Summer Is A Curse (Josh Raven / Stephen Beerkens)

Chapter Two

Josh's POV

The first thing I notice when I walk through the gates of my new school is how old the buildings look, almost as though they could collapse at any moment if someone stomped off too angrily and shook the floor even the slightest. The second thing I notice is the boy with brown curly hair holding a sheet of poorly-laminated A3 paper with "JOSHUA RAVEN" written on it in black Sharpie. Sighing, I walk over to him, head hanging low.

"Hey," The boy says to me. "You must be Joshua."

"It's just Josh, but yeah." I reply blandly.

"Great, Just Josh," He smiles at me and I roll my eyes. After a moment, he seems to snap out of a trance.

"I'm Michael Bono." He holds his hand out and I shake it, not wanting to be too rude. He hands me a small piece of paper with a graph on it. It's my timetable for the semester. Then he pulls another sheet of paper out from his back pocket and shows it to me. His timetable is almost exactly the same as mine.

Great, I have to spend the rest of the semester with this guy.

"Thanks for showing me around." I say, looking up at him slightly.

"I haven't shown you anything yet, and there's no need to thank me!" Michael says, grinning a little. "Okay get your mind out of the gutter, Bird Boy, you know what I meant."

"Bird Boy?" I question, laughing a little at the name.

"Yeah," He says like it's crystal clear. "Your last name's Raven, a raven is a bird, so your nickname, obviously, is Bird Boy."

"At least it's not Bird Brain." I chuckle. To my surprise, he laughs as well, looking into my eyes for a moment.

"Anyway, I should probably start the tour, shouldn't I?" Michael says, breaking the silence.

"Uh, yeah, probably," I reply. "But haven't we got class soon?"

"Nah, we get out of classes today 'cause you're new and I have to show you the ropes." He replies.

"'Show me the ropes?'" I question.

"Yeah, like in Troye's song?" He says and starts humming a tune I recognise. "But like not... about, like... love... and uh, stuff... yeah." He adds quickly.

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that since we just met." I say.

"Yeah, and plus, you're probably straight anyway so the whole 'love' thing wouldn't really work out," He smirks and glances over at me, and I find myself staring. "What?"

"Did you just assume my sexuality?" I reply sarcastically. "Geez, Michael, I thought you were better than that."

"Wait, you're gay?" He asks, almost seeming hopeful.

"Uh, yeah." I reply, fidgeting with the cross around my neck.

"Cool, me too," He says, swinging his arm around my shoulders. "At least there's one thing we have in common."

"And taste in music." I add. He looks at me curiously, pulling his arm away. "Troye Sivan? You mentioned a line in one of his songs like, two minutes ago, not even."

"Oh! Okay, cool," He says. "Anyway, we should probably start the tour or I won't get to show you everywhere."

"Yeah, probably." I reply. He looks over at me and stares into my eyes for a minute. "What?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing," He says, snapping back to reality. "Let's get going."

And as we start the tour of the school, I can't help but wonder what he found so intriguing about my eyes.

Michael's POV

A/N I'm just going to write the first bit as he walks into school and sees Josh cuz I don't wanna have to rewrite all that conversation :))

When I get to school, I go straight to the front office to get some stuff for the new kid. I walk into the office and I'm greeted by Ms Jackson who leads me into her office.

"Okay, Michael," She says calmly. "Here's a poster for you to hold up so he sees you and, hopefully, knows who to go to, and here's his timetable. It's basically the same as yours, except he has French when you have art. Oh, make sure he knows that if he wants to change any of his classes he has to let me know before the end of week 2 or it can't be changed."

"Thanks Ms Jackson," I reply. "I'll make sure he knows the ins and outs and ups and downs of the school, and I'll be sure to keep him out of trouble."

"Thank you so much again for volunteering to do this." She smiles at me.

"It's all good." I reply, picking up the poster and timetable. I read the name on the poster and say it aloud: "Joshua Raven." Okay, this is too easy, the bird nicknames are endless! But I can't make any jokes about his name. At least, not until we're friends. I thank Ms Jackson again for her help and walk out the door, tensing up when I walk into the corner of an old wooden cupboard trying to get out of someone's way.

Shit, is that blood?

I run down the hall into the bathroom, quickly checking to see if no one else is in there. My bag drops to the floor next to a suspicious puddle and I make a point of placing the poster and timetable up near the sinks so they hopefully won't get wet. I roll up my sleeves, cringing at the sight of an open wound across my elbow.

"Didn't think the cupboard was that sharp," I mutter to myself. "Oh, well."

"Hey," A voice says from the door. I turn around and see my best friend Stephen. "Oh my God, what happened?"

"Nothing, I just ran into something," I reply quickly, trying to get him to leave. "Seriously, it's nothing."

"That is not 'nothing', Michael," He says sternly. He walks over to where I'm standing by the sink and grabs some paper towels, running them under the tap briefly and squeezing out the excess water. "What really happened?"

"I told you the truth, okay?" I sigh. "Look, I'm not like my brother. This was an accident, honestly."

"Pinky swear?" Stephen says, cleaning some of the rapidly drying blood from the wound.

"Really?" Rolling my eyes I reach over and grab some new paper towels.

"Pinky swear?" He says, more serious this time. He holds out his hand, pinky finger stuck out, and I return the gesture, looping my finger with his. "Good." He lets go of my hand.

"Thanks," I smile. "I have to go, I'm supposed to be showing the new kid around. Joshua, I think."

"Have fun with that, mate," He chuckles and throws the towels in the bin. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah," I give him a thumbs up as he walks out of the bathroom. "See you later." I dry the wound and roll my sleeve back down, slinging my bag over my shoulder and grabbing the poster and timetable. I hurry out of the bathroom and run down the corridor to the front of the school where I imagine he'll be arriving.

After a few minutes, I see a vaguely familiar face walk through the gates.

It's the boy I saw from my window.

He appears to see the sign and starts walking towards me.

Crap, is that him? Is that the boy I'm supposed to be with all day? Oh gosh, what am I going to say? Oh geez, he's coming closer. Smile, you idiot!

I take a deep breath in.

"Hey," I say. His head shoots up as he looks me in the eye. I feel my hand start to shake a little but push it away. "You must be Joshua."

"It's just Josh, but yeah." He replies, looking dull.

"Great, Just Josh," I attempt a bit of a joke and smile at him and he rolls his eyes. God, he's adorable when he rolls his eyes. Snap out of it Michael!

How am I supposed to stay calm when Josh Raven is going to be with me all day?