Gabe's eyes pondered about the familiar classroom, almost impatiently. His homeroom teacher had announced a new student to be joining their classroom today, but Gabe had assumed it was nothing too special besides the 10 minute delay before class to start. He, for some reason, had an anxious feeling settled in his stomach. Why? He wasn't sure. But he tried his best to ignore it.
The faint sound of a locker rattled outside the classroom walls. It was probably the new student taking their good old time to become acquainted with the new surroundings they had to endure. Gabriel sighed and rested his face in his palm, tapping the side of his desk in boredom. He wasn't complaining about class not starting yet. He just didn't really like being at school.
Suddenly everyones attention turned to the door as the handle began to twist. Almost forgetting the strange feeling of anxiousness in his stomach, he lifted his head and stared at the door too.
The teacher became aware of the student entering the classroom as well, and abruptly stood up waiting to welcome them.
The new student hesitantly walked through the door, obviously hating all of the attention he was receiving. What made the situation more strange was that he had made direct eye contact with Gabe after entering the classroom, holding it until Gabe looked away. Gabe felt even more strange than he had before but still didn't understand why. He could still feel the new kid staring at him with a sort of slight interest and he quickly dug his face in his hands. After what seemed like an eternity of silence and awkward confused stares around the room, the teacher cleared her throat.
The new kid snapped his attention from Gabe to the woman standing near him, casually, is if it didn't happen. Gabe uttered a sigh of relief and slowly lifted his head again. He began observing the mysterious person before him.
His clean and plain attire, red skinny jeans with a jacket zipped up midway to his chest that had clearly seen better days; Which also revealed beneath what looked like a band shirt, but Gabe was unable to recognize the unique font. The slight wear and tear around his shoes had shown he was a frequent skateboarder. And his hair was teased thoughtfully, pulled back to allow visibility with a strangely styled headband.
What stood out about him was not so much of his unusually white hair, but his crimson red eyes.
Gabe made note of his unimpressed posture. Perhaps he wasn't all that excited about school either.
"Alright class, I'd like you to welcome our new student. He has just recently moved, changing school districts and obviously resulting here."
She whispered something to him that sounded like 'please introduce yourself,' and he boldly fixed his posture appearing more intimidating.
"Okay, so. I'm Soul..?"
He looked at the woman still standing beside him, who in return ushered him to continue.
He sighed and slumped back into his unimpressed posture.
He fixated his eyes on Gabe again, never seeming to take in enough of his presence. Gabe hadn't really seen Soul's face, but when he did.
Oh my god.
Gabriel felt his face turn red, and he swore he saw Soul smirk, revealing a set of razor sharp teeth. He began to speak again.
"I'm a pretty cool guy, and I look forward to sharing class with you guys."
The woman told him he may be seated now, but to much of Gabe's dismay, Soul took a seat in the back of the room rather instead of beside him.
For the rest of the class, Gabe could feel Soul restlessly observing him. Occasionally glancing back at Soul, Gabe would catch him off guard. But Soul would quickly look away, not hiding the fact that he had too been staring at Gabe all that well.
The final bell rang. Mobs of teens poured out into the hallways but cleared rather quickly. Gabriel walked slowly to his locker, unaware that Soul's presence still lingered nearby. He fidgeted with the lock before the door creaked open and gave light to a messy shelf full of books and well overdue assignments.
Gabe put a few things inside of his locker and closed the door carefully as if in mid-thought. He turned around absent mindedly, almost walking straight into Soul.
He felt himself choke up, unable to talk or move. Gabe hadn't realized he took a few steps backward, and his back met the rows of lockers.
Soul rested his hand on a locker beside Gabe's head, leaning in a lot closer than Gabe would have expected.
Soul had a casual, cool approach that in Gabe's mind was attractive, and it made Gabe choke up about 10x more. He couldn't breathe and his lungs ached from the lack of air they should had been receiving.
Soul leaned in a little more, almost nose to nose with Gabe. He used his other hand and lifted Gabe's chin as if telling him to look him in the eyes. Still, Gabriel refused.
Soul smiled this time, revealing all of sharp white teeth. Before Gabe knew how to react, Soul put one arm around him, pulling him closer.
Gabe realized how much more taller Soul was than him. Soul moved his other hand away from the locker and slid something in Gabe's pocket.
Before pulling away, Soul brushed his lips against Gabe's quickly.
Gabe didn't know how to feel. It was all too soon and happened a lot faster than he had anticipated.
He stood there shocked and watched Soul walk down the hallway and then turn, causing him to be out of sight.
He almost forgot Soul had slid something in his pocket, and he reached his trembling hand inside to grab it.
He unraveled a piece of paper that had a number quickly jotted down inside. That was it. Not even a name. But Gabe knew who's number it belonged to so it didn't really matter. He stared at the paper in disbelief and made his way out of the building.
