✯ 𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 (𝚝𝚢𝚛𝚞𝚜) ✯

001

The rewritten version (:
A little shorter than the original so I'll try not to shorten all of the chapters too much.

I changed their age from 13 to 15/16

♡ ♡ ♡

-Tj-

The schedule bell rang as I pulled my folder out of my bag.

My teacher happily yells "Okay!" To get the attention of the class. "We have a new student in our class today. It's his first day at this school so let's make him feel welcome"
She motions to a boy standing next to her. He has dark eyes, dark hair, black jeans and a black oversized hoodie.

I can already sense that some of our classmates are going to make jokes.

"Introduce yourself to the class, sweetheart. Where are you from?" Mrs. Anderson said.

He rolled his eyes. She didn't notice.
"My name is Cyrus," he said "I'm from Landen."

Landen?
Landen is a horrible town to live in. People are killed there everyday. The residents fearfully watch cars drive down the street.

This kid - Cyrus, has warm eyes, but he looks angry. I understand why. I can tell how harshly he's going to be judged by everybody.

"You see that ray of sunshine?" Mrs. Anderson said as she pointed at me. "You'll be sitting right next to him."

Ugh.

Cyrus and I made eye contact briefly before he darted his eyes to the floor and walked in my direction and sat down in the seat beside mine.

Tranferring to a new school mid-year in 10th grade is probably very hard. Maybe I can make conversation?

"Hi," I started. "My name is Tj"

"Cyrus," he said flatly, fidgeting with his sleeve and avoiding eye contact.

Maybe I should give him space.
I wonder how small he is under his hoodie, and why he's wearing it in such warm weather.

"Cyrus, what were you learning about in your history class before you moved here?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

He shrugged.

She cleared her throat and maintained a polite smile.
"We're learning about the Red Scare. Do you know what that is?"

Cyrus' eyes darted to her and back at his sleeve before he quietly spoke.
"America not minding their business."

I cracked a smile.

"Well, uh," she chuckled. "We can get into that debate later."

No, we won't.

"Today we're actually watching a video about the red scare and we will have a question sheet for you all to answer as we follow along with the video," she says as she passes out question sheets.

"Last week we finished learning about Alexander Hamilton, Cyrus. Did you learn about him?" She asked as she makes her way around the room.

"Yep," he replied so quietly I'm surprised she even heard.

"Tj, help Cyrus if he needs it, okay?" She whispers in my ear. "I think you two are going to be great friends."

God.

Cyrus and I made brief eye contact again.
It's already so awkward just being near him. I'm not a mind reader but I'm sure he has no interest in being my friend either.

Before the video started, Cyrus was already writing on his paper.

Dylan tapped my back. "Is he already answering questions?"

"Uh huh," I said.

"Someone from Landen has a brain?" He joked.
I hope Cyrus didn't hear.

"Cy," Dylan called.
Oh god.
Cyrus's eyes shifted to Dylan.

"Give me the answers" he joked. Cyrus ignored him and kept writing.

"Is he deaf?" Josh asked Dylan.

"No," Cyrus said as he wrote.

I smiled at Josh. "You're so stupid."

"Boys," Anderson said. "Lets focus on the video now."

As the video played I noticed my eyes kept darting to Cyrus. He seems cold. Smart but cold. A bit intimidating maybe. I've never felt intimidated by someone with puppy eyes.