Forgive me father, for I have sinned

chapter one

~

I

t was the early in the morning and mother had just send Jeremiah off to school. She had been in a bit of a mood since father had been out drinking again. Jeremiah had felt sorry for her, she had to endure his drunken behavior while the children were all save and sound, lying in their warm and cozy beds.

School was in sight and Jeremiah straightened his clothes. First impressions mattered, that was just common knowledge. So yes, it was his first day of school and he had been nervous about it for the entire week. Luckily it hadn't resulted in vomiting, father would've called him all sorts of things if that had happened again. Changing situations, and big events had a peculiar effect on him. Jeremiah would've almost said that he was mad if it weren't for the doctor saying it was perfectly normal to get a little sick if something were to change.

He walked into the school as quiet and unnoticeable as possible but it was no use since he was already noticed due to his clumsiness. He just had to trip over the slightly higher pavement that was layed out next to the school. The boys started laughing and the girls giggled. Jeremiah felt sick and so he continued his way on a higher pace.

As he continued on walking he noticed himself getting a little dizzy but he tried to ignore it. He supposed he'll just have to manage since he couldn't be late on a first day of school. Luckily his classroom was already in sight and he could soon sit down and hopefully the dizziness in his head would disappear.

When he walked into the classroom he noticed that he was one of the first people to be there. This was a good thing as he wouldn't have to put up with the awkwardness of walking into a full class. Even tho he wanted to actually learn things, he could get away from that awful place he called his hometown if he managed to pull off school, he decided to not sit at the front anyways. This would've immediately marked him as the 'geek' or 'nerd' of the class. And so he decided to sit somewhere in the middle on the outer corner of the classroom, quite the save spot if he were to say so himself.
People were already starting to pour into the classroom, the tiny room slowly getting filled with more and more noise. The dizziness that had temporarily faded into the back of his head immediately returned and he had to close his eyes for a second to not fall off of his chair there and then.
It seemed that no one was attempting to sit next to him, not that he minded. At least he wouldn't have to worry about seeming weird to his neighbor.
Then the teacher walked in and the door closed behind him, leaving him with an empty seat next to him for the rest of class. He grabbed his paper and pen so he could scribble down notes whilst the teacher was talking about some basic information about the year he was about to start. When he looked around him he noticed that he was one of the only people to actually write down the stuff the teacher said. Jeremiah almost put his pen down but then redeemed himself as he told himself that he wouldn't get away from the place if he were to get low grades.
When half an hour had passed there was suddenly a knock on the classroom door. Jeremiah perked up out of his seat and he turned his head to curiously look at the door.
When the teacher called for the unknown person to come in he slowly watched the door open and a boy walk in. The boy looked about his age and he had a dark brown warm hair color that immediately reminded him of walking in the autumn forests. The boys hair was slightly longer up front so that it fell in front of one of his eyes. Said lock of hair was brushed out of the boys face and this is where Jeremiah decided to look at his face. Jeremiah had to be sure not to drop his mouth wide open. The boys face had a gorgeous bone structure and he couldn't know for sure yet but he thought that his eyes had a certain golden glow to it, but to know that for sure he would have to see his eyes from up close.
The boy was quite toned, and as he turned around, Jeremiah noticed he had quite the ass too. When he noticed that he had been staring at the boys ass for a little too long he shamefully looked down at his paper filled with messily written notes.
The boy was greated by the teacher and shortly after asked why he had been late to class. His reasoning was a soft laugh and a slight shrug of his shoulders as he walked towards the only spot available: next to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah's mind went wild, not able to look up as the boy walked closer and closer towards his table. He heard him sitting down next to him but he was sure he had felt something. Had the boy just slightly brushed his shoulder? No that was just his mind pulling tricks on him.
As the teacher continued his lesson he noticed the boy shifting next to him.

"Hey you"

Was he talking to him? He didn't dare speak, what if he wasn't talking to him? That would be so embarrassing.
But then the boy spoke once again, this time tapping his pencil on his side of the table.
Jeremiah decided to look up and he looked the boy in his eyes. The boy smiled a toothy smile and gave his hand for him to shake. Jeremiah hesitatingly took his hand and shook it lightly.

"I'm Daniel, what's your name?"

It took some time for Jeremiah to respond but after a few seconds he finally managed to spit out his name.
The boy whose name appeared to be Daniel laughed another toothy smile that Jeremiah thought was quite pleasing to look at.

"So... what is a pretty boy like you doing in a town like this?"

Jeremiah was quite shocked to hear this coming out of Daniels mouth. Yes, Daniel did strike him as a bold person but it just wasn't a 'normal' thing to ask. At least, not where they lived that is. Jeremiah wondered if the boy was even from here as he had never heard such comments around here.
Jeremiah realised he still had to reply to Daniels question but he found it hard to do so, not being able to form a proper answer.

"You know, where I come from there's a lot of boys like you. More accepted too at that. Isn't it super hard living here?"

"A boy like me? What are you talking about, I don't quite seem to understand" Jeremiah finally spoke.

Daniel seemed to have formed some sort of opinion about him based on his appearance and he found he didn't like it. Of course there were rumors about him going around, none of them true and all based on what they see because the people spreading them didn't know Jeremiah like he knew himself.

"Oh.. ehm never mind I said anything. It was a rude thing of me to ask you, you know as we just met. Please excuse my behaviour".

Jeremiah saw that Daniel truly was sorry about this very strange questioning. He decided he forgave him as he was, with no doubt, the only person talking to him right now.
Just as Jeremiah wanted to speak to the boy and say he didn't mind his behavior that much and that he had already forgiven him, the bell rang and everybody stood up to hastily leave the classroom. Daniel too stood up and packed his belongings.

"E-ehm what class do you have next?" Jeremiah stammered. He gave his best nervous smile as he waited for an answer. Jeremiah was actually quite desperate to make some friends and even though Daniel was strange, he seemed like a nice enough person to spend a day at school with. Everything was better than having to be alone at school for an entire day.

"Chemistry unfortunately. I was hoping I could drop it but wasn't able to in the end. What class do you have?" he spoke.

"Ah! that's my next class too! Would it be ehm okay for me to sit next to you there too?"

Jeremiah nervously waited for an answer once again and it almost seemed hours had passed when he answered a happy "sure thing!"