sighed next to me, resting her hand on my arm. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't think you are a redheaded freak."

A small smile appeared on my features.

"Jenna Black, you are the only person who has ever told me that and meant it."

A/N: i'm on a roll with updating tonight. it's great.

-L.A

calm down // josh dunWhere stories live. Discover now