Two Player Game

~Chapter One~

"Dear, Evan Hansen." The boy scribbles lightly in his notebook, looping, graceful handwriting covering the page.

"Today is going to be a good day, because today, you're gonna make it. You're gonna- you're gonna survive high school, you're gonna survive life, you're gonna survive today and it's gonna be because you're strong and you're you ... But also because you're not going to stutter when you talk because when you do, it weirds people out, like jeez, what's with this guy, can't he talk right? Except you're going to talk right so that's no reason you should've brought it up anyway, you'll be fine." He takes a deep breath. There's a knock on his bedroom door.

"Honey, you ready for school?"

Even snaps his head up. "Yep, just, uh, just gotta put on my shoes!" He says, abandoning his letter and slipping his shoes on.

His mom opens his door with a warm smile, "Have you  been writing letters to yourself?" you can tell she heard him talking to himself.

"Uh, yeah. Yep. Just finished one actually." He doesn't know why she asked, of course she heard him.

"That's good! Those letters are gonna help you build your confidence!!" She's a little too excited about it. She's just excited that her little boy is trying.

"Sure they are."

She huffs. "C'mon, I made breakfast! Bacon and Eggs, your favourite."

"Great. Thanks." He winces at his own voice. That was much too monotone, it didn't sound sincere to him, maybe he hurt her feelings. He didn't mean too. It doesn't seem like it, seeing as how she still has a big smile on her face. She kisses his forehead and heads downstairs. Even sighs in relief as he follows her. Survival is gonna be a lot harder than it seemed.

After Even eats, he's out the door and on his way to the bus. "Have a good day honey!" his mom yells to him. He waves and tries not to make eye contact with anyone afterwards. He hates this. The only seat left on said bus is next to Jared Kleinman. He shuffles over and sits next to him, scratching at his cast. He stays quiet.

Jared doesn't bother him until he notices his cast. "What happened to your arm? First person in history to break their arm jacking off?"

"N-No! I ... Fell out of a tree." He mumbles the last bit.

"You what?" He chuckles lightly. "What are you, an acorn?"

"No, I-I worked as a ranger this summer and I know a lot about trees, so now I'm like - Like a tree expert, and I was climbing one - and I fell."

"Huh. Not as exciting when you put it that way."

"Does it really need to be exiting though, Jared?"

"I guess not, Acorn." He smiles as he leans his head against the window and closes his eyes.

"... D ... Do you wanna sign my cast?"

"I'll do it for Twenty bucks."

"What? No!"

"Fine then."

"Why would I pay you to sign my cast anyway?"

Jared Shrugs. "Some people are just that desperate."

"You- You thought I was desperate?"

"No, I wanted to see if you were."

"Oh..."

They arrive at school shortly after their conversation had ended. Once they got into school, Evan doesn't see Jared again until the next day. Once again on the bus, Evan sits down and you can practically see the stars in his eyes. Today on bus, Jared doesn't show up. After school band practice. Evan NEEDS to tell someone about this though, so he texts him.

E: [Jared, the most amazing thing happened today. I need to tell you about it.]

J: [Why? And how did you get my number??]

E: [You gave it to me? Never mind, I talked to Zoe today! And She didn't think my falling out of a tree story was stupid!]

J: [ok? Good for you? Did she sign your cast?]

E: [Well no, but she did tell me I should come to the next jazz band concert and that she'd love to see me there and I think that means she wants to see me more often and that's great!!!!!]

J: [You're gonna hear some mean trombone if you come to our next Jazz Band concert. By yours truly.]

E: [Sure I will. But I've got to say somethin' to her if I do, I just have to.]

J: [Well good luck with that Buddy.]

He called him BUDDY. Evan sees this and stops. He can't tell what this means. Are they friends?? For real?? Is he looking too far into this??

E: [Thanks friend.]

J: [Correction: Family Friend.]

E: [Right, sorry.]

He was over analyzing. Cool. Jared doesn't text him back after that.In all his furious texting Evan hadn't realized he had someone sitting next to him, hood up, headphones on, sweats, the whole shebang.

He receives a text, scoffs, and send another. Evan doesn't know if he can even start a conversation, but he does it for him.

"What'd you do to your arm?"

"... I uh ... I feel out of a tree."

"... Well isn't that the saddest ducking thing I've ever heard... Anyone sign it?"

"Well, I mean, one person, but he signed really small on my palm here and he tried to charge me twenty bucks and-"

"Gimme a pen. I'll sign it." Connor signs all the way across, taking up as much space as possible.

"There."

"Thanks..."

"I mean, if no one signed it today, who was really gonna sign it later? Now it's like people signed all over that area and we can both pretend we've got friends."

"...Thanks."

As he comes to his stop he crushes a piece of paper into Evan's casted hand along with his pen.

"In case you want to pretend you've got friends any other time." Evan is astonished. He stares with wide eyes as Conner exits the bus. He frantically unfolds the paper to find a phone number. He's.... So amazed.

E: [JARED!!!!!!!!!]

Jared doesn't text him back until later.

J: [What.]

E: [Okay, you know Zoe's brother?? He gave me his number?? And signed???? My cast???????]

J: [Connor? The guy with the long hair? Very school shooter sheik.]

E: [Sure, but you're missing the point. Phone number. Cast signing.]

J: [oh. So he wants to be your boyfriend]

E: [???????????]

J: [Well the signs are all there. I just didn't expect it to be Connor]

E: [this is news to me??? I don't know how this sorta thing works???]

J: [We'll talk more tomorrow]

E: [Yes please]