New - (boyxboy)

Chapter 1 - New

"New Year, New Slate, New Hair, New You," Will murmured to himself like a mantra as he fixed his new hair in his bathroom mirror.

The day after he'd gone at his hair with the pair of scissors, Will decided to go to the hairdresser's. Starting his last year of high school looking like a mess was probably not a good idea. Will had sat down in the chair, reluctant to take off the beanie that was hiding the complete train wreck underneath. Sure, most of the weight had been lifted off his shoulders but that offered little consolation to what he'd done to his hair.

There were two things he'd learnt he should never do, never get carried away doing anything and never cut anyone's hair. Ever.

After the hairdresser had finally gotten the beanie off his head, she had gasped in shock before breaking out into giggles. "Cut your hair in the dark, did you?" she'd asked through her laughter, causing Will to blush bright red in embarrassment. She began cutting away, actually knowing what she was doing, as Will sat looking around him through the reflection of the mirror. As he looked in the reflection, something caught his eye.

On the wall behind him, covered in hair ads showing different styles and colours, one in particular stood out. One with a model with dark red hair. But it wasn't just the hair that got Will's attention. Underneath the model's head was the caption, in bold white block letters, "NEW SLATE." It was like a "sign from the universe", meant just for Will, and he couldn't just ignore it. Will stopped the hairdresser, asking her to do one more thing for him. Two hours later and Will was returning home, his hair no longer a train wreck, but rather perfectly styled and all dyed a deep, rich red.

After getting home, Will had decided to finally turn his life back around, to try and turn over a new leaf, start the school year with a new slate and not be the pathetic mess he'd been two days earlier. Well, the last four months, to be honest. He'd come up with that mantra, "New Year, New Slate, New Hair, New You," to get him through, to remind himself to push on forward.

Now it was the first day of school, an hour or so before class started. Will was growling at an errant piece of hair that wouldn't co-operate when his phone began to ring out. Will huffed in annoyance, leaving the piece sticking out as he went to his bedroom to answer his phone.

"Hey Liv," Will said as he answered it, walking to the mirror in his room to continue fixing his hair.

"How'd you know it was me?" Will's best friend, Olivia Monaghan, replied as she waited for her nail polish to dry. Liv was a bit loopy and out-there, but her and Will always had heaps of fun together.

"Lucky guess?" Will responded, smiling proudly after getting the piece of hair to finally co-operate.

"You gave me another personalised ringtone again, didn't you?" Liv asked, glaring at him, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "What is it this time?" she questioned after Will begrudgingly admitted the truth.

"Crazy by Gnarls Barkley," Will responded, holding the phone between his ear and shoulder as he tried to put on the long grey socks of his school uniform.

"Dude, seriously? I'm not that crazy!" Liv yelled through the phone, causing Will to wince at the pain it caused his eardrums. "Sorry, that was a little loud," Liv apologised, much quieter this time, before repeating, "I'm not that crazy."

"Yes, you are. Remember the time you nicked your neighbour's garden gnome and mailed her photoshopped photos of the gnome in other countries?" Will replied as he tied up the laces of his black school shoes. The gnome, which Liv had named Bongo, was safely returned to Mrs. Pieters a year after going missing.

"Mrs Pieters said she quite enjoyed the adventures Bongo had, thank you very much!" Liv exclaimed, before sighing dramatically. "Yeah, I'm crazy." Will rolled his eyes, stuffing all his new school supplies into his school bag.