Underneath Every Smile

Chapter 1

*Kol's POV*

I was never one to really allow my confidence to shine through that is if I had any confidence at all. I guess it's normal though, for a teenager, the jocks and cheerleaders seem to have more than they should, but then again, they're like a completely different species, or maybe I was just so used to basking in self-pity.

I looked over to my right, where a bunch of 9th grade girls were complaining about how terrible their hair is and pointing out all their flaws, it's funny because they walk around as if their flaws do not exist.

I looked down and shook my head, allowing my dark hair to fall upon my eyes, I had been removed from my thoughts by the snapping of fingers in front of me, "Kol?", I blinked my eyes twice and looked at the tanned, brown-haired and annoyingly attractive boy in front of me, "Earth to Kol!" he carried on. I chuckled and gave him a playful punch on the arm, "Seth! I was having such an awesome daydream!" I joked. "I know it was about me, I decided to give you a taste of the real deal" he smirked and added a wink. I rolled my eyes and flicked my hair to the side. He was such an idiot, though I was used to it. We had been friends since the first day of high school when he stood up for me against some boys who had been calling me names and being downright assholes, I bought him Oreos and a tub of Nutella to thank him and we have been best friends ever since!

"What were you thinking about anyway?" he asked, as we headed to music class, my favourite, it was actually the only class I could bare in this insufferable school. "You were so lost deep in thought" he spoke again. I looked up and just shrugged, "Nothing important" I reply. He shrugs and is quick to forget about it.

We took our usual spot at the back of the class and waited for Mr. J to start the lesson. Propped up onto the floor, Seth leaned in and whispered, "Looks like someone took one too many happy pills this morning" pointing to Mr. J's overly exaggerated smile, which couldn't possibly be bigger. Mr. J hushed the class down and began speaking, "Class, today you will be assigned a new task. It will go towards your final grade, so it is very important that you listen up." A few moans and groans up roared from around the classroom, before he spoke up again, "Now, now, hush, hush. This task is actually pretty exciting, it's something different and will not involve any theory" he said with the brightest of smiles still plastered on his face, I swear this guy smoked a couple before walking in today. A couple students, including me, now sat up and lifted their heads out of curiosity. "You will each pick a partner or form a group and play a cover of a song of your choice, in front of the class in the last period before summer vacation." My jaw dropped, is he serious right now? I picked my hand up, "Yes Kol?" he gestured towards me. "D-does i-i-it have to uh, be like, uhm, a cover, I mean, like , uhm, can it be an original song?" I managed to choke out, saying the last part as quickly as I could. I was quite shy and considering the question, my shy level shot up to 5000. I could see Seth looking at me from the corner of my eye, with a questionable look on his face. "No, I suppose it doesn't have to be a cover', he answered, as if he had still been contemplating in his head whether or not his statement was true. A small smile started to form on my lips.

I thought about the pages and pages of lyrics that I had written at home and how for once, someone or something other than my bedroom walls would hear them, still not sure if that's a good or bad thing. My thoughts started to drift into a day dream, where I pictured myself on a wooden chair, positioned in the middle of a stage, sitting with my acoustic guitar, the spotlight directly pointing on me so that you could see nothing else in the room. There was a microphone in front of me, lowered to meet my lips and there were cheers from not too many people filling the room as I began to strum, the beauty that is guitar. My dream ended there as the bell for the last period rang and brought me back to reality, I looked next to me to see Seth had been staring at me, but quickly shook his head and looked away once he saw me notice.

"You've been doing a lot of day dreaming today" Seth said as we strolled effortlessly to our next class. I gave a little faint laugh, I honestly didn't have an explanation as to why I had been day dreaming a lot. "So, an original song, huh? Gonna show us that Kol flavour?" I practically choked as I laughed hysterically and balled my fist and placed it in front of my mouth. "Kol flavour?" I repeated, amused, with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, don't think I don't know about those hidden talents" he said as we slipped into our seats, leaving me confused. The only time I actually sing or play my guitar is when I'm alone at home, which is quite often to be honest, since my mom usually works both day and night shifts most of the week. My dad left us when I was around 7, without any reasons or explanation to as where we can even find him, not that I care though, I guess his bottle was his mistress.

"How do you know?" I questioned curiously, impatiently waiting for my answer. "Well, I stopped by your house one night and heard you singing. I stayed for a while until you were done and then left before you could see me" he said casually, avoiding eye contact as he started playing with his lip ring, he always did that when he was nervous. That sneaky bastard! How could he....? "Why didn't you tell me?" I slapped him on his arm. "Ow!" he shouted as he rubbed over where I just hit him. "I know you Kol, you would've freaked out and been embarrassed. Besides, I knew you wouldn't carry on if you knew I was there and I was really enjoying your singing. You have an amazing voice by the way" he said as he poked my side. My cheeks balled up into a smile and I was pretty sure I was more red than a fireball.

He giggled at the sight of me and I reacted by slapping him on the arm , once again. "You have got to stop doing that. You're so abusive" he said sarcastically, in a baby voice. I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed. He is so cute though, I had gotten over my crush on him a while ago, but there are still these moments where I just feel like he is the definition of perfection. He flicked his shoulder length hair and turned back to talk to me. I snapped myself out of my little daze to Seth land, to give him my attention. "So this whole music task thing, we going to own it right!" he said with a bright smile,. I nodded in agreement and flashed a bigger smile in return. This is the best assignment I have gotten throughout all my years of high school, well it was my last year so I guess we're going out in a bang right!

The bell went off which indicated my favourite part of the day, HOME TIME. I could not be more grateful. Seth and I stormed out the class at the pace, heading towards the school doors, laughing and joking on our way. A deep and familiar shouted from behind us, "Faggots!" I rolled my eyes and flipped him off. "Bye Chase!" I called back, The guy was a total douche, he was probably the only one in the school who had a problem with my sexuality. Like everyone had been pretty much accepting that I was gay and if they had a problem with it, then they didn't say anything, no one really gave me a hard time or anything like that, except for that guy! Seth and I looked at each other and laughed at how pathetic he was. He put his arm around me and we headed along our usual routine that lead us home.