unlucky (newtmas)

1

"Morning," Newt, with his ever-present bubbly grin, greeted as he sat down beside me Monday during Physics.

"It's not a good morning," I answered. Grumpily, as always. I shied away as Newt took his usual seat, avoiding his eyes and ultimately wishing I was just about anywhere else. Putting my head down, body angled away from him, I basically shut down the conversation before he could pursue it any further.

Of course, that hadn't stopped him any other morning this year.

"Never said it was a good morning," Newt replied, voice laced in amusement. He leaned forward, whispering next to my ear conspiratorially, "I believe I just said, 'morning'."

I hummed at that--though I had to admit, I was more than a little confused as to why he was even talking to me at all. Yes, we went through a similar routine every day--a greeting, a snide comment, another chirpy response. But as of yesterday--well, I wasn't exactly the school's favorite person. Most people were going out of their way to avoid me, actually. Everyone but Newt, it seemed.

I probably shouldn't have cheated on the most popular girl at school--Alexis. I possibly shouldn't have cheated on her with a boy. I definitely shouldn't have posted about it on social media.

I made a few mistakes. I was well aware of that fact. But to have the whole school suddenly turn their back on me because of that?--it made me even more surly than usual.

"Oh, shoot," Newt cursed softly beside me. The profanity, if you could even call it that, was enough to get me to raise my head from my hands. It was the closest I had ever heard him come to properly swearing.

His lips were pursed and there was a deep, uncharacteristic frown on his face as he looked down at his notebook. It took me a moment to realize he had spilled his coffee across his desk, effectively ruining the papers now dripping with brown blots.

He sighed, pulled some tissues from his backpack, and began to wipe away what he could. Even I could tell there wasn't much he was going to be able to salvage--which really sucked considering how furiously the poor kid always took notes. He glanced up and noticed me watching, so he smiled softly.

"Guess it's time for a new notebook, huh?" Newt laughed as he crumpled up the tissue. I was almost surprised by how well he took the spill until I remembered that this was probably the most unlucky kid in the grade--if not the entire world--sat beside me. Everyone new Newt for one thing: his luckless life. He was probably quite used to mishaps like this.

I didn't answer, so Newt returned to his work of cleaning up his desk. By the time he had finished, the bell had rung and class had begun.

"Thomas?" Newt whispered as our teacher, Miss Jane, immediately began teaching. "Do you have a piece of paper I could borrow?"

I spared him half a glance and was just about to tell him to fuck off when my stomach twisted uncomfortably. For god's sake, I pitied the poor kid and I wasn't even completely sure why. His eyes were wide and pleading, and his fingers were thumbing together almost nervously. The fucking nerd was probably going out of his mind, sitting there with nothing to take notes on.

With an over exaggerated, loud sigh, I turned to my backpack and looked for a piece of paper. Because I'm petty, I took my sweet old time, knowingly making Newt more and more fidgety. When I finally sat back up to hand him the piece of (slightly crumpled) paper, he looked on the verge of exploding. He took it with a grateful smile that made me feel slightly uncomfortable and immediately began to scribble down whatever it was Ms. Jane was saying.

As I returned to my usual position in this class--head down, shoulders hunched--I heard a vague whisper from behind me, "Are you giving out handouts to all the fags in this school now, Thomas?"

I immediately straightened in my seat, turning around to glare at the kid behind me. I wasn't surprised to see Finn Johnson smirking at me, arms crossed over his chest victoriously.

"Jealous, Johnson?" I asked the asshole.

Finn rolled his eyes. "Of that fag? Not at all. I just figured with your latest track record you'd be passing out STD's rather than pieces of paper."

I bristled, but as I opened my mouth to defend myself, Newt spoke up beside me.

"Just ignore him, Thomas," he said, and I turned to see him with his eyes trained on his paper. It looked like he wasn't even paying attention to our conversation, save for the way his hand had stilled as he scrawled out complicated formulas.

"Newton! Is there something so important that you feel it's necessary to speak during my class?" Miss Jane interrupted the tension spiraling between the three of us. I turned abruptly, undoubtedly surprised as she targeted Newt of all people. Newt's eyes widened like he wasn't used to being scolded, and he shook his head slowly, numbly. My eyes narrowed but I didn't defend him--it was just his luck to be a target when he had done absolutely nothing wrong.

Finn snickered behind me, muttering something stupid about defending my boyfriend. I was just about ready to turn around and punch him when Newt glanced over and offered me a small, reassuring smile. I didn't smile back, mostly because I was confused; what type of person comforts others when they're the one being harassed? He turned back to face the front of the room, seemingly unaffected at all. Behind me, Finn looked at him and grinned wickedly.