i will not be a goner // tøp

2 | -.. . ..-. . .- -

As I enter homeroom to take my usual seat at the back, I hear my name being called.

"Tyler Joseph? Can you come up here please?" My homeroom teacher stares at me, and I feel his gaze follow me as I slowly shuffle up to his desk. Everyone else in the classroom is too busy chatting to take any notice of what I'm doing.

"The principal has asked that I choose a student from my class to help a new kid today settle in. Just to show them around, have a friendly face in the crowd, you know. You seem like a good kid. He's currently in the office getting his timetable and locker space, but if you could just head over to the office now, and meet him when bell goes for first period?"

I just awkwardly nod, and he smiles. "Good. Off you go."

I head to the office, wondering why my homeroom teacher picked me out of all his students. I mean, I'm not exceptionally kind, or amazingly outgoing. I'm just... average kind. Less than average outgoing. I wonder what he could see in me.

When I reach the office, the principal grins at me widely. "Ah, you must be Tyler! This is Josh."

A boy with bright blue hair and deep brown eyes smiles shyly at me.

I smile shyly back.

--

"So since we're being forced to be friends, do you want to sit with me for lunch?" I suggest as we make our way to the cafeteria, and Josh grins.

"If that's all okay with you!" Josh beams, his smile comparing to a ray of sunshine.

I realise quickly that Josh seems like quite a sweet guy. I'm almost annoyed; I had been hoping that he'd be a dick or something and I could go back to having no friends at all. He would go hang out with all the other boys in my grade and I would be lonely yet again. But maybe it would be nice to have one friend for a change. One that wasn't a part of my family.

"Uh, my brother might show up at some point. He sits with me a lot of the time," I explain and Josh nods understandingly, "Since I don't have a lot of friends." I wince at the statement. I've probably left the worst first impression on Josh: a shy, lonely kid with a weird haircut and no friends.

"Nah, that's okay. The more the merrier, right?"

I smile. "Right."

I push open the door and we both look around the massive cafeteria, buzzing with students all eating and gossiping about something or other. I'm not very well caught up on the gossip in this school, so I couldn't really tell Josh the 'critical new high school information' that new people should know - like who's dating who, who to avoid in the hallways, or where the next big party is. I really wasn't the best person to take a new student around the school.

"Let's just get our food and sit there," I point to an empty table at the far end of the hall.

After collecting our trays of food and taking a seat at the spare table, Josh asks me a question.

"So, tell me about yourself."

I frown, a little confused. Josh waits expectantly for an answer, his chocolate eyes full of some unknown emotion. What am I meant to say to his eyes that expect so much of someone who has so little?

"My name's Tyler Joseph. I'm sixteen. I live with my mum and my brother. I share a room with him, actually. He's like most siblings, I expect. Annoying and rude, so much so he's almost scary, but I'm pretty sure he loves me," I chuckle a bit at my sarcastic statement, but Josh ushers me to continue.

"My mum's nice and loves me a lot. She's working a fair bit, but she's doing the best she can for a single parent. I like music and I hope to maybe write my own songs professionally one day. It's a stupid idea, but a kid can dream."

Josh nods gently as he processes my words, a hint of a smile at his lips. I study his expression. It is quite different to have someone I hardly know respond to my words. I can't predict his thoughts like I can with my family, who I knew so well. I wasn't sure whether I was even comfortable with it.

"So, what about you?" I bob my head towards him, gesturing for him to speak.

He scratches his head, thinking for a second before he speaks. "Well, I'm Joshua Dun. I'm also sixteen, and I was born here - in Columbus, Ohio. When I was thirteen, my sister was diagnosed with a heart condition, and so we moved out to Los Angeles for two and a half years to get access better hospitals. But she's all better now, and I'm back to my hometown. I missed it a lot, it's like a comfort to me. The high school I attended here shut down, so I had to go here instead. I was only at that school for a year before LA though, so I didn't get too attached. I enjoy drumming and carnivals-"

"Carnivals?"

"I like the rides. Oh, and the fairy floss!" Josh giggles a little, his eyes squinted and his smile widening.

"Fairy floss reminds me of your hair," I point out his bright blue hair, in which I could see dark brown roots near the scalp now I looked closer.

"I'm taking that as a compliment, because I like fairy floss." He pauses for a bit, probably not really sure what to say. "I don't know exactly what I want to do later in life, I'll probably just take up something that earns a reasonable wage. Anyways, that's me."

I give him a sideways glance, with the first real genuine smile I've had on my face for a while. "I'm glad that you're here."

Josh is still grinning, with those squinty, shining eyes. "I'm pretty glad I'm here too, Tyler."